Title slips away

The Forum, Fargo, North Dakota

Bison heavyweight Joe Bryce, right, locks up with Fort Hays State’s Andrew Ubben during their semifinal match at the Division II National Wrestling Tournament in Mankato. Ubben defeated Bryce 2-1 in overtime.

Bison head coach Bucky Maughan yells instructions to one of his wrestlers Saturday in Mankato.

By Jeff Kolpack jkolpack@forumcomm.com
Sports - 03/14/2004

MANKATO, Minn. -- North Dakota State held the NCAA Division II wrestling lead from the first day of practice until the last second of the season.

No. 1 in the polls and on the dual mat all year, the Bison fell victim to Nebraska-Omaha’s hot hand Saturday. Maverick heavyweight Les Sigman won by injury default in the final match of the national tournament at Bresnan Arena, giving the Mavericks enough points to overtake the Bison.

Omaha finished with 97½ to NDSU’s 95.

“We messed up this afternoon,” said NDSU head coach Bucky Maughan. “We should have put it away.”

It was Omaha’s third title and first since 1991, but it didn’t have the typical pandemo nium-packed ending. Fort Hays State (Kan.) heavyweight Andrew Ubben suffered a knee injury in the first seconds of his match with Sigman.

“I heard something pop,” Sigman said.

The Bison, who are moving to Division I next season, and the Mavericks were rivals to the end. The fight, however, was fought on the scoreboard and not on the mat.

NDSU faced an Omaha wrestler only once all tournament when Mavericks’ J.D. Naig defeated Mike Fiedler 4-1 in the 165-pound third-place match Saturday afternoon.

“That’s not normal,” Maughan said.

It wasn’t an easy day for the Bison, who had their chances to put some distance between them and the field.

The Bison were hoping to bat .500 with their six morning semifinalists. Only Matt Hermann and Brian Kraemer, however, were able to get a hit and advance. Hermann defeated Minnesota State Moorhead’s Ryan Kopiasz by getting a takedown in sudden death overtime.

Kopiasz came back to claim third place with a pin.

The biggest blow to NDSU was 157-pound defending champion Paul Carlson’s 8-2 loss to Jack Quintana of Western State (Colo.).

“There’s not much to talk about,” Carlson said. “We had guys wrestle tough, but it wasn’t going our way. A lot of weights did well and some of us didn’t. That’s the way the team thing goes.”

Also sent to the consolation round were Nick Magee at 133, Thad Pike at 174 and Joe Bryce at heavyweight. With Omaha and Central Oklahoma each advancing three to the finals, that put a premium on NDSU’s wrestleback points.

Omaha led NDSU by 2½ points and Central Oklahoma by 6½ after the semifinals.

But Magee, Carlson, Fiedler and Pike all advanced to thirdplace matches giving NDSU the lead back at 93 to 88½. Central Oklahoma fell back to 76½. Wins by Carlson and Pike gave the Bison 95 points heading into the championship round, but Omaha was lurking at 91½.

Moreover, the Mavericks had three finalists in Dustin Tovar at 125, Patrick Alibone at 149 and heavily favored Les Sigman at heavyweight.

The Bison had Hermann, a redshirt freshman who perhaps was the tournament’s biggest surprise, and Kraemer, a veteran who has been around the tournament block. A championship victory was worth four team points.

Western State did NDSU a favor. The Mountaineers’ Jared Haberman beat Tovar 8-1 and Western’s Adrian Jiron defeated Alibone 6-2.

It meant NDSU’s throng of fans, the largest from any school, had to wait another hour to see if the Bison could pull off a national title.

Hermann was outmatched by Augustana standout Tom Meester 10-1. Knowing Sigman would probably win, that left it up to Kraemer against Jeff Sylvester of Nebraska-Kearney. Before Kraemer took the mat, Maughan paced the Bison corner.

He took a deep breath. He looked to the rafters. Kraemer didn’t waste any time registering two takedowns in the first minute to take a 4-1 lead and nearly getting another moments later.

But Maughan said Kraemer re-injured his knee during that sequence -- he limped off the mat after it was over -- and Sylvester took advantage.

He came back with a threepoint near fall in the second period to take a 7-4 advantage. He got another three-pointer several seconds and his 12-4 win put NDSU’s title hopes in jeopardy.

“This had nothing to do with Brian Kraemer,” Maughan said. “He was our last hope to salvage it.”

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546