South Dakota State picked up two wins in non-conference action this weekend against Portland State and Pacific to move their season record to 9-9-1.

True freshman Scott Elliott (174lbs) (Ark City HS) continues to impress collecting a pin against Portland's Ryan Sonderegger moving his record to 25-5 on the season. Scott is 9-2 in duals.


Elliott

Fellow Kansan and true freshman Nick Flynn (149lbs)(Lansing HS) picked up his 10th win this weekend moving his record to 10-18 on the season. Nick is 3-11 in duals.


Flynn

South Dakota ends their regular season at home against North Dakota State and Northern Iowa next weekend.


SDSU downs Pacific and Portland State in non-conference wrestling
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Mike Flynn

Jacks Head Off To West Regional

The Jackrabbit wrestling team heads to Greeley, Colo. Saturday for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Wrestling Championships held in St. Louis, Mo. on March 19-21.

SDSU LINE UP SET FOR WEST REGIONAL:

125: Alan Marvin (Senior) Arian, Mich. 13-13
133: Open
141: Dustin Walraven (Fr) Huron, S.D. 22-17
149: Nick Flynn (Fr) Lansing, Kan. 10-19
157: Weston Blasius (Jr)Kimball, S.D. 10-16
165: Weston Ginther (Fr) Lemmon, S.D. 8-23
174: Scott Elliott (Fr) Derby, Kan. 25-5
184: David Michaud (R-Fr)Ridge, S.D. 0-2
or Kevin Kelly (So)Oak Lawn, Ill. 6-9
197: Tyler Sorenson (Jr) Garretson, S.D. 12-1
HWT: Jason Stripling (Sn)Minneota, Minn. 31-10

The Jacks will join the host school the University of Northern Colorado along with Air Force, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa and Wyoming at the 2009 NCAA West Regional in Greeley, Colo., at Butler-Hancock Hall.

The wrestling action will get underway at 10 a.m. Mountain (11 a.m. Central) and continue straight through to the championship matches, followed by the “True Second” matches if necessary. The 10 individual champions of each weight class will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. For each wrestler that reached the threshold in at least two of the three categories, his qualifying tournament was awarded a qualifying spot in that weight class. Each qualifying tournament was awarded a minimum of one wrestler per weight class, which will go to the tournament champion, even if they did not have any wrestlers reach at least two of the three thresholds. NCAA tournament spots for each qualifying event will be awarded at the tournament based solely on place-finish.

The 2009 NCAA West Regional will have 13 automatic qualifying spots available for advancement to the NCAA Championships. The champions at every weight class plus the second-place finishers at 149, 184 and 197 lbs.

After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 52 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 11. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; qualifying event placement; quality wins; results against common opponents; winning percentage; RPI; coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class.

Good first year for our Kansas' boys Nick Flynn and Scott Elliott. Both made an immediate impact for the Jacks from the start of the season. Elliott was very close in qualifying for the national tournament taking 3d at regionals.

SDSU as a whole looked much improved from last year, sending two to the national tournament. Quality of the Western Wrestling Conference is also improving. Northern Iowa, Wyoming, Northern Colorado, and North Dakota State all had tough squads this year.


Mike Flynn