Lights place four in Wyoming

The Montana State University-Northern wrestling team wrapped up a long road trip to Wyoming with some good wrestling and good competition.

On Saturday, the Lights competed in the annual Cowboy Open hosted by the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Northern had four third-place finishers in a tournament which featured a host of quality NCAA Division I programs.

Top-ranked Ethan Hinebauch placed third in the elite division at 165 pounds, as did Max Payne at 174. Hinebauch won five times and lost just once, and all his wins were by pin, including a victory over UGF's Shaun Lau in the third-place match. Payne won five matches on a row after suffering a tough, 1-0 loss to a Boise State competitor in the opening round.

Hunter Azure and Travis Williams also finished third for the Lights in the amateur division. Azure went 7-1 at 141 pounds, while Williams went 5-1 at heavyweight. Aaron LaFarge (125), Chris Williams (133), Eli Hinebauch (157), Jared Miller (174) and Allen Neulib (HWT) all won enough matches to place in the top six of their respective weight classes.

"Throughout the day we wrestled very well," Northern head coach Tyson Thivierge said. "Our guys kept getting better each match and were responding to the coaches better than they have all season. This is a tough tournament to kick the season off with and I am proud that we looked like the Lights of old."

Northern will be back in Wyoming this Saturday for the Trapper Open in Powell. The Lights return home to face the Trappers in a dual Nov. 15.

COWBOY OPEN RESULTS 2012

125

Duell Stadel (Amateur Division)

WIN 16-7 vs. Taylor Higbee (WWCC)

LOSS 4-9 vs. Mitchell Brown (Una)

LOSS 1-5 vs. Trey Andrews (Una)

Aaron La Farge (Elite Division)

WIN 6-1 vs. Kyle McCrite (GCU)

LOSS by fall vs. Jade Rauser (UVU)

WIN 17-7 vs. Tony Blessie (Hastings)

WIN by fall vs. Cody Carter (Col. School of Mines)

WIN 19-3 vs. Ryan Adams (Col. School of Mines)

WIN by fall vs. Cody Tow (NW Kansas)

LOSS 0-7 to Jade Rauser (UVU)

Riley Miller (Elite Division)

LOSS 7-8 to Jesse Meis (NCU)

LOSS 1-17 to Colby Christensen (Una)

133

Chris Williams (Amateur Division)

LOSS by fall to Chris Canton (USAF)

WIN 7-2 vs. Dylan Schumacher (Una)

WIN 4-1 vs. Alec Chanthapatheth (Hastings)

WIN 6-3 vs. Daniel Salazar (CMU)

WIN by fall over Roy Garza (Una)

WIN 8-7 over Colby Watters (Col. School of Mines)

LOSS by fall to Robert Schultheis (Col. School of Mines)

Doug O'Hara (Amateur Division)

LOSS 5-13 to Josh Hillhouse (Una)

LOSS by fall to Caleb Walker (WWCC)

141

Hunter Azure (Amateur Division), 3rd Place

WIN by fall over Evan Boulton (Una)

WIN 14-10 over Konnor Kriss (Colby CC)

WIN 11-4 over Yazen Hamid (CMU)

LOSS 1-7 to Zachary Stepan (Una)

WIN by fall over Riley Berry (UGF)

WIN 15-9 over Konnor Kriss (Colby CC)

WIN by fall over Shannon Maris (CMU)

WIN 16-5 over Zachary Stepan (Una)

Cameron Neiss (Elite Division)

WIN 10-4 over Ryan Martin (UGF)

LOSS 6-7 to Glenn Terrano (UVU)

LOSS 3-8 to Jimmy Chase (CSU-Pueblo)

149

Trevor Goss (Amateur Division)

LOSS by fall to Troy Bainter (Neb-Kearney)

WIN by fall over Jonathan Sidhu (Una)

WIN 3-2 over Kyle Leir (UGF)

LOSS by fall to Tucker Ray (UVU)

Dillon Seely (Amateur Division)

LOSS 2-8 to Jesse Larralde (Chadron)

LOSS by fall to Reed Burgener (Chadron)

Joe Barsotti (Amateur Division)

LOSS by fall to Jeff McCormick (NWC)

LOSS by fall to Cougar Babin (Una)

157

Micky Cheff (Elite Division)

WIN 12-10 ot over Austin Cordova (Col. School of Mines)

WIN 10-0 over Jared Cass (CMU)

LOSS by fall to Mitchell Polkowske (NCU)

**Injury Default out of tournament

Eli Hinebauch (Amateur Division)

WIN by fall over Khaldoon Rashid (UGF)

WIN 9-0 over Alexander Buelna (Una)

LOSS 1-5 to Kory DeBeffy (GCU)

WIN by fall over Garrett Adams (Una)

WIN by fall over Colton Johnson (Neb.-Kearney)

LOSS by fall to Bryce Wiedeman (Chadron)

Tommy Cooper (Amateur Division)

WIN 18-3 over Kendall Bird (Utah State)

WIN 9-3 over Chase Fuson (Una)

LOSS by fall over Colton Thornton (NWC)

LOSS 0-5 to John Crowley (Col. School of Mines)

165

Ethan Hinebauch (Elite Division), 3rd Place

WIN by fall over Joshua Brown (Col. School of Mines)

WIN by fall over Trevor Grant (CSU-Pueblo)

WIN by fall over Iver Sandoval (NCU)

LOSS 7-9 to Ethan Smith (UVU)

WIN by fall over Nick Wooden (BSU)

WIN by fall over Shawn Lau (UGF

174

Max Payne (Elite Division), 3rd Place

LOSS 0-1 to Scotty Bacon (BSU)

WIN 8-1 over Robert Davis (Col. School of Mines)

WIN 18-4 over Josh Van Tine (NCU)

WIN 16-4 over Bret Klopp (Chadron)

WIN by inj. Def over Martin Fabbian (GCU)

WIN 8-5 over Daniel Barringer (Una)

Jared Miller (Elite Division)

WIN by fall over Caleb Watt (CMU)

WIN 2-0 over Michael Poulos (Wyoming)

LOSS 3-4 to Monte Schmalhaus (UVU)

LOSS 4-11 to Daniel Barringer (Una)

197

Garrett DeMers (Amateur Division)

LOSS 4-6 ot to Colter Tucker (Colby CC)

LOSS 0-9 to Paul Wilson (Col. School of Mines)

285

Travis Williams (Amateur Division), 3rd Place

LOSS 1-3 to Michael Williams (WWCC)

WIN 11-2 over Marcus Malacek (Una)

WIN 14-7 over Nate Zobott (GCU)

WIN 4-1 over Jordan Hanson (Una)

WIN by fall over Mike Miller (Una)

WIN 3-1 over Kabe Fluaitt (UGF)

Tucker Erickson (Amateur Division)

WIN by fall over Jake Sage (Una)

WIN by fall over Dillon Spies (Chadron)

LOSS 1-3 to Mike Miller (Una)

LOSS 1-2 to Kabe Fluaitt (UGF)

Allen Neuleib (Amateur Division)

WIN by fall over Jeff O'Conner (BYU-Idaho)

WIN by fall over Nate Zobott (GCU)

LOSS 0-3 to Michael Hill (Chadron)

LOSS 4-7 to Kabe Fluaitt (UGF)