SJU set to make two road trips next week
The Saint John’s wrestling
squad returns to action next Wednesday, Jan. 30 as it travels to take
on Concordia-Moorhead. The dual is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. (5 p.m.
junior varsity) at the Memorial Auditorium in Moorhead. The Johnnies
defeated the Cobbers 30-9 last season. SJU will then travel to compete
at the Wis.-Eau Claire Blugold (individual) tournament on Saturday,
Feb. 2. The meet is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in Eau Claire, Wis.
Johnnies struggle vs. Augsburg
Collegeville, Minn. -- Saint John’s struggled Tuesday night as it fell
to No. 3 Augsburg 35-3 in Collegeville. Junior Matt Schrupp (right;
Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) won the lone match of the evening for
SJU at 165 lbs. over Augsburg’s Brandon Klukow 4-3. The win improves
his record to 14-5 on the season. At 125 lbs., sophomore Mogi Baatar
(Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) lost to No. 4 Seth Flodeen, 7-2. At 184 lbs.,
freshman Dustin Baxter (Fairbanks, Alaska) lost to No. 8 Robbie Gotreau
7-3, while sophomore Noel Meyer (Melrose, Minn./Melrose Area) fell to
Andy Witzel 3-0 at heavyweight.
Head Coach Brandon Novak
Brandon Novak begins his fourth season as head coach of the SJU
wrestling program in 2007-08. Last year, Novak led the Johnnies to a
23rd place finish (63 teams) at the NCAA Championships. Keeping the
academic standards high in 2005-06, Novak's SJU wrestling team had the
fifth-highest team grade point average in NCAA Division III at 3.334.
Prior to becoming the head coach in 2004-05, Novak assisted 2007 NCAA
Division III Wrestling Coaches’ Hall of Fame inductee John Elton, who
was head wrestling coach from 1981-2004. Novak, a 2001 graduate of SJU,
won the NCAA Wrestling Championship at 197 pounds in 2001 and was a
three-time All-American. Novak currently owns a 25-31 career dual
record as head coach of the Johnnies.