Shamus O’Grady claimed first place honors in the 184-pound division at the 2012 Holiday Inn/Husky Open on Saturday, Dec. 8 in St. Cloud.  O’Grady dominated competition at the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record.  He scored three falls in his first three matches of the day and this run included a :49 pin against St. John’s Simon Liedtke, a 1:30 pin against Matt Beehler of MSU Moorhead and a 2:45 pin against John DeVito of U-Mary.  In the title bout, O’Grady charted an 8-7 decision win over Luke Rynish.  An unattached wrestler, Rynish was a three-time NCAA Division II runner-up during his collegiate career at UW-Parkside.  For his efforts, O’Grady was named the Husky Open John Oxton Award winner (Outstanding Wrestler) and the Husky Open Jack Gause Award winner (most falls in the least amount of time) for 2012.

NSIC Wrestling Notes
Augustana - Nate Herda (149, Sr., Rock Rapids, Iowa), who is ranked fourth nationally at 149 pounds, moved his record to 12-3 on the season on Friday night going 2-1 in three duals. Herda helped the Vikings to a 42-6 win over Northwestern (Iowa) picking up a 13-2 major decision over Steven Schaffer. The senior followed that with a 20-5 technical fall over Brook Woehl of Dakota Wesleyan in a 44-6 Augustana win. His lone loss of the day came to the No. 8-ranked wrestler in NCAA Division I at 149 pounds Cole VonOhlen of Air Force Academy.    

U-Mary - Trevor Johnson (141, Jr., Bismarck, ND / Bismarck HS / North Dakota State) won a key match in U-Mary’s first dual of the year and captured his second straight open meet title, winning the 141 pound division at the 2012 Holiday Inn / Husky Open on Saturday. The junior All-American started a string of six straight Marauders wins on the mat in a 28-16 victory at Minot State. Leading 12- 1 late in the match, Johnson pinned the Beavers Cody Carpenter at 5:30. On Saturday Johnson defeated Jay Hildreath of tournament host St. Cloud State 3-1 in the championship match. Ranked third in the country, the Bismarck, ND, native won the Dragon Open a week earlier… Four other Marauders also placed at the Husky Open.  Brady Anderson (184, Sr., Hamilton, MT) placed third at 197 when he defeated Mic Berg of SCSU, the 2nd ranked team in the country. John Devito (174, So., Glendale, AZ) claimed fifth at 184. Kriss McCleary (197, Sr., Napoleon, ND) was sixth at 197 and Trevor Daniel claimed sixth at 165.

Minnesota State - Alphonso Vruno (133 lbs, Fr., Sandwich, Ill.) finished in fourth-place in the highly-competitive UNI Open hosted by Northern Iowa. Vruno opened the tournament 3-0 as he defeated RJ Hallman (Iowa State) in a 14-2 major decision, Randy Hanson (Minnesota) in a 7-1 decision and a 2-0 OT win over Logan Arlis (Illinois). After falling to Joe Colon (Unattached), Vruno defeated Tyler Willers (Northern Iowa) in a 15-3 major decision. Vruno fell in a rematch against Arlis 4-0 in the third-place match.
Minnesota State traveled to and placed two wrestlers at the UNI Open. Freshman Alphonso Vruno (133 lbs) finished in fourth-place. After opening the tournament 3-0, he finished 1-2 to finish fourth. Junior David Demo (125 lbs) took sixth-place in his weight class. After receiving a first-round bye, Demo pinned Mitch Funk (Upper Iowa) at 4:06. After falling to Jesse Delgado (Illinois), Demo rebounded to pin Dominique Price (Purdue) at 4:37 and defeated Jordan Kingsley (Minnesota) 3-1. Demo lost his last two matches to finish sixth.

MSU Moorhead - The Dragons were idle last week. MSUM is receiving votes in the lastest Division II coaches poll, just outside the top 20.  MSUM hosts D3 national power Augsburg, which is ranked No. 2 in the D3 national poll, on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. dual.

Minot State - Minot State could not control the middle weights and fell 28-16 in its NSIC dual opener to the University of Mary Wednesday in the Beavers only event of the week. MISU bookended the dual in solid fashion with a major decision at 133 pounds from Joshua Douglas (So., 133, Kissimmee, Fla. / Celebration High School) and a pin from heavyweight Bobby Bartz (So., HWT, Harvey, N.D. / Harvey High School). Matt Fetterley (Jr., 174, Muskegon, Mich. / Reeths Puffer High School / Muskegon Community College) improved to 8-5 on the season with a forfeit win at 174.

Northern State - Matt Meuleners (HWT, Sr., Young America, Minn./Central HS) came up big when his team needed him most.  Down six team points to the visiting Chadron State Eagles heading into the final match of the night, Meuleners, the two-time defending national champion, worked a second-period pin to tie the match up at 20-20.  NSU was awarded the deciding team point on tie-breaker criteria, allowing the Wolves to escape with a 21-20 victory and improve to 3-0 in dual-meet action.  Meuleners also scored an 18-7 major decision win over Eric Gruis of Dakota Wesleyan, capping a 27-9 NSU win over the Tigers on Wednesday.

