JACKRABBITS HEAD OFF TO BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

Saturday, March 4

Tulsa, Okla.

noon/8 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Big 12 Wrestling Championship

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

3/2/2023 8:34:00 PM | Wrestling

#14 South Dakota State at Big 12 Wrestling Championship

When	Saturday-Sunday, March 4-5 Session I: 10 a.m. Saturday (opening round, quarterfinals) Session II: 5 p.m. Saturday (semifinals, consolation matches) Session III: noon Sunday (consolation semifinals, placing matches) Session IV: 8 p.m. Sunday (championship matches)
Where	BOK Center \| Tulsa, Okla.
TV	Big 12 Now On ESPN+ (first three sessions) ESPNU (championship session)
Live Results	Trackwrestling.com
Tournament Notes	SDSU \| Big 12 Conference
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| Instagram \| #GetJacked

Conference titles and national tournament berths will be on the line this weekend at the Big 12 Wrestling Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The two-day meet at the BOK Center gets under way at 10 a.m. Saturday, with that day's evening session slated for 5 p.m. Competition Sunday begins at noon with consolation semifinals and matches for seventh, fifth and third place. Championship bouts are set for 8 p.m. Sunday.

Live video streaming of the first three rounds will be through Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Sunday night's finals round will be televised live on ESPNU.

South Dakota State will look to improve on its sixth-place finish from a year ago in which the Jackrabbits qualified four individuals for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

Each of the 10 weight classes has been allocated at least four automatic qualifying spots based on finish at the Big 12 Wrestling Championship. League-wide 65 automatic berths have been allocated to Big 12 wrestlers, ranking second only to the Big Ten's 88.

PROBABLE LINEUP:
125:     #28 Tanner Jordan • Jr., St. Paris, Ohio (16-12 overall)
133:     Derrick Cardinal • R-Fr., Forest Lake, Minn. (10-13 overall)
141:     #11 Clay Carlson • Sr., Willmar, Minn. (17-7 overall)
149:     Alek Martin • R-Fr., St. Paris, Ohio (17-12 overall)
157:     #18 Cael Swensen • R-Fr., Plymouth, Minn. (18-6 overall)
165:     #16 Tanner Cook • Jr., Ilion, N.Y. (14-4 overall)
174:     #15 Cade DeVos • Jr., Altoona, Iowa (20-6 overall)
184:     #19 Cade King • Sr., Waseca, Minn. (15-7 overall)
197:     #9 Tanner Sloan • Sr., Alburnett, Iowa (20-1 overall)
285:     #12 A.J. Nevills • Grad., Clovis, Calif. (18-4 overall)
Note: Rankings listed are highest of either Intermat or FloWrestling rankings as of Feb. 21, 2023

SEEDINGS AND PAIRINGS: South Dakota State's Tanner Sloan is seeded first in the 197-pound weight class for this weekend's Big 12 Wrestling Championship, conference officials announced Monday.

A senior from Alburnett, Iowa, Sloan leads a group of eight Jackrabbit wrestlers seeded in the top eight of their respective weight classes. He has compiled a 20-1 overall record and has won 17 matches in a row entering the tournament.

Earning No. 4 seeds were redshirt freshman 157-pounder Cael Swensen and senior heavyweight A.J. Nevills. Swensen has posted an 18-6 record in his first season in the lineup, while the veteran Nevills enters his final Big 12 championship with an 18-4 mark.

Clay Carlson, 17-7 overall, earned the No. 5 seed at 141 pounds, while 125-pounder Tanner Jordan (16-12 overall) and 174-pounder Cade DeVos (20-6 overall) are each seeded sixth.

Rounding out the seeds for SDSU were 165-pounder Tanner Cook and 184-pounder Cade King, both of whom are seeded seventh. Cook has tallied a 14-4 overall record, with King sporting a 15-7 record entering the postseason.

