Northern wrestling finishes first day of NAIA nationals

The Montana State University-Northern wrestling team began competition in the NAIA Men's Wrestling National Championships in Wichita, Kansas on Friday. While they suffered some early losses, the Lights stood tied for sixth with 44.5 points at the end of the first day of the tournament.

Isaac Bartel and Martin Wilkie had strong starts to the tournament to advance to the semifinals. Wrestling in the 197-pound weight class, Bartel started the tournament with a pin 2:23 into his match against Brahn Howard from Texas Wesleyan. In the quarterfinal, Bartel won, 17-2, for a technical fall over Gabe Jacobs from Cumberlands.

Wrestling at 141 pounds, Wilkie started the tournament with a 12-2 major decision over Logan Wagner from Marian. He followed that up with a 4-3 win over Trent Leon from Reinhardt. In the quarterfinal, Wilkie won, 19-4, for a technical fall over Shea Ruffridge from Grand View.

While the other four MSU-N wrestlers lost early in the tournament, some of them bounced back to make runs in the consolation matches. Wrestling at 165 pounds, Chase Short won three straight consolation matches to keep his hopes for a third-place finish alive. His first win of the tournament was a pin 1:59 into his match against Braeden Baller from Texas Wesleyan. Short then won by pin 3:13 into his match against Jordan Komac from University of Providence. He then ended the day with a 11-7 decision over Matt Jenkins from Reinhardt.

At 174 pounds, NaKoda Siegel started the tournament with an 8-3 decision over Hunter Gasper from Indiana Tech. After a loss, Siegel won, 3-1, in overtime in a consolation match against Patrick Boulanger of St. Mary. Siegel then won, 10-2, for a major decision over Chris Morales from Lincoln. In his last match of the day, Siegel won, 5-3, in overtime against Alex Reynolds from Grand View.

At 133 pounds, Nick Kunz won some matches for the Lights. After a loss to start the tournament, Kunz won, 19-0, for a technical fall over RJ Marrero from Lincoln. Kunz then earned a 15-5 major decision over Alex Pena from Wayland Baptist. Kunz then won, 7-4, against Breyden Morrill from Baker.

Carl Hansen also won some consolation matches wrestling at 184 pounds. After a loss, Hansen won, 5-2, against Harold Gilmore from Cumberlands. He followed that up with an 11-6 win over Luke Jenness from Northwestern.

The NAIA Nationals will conclude tomorrow.