BROOKINGS – The South Dakota State wrestling team knocked of No. 22 Northern Iowa on Sunday afternoon. The Jackrabbits beat the Coyotes in their Big 12 opening dual 27-13.
The Jacks (5-1) won seven of the 10 matches. Tanner Jordan kicked things off with a 4-3 decision over Kyle Gollhofer in the 125-pound weight class. Kyle Biscoglia won a 10-2 major decision over Caleb Gross at 133 to put the Panthers up 4-3.
SDSU then picked up back-to-back decisions to increase its lead to 9-4. Clay Carlson, ranked sixth, won an 11-4 decision at 141 and Daniel Kimball won a 9-5 decision at 149.
UNI’s Derek Holschlag won a 7-1 decision at 157 to cut the SDSU lead to 9-7 heading into the intermission.
SDSU’s Tanner Cook came out of the intermission and pinned Cayd Lara at 165 to increase the Jacks’ lead to 15-7. It was the ninth pin of the season for the 29th-ranked 165-pounder. Cade DeVos, who is ranked 11th, won a 10-6 decision at 174 to put SDSU up 18-7.
Cade King pinned Dajun Johnson at 184 to increase the Jackrabbit lead to 24-7. UNI’s Parker Keckeisen pinned Nick Casperson at 197, but it was too late for the Panthers. SDSU’s AJ Nevills, the 23rd-ranked heavyweight, then wrapped up the match with 4-3 decision over Tyrell Gordon.
SDSU was supposed to take on Wyoming as well because it was originally scheduled to be a triangular, but the Cowboys did not have enough players to have a dual. The three teams decided to do additional matches and the Jacks went 5-5 in those matches.
Jordan won two decisions, 6-4 and 3-2, over Wyomings Brendon Garcia and Jake Svihel. Cook picked up another pin over Cooper Voorhees. Nevills defeated Wyoming’s Terren Swartz in an 8-2 decision.
SDSU will continue Big 12 play on Saturday when they take on Utah Valley. The dual is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Central time.
