KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tanner Sloan capped his collegiate career with a fifth-place finish at 197 pounds while redshirt freshman Bennett Berge recorded South Dakota State's highest placing with a fourth-place finish in the 184-pound division during competition Saturday morning at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships contested at T-Mobile Center.
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A senior from Alburnett, Iowa, Sloan split his two matches on the day to finish the three-day tournament with a 4-2 record. He began the day with a 6-2 defeat at the hands of Oklahoma's Stephen Buchanan, then rebounded with a 7-0 decision over longtime rival Rocky Elam of Missouri. In sweeping the three-match season series from Elam, Sloan registered a takedown in the final minute of the first period and added a second takedown in the closing seconds of the second period.
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Sloan, who repeated as an All-American, ended his career with a 113-23 overall record to rank ninth for victories in program history.
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Berge, meanwhile, registered his sixth consecutive tournament victory in the consolation semifinals by outlasting Minnesota's Isaiah Salazar, 3-2. Berge's only points of the match came on a takedown in the first period.
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In the third-place bout, the redshirt freshman from Mantorville, Minnesota, fell behind fourth-seeded Trey Munoz of Oregon State, 6-1, on a pair of early takedowns. Berge was able to trim the deficit to 6-5 before Munoz added a final takedown and tallied a point for riding time in a 9-6 decision.
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Also claiming fifth place for the Jackrabbits was 174-pounder Cade DeVos. For the second time this season, DeVos was upended by Michigan's Shane Griffith, coming up on the short end of a 6-2 decision.
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DeVos responded, however, in the fifth-place match as he avenged a loss in the quarterfinals to Lennox Wolak of Columbia with a 5-0 victory. DeVos scored a takedown in the opening 40 seconds of the match and rode out the remainder of the first period to set the tone for his 28th win of the season.
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Also wrestling Saturday morning was Tanner Jordan in the 125-pound seventh-place match. An early takedown by Wyoming's Jore Volk proved to be the difference in a 4-0 decision.
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In the final team standings, South Dakota State placed 13th. The Jackrabbits' 48.5 team points are the most by an SDSU squad in the NCAA Division I Championships, surpassing the 42 points en route to a 12th-place finish in 2018.
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Penn State successfully defended its team title with 172.5 points, followed by Cornell (72.5) and Michigan (71.5).
 SDSU RESULTS
125: #23 Tanner Jordan, Sr., St. Paris, Ohio (4-3 record)
• lost to #10 Eric Barnett, Wisconsin, by fall 0:45
• def. #26 Blake West, Northern Illinois, by major dec., 16-2
• def. #9 Patrick McKee, Minnesota, by dec., 11-4
• def. #17 Brett Ungar, Cornell, by dec., 3-0
• def. #6 Troy Spratley, Oklahoma State, by dec., 9-3
• lost to #15 Caleb Smith, Nebraska, by dec., 5-2 [SV-1]
• lost to #5 Jore Volk, Wyoming, by dec., 4-0 ALL-AMERICAN – Eighth Place – ends season 28-12 overall
 133: #18 Derrick Cardinal, So., Forest Lake, Minn. (1-2 record)
• lost to #15 Brody Teske, Iowa, by major dec., 12-4
• def. #31 Maximilian Leete, American, by dec., 8-2
• lost to #16 Nic Bouzakis, Ohio State, by dec., 14-8 Cardinal eliminated — ends season 23-11 overall
 141: #29 Clay Carlson, Sr., Willmar, Minn. (0-2 record)
• lost to #4 Ryan Jack, North Carolina State, by dec., 8-3
• lost to #13 Jordan Titus, West Virginia, by dec., 5-3 Carlson eliminated — ends season 15-9 overall
 149: #29 Alek Martin, So., St. Paris, Ohio (0-2 record)
• lost to #4 Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech, by tech. fall, 18-3 (4:47)
• lost to #13 Caleb Rathjen, Iowa, by injury default (2:37) Martin eliminated — ends season 20-12 overall
 157: #15 Cael Swensen, So., Plymouth, Minn. (2-2 record)
• def. #18 Vinny Zerban, Northern Colorado, by dec., 4-1
• lost to #2 Jacori Teemer, Arizona State, by dec., 4-1 [SV-1]
• def. #32 Isaac Wilcox, Ohio State, by dec., 8-5
• lost to #7 Peyten Kellar, Ohio, by dec., 1-0 Swensen eliminated — ends season 22-10 overall
 174: #2 Cade DeVos, Sr., Altoona, Iowa (5-2 record)
• def. #31 Michael Wilson, Rider, by tech. fall, 15-0 (4:43)
• def. #18 Benjamin Pasiuk, Army, by dec., 10-4
• lost to #7 Lennox Wolak, Columbia, by dec., 4-2
• def. #14 Gaven Sax, North Dakota State, by dec., 6-3
• def. #3 Edmond Ruth, Illinois, by dec., 5-3
• lost to #4 Shane Griffith, Michigan, by dec., 6-2
• def. #7 Lennox Wolak, Columbia, by dec., 5-0 ALL-AMERICAN – Fifth Place – ends season 28-3 overall
 184: #9 Bennett Berge, R-Fr., Mantorville, Minn. (6-2 record)
• lost to #24 Shane Liegel, Wisconsin, by major dec., 9-1
• def. #8 Sam Wolf, Air Force, by major dec., 11-0
• def. #23 Layne Malczewski, Michigan State, by dec., 7-6
• def. #16 Nate Dugan, Princeton, by dec., 14-7
• def. #5 Lenny Pinto, Nebraska, by dec., 13-8
• def. #25 David Key, Navy, by tech. fall, 17-2 (5:47)
• def. #2 Isaiah Salazar, Minnesota, by dec., 3-2
• lost to #4 Trey Munoz, Oregon State, by dec., 9-6 ALL-AMERICAN – Fourth Place – ends season 25-7 overall
 197: #3 Tanner Sloan, Sr., Alburnett, Iowa (4-2 record)
• def. #30 Sam Mitchell, Buffalo, by fall 5:25
• def. #14 John Poznanski, Rutgers, by major dec., 14-4
• def. #6 Lou Deprez, Binghamton, by tech. fall, 16-1 (7:00)
• lost to #2 Trent Hidlay, North Carolina State, by dec., 4-1
• lost to #8 Stephen Buchanan, Oklahoma, by dec., 6-2
• def. #12 Rocky Elam, Missouri, by dec., 7-0 ALL-AMERICAN – Fifth Place – ends season 27-3 overall
 FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (Top 15)
1. Penn State – 172.5
2. Cornell – 72.5
3. Michigan – 71.0
4. Iowa State – 68.5
5. Iowa – 67.0
6. Arizona State – 64.5
7. Virginia Tech – 64.0
8. Ohio State – 62.0
9. Nebraska – 60.5
10. Oklahoma State – 56.0
T11. Missouri – 49.5
T11. North Carolina State – 49.5
13. South Dakota State – 48.5
14. Northern Iowa – 39.5
15. Northern Iowa – 34.5
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