Bison Wrestling Flirts With Rankings

South Beach Duals

North Dakota State upset No. 12 Cornell 20-16, but lost 22-18 to No. 22 Rider Friday, Dec. 29 on the first day of the South Beach Duals.

In the final bout against Cornell, Dan Stibral recorded a takedown with 11 seconds left to win with an 8-7 decision over Cornell’s Benjamin Honis. Stibral trailed 4-1 in the first period and 6-4 after two. He had two takedowns in the third to grab the win.

NDSU won five of the first six matches against Cornell.

With the dual against Rider, the Bison fell in the back-to-back-to-back in 2 minutes and 25 seconds, along with a pair of overtime bouts. Andrew Fogarty moved up to 174-pounds and pinned his opponent in 17 seconds for his fourth pin of the season.

Clay Ream earned a 14-6 major decision over Cornell’s Adam Santoro and then bolted out to a 6-0 lead on the way to a 10-5 decision over Rider’s sixth-ranked B.J. Clagon.

Cam Sykora claimed a pair of decisions, 4-3 against Cornell’s Charles Tucker and 5-2 over Rider’s Anthony Cefolo.

NDSU won 14 bouts overall including five tech falls, four pins and a major decision in a 34-10 win over Franklin & Marshall and a 31-10 victory over Columbia University Dec. 30 during the second day of the South Beach Duals.

Sykora opened with a 19-3 tech fall at 4:41 over Franklin & Marshall’s Dan Martoccio and followed with his first pin of the season at 4:19 over Columbia’s Christopher Scorese.

Both Charley Popp and Nick Knutson collected their first collegiate dual wins.

Bison beat Pitt

NDSU won seven bouts, including four straight, in the middleweights to defeat Pittsburgh 28-11 in a non-conference dual Jan. 5.

Ream recorded a takedown with one second left to edge Pitt’s 18th-ranked Taleb Rahmani 9-7.

Fogarty, ranked 21st, won his match 17-2 via tech fall at 4:35 over Pitt’s Nathan Russell.

NDSU Paul Bianchi gained an injury decision 57 seconds over the Panthers’ Lorenzo Bentley to put the Bison ahead 6-0 early.

NDSU closed out the dual with wins in the final two weight divisions as 197-pounder Cordell Easton defeated Kellan Stout 8-3 and Stibral earned a 16-2 major decision over Cole Rickert.

Mountaineers win it late

No. 25 NDSU fell 12-19 to West Virginia after the Mountaineers won three of the final four bouts.

West Virginia won the first bouts including major decisions from 17th-ranked Zeke Moisey and Christian Monserrat to take an 11-0 lead.

NDSU responded with three straight wins to pull to within 11-9 of the Mountaineers. Bison Gliva notched a 6-1 decision over Kyler Rea, 13th-ranked Ream rallied for a 7-4 decision over Zach Moore and Fogarty held off Nick Klussis for a 10-6 decision.

NDSU (5-6, 0-4 #Big12WR) is scheduled to host Wyoming (5-2, 1-1 #Big12WR) in a Big 12 Conference dual 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20.

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