JACKRABBITS SHINE IN GOLDEN STATE

Saturday, January 7

Riverside, Calif.

3 p.m. PT/5 p.m. CT

South Dakota State University

Northern Illinois

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

1/7/2023 11:09:00 PM | Wrestling

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The South Dakota State wrestling team turned in a pair of dominant performances in sweeping a triangular Saturday night at Van Dyne Gym. The 19^th-ranked Jackrabbits recorded 11 bonus-point victories in their two duals, defeating Northern Illinois, 31-6, and shutting out Big 12 newcomer California Baptist, 44-0.

With the two victories, SDSU improved to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in Big 12 action.

South Dakota State 31, Northern Illinois 6
The Jackrabbits won each of the first five matches and eight bouts overall en route to the victory.

Tanner Jordan started the SDSU winning streak with a 2-0 decision over the Huskies' Blake West in the 125-pound matchup, while redshirt freshman Derrick Cardinal followed with a 12-1 major decision against Bryce West. Clay Carlson, Alek Martin and Cael Swensen all followed with narrow decisions to close out the first half of the dual with the Jackrabbits holding a 16-0 lead.

All three Jackrabbits victories in the second half of the dual were of the bonus-point variety by ranked wrestlers as Cade DeVos won by major decision at 174 pounds, Tanner Sloan earned a win by technical fall in the 197-pound matchup and heavyweight A.J. Nevills won by fall.

In a battle between ranked 165-pound wrestlers, NIU's ninth-ranked Izzak Olejnik put the Huskies on the board with a 3-1 decision over 13^th-ranked Tanner Cook. Matt Zuber picked up the other win for NIU by outlasting SDSU's 16^th-ranked Cade King, 12-8 in the 184-pound bout.

South Dakota State 44, California Baptist 0
SDSU reeled off five consecutive bonus-point wins and seven in the match in blanking California Baptist in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

Carlson started a string of three consecutive technical falls for the Jackrabbits with an 18-3 victory over Christian Nunez at 141 pounds. Martin (20-3) and Swensen (17-1) followed with tech falls at 149 and 157 pounds.

Cook returned to his winning ways with his seventh pin of the season, putting Frank Almaguer's shoulders to the mat in 2 minutes and 27 seconds. DeVos added his second major decision of the night, topping Louis Rojas, 18-5, in the 174-pound matchup.

Also putting extra points on the board were Sloan with a major decision at 197 pounds and Nevills with his second pin of the evening and sixth of the season.

Jordan, Cardinal and King won by decision as the Jackrabbits shut out a Division I dual opponent for the first time since a 42-0 whitewashing of Little Rock on Feb. 2, 2020.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits are scheduled to wrestle four times at the Virginia Duals Jan. 13-14 in Hampton, Virginia. SDSU is slated to face Navy at 11:30 Eastern Time (10:30 p.m. Central) and Kent State at 2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. CT) in opening-day action.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 31, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 6
125: #30 Tanner Jordan (SDSU) dec. Blake West (NIU), 2-0
133: Derrick Cardinal (SDSU) major dec. Bryce West (NIU), 12-1
141: #11 Clay Carlson (SDSU) dec. Jaivon Jones (NIU), 6-4
149: Alek Martin (SDSU) dec. Anthony Cheloni (NIU), 4-2
157: #19 Cael Swensen (SDSU) dec. Anthony Gibson (NIU), 4-3
165: #9 Izzak Olejnick (NIU) dec. #13 Tanner Cook (SDSU), 3-1
174: #16 Cade DeVos (SDSU) major dec. Hayden Pummel (NIU), 11-3
184: Matt Zuber (NIU) dec. #16 Cade King (SDSU), 12-8
197: #12 Tanner Sloan (SDSU) tech. fall Jacob Christensen (NIU), 15-0 [5:39]
285: #14 A.J. Nevills (SDSU) def. Terrese Aaron (NIU), by fall 3:00

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 44, CALIFORNIA BAPTIST 0
125: #30 Tanner Jordan (SDSU) dec. Elijah Griffin (CBU), 5-3
133: Derrick Cardinal (SDSU) dec. Hunter Leake (CBU), 2-1
141: #11 Clay Carlson (SDSU) tech. fall Christian Nunez (CBU), 18-3 [4:20]
149: Alek Martin (SDSU) tech. fall Chaz Hallmark (CBU), 20-3 [7:00]
157: #19 Cael Swensen (SDSU) tech. fall Joseph Mora (CBU), 17-1 [4:56]
165: #13 Tanner Cook (SDSU) def. Frank Almaguer (CBU), by fall 2:27
174: #16 Cade DeVos (SDSU) major dec. Louis Rojas (CBU), 18-5
184: dec. #16 Cade King (SDSU) dec. Peter Acciardi (CBU), 4-0
197: #12 Tanner Sloan (SDSU) major dec. Caden Gerlach (CBU), 10-1
285: #14 A.J. Nevills (SDSU) def. Chris Island (CBU), by fall 2:57

-GoJacks.com-