Mavericks Claim the North Regional Title Qualifying 8
March 2, 2008
Mankato, MN -- The Minnesota State wrestling
squad will be sending eight wrestlers to the NCAA Division II
Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 14-15 as they claim the
North Regional Title for second consecutive season.
In claiming the title, the Mavericks had five championship performances
in junior John Putman (Oak Lawn, Ill.), sophomore Travis Elg (Mountain
Lake, Minn.), senior Jason Rhoten (Mantorville, Minn.), Andy Pickar
(Brainerd, Minn) and sophomore Brady Wilson (Faribault, Minn.).
MSU scored 104.5 team points. Twelve points ahead of second place
Nebraska-Omaha and 32 points ahead of the third place finisher, Upper
Iowa.
Also qualifying for the Championships was senior Nick Smith (Yankton,
S.D.), junior Tim Matheson (Circle Pines, Minn.) and freshman Tommy
Abbott (Wilmington, Del.).
Perhaps the pleasant surprise on the day for the Mavericks was in the
dominating performance by Putman. Putman came in seeded third in the
133 pound weight class and went 3-0 with a tech-fall win over Ed Reno
of Southwest Minnesota State, a decision win over #2 Mario Morgan of
Nebraska-Omaha 8-3 and a 17-4 major decision over #4 Josh Williams in
the finals.
MSU career wins leader and senior Jason Rhoten along with senior Andy
Pickar finished out their careers wrestling inside the Taylor Center in
memorable fashion as the both also went 3-0 to claim the North Regional
title. It is the third straight year Pickar has claimed the title while
second for Rhoten.
Top-seeded Rhoten pinned Devin Nagel of Mary, pulled out a 5-2 decision
over #4 Henry Wahle of Nebraska-Omaha and a 12-4 major decision win
over #3 Travis Eggers of Upper Iowa in the finals.
Pickar was pushed a little harder in his championship run as he also
entered as the top-seed winning a 15-6 major decision in his opening
round against Matt Morris of Augustana and entered the championship
match after defeating Tom Anderson of St. Cloud by a 4-1 decision.
In what was one of the most thrilling matches of the night, Pickar
found himself down to #2 Aaron Denson of Nebraska-Omaha 8-3 after the
first period of the championship round. He cut into the lead in the
second period has he had first choice in the match choosing the down
position and pulled a escape and takedown in the period but still
trailed by two going into the final stanza. Denson chose down and got
an early escape to build his lead to three but Pickar pulled a late
takedown and had enough riding time to push the match to overtime and
finished the match with a takedown to claim his three-peat as regional
champ.
Top-ranked Nebraska-Omaha qualified nine wrestler while 125-pound Cody
Garcia was named the tournaments Outstanding Wrestler voted by
participating coaches.