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MSU-Northern, Great Falls Post Wrestling Wins
BY RANDAL HOROBIK
Tribune Sports Editor
The seventh-ranked Northwest College Trappers were left licking their wounds following a pair of lopsided wrestling defeats last weekend. Northwest lost 33-3 at Montana State University- Northern and 30-10 to the University of Great Falls.
“Havre was a nightmare,” said Northwest College head coach Jim Zeigler. “It was one of those nights where you grit your teeth, hold your tongue and try to find something positive. I’ve thought about it a while and have yet to find anything positive.”
In the Trappers’ defense, Northwest did wrestle the dual without either of its top-ranked wrestlers in the national polls in the lineup. With Jesse Hillhouse and Nick Petersen off the mat in anticipation of this week’s Apodaca Duals, the Trappers struggled to score points.
Keithen Cast picked up the Trappers’ only points against MSU-Northern. Sears Tiernan narrowly lost an 8-7 decision while Timber Holmquist’s decision loss at 165 pounds drew the closest thing to praise that Zeigler had for the dual.
“Timber wrestled well in his loss,” Zeigler said.
Northwest saw three wrestlers lose by fall and had a fourth lose via technical fall in the dual. The Trappers also lost a major decision.
The following night at Great Falls went only marginally better. Marc Madsen scored a major decision win for the Trappers and Jake Budd followed with a win by fall for Northwest’s only points of the night. The Trappers suffered close losses at three other weight classes as Bobby Robbins, Cast and Holmquist all came out on the short side of narrow decisions.
“This was a much better Great Falls lineup than what we saw in Powell,” Zeigler said, contrasting the night with the Trappers’ 25-21 win earlier this month.
The Trappers also picked up some good news in the exhibition matches. Jeremy Luna wrestled twice in exhibition and won both encounters. Bernie Dupuy walked onto the mat for his first taste of competition since the Cowboy Open early in the year and lost a close decision.
The Trappers are in action this weekend in the Apodaca Duals in Powell.