TEAMS AND QUALIFIERS: The six-team West Regional tournament will qualify 10 champions and 10 at-large wrestlers for the NCAA national championships to be held March 20-22 in St. Louis, Mo. Participating teams are Western Wrestling Conference members Air Force, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State and Wyoming.
TIME SCHEDULE: First-round action begins at 10 a.m. with the semifinals coming at 11:30 a.m. Consolation semifinals begin at 2 p.m. followed by the final round and consolation finals at 4 p.m. True second-place matches will be held after the championship round if necessary, but there are no automatic qualifiers beyond the champion in each weight class. The 10 at-large entries will be determined by the coaches following the tournament.
TICKET INFO: Tickets to the NCAA West Regional are available from the Bison Ticket Office by calling toll free (888) 231-NDSU or online at GoBison.com/tickets. General admission seats are $12 for adults and $6 for youth 17-and-under. Children 2-and-under are free with the purchase of an adult ticket.
THE FACILITY: The Bison Sports Arena has been the site of five NCAA Division II national wrestling championships in 1971, 1976, 1983, 1991 and 1997. It is a 6,000-seat multipurpose building that is home to NDSU's men's and women's basketball teams and hosts indoor track and field meets. The last NCAA qualifying tournament at the BSA was the 2003 North Central Conference tournament, won by Nebraska-Omaha.
NORTHERN IOWA IS KING: The Northern Iowa Panthers will be seeking their 23rd straight West Region wrestling crown Saturday. UNI has won 22 straight tournaments since 1986. The Panthers went 4-0 in the Western Wrestling Conference this year, winning the four duals by a combined score of 162-15.
WESTERN WRESTLING CONFERENCE: North Dakota State finished in a tie for second with a 4-2-0 record in its second year in the Western Wrestling Conference. The Bison were fourth with a 3-2-1 record in their inaugural season. The wrestling-only conference is comprised of seven schools spread across six states, including Air Force, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming. The West Regional serves as the NCAA qualifying tournament for the conference.
LAST YEAR'S REGIONAL: North Dakota State scored 42 points to finish fourth in last year's West Regional at Northern Iowa. UNI won with 96 points, Northern Colorado was second with 73.5, Wyoming was third with 56, South Dakota State was fifth with 37, Air Force sixth with 32.5, and Eastern Illinois seventh with 28 points. NDSU qualified three wrestlers for the national tournament. Eric Hoffman won the 125-pound title, Ryan Adams was an at-large pick after winning the true-second match at 149, and Jacob Bryce was a at-large qualifier after placing third at 197.
125 POUNDS - Eric Hoffman, Sr., Davenport, Iowa...12-3 overall...4-1 in region...Pinned UNI's Caleb Flores, Wyoming's Cody Grant and SDSU's Alan Marvin...Majored AF's Zach Valdez, 9-0...Lost at UNC to Tony Mustari, 5-3...Wrestled 8th-ranked Rollie Peterkin of Penn at the Virginia Duals, losing 6-1...Ineligible for the first semester but compiled a 7-4 record in open competition wrestling unattached...Won last year's West Region title at 125 pounds but went 0-2 at nationals.
133 POUNDS: Eric Sanders, Sr., Wabasha, Minn...21-11 overall...5-1 in region plus a win by forfeit...Pinned AF's Samuel Sheppard in 1:56...Has three one-point decisions over Wyoming's Cory VomBaur (1-0), UNC's Blayze Bahe (6-5) and SDSU's Derek Pirner (5-4 in overtime)...Won 10 straight in duals before ending season with 14-5 loss at UNI to Josh Baldridge...0-3 vs. Top 20 wrestlers...Lost 18-4 to No. 10 Pat Castillo of Northern Illinois....Lost 14-4 to No. 2 Mack Reiter of Minnesota...Lost 6-5 to No. 16 T.J. Dillashaw of Cal State Fullerton.
141 POUNDS: Gabriel Mooney, Jr., Greenbush, Minn...22-9 overall...4-1 in region...Tech falls over UNC's Rocco DePaolo (16-0) and Wyoming's Brandon Gifford (15-0)...Decisions over SDSU's Jeff Cooley (6-3), UNC's Richard Lohr (6-4)...Lost 4-2 to AF's Jake Kriegbaum.