Unseeded for the Jackrabbits were Derrick Cardinal at 133 pounds (10-13 record) and 149-pounder Alek Martin (17-12 overall). Both are redshirt freshmen.

Defending champion Missouri paced the league with all 10 of its wrestlers seeded, including a pair of top seeds in 149-pounder Brock Mauller and Peyton Mocco at 174 pounds. Each of the 10 weight classes will feature 13 wrestlers.

Nine of the 10 Jackrabbits entered in the Big 12 Wrestling Championship will wrestle first-round matches, according to brackets released by conference officials Wednesday afternoon.

The lone Jackrabbit to receive an opening-round bye was junior 174-pounder Cade DeVos, who is seeded sixth in his weight class. DeVos will meet the winner between third-seeded Sam Wolf of Air Force and California Baptist's Louis Rojas.

First-round matchups include:
125: #6 Tanner Jordan vs. Kyle Gollhofer (Northern Iowa)
133: Derrick Cardinal vs. #7 McGwire Midkiff (North Dakota State)
141: #5 Clay Carlson vs. Casey Swiderski (Iowa State)
149: Alek Martin vs. #2 Colin Realbuto (Northern Iowa)
157: #4 Cael Swensen vs. Nolan Miller-Johnston (California Baptist)
165: #7 Tanner Cook vs. Seamus Casey (Air Force)
174: #6 Cade DeVos – Bye
184: #7 Cade King vs. Noah Blake (Air Force)
197: #1 Tanner Sloan vs. Caden Gerlach (California Baptist)
285: #4 A.J. Nevills vs. Juan Mora (North Dakota State)

Four of the first-round bouts are rematches from regular season action. The Jackrabbits went a combined 4-0 against their initial postseason opponents, including wins by Cardinal and Nevills in dual action Feb. 19 at North Dakota State. King and Sloan also recorded victories over their first-round foes in dual action in January.

LAST TIME OUT: The final dual meet of the season for the South Dakota State wrestling team came down to the final match. When all was said and done Feb. 19 at Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse in Fargo, heavyweight A.J. Nevills came out victorious to lift the 17th-ranked Jackrabbits to a 19-17, back-and-forth victory over rival and No. 15 North Dakota State.

In retaining the Border Bell traveling trophy, the Jackrabbits completed the dual slate with a 12-4 overall record, including a 6-2 mark against Big 12 Conference opponents. NDSU dropped to 11-3 overall and 6-2 in the Big 12.

While Nevills' victory was the eventual match-winner, 133-pounder Derrick Cardinal came up with perhaps the biggest win for the Jackrabbits on the day. A redshirt freshman from Forest Lake, Minnesota, Cardinal recorded a takedown early in overtime for a 5-3 sudden victory over 33rd-ranked McGwire Midkiff.

Cardinal's victory was part of a 10-0 advantage the Jackrabbits built up through the first three matches. Tanner Jordan opened the dual with a 9-0 major decision over Ryan Henningson in the opening bout at 125 pounds and 11th-ranked Clay Carlson followed Cardinal's win with a 7-4 decision over Gavin Drexler in the 141-pound matchup.

SDSU weathered the storm presented by the Bison in the middle weights despite shuffling its lineup at a few weight classes. NDSU grabbed a 14-10 lead as nationally ranked Kellyn March, Jared Franek and Michael Caliendo all were victorious, with Franek posting a technical fall at 157 pounds and Caliendo winning by fall at 165 pounds over Jackrabbit backups Caleb Gross and Connor Gaynor, respectively.

Cade DeVos ended the Bison winning streak with a 7-4 decision over Gaven Sax in the 174-pound matchup, but NDSU stayed in the lead at 17-13 after D.J. Parker's 4-2 victory over Jackrabbit freshman Bennett Berge at 184 pounds. With his victory, DeVos reached the 20-win mark.

