MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragons return home after their most difficult road test of the season. The Dragons were shutout at the hands of No. 6 Upper Iowa Peacocks and fell in a close match against No. 4 Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks. They look to spoil the hopes of the No. 8 ranked St. Cloud State Huskies at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse this Friday at 7 p.m.
The Dragons will face their fourth straight NSIC opponent and the third straight conference foe to be ranked in the top-10 in the NCAA Division II standings. The Dragons will be facing three 21-match winners for the Huskies. Heavyweight Jake Kahnke (21-6), 197-pounder Lucas Munkelwitz (21-6) and 165-pounder Tad Merritt will hope to spark the Huskies.
The Dragons will look to spoil the Huskies quest for an NSIC championship in a very top-heavy conference. The Dragons last dual against the Mavericks was much closer than the final score indicated. Juniors Evan Forde at 133 pounds and Derek Bomstad at 149 pounds each picked up wins that gave the Dragons the lead. But the Dragons could not pick up the two or three points needed to get key wins and fell to the Mavericks.
The Dragons will hope to learn from these losses and come out more focused and driven to pick up the win. The team will send out their top wrestlers with sophomore Corey Ulmer, junior Brady Schneeberger, junior Tallen Wald and senior Tim Johnson all coming in with at least 10 wins on the season. First year head coach Kris Nelson will look to get a key win and gain momentum before the Dragons final regular season stretch.
Dragon Probables
125 - Corey Ulmer
133 - Evan Forde
141 - Brady Schneeberger or Tyler Steinwand
149 - Derek Bomstad
157 - Tallen Wald
165 - Tyler Kivel
174 - Jarret Hall
184 - Tayler Yliniemi
197 - Jon Swart
HWT - Tim Johnson