MINOT, N.D. - It was a bittersweet day at the All Seasons Arena for the Minot State men's wrestling team.
The Beavers hosted the school's first-ever NCAA Championship athletic event Saturday, putting on a show on the mats for 10 rivals at the Super Region V Tournament at the North Dakota State Fairgrounds.
The bittersweet part came in the final two matches of the day as the Beavers'
Cannon Potts and
Jake Swirple settled for fourth-place finishes, each, one place shy of a trip to the NCAA National Tournament in Wichita, Kansas in two weeks.
Potts battled his way into the championship semifinals at 197 pounds before losing a 4-2 decision to Caden Steffen of Southwest Minnesota State, sending Potts into the consolation semifinals.
Bouncing back strong the Minot State junior earned an 8-5 decision win over Treyton Cacek of Northern State, sending him into the third-place match.
Competing for third place and a trip to nationals, Potts fell by pin to Augustana's Max Ramberg.
As for Swirple, he battled his way through the consolation bracket at 285 pounds after an overtime loss in the championship quarterfinals.
First, he won an 8-4 decision over St. Cloud State's Elijah Novak, then in the consolation semifinals he won a 4-2 decision over Minnesota State, Mankato's Tanner Gaffey, earning a spot in the third-place match and a chance to compete for a national tournament berth.
Battling hard with Augustana's Zach Peterson, the match went into overtime tied 1-1 where a takedown for Peterson gave him the sudden victory and forced Swirple to settle for fourth place.
They were two of the Beavers' three placers on the day as
Wayne Joint also battled deep into the 133-pound bracket, advancing to the championship semifinals before a loss by pin to Mary's Reece Barnhardt sent the Beaver junior into the consolation bracket.
After losing to Wisconsin-Parkside's Matthew Chi 4-1 in overtime in the consolation semifinals, Joint finished off his run with a 5-4 decision win in the fifth-place match over Jack Huffman of Augustana.
While that trio led the way, the Beavers also got wins on the mat from
Ethan Wonser at 141 pounds,
Brendan Barnes at 165 pounds, and
Cayden White at 184 pounds.
Wonser won a 10-2 major decision over Southwest Minnesota State's Hunter Pfantz in a consolation match.
Barnes picked up a pair of wins as he scored an 11-0 major decision victory over Southwest Minnesota State's Ashton Labelle in the championship first round and earned a 4-0 decision win over Lincoln Fink of Sioux Falls in the consolation bracket.
And White picked up a 10-4 win by decision in the championship first round over Upper Iowa's Colter Bye, as well, wrapping up the day for Minot State.
As a team, the Beavers finished ninth with 31 points. St. Cloud State won the Super Region V team title with 142 points.
