March 10, 2003
No. 5-ranked North Dakota State will send seven wrestlers to the NCAA Division II national wrestling tournament Friday and Saturday in Wheeling, WV...The tournament is being hosted by West Liberty State College...Action begins at 11 a.m. ET both days at the Wheeling Civic Center.
Central Oklahoma Defending Champ
No. 1-ranked Central Oklahoma is the defending NCAA Division II champion...UCO edged North Dakota State by 11.5 points at last year's tournament to spoil NDSU's bid for a third straight title...NDSU has won four national wrestling crowns, including three of the last five.
Bison & Bears Sending Seven
North Dakota State and Northern Colorado emerged from the North Central Conference tournament with the most qualifiers for the NCAA tournament...Both schools will send seven wrestlers to the national meet...South Dakota State, Augustana, and conference champion Nebraska-Omaha each qualified six wrestlers.
The Coach
North Dakota State is coached by BUCKY MAUGHAN, who is in his 39th year at the helm of the Bison...Maughan, named the NCC Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2002, is only the second full-time wrestling coach in the school's history...He has a 394-112-11 record to date in duals and has guided the Herd to 16 North Central Conference titles, four NCAA Division II championships, and 23 seasons of 10 or more wins.
Bison Entries...
A look North Dakota State's seven entries into the NCAA Division II national wrestling tournament this weekend...
125 POUNDS -- MATT STRAWSER, Sr., Wadena, MN (29-5 overall, 3rd in the NCC)
Finished fifth in the nation last year...NCC champion a year ago and third in the conference this year...Currently ranked sixth in the nation at 125...Winner in 17 of his last 19 matches...Only losses in that span were 8-2 to Northern Colorado's Mark Hastings in the NCC tournament and 4-2 to third-ranked Joey Bareng of San Francisco State at the NWCA National Duals more than a month ago, and Bareng is in the bracket opposite Strawser at nationals...Slated to face Pitt-Johnstown's Ryon Mazzocco in the first round...Won by fall over Mazzocco at the NWCA National Duals in January...Enters NCAA tournament action with a 29-5 overall record and tied for second on the team with seven pins...Went 14-1 in duals this year...Needs one win to join the all-time top 10 in career victories at North Dakota State...Impressive in tournament action this year with 3-0 championship runs through the Bison Open and St. Cloud State Invitational, and a 6-1 performance at Nebraska-Omaha's strong Kaufman-Brand Open, where he won five matches over Division I opponents...Went 4-1 at the NWCA National Duals tourney...Making his fourth NCAA appearance...
133 POUNDS -- NICK MAGEE, So., Hudson, WI (22-12, 4th in the NCC)
Won four straight outings before a 2-2 run through the NCC tournament early this month...Making his first trip to the NCAA tournament, and he'll be welcomed with a first-round matchup against No. 1-ranked Cole Province of Central Oklahoma...Carries a 22-12 overall record with three pins...Finished 11-4 in duals...Went 6-1 against NCC competitors prior to the NCC tournament, holding three of them scoreless...One of those wins was a 2-0 decision over Minnesota State-Mankato's Tony Fratzke, who is currently second in the nation at 133...Champion of the St. Cloud State Invitational with a 3-0 record...
149 POUNDS -- ZACH STEVENS, Fr., Erwinna, PA (17-13, 2nd in the NCC)
Up and down wrestler all year...Upset No. 1-seeded Loren Hutchins in the NCC tournament semifinals en route to a second-place conference finish...Has a 17-13 record and was 7-7 in duals...Hasn't had a win or loss by fall...Wrapped up the first half of the season with a championship run through the St. Cloud State Invitational...This is the first trip to the NCAA tournament for Stevens...He'll meet West Liberty State's Aaron Monseau in the first round...
157 POUNDS -- PAUL CARLSON, Jr., St. Francis, MN (24-4, 1st in the NCC)
National runner-up a year ago and now the two-time defending NCC champion after a 3-0 run through the league tourney early this month...Currently ranked first in the nation at 157 and has held that post all year...Won a team-high 10 straight matches earlier this year before running into Augsburg's Marcus LeVesseur...Only other losses before that came to a pair of Division I opponents at the prestigious Las Vegas Invitational...Record stands at 24-4 overall with one pin after winning eight of his last nine matches...Finished with a dual record of 13-2...Tied the school single-match record of 12 takedowns in a technical fall win against Northern State...Two-time NCC Wrestler of the Week this year...He's a third-time qualifier for the NCAA tournament...Scheduled to face Central Missouri State's Ryan Hunter in the first round...
