College wrestling: Jackrabbits come up short against No. 13 Minnesota

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BROOKINGS – South Dakota State held a 16-7 advantage over No. 13 ranked Minnesota with four matches left on Sunday. The Golden Gophers then won those final four matches by decisions and pulled out a 19-16 victory at Frost Arena.

“Well that sucked,” SDSU head coach Damion Hahn said. “I’ll put it like that. We were in the driver seat going into the second half and we knew what he had coming up and obviously it did not happen. I think the biggest thing for me is, I don’t know if disappointment is the right word, but our veterans need do their jobs. … It’s a tough pill to swallow right now and I am not happy.”

SDSU closed out the first part of the match with a four-point major decision from Tanner Sloan at 197-pound weight class. Sloan, who is ranked 11th, beat No. 20 Garrett Joles 12-2 and gave the Jackrabbits a 7-6 lead heading into the intermission.

“I knew points would come,” Sloan said. “I’ve been training with Cody [Caldwell] and Damion [Hahn], that I just have to hold my position and guys will wear and I’ll get my points later on in the match. I don’t need to go out and score a bunch of points in the first two minutes. They’ll come later in the match, and they did.”

The Jacks were then able to extend their lead to 16-7 when heavyweight A.J. Nevills, who is ranked 14th, pinned Keaton Kluever two minutes and 33 seconds into the match.

Patrick McKee started the run of four-straight wins for Minnesota. He beat Tanner Jordan, 7-3, at 125. No. 18 Aaron Nagao made it 16-13 with a 6-2 win over Derrick Cardinal at 133.

The most pivotal match of the afternoon came at 141 where No. 6 Clay Carlson was upset by unranked Vance VomBaur at 141, 6-4. Hahn said it was disappointing to have Carlson lose in such a

“Clay is our rock. He’s someone that we count on day in and day out, and [VomBaur] did a phenomenal job of tying up our hands. We had a hard time getting ahold of him and a hard time getting our offense off and we ended up losing. So, when your veteran gets upset, you’re relying on your young guys and makes it tough to close out that dual,” Hahn said

The Gophers then took the match when No. 17 Michael Blockhus beat Alek Martin at 149, 4-1.

SDSU opened up the match with two wins to make it 6-0. Cael Swensen got things started for the Jacks and he defeated Sebas Swiggum, 8-4, at 157. At 165, No. 21 Tanner Cook then beat No. 27 Andrew Sparks, 4-2.

Minnesota got on the board with a 6-5 decision from No. 20 Bailee O’Reilly at 174 to make it 6-3. No. 12 Isaiah Salzar then gave Minnesota a 7-6 lead with a dominating 12-0 win over Bennett Berge at 184 before Sloan put the Jacks back on top.

Berge replaced No. 27 ranked Cade King due to a skin issue with King. Hahn said wrestlers are now able to wrestle five times and still be able to redshirt, so it was nice to get Berge, a freshman from Mantorville, Minn., his first collegiate experience.

“We’re able to use the redshirts five times, so depending on circumstance, you’ll see some different guys in the lineup. … Salazar is tough, ranked 10th or 13th in the country, right around there. He’s good on top and Bennett couldn’t get to his offense. I think it’s a good learning moment for him. He’s tough and was one of the recruits in the country, but college is a little different. … I feel good about our young guys. The future is really bright with those kids and now we have can give them the opportunity to go out and put that singlet on and compete for the Jackrabbits,” Hahn said.

SDSU dropped to 1-1 on the season as the Jackrabbits beat Augustana 40-4 last weekend. Up next, the Jacks will travel to Las Vegas on Wednesday for the Cliff Keen Invitational. The tournament begins on Friday and concludes on Saturday. SDSU’s next dual will be on Dec. 18 at home against Nebraska.

Expectations were high for SDSU coming into the season as it was the first time in program history that the Jacks were ranked in the preseason polls. Hahn said he felt that his team showed that they can compete with anyone today, but it’s hard to look at the positives when they had the match in their grasps.

“My previous boss said, I remember we lost, and I was saying ‘there’s some positives.’ And he said ‘No there’s no positives in losing. Losing sucks.’ I’m speaking his words right now, it sucks. When you have it on the line like that and you’re right there and you have the last two weights coming up and your horse is coming out and doesn’t gets upset, that’s not supposed to happen. I hope it is a learning lesson for our guys. They can compete with a top-10 team and we’re going to get back to the grindstone and keep working. We head to Vegas on Wednesday and the same guys that you saw compete today, outside of [Cade King], are going to be the same guys competing out there and it’s stiff competition, so you have to have a short memory right now,” Hahn said.