JACKS BACK HOME FOR BIG 12 ACTION

Friday, January 30

Brookings, S.D.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Air Force

A wrestler in a blue warm-up runs out during pre-game intros.

Photo by: Riley Edds

1/29/2026 3:06:00 PM | Wrestling

Week 12: #15 South Dakota State vs. Air Force, Northern Colorado
Date and Time	Friday, Jan. 30, Sunday Feb. 1
Location	Brookings, S.D.
Site	First Bank & Trust Arena
Television/Stream	Midco Sports Plus, Midco Sports Plus
Live Stats	TrackWrestling, TrackWrestling
South Dakota State	Game Notes \| Home Page

Brookings, S.D. - The Jackrabbits welcome Air Force and Northern Colorado to town this weekend for two high-intensity Big 12 duals. The Jacks are 10-8 all-time against Air Force but took the last battle between the schools, 38-3, on the road at the USAF Academy. They are currently on a nine-match win streak against the Falcons. Similarly, the Jacks are 9-8 against Northern Colorado, taking the last battle, 30-10. The Jacks are on a four-match win streak against the Bears, but under new head coach Teyon Ware, the Bears will look to make it a scrap with the Jacks.

THE LINEUP: This is the probable lineup for this week's contest:
125: Daniel Guanajuato (12-5)
133: No. 23 Derrick Cardinal (6-2) or Cale Seaton (9-7)
141: No. 20 Julian Tagg (14-4) or Tyson Peach (1-6)
149: Colin Dupill (4-6) or No. 26 Alek Martin (5-7)
157: No. 20 Cael Swensen (18-4)
165: No. 27 Marcus Espinoza-Owens (11-8)
174: No. 17 Moses Espinoza-Owens (22-5)
184: Brock Fettig (10-10)
197: No. 6 Bennett Berge (9-2)
HWT: No.25 Luke Rasmussen (7-5)

LAST TIME OUT: No. 3 Iowa State
The Jacks gave a valiant effort Sunday afternoon as they fell to the No. 3 Iowa State Cyclones, 29-7.

The dual began at 125 pounds with a ranked matchup between No. 13 Stevo Poulin and No. 21 Brady Roark. Poulin scored early in the first period and fended off Roark for the rest of the match, taking a 5-2 decision and putting the Cyclones up three.

Cale Seaton faced a daunting test at 133 pounds, taking on No. 3 Evan Frost. Frost scored early and often against Seaton and ultimately scored the tech fall, 20-4.

The Jacks grabbed one of their two wins at 141 pounds as Julian Tagg faced off with Cyclone backup Carter Pearson. Tagg scored in the first period and never looked back, scoring takedown after takedown on his way to a 14-3 major decision.

Colin Dupill stepped up to face No. 6 Jacob Frost at 149 pounds. Frost lived up to his billing, wrestling a tough seven-minute match and scoring a major decision to increase the Cyclone lead to nine.

The Jackrabbits scored another win at 157 pounds as No. 20 Cael Swensen took on Kane Naaktgeboren. Swensen scored the only takedown of the match in the first period and was able to fend off Naaktgeboren for the rest of the match, securing the 3-0 decision.

After the break, Marcus Espinoza-Owens took on No. 17 Connor Euton. Espinoza-Owens wrestled a tough match, but Euton got the better of Espinoza-Owens, 11-4.

No. 18 Moses Espinoza-Owens didn't fare much better against No. 15 MJ Gaitan. Espinoza-Owens got to Gaitan's legs multiple times, but Gaitan out-funked Espinoza-Owens, scoring in the third to secure a 5-1 decision.

Brock Fettig faced another top-15 opponent in No. 12 Isaac Dean. Fettig scored first in the matchup with a slick takedown, but Dean battled back and forced sudden victory, scoring first to get the decision.

A top-10 showdown occurred at 197 pounds as No. 6 Bennett Berge took on No. 2 Rocky Elam. Elam scored in the first 30 seconds of the bout, and it turned out to be the deciding factor as Berge battled but was unable to score on the crafty Elam, dropping a decision 5-1.

Luke Rasmussen came out hot in his match against No. 1 Yonger Bastida, scoring the first takedown in the first 20 seconds of the dual. Bastida pushed back and scored multiple takedowns in the next two periods, securing a tech fall for the Cyclones and the match, 29-7.