174 POUNDS -- THAD PIKE, Jr., Hayfield, MN (20-11, 3rd in the NCC)
Placed fourth in the NCC at 157 pounds two years ago as a freshman and was third this year...Has won nine of his last 11 matches and one of the losses in that string was at Division I Northern Iowa...Slipped into the national rankings last Wednesday at the No. 8 spot...Sits three spots behind No. 5-ranked Tom Bauer of Ashland, who he will meet in the first round of nationals...Defeated Bauer 7-4 at the NWCA National Duals in January...Enters the NCAA tourney with a 20-11 overall record...Finished the dual meet season with a 10-4 mark...Champion of the Bison Open in November...Making his second NCAA appearance...
197 POUNDS -- BRIAN KRAEMER, Jr., Cold Spring, MN (24-12, 2nd in the NCC)
NCC runner-up this year and the third-place finisher in the previous two NCC tournaments...Two-time All-American with seventh- and sixth-place national finishes the past two years...Has sprung back from a mid-season funk to win six of his last seven bouts, including a forfeit win...Cracked the national ratings again last Wednesday, checking in at sixth among the 197-pounders...Capped the dual meet season with a 9-0 major decision in the NDSU win over St. Cloud State...Holds a 24-12 overall record with seven pins and finished the dual meet season with an 8-5 record...Third-place finisher at the St. Cloud State Invitational, where he recorded two pins each under 1 minute...Had four wins by fall at the Las Vegas Invitaional as he battled back from a second-round loss for eighth place and NDSU's top finish...Went 5-3 at Las Vegas and all the losses came to Division I opponents...Won his first three bouts of the year at the Bison Open for the 197 title...Will face Nebraska-Kearney's Jeff Sylvester in the first round...Lurking in the opposite first-round bracket is Wisconsin-Parkside's John Goral, who Kraemer defeated 9-5 at the NWCA National Duals...
HEAVYWEIGHT -- JOE BRYCE, So., Glenwood, MN (18-14, 4th in the NCC)
Leads this year's squad in pins with eight...Wrestled to an 18-14 overall record thus far after a 2-2 outing at the NCC tournament...Went 6-4 in dual meets...Struggled in tournament action with NCC foes early this year, losing all four meetings with conference wrestlers prior to the league tournament...Making his first NCAA appearance, and it won't be an easy one...Slated to face the second-ranked heavyweight in the country, Lyneil Mitchell of Gannon University (PA).
Strawser One Win Away...
North Dakota State senior 125-pounder MATT STRAWSER is one win away from cracking the top 10 in career victories at NDSU...The Wadena, MN, product has a 95-38 career record...Tenth place is currently locked up in a three-way tie between WAYNE MOONEY (1996-00), GEORGE THOMPSON (1994-98) and BRAD RHEINGANS (1971-75), who all posted 96 career wins...Strawser was expected to reach the milestone at the North Central Conference tournament on March 2, but an upset loss and two byes limited the lightweight to just one win that day...NDSU's all-time victory leader is MIKE LANGLAIS, who amassed 151 wins from 1980 to 1984.
|
Conference |
Overall |
|
|
North Dakota State |
6-0 |
12-3 |
|
Minnesota State-Mankato |
4-2 |
8-4 |
|
**Nebraska-Omaha |
4-2 |
9-4 |
|
South Dakota State |
3-3 |
12-9 |
|
Northern Colorado |
2-4 |
7-6 |
|
Augustana |
2-4 |
11-7 |
|
St. Cloud State |
0-6 |
1-13 |
**Won the 2003 North Central Conference championship by winning the league tournament March 2 in Fargo.
|
Pts. |
Prv. |
||
|
1. |
Central Oklahoma (8) |
160 |
1 |
|
2. |
Nebraska-Omaha |
149 |
3 |
|
3. |
Nebraska-Kearney |
145 |
4 |
|
4. |
Pittsburgh-Johnstown |
128 |
5 |
|
5. |
North Dakota State |
126 |
2 |
|
6. |
San Francisco State |
125 |
6 |
|
7. |
Ashland (OH) |
107 |
10 |
|
8. |
Central Missouri State |
99 |
13 |
|
9. |
Northern Colorado |
97 |
7 |
|
10. |
South Dakota State |
88 |
14 |
|
11. |
Findlay (OH) |
87 |
T-15 |
|
12. |
Adams State (CO) |
76 |
11 |
|
13. |
Wisconsin-Parkside |
58 |
&emdash; |
|
14. |
Minnesota State-Mankato |
53 |
12 |
|
15. |
Augustana |
45 |
8 |
|
16. |
Indianapolis |
37 |
9 |
|
17. |
North Carolina-Pembroke |
30 |
&emdash; |
|
18. |
Gannon (PA) |
22 |
18 |
|
19. |
Western State (CO) |
13 |
&emdash; |
|
20. |
Chadron State (NE) |
11 |
20 |