BISON WRESTLING CLUB REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER NEWSLETTER Issue 12

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BISON WRESTLING NEWSLETTER

ISSUE NO. 12 DECEMBER 2018 ‘TIS THE SEASON UPCOMING EVENTS By: Assistant Coach-Jarrod Garnett NDSU vs. Oregon State What a start to the season it has been for Bison Wrestling. We started off the 2018-2019 season with Thursday, December 20 three home events in the first week. First up, was Big Ten opponent and then 17th ranked @Sanford Health Athletic Northwestern. We took the dual by a score of 26-17 while winning six of 10 matches highlighted by Complex- at 7:00 Cam Sykora who upset then 14th ranked Colin Valdiviez 4-0. That was the second time in three seasons that our guys knocked off Northwestern which was great to see. Our guys came fired up, pm ready to wrestle, and started the season off with another big win for the Program. South Beach Duals Saturday, December 29 Moving on to the dual against Northern Illinois, we were able to showcase how we have separated NDSU vs. Cornell the gap against our competition. We won nine of 10 matches; three of them by bonus points in- route to a 35-4 team victory. The highlight of the night came at the last two matches of the dual NDSU vs. North Carolina where Cordell Eaton got the crowd fired up with a huge pin which motivated Brandon Metz to go Sunday, December 30 out and get another huge pin in just under 25 seconds to send the crowd into a frenzy with back to NDSU vs. West. Virginia back bonus point victories. That has been an emphasis for our squad this year, we are now seeing NDSU vs. Indiana our guys really push hard and fight for those bonus points which is great to see. @ Ft. Lauderdale, FL For the Bison Open, we decided to rest our starting group as three weigh-ins at scratch weight while also having a short week the following week traveling out to California would have been tough for NDSU vs. Iowa State our guys and it is a long season. With that being said, this was a showcase for all of our red shirts Wednesday, January 9 and guys that you fans do not get a chance to see that often. We had 2 runner up finishes with Mike Otomo and Jesse Shearer. Then three guys that finished 3rd in McGwire Midkiff, TJ Pottinger, and @ Sanford Health Athletic Dan Stibral. We have great depth this year and it was awesome to see that in action and come to Complex- Scheels Center; 7 pm form at the Bison Open with representation from a full Arizona State team as well as wrestlers from Minnesota and SDSU. NDSU vs. Pittsburgh Since I mentioned bonus points have been a huge emphasis for us earlier, we really saw that pay off Saturday, January 12 in our first dual of the year against Fresno State. The Bulldogs created a tough @ Sanford Health Athletic competitive atmosphere and our guys were able to persevere and get the team victory by a score of Complex- Scheels Center; 4 pm 21-20. We won five matches on the night and all five were by bonus points including two victories by Andrew Fogarty and Cordell Eaton that recorded major decisions in the last 10 seconds of their matches. Brent Fleetwood answered the call of needing to go out and get a major in the final bout NDSU vs. Central Michigan of the night for us to win the dual by a score of 12-0 over Robert Garcia IV. While in California, we Thursday, January 24 made the short commute over to Cal State Bakersfield to compete in the Road Runner open against @ Mount Pleasant, MI; 6 pm some new competition. There was Division I representation from Stanford, Utah Valley, Fresno State, Cal Poly, and Bakersfield. We had a great event and our guys competed hard racking up some quality wins. Five guys claimed titles for us, Brent Fleetwood, Cam Sykora, Gavin Sutton, Cordell NDSU vs. Northern Colorado Eaton, and Brandon Metz. We had two other top-3 finishes with Andrew Fogarty taking second, and Sunday, January 27 Tyler McNutt taking third……….CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 @ Sanford Health Athletic Complex- Scheels Center; 2 pm

BISON WRESTLING CLUB REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER NEWSLETTER Issue 12