JACKS IN THE RANKINGS
125: Brady Roark 20/21
133: Derrick Cardinal 29/23
141: Julian Tagg 20/20
149: Alek Martin 21/26
157: Cael Swensen 22/20
165: Marcus Espinoza-Owens 31/27
174: Moses Espinoza-Owens 15/17
197: Bennett Berge 5/6
285: Luke Rasmussen 27/25

NWCA COACHES POLL
Rank Team (First) Record Points
1 Penn State (15)(11-0) 399
2 Ohio State (1) (14-0) 385
3 Iowa State (8-1) 368
4 Iowa (9-3) 351
5 Oklahoma St. (10-1) 337
6 Nebraska (9-5) 317
7 Virginia Tech (7-2) 304
8 NC State (12-3) 286
9 Minnesota (8-4) 274
10 Michigan (7-2) 255
11 North Carolina (8-2) 230
12 Illinois (9-4) 228
13 Northern Iowa (9-4) 209
14 Pittsburgh (9-2) 184
15 SDSU (10-3) 168
16 Rutgers (8-5) 149
17 Wisconsin (10-2) 145
18 West Virginia (9-3) 121
19 Missouri (9-7) 110
20 Lehigh (7-6) 98
21 Oklahoma (7-3) 90
22 Cornell (5-4) 70
23 Wyoming (4-4) 41
24 Indiana (7-3) 23
25 Stanford (4-6) 22
Others Receiving Votes: Oregon State 15, Drexel 11, Columbia 6, SIU Edwardsville 4.

NWCA MID-MAJOR POLL

Rank Team (First) Record Points Conference
1 UNI (5) (8-4) 119 Big 12
2 Lehigh (1) (7-6) 112 EIWA
3t Cornell (3-4) 103 Ivy League
3t SDSU (9-2) 103 Big 12
5 Oregon State (4-1) 88 Pac-12
6 Penn (4-0) 85 Ivy League
7 Wyoming (4-3) 83 Big 12
8 Drexel (10-3) 68 EIWA
9t Lock Haven (7-3) 57 MAC
9t Navy (3-4) 57 EIWA
11 Utah Valley (3-6) 53 Big 12
12 SIUE (7-1) 40 MAC
13 Rider (6-4) 38 MAC
14 Cal Poly (3-3) 32 Pac-12
15 Army (1-4) 31 EIWA
16 Columbia (5-3) 26 Ivy League
17 NIU (5-5) 24 MAC
18 Princeton (2-5) 22 Ivy League
19t Bucknell (5-7) 19 EIWA
19t CMU (6-4)
Others Receiving Votes: Little Rock 17, Ohio 11, The Citadel 9, Appalachian State 7, North Dakota State 4, Binghamton 1.

WRESTLERS TO WATCH: Derrick Cardinal, Cale Seaton
With two wrestlers in the probable lineup for this weekend at 133 pounds, both wrestlers will have the opportunity to get matches with quality opponents.

Air Force's Gavin Caprella will go for the Falcons at 133 pounds. Caprella sports a 10-6 record this year and is a two-year starter for Air Force. Cardinal beat Caprella thrice last year, once at the Big 12 tournament, once during the dual with Air Force and once at the Daktronics Invitational. Throughout the three matchups, he only allowed three points, all escapes.

An interesting matchup arises at 133 pounds against the Northern Colorado Bears. The Bears are likely to field No. 13 Dominick Serrano this weekend. Cardinal has wrestled Serrano seven times in his collegiate career. He sports a 3-4 record against him all-time, winning the first three matches but dropping the last four. Serrano is a two-time NCAA Qualifier and a Big 12 Champion. Either Seaton or Cardinal will have to be at their best this weekend to beat him.

Derrick Cardinal hasn't wrestled since the dual with Campbell back on 12/23, but sports a 6-2 record this year, with a 7th place finish at the CKLV Invitational.

After a hot start to the season, Cale Seaton has struggled in recent weeks against tough competition. He sports a 10-7 record and will look to get back on track this weekend.

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. 5, Cael Swensen at No. 20, Brady Roark at No. 20, Julian Tagg at No. 20 and Moses Espinoza-Owens at No. 15. The Jacks also dropped to number 15 in the NWCA Division 1 Coaches Poll.
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 82 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 Guanajuato 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.