Mavs Wrestling Starts Season with Convincing Win over Minot
Daniel McElroy ® Sports Editor |
The Mavericks wrestling team started their season last Thursday in a 31-12 win over Minot State.
The Mavericks had a successful season last year with a 10-3 record, getting fourth place at the NCAA Super Regionals, but did not have a chance to finish their season at the National Championships due to COVID-19.
This year, the Mavericks came out hungry to get back to that same spot last year. In this far from close matchup, the visiting Mavericks won seven out of 10 matches in the inner conference victory.
Trenton McManus started the day off for the Mavericks getting a 2-1 win over Oscar Nellis of Minot State.
Brock Lethens then took the win over Kelby Armstrong 6-4 at 133. Then, junior Kolbe O’Brien pinned Lincoln Stormer at 141.
Kyle Rathman, senior All-American and back-to-back national championship attendee wrestler, pinned Shadi Mitwalli, improved his all time record to 78-19.
The Mavericks’ first loss came from Cooper Siebrecht dropping a 3-1 overtime decision to Nathan Baca at 157.
Mike Smith pinned Austin Frantzich and Trevor Turriff beat Noah Gallardo 12-1.
Minot State’s Keegan Berry took a win over Minnesota State University’s Dylan Butts, while Matt Blome won a 7-0 decision over Dustin Swisher.
Minot State’s third and final victory came in the last match of the night, where Jordan Will took a 3-1 win over David Griffit.
The Mavericks ranked No. 13 in the preseason rankings poll, and lived up to that expectation with a convincing win over Minot State.
The Mavericks are undefeated against the Beavers in all nine meetings between the two squads since 2013, with the largest margin of victory being a 54-0 win in the first contest.
In a shortened season, the Mavericks will play in only six matchups, all against conference teams.
Minnesota State University’s next sets of matches is against Augustana University on Thursday, Jan. 14 at home at the Taylor Center in Mankato.
Header photo courtesy of Maverick Athletics.