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North Dakota State 26, #17 Northwestern 17 Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018 Scheels Center / North Dakota State University Fargo, N.D. 125—Brent Fleetwood (NDSU) fall Dylan Utterback (NW), 4:59 133—#20 Cam Sykora (NDSU) dec #14 Colin Valdiviez (NW), 4-0 141—Yahya Thomas (NW) fall Gavin Sutton (NDSU), 1:16

149—Jaden Van Maanen (NDSU) dec Shayne Oster (NW), 12-10 157—#6 Ryan Deakin (NW) md. Nick Knutson (NDSU), 12-3 165—#12 Andrew Fogarty (NDSU) fall Tyler Moreland (NW), 4:48 174—#13 John Sebastian (NW) dec Lorenzo De La Riva (NDSU), 13-8 184—Tyler McNutt (NDSU) tech fall Brendan Devine (NW), 18-3, 5:41 197—Cordell Eaton (NDSU) dec Zach Chakonis (NW), 5-3 285—#14 Conan Jennings (NW) md. – Brandon Metz (NDSU), 12-0 Rs-Sr. Brent Fleetwood with a second period fall

#22 North Dakota State 35, Northern Illinois 4

Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 Scheels Center / North Dakota State University Fargo, N.D. 125—#23 Brent Fleetwood (NDSU) dec Bryce West (NIU), 7-1 133—#17 Cam Sykora (NDSU) TF Alijah Jeffery (NIU), TF 15-0 5:00 141—Gavin Sutton (NDSU) dec Anthony Cheloni (NIU), 7-4 149—Jaden Van Maanen (NDSU) dec McCoy Kent (NIU), 8-4 157—Nick Knutson (NDSU) dec Mason Kauffman (NIU), 4-2 165—#12 Andrew Fogarty (NDSU) dec Kenny Moore (NIU), 3-2 174—Brit Wilson (NIU) md. #24 Lorenzo De La Riva (NDSU), MD 15-4 184—Tyler McNutt (NDSU) dec Caden McWhirter (NIU), 4-2 197—Cordell Eaton (NDSU) fall Ross Sealby (NIU), 4:33 285—Brandon Metz (NDSU) fall Caleb Gossett (NIU), 0:21 Rs-Sr. Cordell Eaton with a second period fall

-JIMMIE OPEN- -BISON OPEN- NOVEMBER 3RD, 2018: JAMESTOWN, ND NOVEMBER 10TH, 2018: FARGO, ND

North Dakota State collected six individual No. 11-ranked Arizona State took 7 of 10 weight championships and four runner-up efforts at the classes, while North Dakota State placed five in the top three including a pair of runner-up finishes for University of Jamestown Jimmie Open on Saturday, Nov. 3, in Larson Gym. McGwire Midkiff (unattached 174 Jesse Shearer and 184 Michael Otomo at the th 133 lbs.); Jimmy Noel (unattached 165 lbs.); Jesse 48 annual Bison Open held Saturday, Nov. 10. Shearer (Rs-Fr. 174 lbs.); Michael Otomo (Rs-So. 184 lbs.); Cole Witzig (Rs-So. 197 lbs.); and Dan Stibral (Rs- Shearer, a redshirt freshman was pinned by the Jr. 285 lbs) each won their respective weight classes. nation's top-ranked 174-pounder Zahid Valencia at 1- minute, 2-seconds in the first period. Shearer won North Dakota State had other finalists in Sawyer Degen (Rs-Fr. 141 lbs.); Austin Brenner (unattached three of four matches and improved 7-1 overall. 165 lbs.); Reed Williams (unattached 174 lbs.); and T.J. Pottinger (unattached 184 lbs.). Otomo, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Wisconsin-La Crosse, faced another ranked Sun Devil, The Bison had four other wrestlers place in the top No. 18 Kordell Norfleet and lost a 12-3 major decision. sixth in their respective weight classes in Dylan Otomo went 2-1 at the Bison Open and stands 5-1 Droegemueller (unattached 141 lbs.) 3rd place; Sam overall Stuhl (unattached 141 lbs.) 5th place; Sam Gilseth (Rs- Jr. 149lbs.) 6th place; and Noah Cressell (unattached NDSU heavyweight Dan Stibral, unattached 184 lbs.) 3rd place. 133 McGwire Midkiff and unattached 184 TJ Pottinger all finished in 3rd place.