149 POUNDS: Ryan Adams, So., Coon Rapids, Minn...9-2 overall...1-1 in region...Won 9-4 over AF's Chris Szabolcs and lost 15-0 at UNI to Nick Pickerell...Sidelined by injury most of the year...True second place winner and at-large national qualifier last year...Went 1-2 at nationals with a 6-4 consolation win over VMI's Sam Alvarenga.
157 POUNDS: Adam Aho, Jr., Frazee, Minn...23-6 overall...4-2 in region...Decisions over UNC's Justin Gaethje (5-2) and Rocco DePaulo (8-2)...Beat Wyoming's Dane Fuhrman 4-2 and tech falled SDSU's Nick Genereux 18-2...Lost to AF's Tony Dorward 4-3 in overtime...Lost 6-4 at UNI to Tyson Reiner...Wrestled No. 4 C.P. Schlatter of Minnesota, losing by fall at 4:47...Won the NDSU Open and MSU Moorhead Open.
165 POUNDS: Vince Salminen, RFr., Billings, Mont...2-3 record at 165 pounds and 12-13 overall...Wrestled at 149 through mid-January...1-3 in the region...Edged UNC's Daniel Prather 6-5 at 149 pounds at the Minnesota Quadrangular...Pinned by UNC's Devan Lewis (2:10), majored by AF's Stephen Crozier (17-6) and pinned by UNI's Moza Fay (1:33).
174 POUNDS: Shannon Fettig, Fr., Kintyre, N.D...2-6 at 174 pounds and 7-10 overall...Also won an eighth match by medical forfeit over a junior college wrestler...Wrestled at 165 in the first two open tournaments...1-4 in region...Beat Wyoming's Kyle Morrow (4-2)...Lost to SDSU's Justin Retallic (4-2) and UNC's Ryan Johnson (11-3)...Pinned by UNI's Alex Dolly.
184 POUNDS: Kenny Moenkedick, RFr., Perham, Minn...5-3 at 184 pounds and 14-12 overall...Also won two tournament matches over junior college wrestlers...Wrestled at 174 pounds through mid-January...4-1 in region...Beat UNC's Ryan Johnson 6-5 at 174 pounds in the Minnesota Quadrangular...Lost 7-5 in overtime to SDSU's Tyler Sorenson at 184 before pinning UNC's Ed Matthews (2:09) and defeating Wyoming's Dan Barrone (6-4) and AF's Jacob Devlin (6-5).
197 POUNDS: Jacob Bryce, Jr., Glenwood, Minn...12-9 at 197 pounds, plus a 7-4 win over Northern Illinois heavyweight David Benner...5-1 in region...Beat UNC's Patrick Carey (8-5), pinned SDSU's Jeremy Swier (4:06), and beat UNC's Patrick Carey (6-1)...Majored AF's James Ciccone (19-9)...Pinned by UNI's Andrew Anderson (1:40)...Won by forfeit against Wyoming.
HEAVYWEIGHT: Tyler Hemmesch, Fr., Elk River, Minn...13-13 overall...Also has a 5-1 record with four pins over junior college wrestlers...1-4 in region with the only win by forfeit against SDSU...Lost by tech fall to UNC's Reese Hopkin (15-0), decisions to Wyoming's Jason Still (7-2) and AF's Anthony Stegeman (7-4), and a major decision loss to UNI's Dustin Bauman (10-0)...Wrestled No. 6 Wade Sauer of Cal State Fullerton at the Lone Star Duals, a 6-0 loss.
THE COACHES: Legendary head coach Bucky Maughan is in his 44th season at the helm of the Bison wrestling program. The three-time national coach of the year has compiled an impressive 443-136-12 record (.760) at NDSU and has led North Dakota State to four NCAA Division II national championships. Maughan has coached 30 individual NCAA champions and more than 170 All-Americans, and was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003. Assistant coaches are Bret Maughan (7th season) and Kris Nelson (8th season), both All-Americans at North Dakota State, and the volunteer coach is Tommy Davis, a two-time ACC champion and four-time NCAA qualifier at North Carolina State.
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