North Dakota State leads the series with Air Force 3-1. The last time the two teams squared off was on Feb. 14, 2004 when the Bison blanked Air Force 42-0. This marks the last time NDSU has shutout an opponent.
Wyoming leads the all-time series with the Bison 3-2. North Dakota State has taken the last two matches including last year's dual with the Bison squeaking out a 22-21 victory on Feb. 19, 2005.
SCOUTING AIR FORCE: The Falcons come into Friday's dual with a 2-2 record on the season defeating Colorado School of Mines and Portland State. Air Force's defeats were to Division II schools, Adams State and Western State.
Air Force has three returning starters who qualified for the NCAA Championships one year ago. They are led by senior Brenden McLean at 197 pounds. McLean is 6-1 on the year and ranked No. 17 according to the latest NWCA/InterMat Division I Coaches' Poll. Sophomore 141-pounder Jake Kriegbaum, also a 2005 NCAA qualifier, leads Air Force in wins with 24. The other NCAA qualifier, 133-pound senior Brandon Strong, is 9-3 on the season. Senior Zane Hershey is coming into the dual hot as he took home the 184-pound crown at the Colorado Collegiates on Saturday, Jan. 21.
The Falcons are coached by Wayne Baughman. Baughman is in his 25th year with the program and has a career record of 175-111-5. He was also the head wrestling coach for the U.S. Olympic Team in 1976 and 1980.
SCOUTING WYOMING: Wyoming is 3-5 for the year going into Friday's dual with South Dakota State. The Cowboys have victories over Portland State, Oregon and Western Wyoming and one of their losses was to No. 5 Nebraska back in late November. Senior heavyweight Dusty Hoffschneider, junior Gary Dack at 165 pounds and sophomore 157-pounder Dan Clum all return to the Cowboy lineup this year after qualifying for the NCAA championships in 2005.
Head coach Steve Suder leads the charge for Wyoming. Suder is in his 17th year and during his tenure he has led the Cowboys to two Western Athletic Conference championships and has led 60 Wyoming wrestlers to the NCAA championships.
BISON DOMINATE PORTLAND STATE 37-6: North Dakota State picked up its second consecutive win in dominating fashion by beating Portland State 37-6 in front of a crowd of 655 at the Bison Sports Arena on Friday, January 20. NDSU won eight of ten bouts which included three pins and four major decisions. The 37 team points is the most the Bison have scored on an opponent since February 15, 2004 when the Bison defeated Northern Colorado 37-3.
The match began at 157 pounds with NDSU redshirt freshman Adam Aho winning his third consecutive match of the season by defeating Shane Evenhus 13-5. Aho improved his record to 6-4 overall, 3-2 in dual matches. At 165 pounds, Zach Molitor picked up his first career dual match victory for the Bison and 10th win of the season defeating Chris Feist in a close 7-5 battle.
Portland State picked up their first win of the night at 174 pounds when senior Kalivas Karras defeated Matt Hermann in a 3-2 decision. NDSU (2-3) came storming back with pins from Matt Wetterling at 184 pounds and Jacob Bryce at 197 pounds, giving the Bison a 19-3 lead. Wetterling's pin was his team-leading 14th of the year and his 19th win of the season. The victory for Bryce was his first career dual victory and also his first pin of the season.
Mike Maresh continued the winning ways for the Bison defeating Steve Fittinger 13-4. Maresh is now perfect in his first four bouts of his career. At 125 pounds, Mike Meger matched Maresh with four points of his own, defeating Bricen Yakabe 12-5.
Eric Sanders picked up his second pin and ninth win of the year at 133 pounds, sticking Kip Watson in 2:17. David Cunningham also picked up bonus points for North Dakota State defeating Tony Kubec 14-2. Cunningham's win was his 12th of the year.
Adam Duryee of Portland State and Gabe Mooney ended the match with an action-packed bout with Duryee coming out on top 6-5.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: Several potential Bison dual-meet opponents are ranked nationally according to the January 17th USA Today/NWCA NCAA Division I Coaches' Poll. The Bison lost to No. 25 Penn 38-3 on Jan. 13 at the Virginia Duals and will travel to No. 23 Northern Illinois on February 12 and No. 24 Northern Iowa on February 18.