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#20 North Dakota State 21, Fresno State 20 Friday, Nov. 16, 2018 Save Mart Center / Fresno, Calif. 133—#16 Cam Sykora (NDSU) tech fall Gary Joint (FSU), TF 16-0 5:43 141—Chris Deloza (FSU) major dec Nico Colunga (NDSU), MD 12-1 149—#16 Khristian Olivas (FSU) TF Jaden Van Maanen (NDSU), TF 16-0 4:44 157—Isaiah Hokit (FSU) major dec Nick Knutson (NDSU), MD 14-4 165—#12 Andrew Fogarty (NDSU) major dec Jacob Wright (FSU), MD 9-1 174—#23 Lorenzo De La Riva (NDSU) major dec Dominic Kincaid (FSU), MD 12-0 184—Jackson Hemauer (FSU) major dec Tyler McNutt (NDSU), MD 9-0 197—Cordell Eaton (NDSU) major dec Danny Salas (FSU), MD 11-2 285—#15 AJ Nevills (FSU) dec #23 Brandon Metz (NDSU), 1-0 Rs-Sr. Brent Fleetwood seals the dual meet victory for 125—#22 Brent Fleetwood (NDSU) major dec Robert Garcia IV (FSU), the Bison with a 12-0 major decision MD 12-0

-FINN GRINAKER OPEN- NOVEMBER 17TH, 2018: MOORHEAD, MN

Runner-up showings in the Gold Division by unattached 141 Sam Stuhl, 149 Sam Gilseth, unattached 184 TJ Pottinger and 197 Cole Witzig highlighted North Dakota State day the Finn Grinaker Open hosted Saturday, Nov. 17, at Concordia College's Memorial Auditorium.

Stuhl posted a 3-1 record including a tech fall and sudden victory-1 win, while Gilseth, Pottinger and Witzig each won two of three matches at the tournament. Gilseth had a sudden victory-1 victory, while Pottinger recorded a major decision.

Unattached 174 Reed Williams (1-2) placed third and 141 Sawyer Degen (2-2) finished fourth.

“CALIFORNIA DREAMING”: THE BISON PRODUCE FIVE CHAMPIONS AND SIX FINALIST AT ROADRUNNER OPEN NOVEMBER 18TH, 2018: BAKERSFIELD, CA

North Dakota State 125 Brent Fleetwood, 133 Cam Sykora, 141 Gavin Sutton, 197 Cordell Eaton and heavyweight Brandon Metz all won individual championships at the Cal State University Bakersfield Roadrunner Open held Sunday, Nov. 18, in the Icardo Center. The No. 20-ranked Bison had seven top three finishes overall including runner-up 165 Andrew Fogarty and third place 184 Tyler McNutt.

Fleetwood, a transfer from Central Michigan, had a 4-0 record including a decision by injury default at 4:03 over CSU Bakersfield's Alejandro Hernandez-Figueroa in the 125-pound title match. The No. 22-ranked Fleetwood had a tech fall and major decision to improve to 7-0 overall this season.

The No. 16-ranked Sykora, a redshirt junior from Wheaton, Minn., fashioned a 4-0 record with a pin, a tech fall and a pair of major decisions. He posted a 12-1 major decision over CSU Bakersfield's No. 15-ranked Sean Nickell in the title match and ran his record to 7-0 overall.

Sutton, a redshirt freshman from Richmond, Ill., posted a 10-2 major decision over Menlo College's Joseph Dominguez in the 141- pound championship. He compiled a 5-0 record including his first pin of the season and improved to 6-1 overall.

