Northern wrestling finishes road trip with dual win over Dickinson State

On the road in North Dakota Wednesday night, the Montana State University-Northern wrestling team took care of business with a 28-9 victory in its dual against Dickinson State University. While the Lights picked up another win, MSU-N head coach Tyson Thivierge believes they could have wrestled even better.

“Sometimes you got to win the ugly ones. It wasn’t pretty by any means. We still got a lot of work to get back where we were before the break,” Thivierge said. “We had some great performances and other performances were subpar. Even some of the wins were subpar and that’s not who we are.”

The dual started with Northern’s Tanner Cook wrestling Jose Gonzalez in the 125-pound weight class. Gonzalez took the lead in the first period and he never looked back as he went on to win, 10-6, for a decision to give the Blue Hawks a 3-0 lead in the dual.

The Lights responded when Brennon McDermott wrestled Wyatt Engwicht at 133 pounds. McDermott won, 8-6, for a decision over Engwicht to tie the dual 3-3. At 141 pounds, Northern’s Colin Silverthorn defeated Dante Venema with a 3-1 decision to give the Lights a 6-3 lead in the dual.

Martin Wilkie won another match for the Lights at 149 pounds. Against Tayt Wolding, Wilkie went up 21-2 in the second period to win by technical fall, which extended the Lights’ lead to 11-3 in the dual.

At 157 pounds, the Hawks responded when Kale Corley won, 4-1, for a decision over Northern’s Connor Harris. While the Lights would go on to win the dual, Thivierge saw plenty that the Lights need to work on.

“We’re still backing up quite a bit and we got to go forward to take ground from our opponents,” Thivierge said. “Our hand fighting is kind of sketchy right now, we’re overthinking things and we’re too worried about getting tired. Those are things that we really need corrected in a very fast and quick manner.”

The Lights got back on track when Northern’s Devin Crawford defeated Tate Nordby, 4-2, at 165 pounds. Then at 174 pounds, Northern’s NaKoda Siegel went up 23-6 in the third period for a technical fall over Isaac Andersen, which gave the Lights a 19-6 lead in the dual.

Northern’s Austin Vanek continued to wrestle well as he pinned Samuel Adams in the second period of the 184-pound match. It was the third bonus-point win for the Lights in the dual, which Thivierge believes is something positive that the Lights can take away from the night.

“That bodes well for us as we go down here closer to the postseason. Scoring those bonus points is good for us at the conference tournament and national tournament,” Thivierge said. “The veterans are going out there and scoring points so that’s the positive.”

At 197 pounds, Northern’s Carl Hansen won, 8-4, for a decision against Konrich Speelmon to extend the lead to 28-6. In the final match of the night at 285 pounds, Kyle Andersen defeated Northern’s Rylan Moldenhauer, 4-1, to make the final score in the dual 28-9.

The Lights now return to the Hi-Line for a break before a tournament next weekend. As they return home, Thivierge and the Lights will focus on cleaning up their mistakes and continuing to improve.

“It’s just been a long road trip so we’ll get home, get back in the room and start making corrections,” Thivierge said.

The MSU-N wrestling team will next compete at the Missouri Valley Collegiate in Marshall, Missouri, starting Jan. 20.

MSU-Northern 28, Dickinson 9

125 - Jose Gonzalez, D, dec. Tanner Cook, 10-6; 133 - Brennan McDermott, M, dec. Wyatt Engwicht, 8-6; 141 - Colin Silverthorn, M, dec. Dante Venema, 3-1; 149 - Martin Wilkie, M, tech. fall Tayt Wolding, 21-2; 157 - Kale Corley, D, dec. Connor Harris, 4-1; 165 - Devin Crawford, M, dec. Tate Nordby, 4-2; 174 - NaKoda Siegel, M, tech. fall Isaac Andersen, 23-6; 184 - Austin Vanek, M, pinned Samuel Adams; 197 - Carl Hansen, M, dec. 8-4, Konrich Speelmon; 285 - Kyle Andersen, D, dec. Rylan Moldenhauer, 4-1.