Petersen, Witt Combine for Six Points at Wrestling NCAA Championships

Five Bison had the honor of attending the NCAA Wrestling National Championship tournaments this year, the most since the 2022-2023 season. NDSU scored eight team points, freshman Ezikel Witt scoring two and junior Max Petersen scoring four. The Bison finished thirty-ninth out of the 70 teams that traveled to Cleveland this year. Three Bison would be sent on the first day of nationals, failing to pick up any wins. The other two, Witt and Petersen, would advance to the consolation bracket on Friday.

Moving to individual matches, Junior Max Petersen took home two victories in his four matches. In one of the most exciting upsets of the March Madness season, Petersen took down Utah Valley’s David Evans in a top-ten upset. Petersen defeated Evans via pinfall at 4:21. His second victory came over the 26th-ranked 149 lbs wrestler, Andersen Heap of Davidson University. Petersen defeated Heap 12-2 via major decision. Stanford’s 10th-ranked Aden Valenica defeated Petersen via major decision 13-5. Petersen put up a stronger fight than the score showed, but was unable to claim two top-ten upsets. His second loss came at the hands of Iowa State’s Jacob Frost, who ranks sixteenth in weight class. Frost defeated Petersen in a high-scoring match, which finished 10-6. This weekend capped off a strong junior campaign for Petersen, who finished 15-8 on the year.

Redshirt freshman Ezekiel Witt also finished 2-2 in the tournaments. His first victory came over Missouri’s Mack Mauger in a 6-2 decision; Mauger ranked thirty-second in the 125-pound weight class. The second victory was over Illinois Spencer Moore, who ranks 18th in the weight class. The match was a dominant 13-2 major decision victory for the Bison’s lightweight. Witt suffered a top-ten loss to Stanford’s Nico Provo in an 8-2 decision. Seventeenth-ranked lightweight Jett Strickenberger of West Virginia also defeated Witt, 13-5 via major decision.

For the other three Bison, the trip was less rewarding. Junior Gavin Drexler represented the Bison in the 157 lbs bracket, losing both of his matches. His first match was a relatively close bout with fifth-ranked Landon Robideau. Drexler was able to keep it close with a 5-1 decision defeat. In his second match, Drexler was defeated by the twelfth-ranked Vinny Zerban of Iowa State, 11-0. Junior Aiden Brenot would also come up winless in the 184 bracket, losing to sixth-ranked Eddie Neitenbach of Wyoming 14-1 via major decision. In the second match, Brenot also lost to Shane Cartagena-Walsh of Rutgers 7-2. Finally, Junior Devin Wasley capped off his star-studded season on a mishap losing both matches via decision, both scores were 7-2.

This season was a strong step forward for Coach Oblanc and the Bison, who look to continue to build the program come next winter. Congratulations to the Bison who made the trip to Cleveland, and we cannot wait for the weather to get cold again so we know when to roll out the wrestling mats!