Eaton, a redshirt junior from Long Grove, Iowa, rolled up three pins in four decisions to claim the 197-pound championship. He ran his record to 7-0 with four pins on the season.

No. 23-ranked Metz, a redshirt freshman from West Fargo, N.D., recorded a 9-3 decision over Stanford's Trevor Rasmussen to claim the heavyweight division. His 4-0 record included a pair of pins and improved to 5-2 overall.

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-DRAGON OPEN- DECEMBER 1ST, 2018: MOORHEAD, MN

North Dakota State 174-pounder Dylan Urbach, unattached 157 Jared Franek and unattached 165 Jimmy Noel each won individual titles to highlight the Bison effort in the Minnesota State Moorhead Dragon Open Red Division on Saturday, Dec. 1.

Urbach (5-1) went 3-0 including a fall and major decision, Franek (4-0) saw his first action of the season and went 4-0 including a pair of pins and a tech fall, and Noel (9-3) won both matches in his weight class including a major division.

NDSU 141 Sawyer Degen and 197 Cole Witzig placed second, while unattached 165 Zach Schneider finished third.

-CLIFF KEEN INVITATIONAL- NOVEMBER 30TH- DECEMBER 1ST, 2018: LAS VEGAS, NV

NDSU 125 Fleetwood Fourth, 133 Sykora Eighth at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational

North Dakota State 125-pounder Brent Fleetwood placed fourth and 133 Cam Sykora finished eighth at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It's the sixth straight appearance NDSU has had at least one wrestler finish in the top eight. The Bison finished 18th in the team standings with 45.5 points. Unseeded and No. 21-ranked Fleetwood dropped a 9-3 decision to Northwestern top-seed and No. 2-ranked Sebastian Rivera in the semifinals, but rebounded with an efficient 4-0 win over No .6 seed and No. 9-ranked Travis Piotrowski of Illinois. He recorded a first period takedown, a second period escape and held the top position for the entire third for the riding time point.

No. 3 seed and No. 6-ranked Sean Russell of Minnesota defeated Fleetwood 4-0 in the third place match.

Fleetwood is now 11-2 overall and went 4-2 in the tournament. He defeated three of five nationally-ranked wrestlers during the weekend and faced five Big Ten opponents. His fourth place is the highest since former All-American Hayden Zillmer finished third in 2014.

NDSU 133-pounder Cam Sykora split a pair of 6-5 decisions, winning against Campbell's Noah Gonser and losing to No. 5 seed and No. 21-ranked Montorie Bridges of Wyoming. He went 4-2 at the tournament and stands 11-2 overall.

Cordell Eaton was eliminated with 3-1 loss to No. 22-ranked Tanner Orndorff in the consolation bracket round of 12. Eaton is now 11-2 overall and finished 3-2 in the tournament. Heavyweight Brandon Metz was also eliminated in the round of 12 consolation match with a controversial 6-5 decision to No. 24-ranked Joseph Goodhardt of Drexel. Metz is now 8-4 overall and finished 3-2 in his first CKLV appearance.

BISON WRESTLING CLUB REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER 5 NEWSLETTER | Issue 12

NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON WRESTLERS IN ACTION

UNATTACHED 133 MCGWIRE MIDKIFF

RS-SR. 125 BRENT RS-JR. 133 CAM SYKORA FLEETWOOD ROADRUNNER OPEN ROADRUNNER OPEN CHAMPION CHAMPION

UNATTACHED 184 TJ POTTINGER

RS-FR. 174 JESSE SHEARER

RS-JR. 197 CORDELL EATON ROADRUNNER OPEN RS-FR. 285 BRANDON METZ CHAMPION ROADRUNNER OPEN CHAMPION

OPEN TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS

JIMMIE OPEN MIDKIFF 133 NOEL 165 RS-FR. 157 NICK KNUTSON SHEARER 174 OTOMO 184 WITZIG 197 STIBRAL 285

ROADRUNNER OPEN FLEETWOOD 125 SYKORA 133 SUTTON 141 EATON 197 METZ 285

DRAGON OPEN RS-FR. 141 GAVIN SUTTON FRANEK 157 ROADRUNNER OPEN NOEL 165 CHAMPION URBACH 174 RS-JR. 174 DYLAN URBACH

BISON WRESTLING CLUB REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER 6 NEWSLETTER | Issue 12

