Lights bring home second-place trophy, crown six All-Americans

The Montana State University-Northern Lights recorded their best finish at the NAIA national wrestling tournament in more than a decade Saturday night in Topeka, Kansas. Northern scored 104 points to finish second to five-time NAIA champion Grand View.

The Lights also bring home six NAIA All-Americans from the tournament, including a runner-up finish by junior Taylor Kornoely in the heavyweight class. Kornoely lost to Grand View's Dean Brogenhammer Saturday night in the finals.

MSU-N also got third-place finishes by semifinalists Matt Weber (141) and Garrett Demers (197), as well as a fourth-place finish from semifinalist Willer Miller (174). Senior Toby Cheff also fought back to finish seventh at heavyweight, while all 10 of Northern's qualifiers scored points for the Lights, who took six freshmen into Friday's opening day in Topeka.

"We're excited," said MSU-N head coach Tyson Thivierge. "We had a couple of bad rounds, and with Grand View being so powerful right now, you can't have that. But I'm proud of all 10 of our guys. They brought it all tournament long, and the way we finished, and with so many young guys on this team, it's movtivatating. We'll be motivated to get back on Monday and get right back to work."

For complete coverage of the Lights, see Monday's Havre Daily News.