Mitch Lofstedt of Southern Oregon won the championship at 125 lbs, and Southern Oregon finished as the team runner-up for the second straight year. Notre Dame College won the championship, and have risen quickly as program after only being in existence 3 1/2 years. The Notre dame team scored 179.5 points to easily win the team title.  Southern Oregon was second at 120 pts., followed by western rival Great Falls at 118.5 pts.

Lofstedt was also named the NWCA/NAIA Wrestler of the Year for the outstanding season he produced for the Raiders. Teammate Barry Johnson chalked up a championship as well, defeating teammate Kyle Wirkuty in the finals, 6-4. Enoch Francois of California Baptist also finished as runner-up.

http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/030610aah.html

Notre Dame College has all but wrapped the NAIA team championship up, but individual titles are on the line as the championships head into the final day. The Notre Dame has put on a very impressive performance and lead the team race by 47 points earlier this morning. 

A few western teams appear to be in position to battle it out for 2nd place.  Southern Oregon and rival Great Falls are in race for the runner-up honors. SOU advanced seven wrestlers into all-American, including three wrestlers who will go for individual titles tonight.  Mitch Lofstedt at 125 returns to the finals for the second time. Last year he finished as runner-up.  He will face Chauncey Phillips of Cal Baptist.  The Raiders will also watch as Kyle Wirkuty and Barry Johnson will face each other for the national title.  Defending champion Chris Platt was eliminated for the Raiders.

The latest NAIA coaches poll has Notre Dame College of Ohio as the No. 1 team. 

Notre Dame earned 101 points, with 10 wrestlers ranked in the top-12 individuals of their weight class.

California Baptist climbed  to No. 2 with 85.5 points. Next is Missouri Valley (84 points), Great Falls (Montana) (82.5), and Southern Oregon (78).


No. 1 wrestlers in the NAIA

125: Mitchell Lofstedt, Southern Oregon

133: Cameron Ream, Oklahoma City University

141: Adam Kobalia, Notre Dame College

149: Matt Burns, Grand View (Iowa)

157: Thomas Straughn, Notre Dame

165: Aaron Winning, McKendree

174: Enoch Francois, California Baptist

184: Michael French, Great Falls

197: Andrew Sanchez, McKendree

Hwt: Byron Stewart, Cumberland (Tennessee)

#4 Argos Light Up MSU-Northern Grapplers

Great Falls, MT –

 

On the strength of three consecutive pins in the middle of their lineup, the University of Great Falls wrestling team, ranked #4 in the land amongst NAIA programs, evened its dual record at 1-1 on the season with a convincing 35-9 defeat of rival Montana State-Northern before 372 fans at the McLaughlin Center.UGF head coach Caleb Schaeffer, who ran his dual record to 5-0 against his alma mater. “This is always a hard dual to coach for me, personally,because of the ties I have to the Lights wrestling program. But, with that said, I’m proud to be the head wrestling coach here at the University of Great Falls and I’m certainly proud of the effort our guys put forth tonight.”Brian Borst (Duanesburg, NY/Cortland State University) led off the night for UGF at 125 pounds and scored a 21-6 technical fall against Northern’s

Myles Mazurkiewicz (Havre, MT/Havre High School)

put the Argos up 8-0 with a hard fought 6-4 decision.

The Lights gained some momentum when freshman

Steven Quesada (Silverton, OR) defeated returning All-American Jason Costello.

Argos closed the door as juniors

Senior

The Lights managed two wins the final three match-ups of the night as

Northern’s

The Argos get back at it tomorrow with three duals scheduled against different opponents at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, ID before closing out the week by competing in the Spokane (WA) Open on Saturday.

Byron Kuylen (Sidney, MT/MSU-Northern) and Ross Mosher (Augusta,MT/Augusta High School) School) scored wins. Brendon DeCock (Huntley, MT/Huntley Project High School), the #1 ranked wrestler in the nation at 174 pounds, was awarded a forfeit victory and fellow senior Alex Calviwon his match-up with Evan Mattingly (Vashon Island, WA) at 197 pounds by a 4-0 final.Evan Hinebauch (Havre, MT) defeated UGF’s nationally ranked wrestlers in their 184 pound weight class. French had previously defeated Hinebauch in overtime to win his weight class at the Northwest Open (Powell, WY) on November 7.Jim Eavenson (Caldwell, ID) took a 5-4 decision over the Argos’ Paden Jenkins in the heavyweight division to close out the dual.

