Drexler & Craig Claim Victory for NDSU Wrestling at Daktronics Invite

After claiming a dominant victory against the University of Mary last week, the wrestling team went down to Brookings, South Dakota, to compete in the Daktronics Invitational hosted by rival SDSU. The Bison claimed the top spots in two tournaments, with fifth-year Gavin Drexler and senior Porter Craig winning their tournaments.

Drexler went a perfect 3-0 in the 149 lbs bracket with three decision victories. In the first bout, he took down Nikade Zinkin 5-2; in the next round, he defeated Tyson Peach of SDSU 8-1, and in the final round, he beat another Jack Rabbit 8-1, this round being against Colin Dupil.

In his three matches in the 165B lbs bracket, Porter went 2-1, suffering a loss in the opening round to Brady Unger of Buffalo; It was a narrow 4-3 decision. He was able to pin Rex Bryson to take victory in his next match, and finally he claimed gold with an 8-3 decision victory over Nolan Fellers.

Junior Michael Olsen finished in second place in the 157 lbs bracket. He started with two decision victories, a 4-2 win over Mason Petersen and an 8-2 decision victory over Max Nevlin. He fell to 18th-ranked Charlie Millard in a 12-1 major decision.

Fifth-year Devin Wasley placed second in the 187 lbs bracket with a 3-1 record. Wasley defeated Silas Dailey with a 15-3 major decision, then beat Connor Jacobs with a 5-1 decision victory, and his final win came against Quin Morgan of the Jackrabbits with an 11-4 decision victory. His sole loss came against Thomas Dineen in a 7-2 decision.

Keeping pace with the big men, junior Shilo Jones placed second in the heavyweight bracket with a 2-1 showing. A 7-1 decision victory over Evan McGuire opened the day for Jones, and he followed it up with a 13-1 major decision over Tyson Martin. In the championship round, Jones would be faced up against eighth-ranked Koy Hopke, losing in a 7-2 decision.

Sophomore Lawson Eller finished third in the 141 lbs bracket. He went 2-1 with an opening win over Logan Swesen, defeating him with a high-scoring 7-4 decision. He lost to Mason Rohr in the second match, 12-1, a major decision loss. But he was able to shut out SDSU’s Parker Janssen 4-0 in the bronze medal match.

The final Bison who placed in the top three in Brookings would be junior Andrew McMonagle in the 184 lbs bracket. He suffered an early defeat to Justin Wadsen with a 14-2 major decision loss to the Jackrabbit. He bounced back with a pinfall against Marco Christiansen to launch him to the third place match, where he would beat SDSU’s Burk Blasius in a narrow 5-3 decision victory.

Moving over to the B brackets, the Bison would pick up two more top-3 finishes outside of Porter's victory. Sophomore Braden Dean and junior Dante Hutchings tied for second in the 157B lbs bracket. Dean opened with a 5-0 shutout decision victory over Makael Aguayo of NDSU, then fell in his next bout to Sam Ewing in a very high-scoring 16-11 decision. He would pin Calvin Carlson in his final match. Hutchings would also go 2-1, beating Aguayo 4-1, losing to Ewing 3-0, and beating Carlson 8-3, all in decision victories.

To check out the rest of the results of the matches, please click here.

It has been a warm start to the season for the Bison, but it will be a tough run coming up with duals against Iowa State and Wisconsin this Saturday, Nov. 14.