Learning experience: Lights finish 10th

With high expectations can come even bigger disappointments. And in some cases, that's exactly the story of the Montana State University-Northern wrestling team's 2011 NAIA national tournament.

The Lights took a group of 10 wrestlers, including two top-ranked individuals into the national championships this past weekend in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but came away with a disappointing 10th-place finish. Northern did crown three NAIA All-Americans and saw Havre Blue Pony great Evan Hinebauch win his first national championship, but overall, it wasn't the weekend the Lights and head coach Tyson Thivierge were hoping for.

"Obviously, as a team this tournament was very disappointing," Thivierge said. "We went in with five or six potential all-americans and several I thought would contend for national titles. But things just didn't go according to plan. We had some hiccups on Thursday and we faced even more setbacks on Friday and all of a sudden we were pretty much out of it. The setbacks just seemed infectious. So it's very frustrating because we came into this tournament riding pretty high and with a lot of momentum."

Northern's high points included Hinebauch's 5-3 win over UGF rival Michael French in the 184-pound championship match on Saturday night. Hinebauch became the 30th Light to win an individual national championship and he still has one more year in the Lights' program.

MSU-N also got a fifth-place finish from Rudy Schafforth at heavyweight and a seventh-place finish by true freshman Cameron Neiss at 133 pounds. And both wrestlers showed a lot of heart and character along the way.

Neiss won two matches to reach the quarters before losing on Friday morning. He came back to win the ultra-important match to get him into the all-american round before losing again, then winning the seventh/eighth match by forfeit on Saturday morning. It wound up being a great showing by the former Ronan state champion in his first year of college wrestling.

"Cameron, as a true freshman, has nerves of steel," Thivierge said. "He steps it up a notch when he gets to this level, he wants to be there in that moment, in that situation and he doesn't back away from anything. So I'm really proud of him and what he accomplished this week, and I'm even more excited about the bright future he has ahead of him."

Shafforth's road to all-american was no-less dramatic. The sophomore transfer from Clackamas College was considered a favorite at heavyweight coming in, but suffered an opening-round loss as part of a difficult Thursday for the Lights. However, he returned and won four straight matches on Friday to reach the consolation semifinals before losing, then won his fifth/sixth-place match by default. It was an impressive effort by Northern's biggest man, and one Thivierge was ultra proud of.

"Rudy suffered a hard setback right away," Thivierge said. "So to come back like he did, against such a tough, hard second day, I couldn't be more proud of him. He showed his character winning match-by-match and you could just see him go out there and start to have fun again. So what he did this weekend is a real testament to what a great competitor he is and how much character he has. I'm just really proud of him."

The rest of the Lights however, didn't fare as well. Thursday's first session saw Northern lose six of its 10 competitors to the consolation bracket. Then, Thursday night, top-ranked Anthony Weerheim was upset in the second round, and the disappointment continued. To make matters worse, on Friday morning, neither Brandon Leliefeld (141) or Jared Miller (165) made weight and were ousted from the tournament and their team points taken away. And by the end of the second day, fellow Lights' wrestlers Weerheim (149), Tay Todd (157), Cody Miller (157), Max Payne (174) and Kody Reed (197) were also eliminated, leaving the Lights in a hole they just couldn't dig themselves out of. Payne and Weerheim did come within one match of earning all-american honors.

And while every Northern wrestler scored for the Lights, and did have their good moments, it wasn't enough and the young Lights' program, which brought six freshman and seven first-timers to the tournament, was left looking forward to nest season. Only Todd is a senior, so the Lights return the bulk of their tournament team, as well as get redshirts like Poplar's Hunter Azure and others up to varsity next year.

"It was a disappointing tournament for us," Thivierge said. "I fully expected we'd wrestle much better than we did. But it was a learning experience for everybody. They'll all know what to do next season and know what to expect. This tournament gets tougher every year, so we know now how much more we're going to have to step it up. That's what we can take away from this experience."

The Lights did move up from a 15th-place finish a year ago, and they have finished just behind Western Region rival Southern Oregon. Notre Dame of Ohio won its second straight national championship, scoring 170 points. Lindenwood was a distant second with 141 points and McKendree was third with 138.5. UGF finished in fourth place with 108.5 behind national champions Anthony Varnell at 141 pounds and Ross Mosher at 165. Mosher beat teammate Noah Hatton in the final. Grand View, Missouri Valley, Campblesville and Midlands finished fifth-eighth, respectively.

Next year's national tournament was to also be held in Cedar Rapids, but the tourney could be up for a new location due to renovations at the U.S. Cellular Center, the sight of this year's national tourney.