U

“We came out and performed the way I expected us to tonight,” said

Redshirt freshman

Southern Oregon tops the preseason NAIA national coaches poll. The Raiders are looking to add to last season's accomplishments, which included winning the NAIA National Duals. Mike Ritchey's squad leads a contingent of western U.S. teams in the upper tier of the national rankings.  The Raiders will host the annual SOU Open this weekend. Team rankings are listed below.

RANK	SCHOOL	TOTAL POINTS
1	Southern Oregon University	100.5
2	Notre Dame College (Ohio)	98
3	McKendree University (Ill.)	89
4	University of Great Falls (Mont.)	77.5
5	Grand View University (Iowa)	69
6	Lindenwood University (Mo.)	61
7	California Baptist University	58
8	Dana College (Neb.)	57.5
9	Campbellsville (Ky.)	45
10	Dickinson State (N.D.)	38.5
10	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical (Ariz.)	38.5
12	Montana State University-Northern	37.5
13	Missouri Baptist University	37
14	Oklahoma City University	30.5
14	Cumberland University (Tenn.)	30.5
16	Menlo College (Calif.)	22
17	Morningside College (Iowa)	19
18	Northwestern College (Iowa)	18
19	Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.)	17.5
20	University of the Cumberlands (Ky.)	13.5
20	Waldorf College (Iowa)	13.5

A busy week out west this coming week, as most everybody is competing.

November 13-Arizona State @ UC Davis

Nov. 13/14-Southern Oregon Open- ( including SOU, Oregon State)

November 14-Cowboy Open ( including Wyoming, Air Force, Northern Colorado)

November 14-Cal Poly @ Cal-State Fullerton

November 14-Stanford at Northwestern Duals  (Purdue, Northwestern, Northern Iowa)  @ Evanston, Illinois

Nov 14-Cal Baptist @ Cal State Fullerton

November 15-Arizona State @ Cal-State Fullerton

Shorter announces the addition of varsity wrestling

Shorter will offer wrestling in 2010

Menlo will open their season Saturday night against Skyline College. Menlo is ranked #16 in the preseason NAIA rankings and looks to move up.  Saturday night's match will be at 6 PM. 

The team will have a short break as the jump right back into competition on Sunday.  Menlo hosts the Menlo Open on Sunday, with several schools expected to compete.

BSU won 9 out of 10 weights against the University of Great Falls in Taco Bell Arena Friday night. The final score was 40-3, with Alex Calvi getting the lone win for UGF at 197 over Matt Casperson.  The Broncos had two falls on the night and picked up a lot of bonus points against the NAIA opponent.

Mike Ritchey's Raiders of Southern Oregon showed their depth at their annual Black and Red intrasquad dual on Wednesday night.  Ritchey likes the depth in the room, and early indications are it may be a real asset in their success this year.

The Raiders are ranked #1 in the pre-season National rankings and have a strong core coming back, along with a few key transfers.  Several former Division 1 wrestlers are on this squad and have made the room more competitive. Included in this bunch are former Minnesota wrestler Brandon Sitch, and Ron Lee of the University of Oregon. Oregon dropped their program following the 2008 season. 

SOU heads north this weekend for the annual Mike Clock Open in Forest Grove, Oregon.  The tournament is hosted by Pacific University.

Black 45, Red 20
125 – Jared Dalgleish (Black) dec. Joe Hutchison 4-3
125 – Mitchell Loftstedt (Black) fall Jordan Lowe 1:00
125 – Miguel Baltazar (Black) fall Steven Evans 1:06
133 – Brian Jacob (Black) dec. Jimmy Eggemeyer 3-2
141 – Justin Eldred (Red) major dec. Jacob Stutzer 13-2
141 – Sam Winter (Red) dec. Kyle Wirkuty 4-3
149 – Justin Mills (Red) major dec. Jaime Rodriguez 12-4
149 – Adam Swogger (Red) dec. Brad Tamashiro 7-2
157 – Tommie Hooper (Black) tech fall Robert Mannenbach 15-0 4:00
165 – Kris Spencer (Black) dec. Marshall Swordfeger 4-2
174 – Brandon Stitch (Red) dec. Austin Vanderford 3-0
174 – Tyler Thomas (Black) major dec. Ethan Hinton 10-2
174 – Josh Stalcup (Black) fall Julian Dansk 3:42
174 – Shaun Ceremello (Black) fall Theodore Callaway 3:41
197 – Ronald Lee (Red) dec. John Harrison 3-2
Hwt – John Bates (Black) dec. Jarod Pitassi 7-1