Jared Franek finishes second, five earn spots in NCAA tournament

Led by Jared Franek’s runner-up finish at 157 pounds, the North Dakota State University wrestling team finished in a tie for seventh place at the 2022 Big 12 Conference Wrestling Championships held at BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.

Franek, ranked 6th in the weight class, battled the top-ranked wrestler in the country at 157, Iowa State’s Derek Carr, for the Big 12 title. Franek, who lost to Carr in the 2021 championship match 5-2, lost to Carr again in this year’s rematch, 8-2. Franek’s finish earned the Bison 14 of their 62 total team points and automatically qualified him for his third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament in Detroit, Mich. The University of Missouri Tigers, in their return to the Big 12 Wrestling conference, won the team championship with 131.5 points.

The Bison had six wrestlers also place. Wrestlers that will join Franek in Detroit by way of their finish are Dylan Droegemueller, Owen Pentz and Luke Weber. Brandon Metz, the 285-pounder, will join the other four Bison as an at-large selection.

Droegemueller, the Bison 141-pounder, won his opening match over Oklahoma’s Jacob Butler by a 4-2 decision. In the next round, he lost to Missouri’s Allan Hart by a 14-1 major decision. In the first round of wrestle-backs, Droegemueller upset the 4th ranked wrestler at the weight class, Iowa State’s Ian Parker, by a 5-3 decision to move into the third-place match. Although he lost in the match to South Dakota State’s Clay Carlson (7-5) to finish fourth overall, Droegemueller qualified for the NCAAs as the Big 12 was allocated four spots in the national tournament at the 141-pound weight class. It will be his second trip to the NCAAs (2020) after missing last year’s championships.

At 165, the Bison’s Luke Weber will make a second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. Weber opened his conference tournament with wins over Nick Knutson of Northern Colorado and No. 11 Travis Wittlake of Oklahoma State by decisions of 6-2 and 4-0, respectively. In the semi-final match, Weber dropped a 12-3 major decision to Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole, the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the country at 165 pounds. In the wrestle-backs, Weber beat Iowa State’s Isaac Judge by a 7-1 decision, then lost the 3rd place match to No. 16 Austin Yant of Northern Iowa by a 5-4 decision.

Pentz, the Bison 197-pounder, finished sixth in the class to qualify for his second-straight NCAA tournament. Pentz opened his tournament up with a win over Oklahoma’s Jake Woodley (No. 17) by decision 6-4. Then, Pentz lost to No. 6 Tanner Sloan from South Dakota State by major decision 8-0. Pentz then forfeited both matches the following day for the sixth-place finish. He also qualified via the allocations received in the class to the Big 12 Conference.

D.J. Parker finished in sixth at the 184-pound weight class, but the Big 12’s allocations did not reach that far into the class. Gaven Sax (7th at 149) and Metz (8th at 285) were the Bison’s other place finishers.

The 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held March 17-19 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich.

NDSU Athletics | Photo Credit
NDSU’s 157-pounder Jared Franek