South Dakota State University wrestlers will vie for berths in the upcoming NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships by competing in the NCAA West Regional Saturday in Fargo, N.D.
Opening-round competition begins at 10 a.m. at the Bison Sports Arena on the North Dakota State University campus. The finals are set for 4 p.m.
Winners of each of the 10 weight classes will earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships March 20-22 in St. Louis, Mo. Ten other wrestlers will be selected to receive at-large berths.

LAST YEAR: Ryan Meyer became the first South Dakota State student-athlete to qualify for the Division I Championships as he placed second overall at 165 pounds to lead SDSU at the 2007 NCAA West Regional in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Overall, South Dakota State had three wrestlers post runner-up performances at the NCAA West Regional to place fifth overall in the team standings at the McLeod Center.
Leading the way for the Jacks was Meyer, a redshirt freshman from Parkston, who brought home second-place honors after falling to nationally ranked Nick Baima of Northern Iowa, 12-3, in the championship match of 165. Baima is currently ranked No. 5 in the InterMat/ NWCA/NWMA Individual Rankings. In his semifinal contest, Meyer, who qualified on a wild card, downed Devan Lewis of Northern Colorado, 5-0. For the match, Meyer scored two takedowns and an escape point with 28 seconds remaining in the contest to secure the victory.
At heavyweight, Jason Stripling finished second overall after dropping a 9-6 match to Reece Hopkin in championship round action. In the semifinals, Stripling, a Minneota, Minn., resident, used a three-point near fall in the third and riding time to upend Anthony Stegeman of Air Force, 8-0. In his true second match, Stripling was upended by Northern Iowa’s Tyler Rhodes, 3-1.
Senior Andy Everson moved into the championship match at 157 after dropping North Dakota State’s Adam Aho by fall in 4 minutes, 31 seconds, in semifinal action. Everson, a senior from Mitchell who finished second overall, closed out the regional falling to nationally ranked Moza Fay of UNI, 14-6 and Luke Salazar of Northern Colorado, 9-4.
After dropping his second-round match to No. 1 seeded Kenny Robertson by fall, senior Nate Althoff, who was named a second alternate for the NCAA tournament, rallied off two-straight victories to move into a true second-place match against Northern Iowa’s Alex Dolly. Althoff, a Watertown resident, was upended by Dolly, 1-0, to finish third overall at 174 pounds. Against Wyoming’s Byran Bernal, Althoff recorded a takedown with 48 seconds remaining in the match to secure a 4-2 decision. He followed by posting a 9-3 decision over Stephen Crozier of Air Force in the third-place match.
As a team, South Dakota State, which finished fifth overall in the team standings with 37 points, placed three wrestlers in the finals. Individually, Meyer moved to 23-9 overall, while Stripling finished the year with a 22-7 record.
Northern Iowa finished first overall in the team standings with 96 points, while Northern Colorado posted a second-place finish with 73.5 points.

ROSTER CHANGES: The Jackrabbits made a few roster changes since the beginning of the new calendar year.
Joining the team at semester break was Jeremy Swier, who is expected to fill the 197-pound weight class for this week’s duals. He is a sophomore from Colton, S.D., and a graduate of Tri-Valley High School.
The newest addition to the team is 157-pounder Weston Blasius. A redshirt sophomore from Kimball, Blasius won a Class B state title at 145 pounds in 2004.
Both Swier and Blasius picked up their first collegiate victories in a Feb. 2 home dual victory over Dakota Wesleyan, with both wins coming by fall.

SORENSON RETURNS: The Jackrabbits regained the services of sophomore 184-pounder Tyler Sorenson, who wrestled for the first time in nearly a year when he made his season debut during SDSU’s duals at Utah Valley State and Northern Colorado in early January.
Sorenson split his first two matches, losing by fall to Casen Eldridge of Utah Valley State, before returning to form with a 13-5 major decision of Vincente Mendez against Northern Colorado. He is currently on a nine-match winning streak, entering the regional with a 9-1 mark.
A Garretson native, Sorenson ranked among the team leaders in victories with an 18-6 record during the 2006-07 campaign before suffering a season-ending injury in February 2007. Despite missing the final month of the season, Sorenson led the team with 247 match points and eight victories by technical fall.

MEYER IMPRESSIVE AGAIN: Sophomore Ryan Meyer has picked up where he left off following an impressive redshirt freshman season in which he became the first Jackrabbit wrestler in the Division I era to qualify for the national championships.
Meyer, who began the season ranked 20th at 165 pounds by WIN Magazine, has compiled a 20-9 record, good for second on the team in victories. He opened the season by placing second in the 174-pound division at the season-opening Warren Williamson/Daktronics Open on Nov. 3, and won the 165-pound division a week later at the DWU Open in Mitchell.
Meyer ended the 2006-07 season with a 23-13 mark.

EVERSON LEADS TEAM: Redshirt freshman Adam Everson became the first Jackrabbit wrestler this season to reach the 20-win mark. The Mitchell native enters regional action with a 21-10 overall record, including a 4-4 mark in duals.
Everson opened the season with a fifth-place finish at the Warren Williamson/Daktronics Open, following that performance with a third-place effort before a hometown crowd at the DWU Open on Nov. 10.

PIRNER TOUGH IN DUALS: In his three seasons with the Jackrabbits, senior Derek Pirner has proven to be one of the squad’s most reliable competitors in duals. While sharing 133-pound duties this season with Nick Kulseth, Pirner has posted a 4-1 dual record this season.
Since transferring from Nebraska after his freshman season, Pirner posted a 22-8 dual record, including a 10-1 mark during the 2005-06 season.

A LOOK AHEAD: The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships are set for March 20-22 in St. Louis, Mo.