Mankato, Minn. – Augustana picked up five straight wins in the middle weights to pull away from fourth-ranked Minnesota State by a score of 20-15 in a wild Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference dual at Bresnan Arena. With the conference loss, the Mavericks drop to 6-2-0 on the season and 1-1-0 in league action.
The Mavericks got on the board early by way of a scrappy 4-1 win from junior Andy Forstner (Madelia, Minn.) at 125 but a run of Augustana victories from 133 to 165 gave the Vikings a lead they would not cede. Freshman Robby Fisher (Bloomington, Minn.) battled to within two points late but ultimately dropped a 10-6 decision to #8 Jay Sherer at 141 pounds. At 149 pounds, senior Travis Elg (Mountain Lake, Minn.) fell 7-4 to #7 Nate Herda. Senior Justin Turek (New Prague, Minn.) took an early lead on top-ranked Marcus Edginton but was unable to hold on, losing a tough 5-3 decision at 157.
The tough decisions continued at 165 pounds where sophomore Tel Todd (Bozeman, Mont.) pushed his match with unbeaten Gavin Nelson into overtime but conceded the winning takedown 12 seconds into the extra frame. The Mavericks got back in the win column at 174 pounds when eighth-ranked junior Ben Becker (Fort Dodge, Iowa) picked up an 8-7 win, followed by an 8-3 win by sophomore Aaron Norgren (Good Thunder, Minn.) at 184. Junior John Makabe (Apple Valley, Minn.) went the distance at 197 pounds but fell 13-1 to #2 Ty Copsey before senior heavyweight Brady Wilson (Faribault, Minn.) closed the dual on a high note. The three-time All-American earned his 20th win of the season with a fall in just 1:09 over Lance Peters.
The Mavericks head to Fayette, Iowa to take on the Peacocks of Upper Iowa on Thursday, Jan. 28th. They then return to Bresnan Arena to square off with the University of Mary on Saturday, Jan. 30th. That dual is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m.
