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#8 Minnesota State rolls to second straight 40-3 win
Fri, 14 Jan 2005
St. Cloud State, Minn. -- Minnesota State continued its dominance on the mat, moving to 7-0 on the season with a 40-3 domination of St. Cloud State on the road. Currently ranked eighth in NCAA Division II, MSU won nine matches, including two by fall, to match its 40-3 win over Northern State a week ago.
Junior Math Bitz (Bismarck, N.D.) opened up a lead of MSU with a 15-5 major decision at 157 pounds. He was followed by Jeremiah Nowak (Edgar, Wis.) who posted a pin with just 34 seconds left in the match. Following a forfeit win for MSU at 174, #7 John Koons (Crosby, Minn.) scored an 11-2 major decision. Senior Josh Janousek (Greenbush, Minn.) was the beneficiary of a forfeit win at 197 to move the Maverick lead to 26-3. At heavyweight, senior Mike Engelmann (Spencer, Iowa) continued his pinning tear, earning his team-best 14th fall of the season and improving to 17-4 overall.
Neither team put a wrestler out at 125 pounds but newcomer Nick Smith (Yankton, S.D.) earned a 20-5 technical fall at 133. Smith, a recent transfer from Northern Illinois, was wrestling his first match as a Maverick as was 141-pounder Efrain Ayala (Grand Island, Neb.). He posted a 9-7 win for MSU after transferring from the Nebraska Cornhusker program.
The Mavericks will be in action again next weekend when they travel to Cleveland, Ohio, for the NWCA National Dual Championship on Jan. 21-22.