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Dickinson State claimed 6th place at the NAIA Wrestling Championships this weekend at Oklahoma City, Okla. The 73.5 team points tallied were below the triple-digit standard that the Blue Hawks have established in recent seasons, but they still claimed five All-Americans with Jake Kallestad’s runner-up finish in the 285-lb division leading the team.
The Hawks’ other four All-Americans were Stanton Schlecht (6th, 165), Shane Bennett (6th, 174), Matt Michaelson (6th, 197) and Brett Owen (7th, 184). Of this group, Coach O’Donnell will have the off-season challenge in trying to replace seniors Schlecht, Michaelson and Owen.
Kallestad won two matches by major decision. In the tournament opener, he defeated Mike Wakim (Missouri Baptist) 18-4 and then did it again against John Bates (Southern Oregon). 14-3. After consecutive 3-2 wins by decision, Kallestad faced Arjan Bhullar (Simon Fraser) for the weight division championship. Bhullar is the Canadian Olympian at the heavyweight division. Kallestad, who generally surrenders a few dozen pounds in this division, but certainly not wrestling skill, was turned back in a very competitive 4-2 overtime, decision. The junior from Belgrade, Mont., will have the 2010 championship to serve as one last opportunity on the national stage.
In several weight classes the Blue Hawks could not make much headway, losing bouts at the quarter-final level (five of six) and in the wrestle-backs prior to the 7th place pairing.
Brett Owen, did manage to make it that far. He won by fall (0:58) in his first match, defeated another foe by a 10-5 decision, but then headed to the wrestle-backs after an 11-2 loss to the eventual national champion, Chris Platt (Southern Oregon). Owen shrugged off the loss. He won two more matches including a 4-1 win over Clete Hanson (Simon Fraser).
In 2008 Stan Schlecht was the runner-up in his weight class, but he had to settle for 6th this year though he scored well in his three victories, the first of which was a major decision over David Wiese (Cumberland), 13-5. It was a tough tournament however and Schlecht was added to the All-Amercian list, but probably not as high as he would have liked. Matt Michaelson’s route to his finish was similar. He claimed three victories in the meet with his first one, a 10-1 decision over Karl Spain (William Penn), being the easiest. Sophomore Shane Bennett claimed three wins as well but was upended for 5th place by region rival Brendon DeCock (University of Great Falls). Dickinson State Scores Big at NAIA National Qualifier Meet; Seven Hawks Take Individual Titles
Dickinson State proved why they are a national caliber team this weekend as they set a new scoring record (189 points) in the North Region meet at Hastings College (Neb.). Morningside College (118.5) was a distant second place to the Blue Hawks, with Dana College (115.5), Hastings College (89), Briar Cliff University (69), Northwestern College (69), Dakota Wesleyan University (52.5), University of Sioux Falls (28.5), and Dakota Athletic Conference rival, Jamestown College (21) rounding out the team scoring. It was DSU's third region crown in four years.
All 12 of the Blue Hawk grapplers placed. There were seven weight class championships by DSU: Angel Olea (125), Eli Zuniga (141), Nick Zumwalt (157), Stanton Schlecht (165), Brett Owen (184), Matt Michaelson (197) and Jake Kallestad (285). In addition, the Blue Hawks had four runner-ups (Isaac Romero, 125; Nate Schweitzer, 141; Jose Serrato, 149; and Shane Bennett, 174) and a fifth place (Cameron Schrempp, 174). DSU absorbed just four losses on the day and lost their first match in the 174-lb division’s semi-finals.
Two championships were decided between teammates. At 125-lbs, Olea defeated teammate Isaac Romero (default) and at 141-lbs, Zuniga defeated Nate Schweitzer (2-1).
In the 157-lb championship, Zumwalt won a 3-2 decision over Jeremy Garvin of Briar Cliff. Right behind him was Schlecht at 165-lbs who also beat a grappler from Briar Cliff, Sammy Johnson, in a 4-1 decision. Shane Bennett had to settle for 2nd place as he was edged by Tom Eaton of Northwestern College by a 10-7 decision. However, the Hawks took the final three weight-class championships with wins by Owen, in a major decision, 15-4, over Northwestern College’s Cory Spree. Michaelson earned a 10-5 decision over Nic Leither of Northwestern College. And finally in the 285-lb class, Kallestad took the title with a 7-2 decision against Jon Wilbourne (Dana College).
The NAIA #3 rated Blue Hawks have a few more days at home to prepare before heading off to the national meet held in Oklahoma City, Okla., March 5-7. Late Wins by Blue Hawks Allow Blue Hawks to Turn Back Lights, 21-13
Dickinson State, the NAIA #3 rated team gave the Scott Gym audience tonight plenty of reasons to agree with that assessment as they defeated the #9 ranked team, Montana State University-Northern, 21-13. The Hawks won the last four bouts to erase a 13-7 Lights advantage.
Corey Borges opened the dual against newcomer Angel Olea. Borges is the NAIA #1 ranked wrestler at 125 pounds and he showed Olea why. The two grapplers grew up less than 150 miles from each other in the central valley of California and Borges dominated the match to be sure, but Olea’s two or three good chances to pin Borges were never realized and the Lights had a 4-0 lead.
At 133, Colt Heger edged Brad Steele in a 7-5 decision and a Lights lead grew to 7-0. Nate Schweitzer (141) got the Blue Hawks going with a major decision over Beau LaSalle. Schweitzer is not ranked in the top five nationally, but perhaps he should be noticed as his win tonight and aggressive style testify to his proficiency.
Jack Goodrich (149) helped MSUN reclaim the team momentum in the next match. Goodrich defeated Jose Serrato 7-5 and the Lights’ lead was at 10-4.
Back and forth the dual would go; Nick Zumwalt’s (157) 4-2 win over Taylor Todd and then Colter Dimas’ 6-4 overtime upset of Stanton Schlecht in the 165-pound bout continued the ebb and flow of the team efforts.
But in the last four matches DSU won two decisions and then two major decisions to squelch any further hopes of MSUN chances for the team win. First, Cameron Schrempp (174) stopped Austin Ouellette 5-2 and then Brett Owen’s 5-3 win over #2 ranked Evan Hinebach brought the Hawks even at 13-13.
In the final two matches of the night, Matt Michaelson (197) won a major decision over Mark Dennis 10-1, followed by Jake Kallestad’s (285) domination of Robbie Shaw, 16-7, to win another major decision for the Blue Hawks and to close out the team scoring at 21-13.
Next up for DSU is the NAIA National Qualifier in Hastings, Neb., on February 21.
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