THIS WEEK: North
Dakota State (5-3, 2-1 WWC) will be back in Fargo to host a pair of
duals. The Bison will take on Eastern Illinois (1-8) on Thursday,
February 1, and Western Wrestling Conference foe Northern Colorado
(4-6, 1-1 WWC) the following evening. Both matches are slated for a
7:30 p.m. start at the Bison Sports Arena.
THE SERIES: Thursday’s match
will mark the second meeting between Eastern Illinois and NDSU. The
Panthers won the first contest 22-18 back on January 22, 1981.
Northern Colorado and the Bison have squared off on the mat 28 times,
with the Bison holding a 25-2-1 advantage. The two teams met last year
in Greeley with NDSU winning 32-5. The Bison won eight of 10 bouts in
the match, including pins from Eric Sanders and Matt Wetterling.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: Eastern
Illinois comes to Fargo with a 1-8 record as a Division I independent.
The Panthers have wrestled four ranked opponents, including No. 7
Central Michigan and No. 9 Northwestern.
EIU is led by two-time NCAA qualifier Kenny Robertson. Robertson has a
record of 11-5 at 174 pounds and was runner up at the UNI Open back in
December.
The Panthers are coached by Ralph McCausland. McCausland is in his 24th
year and his 135 career coaching wins rank second all-time in the
school’s history.
Northern Colorado enters this Friday’s match with a 4-6 record overall.
The Bears have split a pair of WWC duals, losing to Northern Iowa and
defeating Utah Valley State. UNC is led by 141-pounder Kenny Hashimoto.
Hashimoto is 17-2 this season and is ranked No. 14 at his weight in the
latest InterMat/NWCA/NWMA Division I Individual Rankings. The sophomore
is also the only wrestler to date to win WWC Wrestler of the Week
honors twice this season.
The Bears are coached by Jack Maughan. Maughan is in his 20th season at
UNC and has a record of 110-146-1. The coach was a two-time
All-American at North Dakota State and is the son of NDSU head coach
Bucky Maughan. The younger Maughan has only managed one win and one tie
in 20 matches against his father in head-to-head competition.
ON THE WEB: Live streaming
video will be available for both matches on the Internet at
GoBison.com. Video is available by monthly subscription to NDSU’s All
Access service for $7.95. The live stream will be provided by NDSU
athletic media relations and will begin at 7:25 p.m., five minutes
before the match begins.
BISON SPLIT PAIR OF CONFERENCE ROAD
MATCHES: North Dakota State went 1-1 last weekend against
Western Wrestling Conference competition. Wyoming knocked off NDSU
20-16 in Laramie on Friday, January 26. The Bison responded the
following evening, beating Air Force 24-15 in Colorado Springs.
Adam Aho and Mike Quamme went 2-0 on the weekend and remain undefeated
against WWC opponents. Aho recorded a 9-0 major decision over Wyoming’s
Dane Fuhrman and beat Zach Lord 12-10 the following evening at 157
pounds.
Quamme, in his first season as a dual starter, recorded two decisions
over the weekend. Quamme beat Kyle Morrow of Wyoming 11-8 last Friday
and followed that up with a 7-6 decision over Air Force’s Tony Dorward.
Matt Wetterling is also undefeated in WWC duals with a record of 2-0.
The 184-pounder recorded a 6-2 decision over Wyoming’s Dan Barrone on
Friday, January 26.
BONUS POINTS: North Dakota
State scored 46 points in their dual against Utah Valley State on
January 19, their highest total in almost seven seasons. The 46 points
are the most scored in a dual for NDSU since February 16, 2000, when
the Bison beat MSU-Moorhead 48-6 at the Bison Sports Arena.
NOW INTRODUCING: Ryan Adams and
Mike Quamme both made their first appearances in dual matches for North
Dakota State at the Virginia Duals on January 12-13.
Adams, a 149-pound redshirt freshman from Coon Rapids, Minn., is 4-3 in
duals this season. Quamme, a sophomore from Dundas, Minn., picked up
his first career dual win with a 12-3 major decision over Justin Olsen
of Utah Valley State on January 19 and is currently 3-0 in WWC duals.
Eric Hoffman and Justin LaGosh are also first-year starters for North
Dakota State. Hoffman is wrestling at 125 pounds and is tied for the
team lead in victories with 13. LaGosh, a heavyweight, enters this
weekend’s matches with a 9-5 record and five pins, which is second most
on the team.
ON A ROLL: Matt Wetterling has
won his last six matches, four of those coming by pin. In those four
pins, Wetterling recorded three of them in the first period. The junior
leads the squad in falls with six and has the fastest pin recorded this
season for the Bison when he pinned Justin Terhune of Drexel in 33
seconds at the Virginia Duals.
Last season Wetterling recorded 18 pins, which was tied for ninth
overall and third in Division I according to InterMatWrestle.com, a Web
site ran by the National Wrestling Coaches’ Association.
NON-CONFERENCE MATCH: Although
NDSU and SDSU are both in the Western Wrestling Conference, the match
on December 15 was a non-conference dual. The two teams will wrestle
again with the dual in Brookings on February 18 counting toward the WWC
standings.
WETTERLING NAMED WWC WRESTLER OF THE
WEEK: Matt Wetterling (Willmar, Minn./Willmar HS) was announced
WWC Wrestler of the Week on January 17, after going 4-0 with three pins
at the Virginia Duals on January 12-13. In the opening match against
No. 10 Penn State, Wetterling scored the lone win for the Bison with a
6-3 decision over Mike Ward. In NDSU’s final three matches of the
tournament, Wetterling pinned Jared Ricotta of Duquesne in 6:53, Justin
Terhune of Drexel in 0:33 and No. 19 Jesse Strawn of Old Dominion in
2:20. Wetterling’s pin over Terhune clinched the match against Drexel
and a top-eight finish for North Dakota State, their highest finish in
three years of competing at the tournament. Wetterling is now 10-4 on
the season with five pins and has a 6-1 dual record.
WESTERN WRESTLING CONFERENCE:
North Dakota State and six other schools officially formed the Western
Wrestling Conference (WWC) on April 27, 2006.
Along with the Bison, charter members of the Western Wrestling
Conference will include: the United States Air Force Academy, the
University of Northern Colorado, the University of Northern Iowa, South
Dakota State University, Utah Valley State College and the University
of Wyoming.
Last season the Bison went 4-1 against these schools. Their only loss
came to Northern Iowa and their dual with SDSU last year was cancelled
due to bad weather. To make up for it, the Bison will face the
Jackrabbits twice this year.
NEWCOMERS: North Dakota State
welcomes 13 new student-athletes to their roster including a couple of
decorated transfers.
Eric Hoffman comes to NDSU via Iowa Central Community College where he
was the NJCAA national champion at 125 pounds in 2005. In two years at
ICCC, Hoffman compiled a record of 58-12.
Ryan Klinger is a transfer from the University of Illinois where he
backed up 133-pound All-American Kyle Ott for two years. In high
school, Klinger was an Illinois state champion and helped lead his high
school team to its first ever state team title in 2003.
The 11 high school wrestlers that joined the Bison this year have
combined for eight state championships, led by Casey Buchholz (North
Dakota) and Vince Salminen (Montana), who each won two.
POSTSEASON ELIGIBLE: Thanks to
an NCAA ruling in September 2004, North Dakota State could reclassify
its wrestling team to Division I in three years instead of five, making
them eligible for the NCAA West Regional and the Division I
Championships this year. NDSU is on track to reclassify in all sports
by 2008-09.