DICKINSON, N.D. – Senior
Jake Swirple led the way with three straight wins to claim the title at the Tyler Plummer Classic hosted by Dickinson State as the Minot State men's wrestling team saw six grapplers bring home medals from the event on Saturday.
Swirple opened his perfect run in the 285-pound weight class with a 5-1 win by decision over Dickinson State's Juan Camacho, then cruised to a semifinal victory with an 11-0 major decision win over Jamestown's Chance Robinson.
Swirple them claimed the title, battling his way to a 2-1 win by decision over North Dakota State's Shilo Jones.
While Swirple claimed the lone title for the Beavers on the day,
Ryan Hrcka added a third-place finish at 157 pounds,
Dylan McDonald (125),
Andrew Worthington (141), and
Marcus Allen (184) each finished fourth for Minot State, and
Kale Farrington was fifth at 174 pounds on the day.
Hrcka turned in possibly the most impressive run of the day as he lost his opener then rattled off four straight victories to claim the consolation-bracket championship at 157 pounds, pinning Djordje Milinkovic in 1 minute, 11 seconds, then scoring back-to-back major decision wins over Montana State Northern's Keegan Hanson, 14-0, and Chadron State's Tate Rusher, 12-3.
In the third-place match, Hrcka finished off his run with a 5-4 decision win over Mary's Danyk Jacobsen.
Allen picked up three wins in his run to fourth place at 184 as he grabbed a 6-4 decision win in his first match over Montana State Northern's Lucas Thacker, then battled through the consolation bracket as he won a 17-16 decision over Diante Taylor of Jamestown and won by pin in 1:14 over Aden Jorgensen of Jamestown.
McDonald picked up a pair of consolation bracket wins, by pin over Zairyn Ramos-Semana of Jamestown in 2:31 and the other by injury default to finish fourth at 125 pounds, and Worthington won in the championship quarterfinals by pin in 1:47 over Northern State's Nikolas Petsinger, and picked up a 5-1 decision win in the semifinals of the consolation bracket over Riley Davis.
At 174 pounds, Farrington prevailed in the championship quarterfinals over Cayden Lamb from Dickinson State with a 6-5 win by decision, then claimed the win by injury default in the fifth-place match.
The Minot State men's wrestling team now heads back to the MSU Dome to wrap its home schedule next weekend, hosting the University of Mary on Friday night at 7 p.m. in the eighth "Battle for the Barrel."
The Beavers then wrap up their home slate hosting Northern State at 2 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday.
