SDSU travels to Oregon State

The South Dakota State University wrestling team closes out the dual slate for the calendar year by traveling Sunday to Oregon State in nonconference action.

The dual is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Pacific Time (3 p.m. Central) at Gill Coliseum on the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis. Video coverage will be available through Pac-12.com.

The Jackrabbits enter the matchup with an 0-3 dual mark after falling to a trio of ranked squads. SDSU has wrestled most of the season without defending 133-pound national champion Seth Gross and fellow returning NCAA qualifier Martin Mueller due to injury. Gross will be a match-time decision Sunday, while Mueller is expected to make his dual debut.

Oregon State won its season-opening dual against Cal State Bakersfield, 20-17, on its home mat on Dec. 9. The Beavers posted a 6-6 dual mark last season and later finished second at the Pac-12 Conference Championships.

OSU currently has three wrestlers ranked in the top 20 of their respective weight classes by FloWrestling, and are led by top-ranked heavyweight Amar Dhesi. At 125-pounds, Ronnie Bresser is ranked third, while Hunter Willits stands 15th in the 157-pound weight class.

THE SERIES: Sunday’s match will mark the fourth time South Dakota State and Oregon State have wrestled each other in dual competition. The Beavers won each of the first two duals, starting with a 45-3 decision at the 2011 NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Oregon State later claimed a 35-6 victory at Frost Arena on Jan. 25, 2015.

SDSU cracked the win column with a 30-13 dual victory at Frost Arena on Jan. 5, 2018. Seth Gross and Logan Peterson each recorded pins to lead the 15th-ranked Jackrabbits to their fifth consecutive victory.

After Gross’ pin at 133 pounds, SDSU’s Henry Pohlmeyer notched a pivotal win in the 141-pound bout, scoring a 5-2 decision over Jack Hathaway. Pohlmeyer avenged a defeat at the hands of Hathaway at the previous weekend’s Ken Kraft Midlands Championships.

The Jackrabbits sealed the victory with five consecutive wins between the 157- and 197-pound divisions, including Peterson’s second-period pin of Billy Bigelow. David Kocer (technical fall) and Martin Mueller (major decision) also earned bonus-point victories for SDSU.

#15 South Dakota State 30, Oregson State 13 (Jan. 5, 2018)
125: #15 Ronnie Bresser (OSU) major dec. Connor Brown (SDSU), 15-3
133: #1 Seth Gross (SDSU) def. Devan Turner (OSU), by fall 1:10
141: Henry Pohlmeyer (SDSU) dec. Jack Hathaway (OSU), 5-2
149: Kurt Mode (OSU) dec. Colten Carlson (SDSU), 10-7
157: #11 Luke Zilverberg (SDSU) dec. Hunter Willits (OSU), 5-4 [TB-1]
165: Logan Peterson (SDSU) def. Billy Bigelow (OSU), by fall 4:54
174: #9 David Kocer (SDSU) tech. fall Myles Terry (OSU), 21-6 [5:16]
184: Martin Mueller (SDSU) major dec. Seth McLeod (OSU), 16-8
197: #6 Nate Rotert (SDSU) dec. #13 Corey Griego (OSU), 9-4
285: #6 Amar Dhesi (OSU) def. Blake Wolters (SDSU), by fall 2:43

RECENT ACTION: Freshman Tanner Sloan continued his run through open tournaments, winning the 197-pound division in dominant fashion Dec. 8 at the UNI Open in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

A native of Alburnett, Iowa, Sloan avenged his lone loss of the season by pinning Minnesota’s Dylan Anderson in 1 minute, 3 seconds in the championship bout at 197 pounds. Sloan, who went 4-0 on the day, outscored his opponents by a combined 35-1 margin in his other three matches. He scored a 16-0 technical fall over Corel Duhart of Missouri, followed by a 5-1 decision over Bobby Steveson in the quarterfinals.

Sloan advanced to the championship with a 14-0 major decision against Garrett Joles of Minnesota.

Also moving on to the quarterfinals were freshman 141-pounder Clay Carlson and junior 184-pounder Zach Carlson. Clay Carlson tied for fifth with a 3-1 record. He opened with a 4-3 decision over Missouri’s Nick Nasenbeny, before falling to Iowa’s Vince Turk, 8-5. In the wrestlebacks, Carlson tacked on two more wins before withdrawing from the tournament.

Zach Carlson placed fourth in his weight class with a 5-1 mark after starting with back-to-back wins over North Dakota State’s Michael Otomo (8-5) and Hank Swalla of the Iowa State Wrestling Club (4-0) before dropping a 16-11 decision to Iowa State’s Joel Shapiro. Carlson added three more wins in the consolation rounds. He took fourth by virture of already losing to Shapiro and reaching the maximum of six matches on the day.

Completing the Jackrabbits’ top-five finishes was redshirt freshman Alex Aarsvold, who placed fifth in the heavyweight division. Aarsvold posted a 2-2 record on the day as he reached the semifinals by winning his first two matches by fall and injury default.

Oklahoma Dual Postponed
The Jackrabbits’ Big 12 Conference dual scheduled for Dec. 7 at Oklahoma was postponed due to a winter storm that was expected to hit the area. A makeup date has not yet been determined.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits will have nearly a two-week layoff before returning to the mat Dec. 29-30 at the 56th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships. One of the top mid-season college wrestling tournaments in the country, the Midlands Championships are hosted by Northwestern University and will be contested for the second year in a row at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Coverage of the tournament will be available through FloWrestling.org (subscription required), starting at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 29. Action on Dec. 30 is set for a noon start time.

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