Several individual wrestlers NDSU will face are also nationally ranked. Northern Illinois has five, American University has three and Air Force, Northern Iowa and Northern
Colorado each have one individual nationally ranked. The Bison will host Air Force on January 27 and American University on February 20.
MINNESOTA BORN: All 10 of NDSU's wrestlers in the Bison starting lineup are from Minnesota. Collectively, they won 12 Minnesota state championships in their high school careers and also have a combined 188 wins to go along with a .603 winning percentage while competing for North Dakota State.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE SIGNS EVAN HACKER: Evan Hacker of Canby (Minn.) High School signed a National Letter of Intent to wrestle and continue his education at North Dakota State University during the November early signing period.
Hacker, who went 40-3 last season as a junior, is the defending Class A Minnesota state heavyweight champion. Hacker was also selected to the all-state academic wrestling team and was an all-conference academic offensive lineman for Canby's football team as well as a member of the Minnesota Junior National Wrestling Team.
LAST YEAR OF RECLASSIFICATION: The Bison are still without a conference affiliation, but NDSU is looking ahead to 2006-07 when its NCAA tournament eligibility begins, thanks to an NCAA ruling in September 2004 that North Dakota State could reclassify its wrestling and volleyball teams to Division I in three years instead of five. NDSU is on track to reclassify in all sports by 2008-09.
MEET THE BISON:
MIKE MEGER (125): Meger enters his second year as the 125-pounder for North
Dakota State and is 5-6 on the year. The sophomore is on a roll, winning his last three dual matches, two of them by major decisions.
ERIC SANDERS (133): After redshirting last season, Sanders returns to the Bison lineup. The sophomore started off the 2005-06 season hot, winning seven of his first eight matches and placing second at the Daktronics and Bison Opens. Sanders is coming off his ninth win and second pin of the year, pinning Kip Watson of Portland State.
DAVID CUNNINGHAM (141): Cunningham begins his first year of action for North Dakota State after redshirting in 2004-05. Cunningham is one of six wrestlers in the starting lineup to have double-digit victories (12) and is 2-0 in home duals this season.
GABE MOONEY (149): Mooney is currently second on the team in victories with 17 and has placed in three of the four tournaments he competed in which includes a championship at the Daktronics Open in Brookings, S.D. The redshirt freshman picked up his first career dual-match victory on Jan. 13 at the Virginia Duals defeating Billy Bullwinkel of The Citadel 7-2.
ADAM AHO (157): Aho is 6-4 on the year and has been hampered by injuries this season. The redshirt freshman has been wrestling well of late, winning three of his last four matches.
ZACH MOLITOR (165): Molitor is the starter for North Dakota State this year at 165 pounds as a true freshman. The freshman picked up his 10th win and first career dual victory last weekend against Portland State, defeating Chris Feist 7-5.
MATT HERMANN (174): Team captain Matt Hermann also has been slowed by injuries this season and is 3-5 on the year. The junior leads the team with 58 career victories and defeated Mike Grogan of Virginia 5-4 at the Virginia Duals.
MATT WETTERLING (184): Wetterling currently leads the team in wins (19), pins (14) and fastest pin (0:37) this season. The sophomore has won his last two matches by pin, coming against The Citadel and Portland State.
JACOB BRYCE (197): Bryce is currently 12-8 and picked up his first career dual victory and pin last Friday against Portland State defeating Jake Schneider. Bryce also placed runner-up this year at the Daktronics and Bison Opens and had a fifth-place showing at the Northern Iowa Open.
MIKE MARESH (Hwt.): Maresh made his North Dakota State wrestling debut at the Virginia Duals on January 13 with outstanding results. Maresh was the only Bison who went 3-0 at the tournament and also won his first home dual of his career, defeating Steve Fittinger of Portland State. Maresh will look to continue the trend against Air Force and Wyoming this weekend.
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