Lights poised for a NAIA West Region title

The Montana State University-Northern Lights are coming off one of the most exciting weeks in Northern wrestling history, as last week, the Lights beat rival UGF and then hosted a historic dual with the University of Iowa, all inside the Armory Gymnasium.

Now however, the Lights must shift their focus, turning their attention to their ultimate goal — winning an NAIA national championship. The march toward that goal starts with Saturday’s NAIA West Regional Qualifier in Prescott, Arizona, hosted by Embry-Riddle University.

Northern comes into the regional as the No. 3 team in the NAIA and the top-ranked team in the tournament. And with a star-studded lineup, featuring nine ranked wrestlers, the Lights are heavy favorites to win a team title this weekend.

However, head coach Tyson Thivierge takes nothing for granted, and he has his Lights focused on not just winning a team title, but getting as many wrestlers through to next month’s national tournament, and making sure the Lights are peaking at the perfect time.

Of course, a win over UGF, and the experience the Lights gained with last Friday night’s matchup with the Hawkeyes certainly will help with that.

“One of the big things is, we came out of this healthy,” Thivierge said after the dual with Iowa. “But there are so many things that we can take away from this. This was a great momentum builder for us going into regionals and the national tournament.”

And the Lights will need to be at their best Saturday, as the West Region is certainly the toughest of all the regional qualifiers. Menlo College is also ranked 10th in the NAIA, while UGF is 13th, Simpson is 15th, Southern Oregon is 17th and Warner-Pacific is 20th. The tournament will also include Embry-Riddle, which is currently ranked 21st.

Individually, the Lights have some big favorites, especially in the upper weights. Junior Garrett DeMers is ranked No. 1 at 197 pounds, and he looks to win his second straight regional title and lock up a No. 1 seed in the national draw. SOU’s 16th-ranked Tanner Fisher figures to be DeMers’ toughest opponent. The Lights could likely go 1-2 in the heavyweight draw, as senior Toby Cheff is ranked second and junior Taylor Kornoely is ranked third. At 174 pounds, Willie Miller looks to have a big day after missing the tournament last year with an injury. Miller is ranked seventh, while Menlo’s Justin Lozano is ranked second. But, Miller is 1-0 against Lozano this season.

Though Northern should dominate the upper weights, and likely the entire tourney, the Lights do have a boatload of first-time wrestlers in the field Saturday. But, they are talented at those weights too.

Freshman Quintel Fuchs is ranked fifth at 125 pounds, a weight the Lights hope to double-up in as they will also send out Mhar Caballa. The class is deep, though, with UGF’s Luke Schlosser and Menlo’s Troy Lakin also in the draw. Freshman Blake Ivie, ranked 13th, mans the 133-pound spot for MSU-N, and he could be the favorite to win a title, though strong competition will come from Simpson’s Vincente Hernandez.

Freshman Matt Weber (141), ranked fifth, is also a favorite this weekend, though Embry-Riddle’s Andrew Burr is tough. Freshman Drake Randall is ranked 12th, and is in a tough 149-pound draw which features third-ranked Tyler Cowger of SOU. MSU-N will also look to double up at 157 with red-shirt frosh Brandon Weber, ranked 12th, and freshman Austin Blaede, and those two have a good chance of seeing each other in the finals. At 165 pounds, Northern will send out freshman Andrew Bartel. He has come on strong for the Lights of late, but he’s also in a tough class with top-ranked Blake Cooper of Warner Pacific, UGF’s Khaldoon Rashid and Menlo’s Joseph Jauregui. The Lights will be open at 184 pounds.

The Lights will compete at the West Regional Saturday in Prescott, Arizona, where the top four finishers, as well as wildcards in each weight class will move on to the national tournament March 4-5 in Topeka, Kansas.