NDSU Moves to No. 21 in NWCA Coaches Poll, Three Bison Ranked Nationally

North Dakota State moved to No. 21 in the Theraworx National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Coaches Top 25 Poll released Dec. 11, while three Bison wrestlers are ranked nationally by several web sites. NDSU is also ranked No. 19 by WIN Magazine, No. 25 by InterMat.com, No. 34 by TrackWrestling.com with 7.5 points and tied for No. 35 with 5 points in the WIN Magazine Tournament Power Index.

North Dakota State (4-1, 2-1 #Big12WR) has this weekend off, but returns to the mat at 7 p.m. Dec. 20 for non-conference dual against Oregon State in the Scheels Center.

RS-JR. 165 ANDREW FOGARTY CURRENTLY RANKED NO. 13 IN THE COUNTRY The Bison are one of six Big 12 Conference teams listed in top 25 this week.

Individually, 125-pounder Brent Fleetwood (13-2 overall, 5-0 duals) is ranked No. 8 by TrackWrestling.com and TheOpenMat.com; No. 9 by FloWrestling.org and by InterMat.com, and No. 12 by WIN Wrestling Magazine. Fleetwood has a 3-2 record against nationally-ranked opponents.

Bison 133-pounder Cam Sykora (12-2, 4-0) is ranked No. 16 by WIN Wrestling Magazine, FloWrestling.org and TheOpenMat.com; No. 17 by TrackWrestling.com, and No. 18 by InterMat.com. Sykora has a team- leading five tech falls is 2-3 against nationally-ranked opponents this season.

NDSU 165 Andrew Fogarty (7-2, 4-1) is ranked No. 13 by WIN Wrestling Magazine; No. 16 by InterMat.com, FloWrestling.org and TheOpenMat.com, and No. 17 by TrackWrestling.com. Fogarty is one of six RS-SR. 125 BRENT FLEETWOOD wrestlers with four pins this season and has 15 falls in his career. CURRENTLY RANKED NO. 8 IN THE COUNTRY

….CONTINUED from page 1: Coach Garnett

Next up on the schedule was the always tough Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. This year’s tournament was loaded with talent. From a depth standpoint, the 133 weight class was named the toughest bracket. Overall, in a field of teams that had 17 of the top 20 teams in the country, we placed 18th in the team standings with 45.5 points. We came away from the CKLV feeling pretty good about our event but certainly felt it could have been better. Down a starter at 165 due to a minor injury we still were able to place two guys on the podium and were only one match away at 197 and 285 from that being four guys on the podium. It’s no secret at this point that the highlight of the event was Brent Fleetwood who came into the tournament both unranked and unseeded. Brent was able to string together 3 consecutive wins against top 10 opponents. Louie Hayes (6th), Zeke Moisey (8th), and Travis Piotrowski (10th) all fell to Fleetwood in the tournament. His only losses came to Sean Russel and Sebastian Rivera who were both top 5 opponents. Brent finished the tournament in fourth place while Cam Sykora finished the tournament in eighth place after having to medically default after a minor injury sustained in the consolation bracket. He gave it a shot and took on Montorie Bridges despite the injury then decided to call it off for the 7th/8th place bout. It was a great performance by Cam placing top eight at the toughest weight of the tournament.

