MSU-N's Wilkie wins 149-pound title at Missouri Valley Invite

In the biggest tournament of the season thus far, the Montana State University-Northern wrestling team showed it’s right there with the best of the best in the NAIA.

Last Friday and Saturday, Northern competed at the Missouri Valley Invitational, where the Lights finished eighth with 82.5 points and sent three wrestlers to the podium.

Leading the way for MSU-N was Martin Wilkie, who won the 149-pound championship at the tournament which featured so many top NAIA teams, including champion Grand View. In the championship match of the tournament, Wilkie defeated GVI’s Jack Lattimer, 7-6, to take the title.

Northern nearly had a second champion, as NaKoda Siegel reached the title bout at 174 pounds. Siegel edged teammate Rylin Burns in the semifinals before losing an overtime decision to Alex Reynolds of Grand View in the chipper. Burns also wound up in sixth place for the Lights, while Colin Silverthorn (141), Devin Crawford (165) and Carl Hansen (197) also scored plenty of team points for MSU-N.

Grand View won the tournament with 230.5 points. Eastern Oregon was second, followed by Southeastern, Life and Menlo.

Northern will be right back in tournament action this Saturday when the Lights travel to Dickinson, North Dakota, for the Tyler Plummer Classic, which wraps up January’s schedule.