Lights geared up for a big run at the CCC

After a roller coaster ride of a regular season, the postseason has arrived for the Montana State University-Northern wrestling team.

Head coach Tyson Thivierge’s team is headed to LaGrande, Oregon for the annual Cascade Conference Championships, which run Friday and Saturday at Eastern Oregon University.

The Lights come into the tournament ranked No. 20 in the NAIA Coaches Poll, while Menlo, Providence, Embry-Riddle, Southern Oregon and Eastern Oregon are the other CCC schools in the Top 20.

As for the tournament itself, it will again be a national qualifier where each weight class has a certain number of allocations. This weekend, the CCC will send six grapplers from 125 pounds, five at 133, six at 141, five at 149, five at 157, eight at 165, seven at 174, five at 184, Sven at 197 and six any 285 to next month’s NAIA national tournament. Those numbers are high because of how strong the CCC has been in the national rankings this season.

And the Lights are a big part of that, as Devin Crawford at 165, NaKoda Siegel at 174, Austin Vanek and Rylin Burns at 184, and Carl Hansen at 197 all hold national rankings heading into this weekend.

Of course, the CCC will be the toughest national qualifier in the NAIA again this winter, but the Lights are posted for a big tournament, and they are looking to send as many wrestlers to Kansas as they can.

The 2024 CCC gets underway Friday and runs through Saturday’s finals in LaGrande, Oregon.

There will also be be 30 at-large selections of three from each weight class. After the conference tournament, the conference raters and oversight members will all meet to select the remaining at-large qualifiers Tuesday.

All qualifiers will then head to the NAIA national tournament Feb. 29-March 2 in Wichita, Kansas.