JACKS LOOK TO TAKE HOT START TO VEGAS

Friday, December 5

Las Vegas, Nev.

11 a.m.

South Dakota State University

Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational

A man, Luke Rasmussen, pins the arm of another man behind his back in a wrestling match.

Photo by: Riley Edds

12/4/2025 10:49:00 AM | Wrestling

CKLV Home

Week 4: #8 South Dakota State at CKLV Invitational
Date and Time	Friday, Dec. 5th - Saturday, Dec. 6th, 11 a.m. CT
Location	Las Vegas, Nev.
Site	Westgate Hotel Paradise Event Center
Television/Stream	FloWrestling
Live Stats	FloWrestling
South Dakota State	Match Notes \| Home Page

Brookings, S.D. - The Jackrabbit wrestling program is back in action this weekend as they head to Las Vegas, Nevada, to compete in the premier regular-season wrestling tournament, the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. The Jacks are coming off a historic win against No. 7 Minnesota in their last dual, their first win over Minnesota since 1974, and will look to capitalize on that momentum by showing out at CKLV.

THE LINEUP: This is the probable lineup for this week's contest:

125 - #6 Brady Roark (8-0)

133 - #19 Derrick Cardinal (0-0)

141 - #8 Julian Tagg (2-0)

149 - #24 Alek Martin (2-2)

157 - #14 Cael Swensen (6-1)

165 - Marcus Espinoza-Owens (6-2)

174 - #23 Moses Espinoza-Owens (7-2)

184 - Brock Fettig (5-3)

197 - #7 Bennett Berge (1-0)

285 - #12 Luke Rasmussen (2-0)

CKLV SCHEDULE:

Dec. 5th

11 a.m. CST: Round 1 Pig Tail Championship, Round 2 of (32) Championship, Round 3 Consolation of (32), Round 4 Championship of (16), Consolation 1st of (16), Round 5 Consolation 2nd of (16)

8 p.m. CST: Round 6 Championship Quarter Finals, Consolation Round 1st of (8), & Round 7 Consolation 2nd of (8)

Dec. 6th

12 p.m. CST: Round 8 Championship Semi-Finals, Round 9 Consolation Semi-Finals, Consolation Finals 5th & 6th, 7th & 8th Places

5 p.m. CST: CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS 1st & 2nd, 3rd & 4th Places

CKLV PRE-SEEDS:

125: Brady Roark - #3

133: Derrick Cardinal - #5

141: Julian Tagg - #3

149: Alek Martin - #8

157: Cael Swensen - #5

165: Marcus Espinoza-Owens - NR

174: Moses Espinoza-Owens - #7

184: Brock Fettig - NR

197: Bennett Berge - #4

285: Luke Rasmussen - #4

LAST TIME OUT: Minnesota

The Jackrabbits went into Williams Arena Tuesday night and came away with an 18-14 dual victory, highlighted by multiple ranked upsets.

Brady Roark started the show at 125 pounds, taking on the No. 4 125-pounder in the nation, Jore Volk. Roark battled, giving up an early takedown before storming back with some third-period offense. A late takedown by Roark secured a 5-4 decision over Volk and gave the Jackrabbits the early lead, 3-0.

An early scoring sequence in the first period plagued Cale Seaton, who dropped a 1-8 decision to Chris Cannon, tying the score at 3-3.

Julian Tagg faced off with No. 9 Vance VomBaur in a top-15 battle. Tagg was able to grab a single leg takedown in the first period after two minutes with VomBaur's leg in his possession. That was all it took as Tagg scored a decision over the returning All-American, 5-1. The Jacks once again grabbed the lead back, 6-3

Avery Allen gave up a late takedown to Drew Roberts, which sealed a 4-1 decision, tying up the dual at 6.

Cael Swensen made a return to his home state, taking on No. 15 Charlie Millard at 157 pounds. Swensen gave up an early takedown to Millard but rallied back, scoring two takedowns in the second and third periods to secure a 7-5 decision. The back-and-forth dual continued as the Jacks took the 9-6 lead at the break.

After the break, Marcus Espinoza-Owens dropped a tight contest to No. 9 Andrew Sparks, 2-0.

Moses Espinoza-Owens gave the Jackrabbits back the lead as he scored a late takedown on No. 20 Ethan Riddle, securing a 4-1 decision and a 12-9 lead for the Jackrabbits.

No. 3 Max McEnelly lived up to his billing, scoring a tech fall over Brock Fettig, giving the Golden Gophers a 14-12 lead.

But those were the last team points the Gophers scored. No. 7 Bennett Berge made his debut at 197 pounds against No. 19 Gavin Nelson. Berge put in a workman-like effort, scoring a 2-1 decision and giving the Jacks the lead, 15-14.

The dual came down to heavyweights as Luke Rasmussen took on No. 13 Koy Hopke. Rasmussen gave up an early takedown and was unable to escape in the first period. But Rasmussen rallied back and put Hopke on his back for three near-fall points in the second. After choosing bottom, Rasmussen was nearly ridden out, but hit Hopke with a late reversal and near fall points, securing a 7-5 decision and the dual win for the Jacks, the first win over Minnesota of Damion Hahn's coaching career.

