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  • Photos courtesy of Tim Tushla No. 1-ranked Brady Wilson wrestled his way to the heavyweight semifinals Friday at the NCAA Division II National Championships in Omaha, Neb. Tim Tushla

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  • Sophomore Aaron Norgren won two straight consolation matches at 189 pounds to assure himself of All-America honors at the D-II national wrestling championships Friday at Sapp Fieldhouse. Tim Tushla

    norgren v blanton 184b.jpg

March 13, 2010

MSU's Wilson, three others advance at nationals

Maverick wrestlers continue action today

The Free Press

OMAHA, Neb. — Heavyweight Brady Wilson remains the only undefeated wrestler from Minnesota State University after the first day of competition in the NCAA Division II National Championships at Omaha, Neb.

Wilson, ranked No. 1 in the country, opened the day with a pin of Patrick Carey of California State-Pueblo in 4:36. He followed with a 10-1 major decision over Neil McGrath of Gannon University to advance to today’s semifinals.

Only two of MSU’s seven-wrestler contingent (Wilson and Travis Elg) won in the opening round Friday but four of them have wrestled back to assure themselves of All-America honors.

“We started slow, which has been our trend but we warmed up and wrestled better,” MSU head coach Jim Makovsky said. “There’s not a lot of margin for error in this tournament; it’s a pretty high level of competition.”

In addition to Wilson, Elg won his opening match at 149 pounds. He stuck Thomas Hepburn of Nebraska-Kearney in 5:51 for a come-from-behind win.

Elg was defeated in the quarterfinals 18-5 by Craig Becker of Wisconsin-Parkside but rebounded with an 8-4 decision over Jeremy Espinoza of Findlay.

The Mavericks’ 125-pound Andy Forstner dropped his first-round match 3-2 to Thomas Edgmon of Fort Hays State. The Madelia native came back to knock off Brandon Davis of Ashland 14-6 and Alex Johns of Indianapolis 7-2.

Good Thunder native Aaron Norgren lost his initial match 5-2 to Bryant Blanton of Newberry. Norgren rallied in the consolation bracket, defeating Lucas Haag of Wisconsin-Parkside 14-8 and downing Austin Boehm of Nebraska-Omaha by injury default.

“Forstner bounced back well, Norgren beat two kids who had beaten him earlier this season and Elg has turned it up a notch, too,” Makovsky said. “And Wilson is just wrestling really well right now.”

MSU’s 157-pound Justin Turek went 1-2 on the day. He lost his opening match 5-2 to Sean Byrnes of Newberry, defeated Bryce Givens of Indianapolis 16-10 and was then eliminated by Marcus Edgington of Augustana 3-1 in overtime.

“Justin lost a heartbreaker at 157,” Makovsky said. “He got into overtime and was the aggressor, he just made an aggressive mistake and the other guy capitalized.”

Minnesota State had two wrestlers get eliminated right away. Tel Todd (165) and Ben Becker (174). Both lost their first two matches.

Wilson, Elg, Forstner and Norgren resume wrestling in the 11 a.m. session today at Sapp Fieldhouse on the UNO campus.

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