This Sunday afternoon, North Dakota State Wrestling ended the regular season with a bout against archrival South Dakota State at the Scheels Center. North Dakota State lost the border match 23-10. This was also senior day. Celebrating their final regular season meet were seniors Michael Baker, Kyle Burwick, and Tristan Daughtery. 10 matches took place on Sunday, with the Bison grabbing only three wins. The first win came with Ezekiel Witt winning at 125. Witt defeated the Jackrabbits’ Tanner Jordan in a narrow 3-2 decision to give NDSU the early 3-0 lead. Kyle Burwick would make the most of his senior night and cap off his season with an 18-7 major decision victory over Derrick Cardinal.
Burwick will go down as one of the greatest to ever lay it on the mat for the green and yellow as his senior regular season would see a record of 21-10 overall, 4-6 over ranked opponents, and 7-1 in conference duals. Burwick scored 210 points for NDSU this season. Definitely the best Bison on the mat. He went off on a great note and will finish with a great career not only for his time in Fargo but also for the work he accomplished in the Big Ten at Wisconsin.
Unfortunately for the Bison, things would go downhill as NDSU dropped the next seven matches. First, at 141, Michael Olsen would get shutout in a 5-0 decision loss to Julian Tagg. A disappointing end to a promising season from Olsen that would see him finish 12-9 overall. Gavin Drexler would fall just short of Avery Allen at 149 as Allen won 7-4 via decision. Clay Radenez fell to Moses Espinoza-Owens 14-5 in a major decision loss for the Bison.
Boeden Greenely would come up just short of snapping the losing streak but came up just one point short as he lost to Drake Rhodes 6-5. Greenely would also have another great season for the Bison as he went 18-18, being extremely versatile for NDSU wrestling in both 165 and 174. An amazing season for the red-shirt freshman. Following this would be Devin Wasley at 174. Wasley would, unfortunately, fall 14-2 to Cade DeVos. Wasley would also be one of the top Bison this year with a great overall record of 14-11 and 6-6 in conference play.
With three matches left, a pair of close, heartbreaking defeats would fall opposite the Bison’s way as Aidan Brenot fell to Bennett Berge 5-4 via decision. Brenot also had a standout season for NDSU at 184, going a very impressive 17-12. Freshman Tayshaun Glover would end his rookie campaign with an 8-6 decision loss to Zach Glazier. In the season’s final match, big man Andrew Blackburn-Forst would send the Bison home with some smiles as he defeated Luke Rasmussen in a 7-5 decision.
NDSU will end the wrestling regular season with a 5-11 record overall and a 3-6 conference record. The Big 12 championships will occur on March 8th and 9th in Tulsa, Oklahoma.