JACKS IN THE RANKINGS
125: Brady Roark 6/19
133: Derrick Cardinal 21/15
141: Julian Tagg 8/9
149: Alek Martin 24/27
157: Cael Swensen 14/20
165: Drake Rhodes 19/13
174: Moses Espinoza-Owens 23/24
197: Bennett Berge 7/7
285: Luke Rasmussen 12/19

NWCA COACHES POLL

Rank Team (First) Record Points
1 Penn State (14)(1-0) 398
2 Ohio State (2) (6-0) 386
3 Iowa State (2-0) 366
4 Iowa (5-2) 350
5 Oklahoma St. (6-1) 340
6 Nebraska (3-2) 320
7 Virginia Tech (4-2) 287
8 SDSU (2-0) 263
9 Illinois (5-2) 262
10 NC State (3-2) 258
11 Minnesota (4-2) 252
12 Missouri (5-4) 208
13 Rutgers (4-0) 204
14 Lehigh (3-2) 189
15 Michigan (4-2) 179
16 Northern Iowa (2-2) 168
17 Cornell (0-2) 136
18 West Virginia (5-0) 113
19 Oklahoma (2-1) 107
20 Pittsburgh (3-1) 105
21 North Carolina (5-0) 83
22(tie) Little Rock (2-2) 58
22(tie) Wisconsin (3-0) 58
24 Stanford (1-2) 35
25 Oregon State (1-0) 24

Others Receiving Votes: Army West Point 14, Purdue 14, Penn 6, Bellarmine 5, Wyoming 4, Central Michigan 4, Utah Valley 2, Cal Poly 1.

WRESTLER TO WATCH: Bennett Berge

Bennett Berge made his debut at 197 pounds last week as he took on No. 19 Gavin Nelson during the Minnesota dual. Berge put in a workman-like effort, scoring a 2-1 decision over Nelson to start his year off 1-0.

Berge will be one to watch this week as he comes into CKLV as the third highest ranked wrestler at 197 pounds, behind Iowa State's #2 Rocky Elam and Oregon State's #6 Justin Rademacher. Berge finished third at last year's CKLV Invitational, climbing back from an early round upset to Isaac Dean at 184 pounds.

The two-time NCAA Qualifier put together a 27-7 record last year, going 14-3 in duals. He will look to break through this weekend at CKLV and finish on top of the podium.

Key Storylines

BACK FOR MORE: The Jackrabbits return Cael Swensen and Alek Martin to their lineup after both sat out the 2024-25 season with injuries

PROGRAM RECORDS: The Jackrabbits continued to set program records under Damion Hahn in 2024-25, sending a record nine wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia

REPLACING DEVOS: The Jackrabbits will have a few options at 174 pounds this year as they try to replace two-time All-American and five-time NCAA Qualifier Cade DeVos. Fighting for the spot will be Connor Gaynor and Moses Espinoza-Owens.

MOVIN' ON, MOVIN' UP: All-American Bennett Berge will make the jump from 184 pounds, where he was a two-time NCAA Qualifier and a fourth-place finisher in 2024, to 197 pounds this year, replacing the graduated Zach Glazier. The jump to 197 pounds mirrors Coach Hahn's jump from 184 pounds to 197 pounds, where he won two National Championships.

RETURNING PRODUCTION: The Jacks will have an NCAA Qualifier at 7 of their 10 weights this year, while Moses Espinoza-Owens, Brock Fettig and Brady Roark all filled in at their respective weights due to injuries last season.

JACKS IN THE RANKINGS: SDSU has nine of its starters listed in InterMat's and FloWrestling's Rankings. Amongst the highest ranked are Berge at No. 7, Julian Tagg at No. 8, Brady Roark at No. 6 and Luke Rasmussen at No. 12. The Jacks also made an appearance in the top 10 of the NWCA Division 1 Coaches Poll, coming in at No. 8, the highest ranking in school history.

PROVEN WINNER: Last season, Damion Hahn became the winningest coach at the D1 level in South Dakota State history, passing Chris Bono with 65 wins. Hahn's 72 dual wins for the Jackrabbits rank fourth all-time among all Jackrabbit Wrestling coaches behind Jason Liles, Warren Williamson and Mike Engels.

OFF-SEASON WORK: The JWC was incredibly successful on the freestyle and Greco-Roman circuits between March and August. Quin Morgan took home the U20 Greco-Roman Championship at 97kg at the US Open to start the season. Tommy Dineen and Daniel Guanjuato added runner-up finishes at their respective weights at the U23 Freestyle Nationals. Dineen also added a gold medal at the Junior Pan-American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay.

HOME COOKING: The Jacks have been consistent under head coach Damion Hahn at home. After posting a 7-1 record at home in 2023-24, the Jacks followed it up with a 4-2 record at home last year.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Last year's freshman class put up an impressive 92-28 total record through open competitions and duals. Leading the way was freshman Logan Swensen with a 28-6 record overall. Swensen looks to back up returning NCAA Qualifier Derrick Cardinal at 133 pounds this year.

STOP SIGNS IN BROOKINGS: The incoming freshmen at SDSU are coming off an impressive summer. Micah Hach (8th), Keenan Sheridan (8th), Conlan Carlson (8th) and Jarrett Wadsen (2nd) all earned All-American honors at the Fargo Nationals in Freestyle. Wadsen (4th) and Bas Diaz (2nd) earned All-American honors in Greco as well.

A Look Ahead

The Jackrabbits will finish out the calendar year at home as they take on the Campbell Fighting Camels in First Bank and Trust Arena on Dec. 21st.

-GoJacks.com-