That left the fate of the dual for the Jackrabbits in the hands of Tanner Sloan and Nevills, who entered Sunday's matchup with a combined record of 26-1 in duals this season. Matched up against No. 11 Owen Pentz, the ninth-ranked Sloan scored on an early takedown and maintained the momentum for much of the 197-pound bout in posting an 8-2 decision for his 20th win of the season.

Nevills also recorded an early takedown in his match against Juan Mora and added two more takedowns in cruising to an 8-3 decision.

RABBITS RANKED: The South Dakota State wrestling team closed the 2022-23 regular season with its highest ranking under head coach Damion Hahn, checking in at No. 14 following the Jackrabbits' victory over North Dakota State on Feb. 19. It marks the highest ranking for the Jackrabbits since ascending to No. 12 late in the 2017-18 season.

The Jackrabbits began the season ranked in the top 25 after being included in a pair of national polls and maintained a national ranking for most of the 2022-23 campaign.

SDSU checked in at No. 22 in the preseason poll conducted by InterMat and were ranked 25th in the initial National Wrestling Coaches Association survey. SDSU was one of five Big 12 Conference programs ranked in the NWCA preseason top 25, joining No. 4 Missouri, No. 10 Oklahoma State, No. 14 Iowa State and No. 20 UNI.

Following their strong showing at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in early December, the Jackrabbits climbed seven spots to No. 18. The Jackrabbits moved up two more spots in January to No. 16 and continued their steady climb to No. 14 on the strength of a 12-4 dual season that included a 10-match winning streak.

SDSU also has had a season-high eight wrestlers ranked individually for the last three months, with 197-pounder Tanner Sloan holding the highest ranking at No. 9 in both the InterMat and FloWrestling polls announced at the conclusion of the dual season.

Just outside the top 10 are returning national qualifiers in 141-pounder Clay Carlson (11th by InterMat and 12th by FloWrestling) and A.J. Nevills (12th by FloWrestling and 14th by InterMat).

Cael Swensen, who is No. 18 in the 157-pound rankings by FloWrestling and Tanner Jordan at 125 pounds (28th by InterMat) each joined the rankings after their outings at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.

Other returning NCAA qualifiers Cade DeVos (15th at 174 pounds by FloWrestling), Tanner Cook (16th by FloWrestling at 165 pounds) and Cade King (19th at 184 pounds by FloWrestling and InterMat) round out the list of SDSU's ranked wrestlers.

COOK, NEVILLS AMONG PIN LEADERS: Two South Dakota State wrestlers have been ranked in the top 10 among Division I wrestlers for wins by fall this season.

Jackrabbit 165-pounder Tanner Cook enters the week ranked in a tie for eighth with nine wins by fall against D-I competition. A junior from Ilion, New York, Cook has needed only 15 minutes and 19 seconds of mat time to post his nine falls, with six of those pins occurring in less than a minute. He last added to his total with two pins in action Jan. 13-14 at the Virginia Duals.

Cook was honored Dec. 20 as Big 12 Conference Wrestler of the Week after pinning 13th-ranked Bubba Wilson of Nebraska in only 29 seconds in dual action Dec. 18. He brings a 14-4 season record and a 55-19 career mark into competition this weekend.

At heavyweight, SDSU's A.J. Nevills recently dropped out of the top 10 despite eight wins by fall. Nevills has recorded his eight pins against D-I opponents in 25 minutes and 38 seconds, adding to his total with a Jan. 22 pin against Wyoming's Mason Ding.

DUAL-MEET DOMINANCE: South Dakota State dominated the upper two weights in dual meets over the last two seasons thanks to the contributions of 197-pounder Tanner Sloan and heavyweight A.J. Nevills.

Sloan, a senior from Alburnett, Iowa, is 25-1 in duals over the last two seasons. Since dropping his first dual match of the 2021-22 season to Michial Foy of Minnesota, Sloan has won 25 consecutive dual matchups.

