The 20th-ranked Dakota Wesleyan University wrestling team hosted not one, but two, top-15 teams Thursday at the Christian Family Wellness Center. Though the Tigers wrestled better throughout the day, they lost both matches to their talented opponents.
No. 11 Morningside College handed DWU a 31-9 loss on Thursday afternoon and No. 15 Jamestown College won the last four matches to erase a DWU lead and win 26-15 on Thursday night.
In the first match, the Tigers only managed to win three matches, as Morningside validated its national ranking.
"They're definitely a very good team and we knew it would be a tough dual," said DWU head coach Josh Hardman. "We won the matches that we needed to win and we were close in a few others. We would've needed all of those to go our way if we wanted to win the match."
The Tigers got a 14-12 win from Andrew Leggott at 125 pounds. Seventh-ranked Tony Duarte won his 165-pound match, 4-1, and Danny Hutcheson had one of his better matches with a 7-4 win over Morningside's Dan Ascherl at 157 pounds.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Danny Hutcheson wrestled really well against Morningside," Hardman said. "It will be nice to see Danny move up in the region rankings and he's progressing in the right direction."
Morningside's win was boosted by pins at 149 pounds and 197 pounds, and a technical fall at 184.
In the second dual of the day, the Tigers took care of business in the lower weights. Leggott won by forfeit at 125, Jordan Harer won his 133-pound match, 4-1, and Hutcheson stayed hot with a 7-4 decision at 157 pounds. That set the stage for Duarte's 165 pound match.
Duarte found himself down early, but he fought back and eventually claimed a 14-12 win over Carlyle Scott to put the Tigers up 15-10 with four matches left. At one point, Duarte trailed by as many as eight points.
"Tony wrestled well," Hardman said. "His second match he wrestled a very good individual and got behind early. It kind of shows just what he's been doing lately. He came back and got a win. It's nice to see him have the mental toughness to wrestle through adversity."
The Tigers couldn't get that one more win they needed to pull off the upset. Their best chance in the final four matches was at 184 pounds, where DWU's Kyle Henderson engaged in a backand-forth match with Jamestown's Matt Buysse. Henderson got an escape in the final minute to pull within one point, but time ran out before he could get a match-winning takedown and Jamestown used the 6-5 win to pull ahead, and ultimately win the match.
"We knew that their upper weight classes are very solid, and we needed to get a win at either 174 or 184," Hardman said. "I thought our biggest chance was at 184 with Kyle Henderson. He's wrestling really well, he's doing a lot of things good, but he's probably just 30 seconds away from winning a lot of matches. His last three or four losses are by one point or one takedown. If we could've gotten that win, I think we would've had a good chance to pull out that win." The Tigers just have today to recuperate before hitting the road to participate in Saturday's Husky Open at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minn. The tournament begins at 9 a.m.
No. 11 Morningside 30, No. 20 Dakota Wesleyan 9
ADVERTISEMENT
125-Andrew Leggott (DWU) d. Cody Dennis (MOR); 14-12 133-Chris Utesch (MOR) d. Jordan Harer (DWU); 9-0 141-Jared Pickett (MOR) d. Billy Murtha (DWU); 8-0 149 -Ben Knight (MOR) pinned Jared Thomas (DWU); 1:05 157-Danny Hutcheson (DWU) d. Dan Ascherl (MOR); 7-4 165-Tony Duarte (DWU) d. Joe Keleher (MOR); 4-1 174-Weston Frahm (MOR) d. Kyle Henderson (DWU); 7-2 184-Jake Stevenson (MOR) technical fall over Blake Hodne (16-1) 197-Cole Wilson (MOR) pinned Taylor Forsling (DWU); 1:50 HWT-Shawn Meyer (MOR) d. Todd Casselman (DWU); 3-0
No. 15 Jamestown 26, No. 20 Dakota Wesleyan 15
125-Andrew Leggott (DWU) wins by forfeit 133-Jordan Harer (DWU) d. Brandon Roehrich (JC); 4-1 141-Zach Halcumb (JC) d. Billy Murtha (DWU); 13-2 149-Brad Malum (JC) pinned Jared Thomas (DWU); 0:56 157-Danny Hutcheson (DWU) d. Chris Harmon (JC); 7-4 165-Tony Duarte (DWU) d. Carlyle Scott (JC); 14-12 174-Justin Schuele (JC) d. Blake Hodne (DWU); 8-1 184-Matt Buysse (JC) d. Kyle Henderson (DWU); 6-5 197-Chris Thoresen (JC) pinned Taylor Forsling (DWU); 4:57 HWT-Stacy Mello (JC) d. Todd Casselman (DWU); 10-2
