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Merritt Earns NSIC Wrestler of Week Notice

January 27, 2009

St. Paul, Minn. - For the third time this season, a St. Cloud State University grappler has captured Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Wrestler of the Week honors. Tad Merritt (Canby) earned the award for the first time in his career it was announced today, as the red-shirt freshman went 2-0 on the weekend with a pin over the top ranked 165-pound wrestler in NCAA Division II.

Merritt pinned #1 Aaron Denson of Nebraska-Omaha on Jan. 22, in the Huskies’ loss to the #1 ranked Mavericks. Merritt battled back from an early four-point deficit in the match to tie it, and went on to pin Denson at the 5:31 mark of the match.

Merritt capped off his weekend with another victory by fall against UW-Eau Claire. Merritt was bumped up to 174 lbs. on Saturday and did not miss a beat, as he recorded pin number two over Keith Dawson at the 1:14 mark.

Merritt is now 24-3 on the season with 14 falls. Both the win and fall total are tops on the 11th ranked Husky squad.

Previous Huskies to win the award were John Sundgren (Blaine) on December 9 and Derek Skala (Owatonna) on November 18.

SCSU will continue its 2008-09 schedule on Jan. 30 with a home match against Northern State at 7 p.m., and a match on Feb. 1 at home against the University of Mary on 2 p.m.