For his career, Sloan has compiled a 49-4 dual record and has yet to drop a home match. He went a perfect 11-0 in duals during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season after posting a 13-3 mark as a redshirt freshman.

Sloan completed a 14-0 dual slate during the recently completed 2022-23 campaign.

Nevills, a graduate student from Clovis, California, turned in a 28-4 dual record since joining the lineup at the start of the 2021-22 season as a transfer from Fresno State. Nevills went 14-3 in duals last season en route to a trip to nationals and went 14-1 this season, with his lone loss to Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force.

SILVER MEDALISTS: Two members of the Jackrabbit wrestling team recently earned individual silver medals in international competition.

In August, incoming freshman Bennett Berge earned a silver medal in the 86-kilogram weight class at the 2022 U20 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

A native of Mantorville, Minnesota, and a member of the Pinnacle Wrestling Club, Berge posted a 4-1 record over two days of competition. He won his first three matches all by technical fall before recording a come-from-behind, 9-7 victory over Ismail Kucuksolak of Turkey in the semifinals. In the championship bout against Rakhim Magamadov of France, Berge lost a 10-5 decision.

Besides his runner-up finish in his weight class, Berge brought home another silver medal as Team USA placed second in the team standings behind Iran. Berge was one of four Americans to medal in the freestyle division.

At the prep level, Berge totaled 241 career victories, posting a 124-1 record over his final three seasons at Kasson-Mantorvile High School. He won five consecutive individual state titles at five different weight classes (138, 160, 170, 182, 195).

In October, Tanner Sloan reached the finals of the 97-kilogram division at the U23 World Championships held in Pontevedra, Spain.

Sloan, a three-time NCAA qualifier at 197 pounds from Alburnett, Iowa, posted a 3-1 record in a two-day span. After winning his first three bouts, Sloan dropped a 5-3 decision to Amirali Azarpira of Iran in the gold medal match on Oct. 22.

Sloan previously competed at the 2019 UWW Junior World Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, after opening international competition by winning the gold medal at the UWW Pan American Championship in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

BIG 12 SUCCESS: Now in its eighth season as an affiliate member of the Big 12 Conference for wrestling, South Dakota State has proven it can contend in one of the top wrestling leagues in the country.

Since joining the league at the start of the 2015-16 season, the Jackrabbits have combined to post a 43-22 record (.662 winning percentage) in duals against Big 12 opponents, with seven of those losses coming during the 2018-19 campaign.

SDSU posted an 8-0 mark in Big 12 duals during the 2017-18 season and turned in A 5-2 record last season, followed by a 6-2 mark during the 2022-23 campaign.

The Jackrabbits also turned in back-to-back third-place efforts at the Big 12 Wrestling Championship in 2017 and 2018, after a fourth-place finish at their inaugural league meet in 2016. SDSU posted another fourth-place finish in 2020, improving six spots in the team standings from the previous season.

NEW FACILITY OPENS: South Dakota State marked the start of the calendar year by moving into a new home with the opening of the 16,000-square-foot Kurtenbach Family Wrestling Center.

The South Dakota Board of Regents approved plans for the project in December 2020 and ground was broken in September 2021 for the $4 million on-campus training facility, which is located on the southwest corner of the Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex. Former SDSU wrestler and coach Frank Kurtenbach provided the lead gift for the facility, which features four competition mats, a strength and conditioning area, locker rooms, team room, coaches' offices and spaces for academics and nutrition.

"This state-of-the-art wrestling facility will forever change the landscape of SDSU Wrestling," SDSU head coach Damion Hahn said. "I can't thank our Jackrabbit family enough for the contributions that have been made toward this endeavor. I would like to make a special thank you to the Kurtenbach family for their vision and support of the project."

COACH HAHN: Damion Hahn is overseeing a successful rebuilding of South Dakota State University wrestling as he enters his fifth season at the helm of the Jackrabbits' program. Hahn has compiled a 45-30 career dual record and has coached four All-Americans and 14 NCAA qualifiers during his tenure in Brookings.

