SCSU, North Country Tourney This Week
The Saint John’s wrestling
squad will travel to face St. Cloud State this Friday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.
at Halenbeck Hall. On Saturday, SJU hosts the annual North Country
Tournament. The individual meet is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. at
Sexton Arena in Collegeville.
Johnnies Fall To Cobbers, Win Blugold Tourney
MOORHEAD, Minn. – Saint John’s struggled last Wednesday night as it
fell to Concordia-Moorhead 22-16 in Moorhead. Sophomore Mogi Baatar
(Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/St. Benedict’s, N.J.) won by technical fall,
20-4 at 125. Freshman John Vaith (Hastings, Minn.) defeated senior
Logan Lunde by major decision, 10-2. At 165 lbs. junior Matt Schrupp
(left; Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) won by decision, 10-6, and
freshman Dustin Baxter (Fairbanks, Alaska/West Valley) won by major
decision, 12-4 at 184 lbs.
Eau Claire, Wis. - The Johnnies finished first out of nine teams at the
30th Annual Wis.-Eau Claire Tournament last Saturday, Feb. 2. Baatar
(right) and Schrupp each won their respective championship matches by
major decision, while Vaith and Baxter each took second. Baxter fell
2-1 to Wis.-Stevens Point’s Ben Engelland, who is ranked fourth in the
nation, in the championship match at 184. Third-place finishes for SJU
came from sophomore Jon Shellenberger (St. Paul, Minn./Highland Park)
at 133, freshman Matt Baarson (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park),
freshman Dustin Raygor (St. Croix Falls, Minn.) at 157, and junior
Grant Eustice (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) at 174.
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.
For all the latest news on Johnnie Wrestling and other SJU sports, Visit the Saint John’s athletic Web site at gojohnnies.com