Bison wrestlers exit early at nationals
As a Division II wrestling team, NDSU had a very strong winning tradition.
With coach Bucky Maughan at the helm, the Bison won 17 North Central Conference championships and finished better than fifth, 26 times at the Division II National Championships.
Through the reclassification to Division I, however, all the Division II accolades didn’t matter anymore.
In its first season eligible for postseason play, three NDSU wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Division I National Championships last weekend in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Freshman Ryan Adams, sophomore Jacob Bryce and junior Eric Hoffman each lost early at the event.
“We felt like we were overmanned out there,” Maughan said. “We wrestled guys that we had a read about and heard about, and thought they were Superman.”
Adams, a 149-pounder, qualified for nationals by placing second at the West Regional. Adams’ first match ended in a loss to Penn State’s Dan Vollimont 11-3.
In Adams’ next match, he defeated Virgina Military Institute’s Sam Alvarenga 6-4. That would be the first and only victory for the Bison in the tournament.
Adams would lose his next consolation match 5-2 to drop out of the tournament.
Bryce’s national tournament was short. The 197-pounder finished third in the West Regional and had an overall record of 18-8 going into the tournament.
Bryce’s first match was a tough one. He lost 16-4 to Iowa State’s Kurt Backes, who finished second in the 197-pound bracket.
Bryce’s consolation match was also a major decision, falling 12-0 to Purdue’s Nathan Moore.
Hoffman wrestled well, but could not find a way to win. Both of his loses were by two points. Hoffman, who won the West Regional in the 125-pound bracket and had a team best 20-5 season record, lost 2-0 and 9-7.
Just making it to the championships did not satisfy the wrestlers or their coach, though. The team wanted to win some matches and get some experience at the highest level of collegiate wrestling.
“We got to the tournament hoping to make some noise, but when we hit the mat we got that deer-in-the-headlights look and seemed to not wrestle as well as we could’ve,” Maughan said.
Maughan also had mentioned that the NDSU wrestlers aren’t accustomed to wrestling in front of more than 20,000 people.
The team will only lose one wrestler for this year’s team. Matt Hermann, a 174-pounder, will be the only one graduating.