During the 2019-20 season, the National Wrestling Coaches Association selected 149-pounder Henry Pohlmeyer, 184-pounder Zach Carlson and 197-pounder Tanner Sloan as second-team All-Americans after the NCAA Championships were canceled at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also during the 2019-20 campaign, the Jackrabbits turned in their first winning dual season under Hahn by posting a 12-6 overall record, including a 6-3 mark in the Big 12. Included in the dual wins were victories over nationally ranked Northern Iowa and Stanford.

SDSU also improved by six spots in the Big 12 Conference tournament, finishing fourth in the team standings at the 2020 competition.

Highlighting the 2020-21 season, Clay Carlson wrestled his way to an eighth-place finish at nationals in the 141-pound division. Carlson also was honored as the 2021 Big 12 Wrestling Scholar-Athlete of the Year, an award he would receive again the following year.

In all, five SDSU wrestlers earned a trip to the NCAA Championships in March 2021.

The Jackrabbits returned to the winning side of the ledger during the 2021-22 campaign and also cracked the national rankings as a team for the first time since early in Hahn's first season. SDSU compiled a 13-4 dual record that included a 21-12 victory at ninth-ranked Missouri, marking the program's first dual win over a top-10 opponent.

In postseason competition, SDSU placed sixth at the 2022 Big 12 Wrestling Championship and set four wrestlers on to the NCAA Championships in Detroit.

Hahn's teams also have performed well in the classroom, earning Top 30 Scholar Team All-America honors from the National Wrestling Coaches Association each of the past two seasons. The 2021-22 squad ranked seventh among Division I programs with a 3.465 grade-point average and six Jackrabbits were recognized individually as NWCA Scholar All-America honorees.

Hahn was hired at SDSU on April 9, 2018, following more than a decade of success as a member of the coaching staff at Cornell (N.Y.).

"Damion represents everything we are looking for in being able to take our wrestling program to the next level," said SDSU Director of Athletics Justin Sell in announcing the hire. "His success both as a collegiate wrestler and coach, along with his ability to recruit high-achieving student-athletes on and off the mat, made him the ideal candidate. He is a tremendous ambassador for the sport who will work tirelessly to ensure wrestling thrives both on our campus and across the country."

Hahn spent 12 years as an assistant coach and later the associate head coach at Cornell in Ithaca, New York. During his tenure, the Big Red recorded 11 top-10 team finishes at the NCAA Championships, including consecutive runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2011. He mentored 50 All-Americans, 12 of whom were individual NCAA champs.

Cornell also won 12 straight Ivy League dual championships and 11 consecutive Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association team titles.

In accepting his first head coaching position, Hahn made a return to the Midwest. As a collegiate wrestler at Minnesota, Hahn won NCAA individual national titles as a junior and senior. A four-time All-American, he also was a three-time Big 10 individual champion and was named the Jesse Owens Big 10 Male Athlete of the Year in 2004.

The Golden Gophers won team NCAA championships during both his freshman and sophomore seasons. He finished his collegiate career with a 118-21 record.

Hahn was inducted into the University of Minnesota's M Club Hall of Fame in 2018.

THE ROSTER: The 2022-23 South Dakota State wrestling roster is made up of 35 student-athletes from 11 different states from coast to coast. South Dakota and Minnesota have the most wrestlers with eight, while seven hail from Iowa. Three Jackrabbit wrestlers are from Ohio, with a pair from North Dakota and Wisconsin. Five states have produced one wrestler each: California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.

By class, six are seniors, 11 are juniors and nine are redshirt freshmen. Eight wrestlers are incoming freshman, with one being a graduate student. There are no sophomores on this season's squad.

A LOOK AHEAD: A group of Jackrabbits is expected to make a return trip toTulsa and the BOK Center for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships March 16-18.

At-large selections for the national meet will be announced March 7.

-GoJacks.com-