Finally, that gets us caught up to our two most recent duals. We hit the road just this past week for two tough road tests against Wyoming and Air Force. It was another short week after returning from Vegas Sunday night and leaving Friday morning for our trip. Wyoming handed us our first loss of the season dropping us to 3-1 at the time. It was a tough dual for us as we were down one starter and took on another top 20 team that had five individual ranked wrestlers. The final score of the dual was 29-6. Brent Fleetwood and Jaden Van Maanen were able to come away with victories. It’s worth noting that Jaden’s win against Jaron Jensen was a big one as he was ranked 6th in our conference. Moving on to the Air Force dual, which was our chance to rebound after a tough loss and end the trip with a win. The Wyoming and Air Force duals were back to back days on Saturday, Dec. 8th and Sunday, Dec. 9th. After a slow start to the dual where we fell behind 12-0 after the first 3 matches, we racked off wins in the next six of seven matches and three of those wins were by bonus. The match of the night went to Jaden Van Maanen who knocked off a top 25 opponent that also defeated two top 10 wrestlers at the Cliff Keen Vegas Tournament. Alec Opsal was 8th in the Big 12 conference so that’s a big weekend for Jaden. The final score of the dual was 23-14 moving our overall record to 4-1 which is one of the best starts in recent years for Bison Wrestling.

Next up is a home match up with Oregon State on Thursday, Dec. 20th. Hope to see all of our fans make the trip over to the SHAC and pack the stands. Keep an eye out for all of our promotions happening for that dual. As always, Go Bison

#ThunderRolls

BISON WRESTLING CLUB REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER 7 NEWSLETTER | Issue 12

BISON WRESTLING

CLUB REGIONAL

TRAINING

CENTER

CHECK OUT THE NEW WEBSITE!!!!!! http://www.bisonwrestlingclub.com

PIN PLEDGE!! Sanford Health Athletic Complex NDSU Dept. 1200 The “Pin” Pledge is designed to help the growth of the Bison Wrestling Club. The Bison Wrestling Club is a nonprofit organization that supports the NDSU wrestling team PO Box 6050 through training and competition in the spring and summer. The money raised allows our student- Fargo, ND 58018-6050 athletes to compete in the UWW Jr. Nationals, University Nationals, World Team Trials, train at the Olympic Training Center, and allow for others to come train and help provide for the athletes. The resources are endless. Any pin made by a non-red-shirt NDSU wrestler during the 2018-2019 season counts towards your Pin Pledge amount. Pins will accumulate in all scheduled events such as opens, dual meets, invites, the Big 12 Championships and the NCAA Championships. For example, if you pledge $5 per pin and the Bison wrestlers accumulate 50 pins on the season, your pledge is $250. The Bison coaching staff and their managers will keep track of the pins along with your pledge amount. When the season ends, the NDSU coaching staff will calculate your pledge balance and send you a notice with the balance and ways for payment methods. We want to thank you in advance for your pledges. The NDSU coaching staff feels this will be an incentive to drive for bonus “pin” points throughout the season. Below is the link to place your pledge: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1HMEq7k_FT_kLhXcW5G0E6ZW5Dcv04RM77Z7yor-sygw/edit

Annual contributions: (can be and are not limited to; we are looking to chip away at these totals) Funding for a resident Olympic athlete (post-graduate): $20,000 Funding for a resident Freestyle/Greco Coach: $35,000 Sponsoring an individual athlete competing for the BWC: $3,000 Providing funds for travel and registration fees per athlete: $500 Providing funds for team gear/apparel per athlete: $500 Providing funds for per diem for travel: $500 Scholarship for (1) athlete’s membership to club for YOUTH season: $350 Golf sponsorships for Bison Wrestling Club golf outing: $250, $500, or $1,000

In order to develop more growth within the BWC and prepare for more athletes to compete for the club, we will need your continued support. As part of the State of North Dakota, the Bison Wrestling Club is a tax-exempt organization 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All charitable contributions can be sent to:

Bison Wrestling Club C/o Nick Magee NDSU Dept. 1200 PO Box 6050 Fargo, ND 58108

*** You can also donate online on our website under the “DONATE” tab.

BISON WRESTLING CLUB REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER 8 NEWSLETTER | Issue 12