Southwest Minnesota State - Micah Larson (197, Jr., Atwater, Minn. / Atwater – Cosmos – Grove City) was on a tear this week, as the junior 197 pounder was perfect in three bouts. Larson went 3-0 with pins in each of his matches. Larson would start his week off with a pin of Chris Ridgeford (Morningside) at 4:58 on Wednesday; the pin put SMSU up 39-0 over No. 5 (NAIA) Morningside College (Iowa). Larson would record two more pins as SMSU traveled to Forest City, Iowa for duals against Waldorf College (Iowa) and Jamestown College (ND) on Saturday. At 4:21, Larson won by fall over Marshall Williams (Waldorf), to put SMSU 42-3, its highest scoring output of the season. Larson concluded his tear with yet another pin, this time at 3:50 over Brian Kaehler of Jamestown. Larson is now 10-4 on the season, with five pins, one technical fall, and two major decisions.
SMSU wrestling was busy this week, as the Mustangs competed in three duals. On Wednesday, the Mustangs hosted their first dual match of the season as Morningside College (Iowa) traveled to the PE Gym. The Mustangs dominated the No. 5 ranked team in the NAIA division, 39-4. SMSU would take the first nine matches before Todd Klemz fell in the 285 pound match. In the 184 pound bout, Travis Peralta defeated No. 1 Brian Block (NAIA) by decision, 9-4. SMSU continued action in Forest City, Iowa at the Waldorf duals, where SMSU competed against Waldorf, and Jamestown (N.D.) in the first dual versus Waldorf, SMSU recorded six pins from Justin Reinsma (133), Ethan Hildebrandt (141), Beau Buysse (149), Jacob Begin (165), Blaine Miller (174), and Micah Larson (197), to record a season-high 42 points. The Mustangs took eight of ten matches and won the match, 42-6. The Mustangs improved their dual match record to 4-0 with another dominating win, this time over Jamestown (N.D.), 42-3. It was the second consecutive match that SMSU had scored 42 points, as the Mustangs took nine of ten bouts highlighted by pins from Jacob Begin (165, 1:28) and Micah Larson (197, 3:50). Individual wrestlers were in action elsewhere in Storm Lake Iowa as five wrestlers competed in the Buena Vista Open. The wrestlers were highlighted by Kyle Begin’s championship performance in the 165 pound bracket, as the freshman went 4-0 with two pins to take the title. SMSU is finished with wrestling action for the year and will wait until January, 12, 2013 for its next bout when the Mustangs head to the Western State (Colo.) duals in Gunnison, Colorado.

St. Cloud State - Shamus O’Grady (184 lbs, R-Sr., Coon Rapids, Minn. / Coon Rapids HS) claimed first place honors in the 184-pound division at the 2012 Holiday Inn/Husky Open on Saturday, Dec. 8 in St. Cloud.  O’Grady dominated competition at the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record.  He scored three falls in his first three matches of the day and this run included a :49 pin against St. John’s Simon Liedtke, a 1:30 pin against Matt Beehler of MSU Moorhead and a 2:45 pin against John DeVito of U-Mary.  In the title bout, O’Grady charted an 8-7 decision win over Luke Rynish.  An unattached wrestler, Rynish was a three-time NCAA Division II runner-up during his collegiate career at UW-Parkside.  For his efforts, O’Grady was named the Husky Open John Oxton Award winner (Outstanding Wrestler) and the Husky Open Jack Gause Award winner (most falls in the least amount of time) for 2012.  
The #2 St. Cloud State wrestling team hosted the 42nd annual Holiday Inn/Husky Open on Saturday, Dec. 8.  SCSU’s redshirt freshman Clint Poster also gained a first place finish at 157-pounds for the Huskies at the Husky Open.  Of note, O’Grady is 7-1 this season and Poster is 8-1 in 2012-13.  At 141-pounds, SCSU’s Jay Hildreth placed second and at 149-pounds, SCSU’s Josh Howk ended his day with a second place finish.  In action at 165-pounds, SCSU’s Cody Tibbetts placed second.  The Huskies will kick off their dual meet season on Dec. 11 with a home match against Concordia College before hitting the road to Collegeville for a match on Dec. 12 against St. John’s University.  On Dec. 15, the Huskies will open its NSIC dual season with a home date against Minot State at Halenbeck Hall.

Upper Iowa  - Carl Broghammer (197, R-Jr., Manchester, Iowa) suffered his first losses of the season, but the redshirt junior won three matches to push his record to 15-2; all five matches were against wrestlers from the Big Ten Conference.  After a first round bye, UIU’s 197-pounder reached the semis thanks to a 12-3 major decision victory over Trevor Voelker of Iowa State and a 3-1 decision over Jeremy Fahler of Iowa.  In the semis, Broghammer missed out on a shot at the title by two points losing 8-6 to Braden Atwood of Purdue.  He bounced back with a 7-2 decision over Timmy McCall of Wisconsin, but fell to Tomas Lira of Iowa by a 6-4 count in the third place match.
The #4 Peacock wrestling team got back on the mats in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Saturday at the UNI Open.  Carl Broghammer and Blake Sorensen led Upper Iowa on the day reaching the semifinals in the 197 and 174-pound brackets, respectively.  In the end, Broghammer placed fourth, while Sorensen took sixth. Sorensen went 3-1 on the day before withdrawing from the tournament prior to his consolation semifinal match.  The Peacock sophomore earned a pair of wins by fall in his first two matches over Carson Powell of Iowa State and Dawed Hicks of Iowa Central Community College.  In his quarterfinal match, Sorensen scored a 5-4 decision over Dion Crowder of Purdue before falling to Cody Caldwell of Northern Iowa, 5-1, in the semifinal match and withdrawing from the tourney.
Upper Iowa will head to Indianapolis, Ind. following final exams this week to compete in the Midwest Classic on Dec. 15-16.  The Midwest Classic will be the first team scored tournament of the season for the Peacocks.



Past NSIC Wrestler of the Week
11/7/12 - Carl Broghammer - Upper Iowa
11/12/12 - Shamus O'Grady - St. Cloud State
11/19/12 - Bryce Lumzy - Upper Iowa
12/10/12 - Shamus O'Grady - St. Cloud State (2)

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