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St. Cloud State Wrestlers Earn All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Honors

March 24, 2009

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference released its postseason awards today, and freshman Tad Merritt (Canby/H.S.) headlined a host of St. Cloud State Husky award winners by earning NSIC Wrestling Rookie of the Year for the 2008-09 season. The Huskies also placed two athletes on the NSIC First Team and three on the Second Team.

Merritt was one of three Huskies to receive All-America honors at the Division II Championships, earning third place at 165 pounds. Merritt broke the SCSU single season record for pins with 17, and tied the single season mark for wins with a 38-6 mark on the campaign.

Sophomore Gabe Suarez (Las Vegas) and senior Brad Padgett (Buckley, Wash.) were the Husky selections for First Team All-NSIC. Suarez and Padgett were regional champions at 141 pounds and 184 pounds respectively, with Padgett scoring a third place finish and All-America honors at the 2009 NCAA Division II championships.  This marked Padgett’s second consecutive season to earn NCAA Division II All-America honors.

Suarez ranked sixth in the final national poll and second in the final regional poll, while Padgett was second in the final national poll and first in the final regional poll.

Earning Second Team All-NSIC honors were senior Josh Williams (Banks, Ore) at 133 pounds, junior Jacob Roberts (Jordan) at 149 lbs. and sophomore Derek Skala (Owatonna) at 174 pounds.

Skala posted the best finish of the three at the championships, earning All-America recognition for his seventh place finish. All three finished in second place at the North Regional, with Skala finishing the year at 27-9, Roberts at 28-11 and Williams at 17-8. Roberts was the lone grappler of the three that was nationally ranked heading into the national tournament, checking in at eighth.

Tommy Abbott of Minnesota State was named NSIC Wrestler of the Year for his National Championship at 149 lbs. and Maverick Head Coach Jim Makovsky was named Coach of the Year.

Minnesota State posted the best finish of any NSIC team, by finishing third with 71.5 points behind Newberry and Nebraska-Omaha. The Huskies finished eighth with 44.0 points.