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MSU-N grapplers ranked No. 4 in NAIA Preseason Poll
Montana State University-Northern 157-pounders Tommy Cooper, left, and Brandon Weber tangle during Wednesday night's Maroon/Gold Dual at the Armory Gymnasium.
Northern's Andrew Bartel, left, and Drew Randall lock up in a 165pound match during the Maroon/Gold Dual.
MSU-N's Zach Faviland and Cody Lucke battle in a Maroon/Gold Dual match Wednesday night.
Northern heavyweight Taylor Kornoely, left, takes down Adam Hokenson in a Maroon/Gold Dual match Wednesday night at the Armory Gymnasium.
George Ferguson
Havre Daily News sports editor
The Montana State University-Northern Lights have two tuneups before the wrestling season begins in earnest. The second of those tuneups came Wednesday night inside the Armory Gymnasium.
Northern head coach Tyson Thivierge watched as his Lights competed in their annual Maroon/Gold Dual, just nine days ahead of their season-opener against North Idaho College, which comes next Saturday night in Havre.
“It was good,” Thivierge said of Wednesday night’s dual. “I thought the guys wrestled hard. But it’s early, and so I saw a lot of the little things we need to work on. But two big things we can take away form this is, one, when the coaches are pushing them on their conditioning, now they know why. They understand what we’re doing now having wrestled some real matches. And the other thing is, this is the first week where we’ve come close to having to make weight, so now they’ll know a little better, and understand what they need to do with that, too.”
In all, the Lights held eight matches Wednesday night, with the Maroon squad scoring a 21-13 victory. The Maroon got wins from freshman Dylan Lockwood at 133 pounds, sophomore Brandon Weber, who beat senior Tommy Cooper at 157, Andrew Bartel, who bested junior Drew Randall at 165, senior Ben Stroh, who topped freshman Steeler French at 184 and senior heavyweight Taylor Kornoely, who pinned freshman Adam Hokenson in the finale.
The gold team saw freshman Dylan Veis get a pin at 141 pounds, while red-shirt freshman Zach Haviland won at 174 and sophomore Dace Fisher triumphed at 197 pounds. The Lights didn’t wrestle off at 125 or 149 pounds.
And all-in-all, with the regular season fast approaching, Thivierge said Wednesday night’s dual definitely served its purpose.
“Yeah, I think we got what we were looking for out of it,” he said. “With the exception of a few guys, we saw a lot of little errors we need to correct. So that’s what will do, we’ll work hard and continue to build up our consistency in matches.”
The Lights now get ready to open the season next Saturday night against the North Idaho Cardinals inside the Armory Gymnasium. Northern was picked fourth in the NAIA preseason Coaches Poll, which was released Wednesday afternoon. In the individual preseason rankings, Matt Weber is No. 1 at 141 pounds, Drake Randall is No. 10 at 149, Bartel is No. 6 at 165, Stroh is No. 3 at 184 and Kornoely is No. 2 at HWT.
Maroon 21, Gold 13
133 – Dylan Lockwood (M) dec. Brennon Veis, 3-1; 141 – Dylan Veis (G) pinned Cole Wallen, 1:53; 157 – Brandon Weber (M) maj. dec. Tommy Cooper, 10-3; 165 – Andrew Bartel (M) maj. dec. Drew Randall, 10-2; 174 – Zach Haviland (G) maj. dec. Cody Lucke, 14-5; 184 – Ben Stroh (M) dec. Steeler French, 8-0; 197 – Dace Fisher (G) dec. Lee Cannon, 3-0; HWT – Taylor Kornoely (M) pinned Adam Hokenson, 5:47.
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