subscribesubscriber servicescontact usabout ussite mapBuy a Classified
Tue, Nov 24 2009 

Resources

print this story   Print this story
  Post to del.icio.us

Published March 10, 2007 12:29 am - It wasn’t the first day the Minnesota State University wrestling team had hoped for. The Mavericks ventured to the NCAA Division II Championships in quest of their first title since 1965 but, after a sub-par Day 1, MSU may have to settle for third place or fourth place at best.

Three Mavericks in semifinals
MSU battling for third spot for national team title

The Free Press

KEARNEY, Neb.

It wasn’t the first day the Minnesota State University wrestling team had hoped for.

The Mavericks ventured to the NCAA Division II Championships in quest of their first title since 1965 but, after a sub-par Day 1, MSU may have to settle for third place or fourth place at best.

Minnesota State pushed three wrestlers into the semifinals Friday in 149-pound junior Jason Rhoten, 165-pound junior Andy Pickar and freshman heavyweight Brady Wilson. The rest of the MSU hopefuls all lost at least one match on the opening day.

Rhoten downed eighth-ranked Michael Delk of Fort Hays State 4-1 in his first match and followed with a pin of Chris Pingleton of Indianapolis in the quarterfinals. Pickar defeated John Ficht of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 5-3 in Round 1 and added a 3-2 triumph over Taylor May of Nebraska-Kearney in the quarterfinals.

Wilson gave the Mavericks some valuable bonus points in his opening match at heavyweight. Already well ahead in his bout with Shane Odell of Carson-Newman, Wilson turned a desperation throw attempt by Odell into a fall at the 6:34 mark to advance to the quarterfinals.

Wilson then advanced to the semifinals with another fall, this one in 3:36, over Travis Clark of Findlay.

Two other Mavericks, Brandon Girtz (157) and Travis Krinkie (184) lost on Monday but rebounded to guarantee themselves All-American (top-six) finishes.

Girtz earned a 17-5 major decision over Jacob Wilson of Shippensburg but then lost 8-7 in overtime to defending national champion Brad Becker of Wisconsin-Parkside. Girtz locked up All-American honors for the first time with a 5-3 win over Mike Horton of Indianapolis in the first round of consolations.

The eighth-ranked Krinkie started strong, topping Keeno Griffin of Newberry by a score of 7-2. He was then dropped to the wrestlebacks with a 3-2 loss to fourth-ranked Jared Hess of Central Oklahoma.

In his first consolation match, Krinkie dominated Matt Allen of Ashland with an 11-3 major decision. In doing so, he became just the sixth four-time All-American in MSU history.

The rest of the MSU field — Nick Smith (125), Jeff Pfaffinger (133), Travis Elg (141), Tim Matheson (174) and Ben Janike (197) — was eliminated on the first day.

Central Oklahoma has a commanding lead after Day 1 and host Nebraska-Kearney is in second. MSU and Upper Iowa are battling for the No. 3 spot. The Mavericks continue action at the national tournament at 10 a.m. today.



print this story    email this story   
Click here to load this Caspio Bridge DataPage.
Click here to load this Caspio Bridge DataPage.






autoconx

Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide
Premier Guide

 

Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.CNHI Classified Advertising NetworkCNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2009. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope and our Internet Yellow Pages site is powered by PremierGuide.
Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.
View our Privacy Policy
Advertiser index