Dakota Wesleyan tops Hastings
The Dakota Wesleyan wrestling team won its final dual of the season on Thursday, defeating Hastings College 33-12 at the Christen Family Wellness Center. The win improves the Tigers’ dual record to 7-10 and 3-3 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.By: Kevin Pottebaum, The Daily Republic
- Richard Rios
The Dakota Wesleyan wrestling team won its final dual of the season on Thursday, defeating Hastings College 33-12 at the Christen Family Wellness Center.
The win improves the Tigers’ dual record to 7-10 and 3-3 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.
The Tigers trailed twice in the dual after Dakota Wesleyan wrestlers were pinned in the middle of tightly contested matches.
“We weren’t wrestling poorly,” head coach Matt Sedivy said. “We got caught in a bad situation. They were wrestling well and sometimes you get caught in things.”
Zach Nelson had a 6-1 lead on his opponent in the night’s first match before being reversed and pinned to give Hastings a 6-0 lead.
The Tigers clawed back with two consecutive wins, including decisions by Richard Rios and Dusty Paulsen, to knot the match at 12.
Rios improved to 22-8 on the season, while Paulsen earned his 20th win, improving to 20-15.
Rios was excited with the fan support on senior night at Dakota Wesleyan.
“We have a lot of support on campus,” Rios said. “We made a big deal to have the seniors go out with a bang. It was a really good experience and everybody fed off the momentum.”
Hastings regained the lead as Justin Ferguson pinned the only DWU senior to wrestle on the night, Ray Rickenbach. With a 12-6 lead in the dual, Hastings would not record another victory.
Trever DeVestern tied the dual at 12 with his pin to record win No. 31 for the freshman.
The remaining matches went in the Tigers’ favor, including a few close matches that Sedivy hopes can build confidence before the region tournament.
“It’s big mentally going into the region tournament,” he said. “Physically, we’re ready to go, we’ve got to get them mentally peaked.”
The Tigers’ dual season has wrapped up and their next contest will be the north region tournament in Sioux City, Iowa on February, 18.
DAKOTA WESLEYAN 33,
HASTINGS 12
125 — Tony Blessie (HC) pin Zach Nelson, 3:36; 133 — Richard Rios (DWU) dec. Jared Leithead, 7-1; 141 — Dusty Paulsen (DWU) dec. Garth Ginder, 5-2; 149 — Justin Ferguson (HC) pin Ray Rickenbach, 3:23; 157 — Trever DeVestern (DWU) pin Mike Ganny, 2:56; 165 — Nick Hutcheson (DWU) dec. Taylor Boyce, 8-3; 174 — Tyler Sarringar (DWU) by forfeit; 184 — Kyle Hoisington (DWU) dec. David Gerhardus, 7-0; 197 — Shea Klooster (DWU) by forfeit; HWT — Eric Gruis (DWU) dec. Pat Mattfeld, 5-2.
Tags: sports, tigers, dwu, wrestling
More from around the web
RSS Feeds