Johnnie Wrestling Alumni, Fans, Friends, and Parents,

This last week was spent preparing for St. Cloud State and our annual North Country Open. We had a great week of training that was centered on controlling the things that we are able to control. Our mindset training has taught us that no match is bigger than another and that we should focus on our attitude, effort and aggressiveness.

These were the things that we focused on particularly when facing SCSU, who is the #1 team in Division II. Although the dual did not go our way, I was pleased with these aspects of the match. After the match, I told the guys that we schedule this dual because they expose all of our weaknesses. While it is tough to compete against them, it makes us better going into regionals and nationals because they are better than any team in Division III we will compete against. I also want them to see the long-term goal of where our program is going. I think St. Cloud is a great program to emulate to get where we want to be.

This year’s North Country Open was a little different as we competed on a Sunday rather than Saturday. However, the guys handled the change very well and still competed very hard. Despite having several of our starters not participating due to injury, we still had four placers in a very tough tournament that featured Augsburg, Minnesota, NDSU, Augustana and SCSU, among others.

Freshman Jerod Novak was the star by winning the 157-pound bracket. Although he has placed at a couple tournaments this year, this was his first championship. Jerod has a very wide-open style of wrestling that is fun to watch and exactly what we want for the future of our program. He wrestles very hard and smart, but is not afraid to let big moves go!

Senior heavyweight Colin Fisher also made the finals where he competed against Donny Longendyke of Augsburg. Colin and Donny have wrestled each other many times throughout their careers with Donny always having the upper hand. This time was different! Colin came out firing and got a takedown within the first 20 seconds of the match. Even though Colin ended up losing 7-3, I was very proud of the fight and improvement that he showed from the Augsburg dual a week ago.

Sophomore Luke Dodd finished third in the 184-pound bracket. Luke performed extremely well! He opened up the day with a close win over an SCSU wrestler and then began to hit his stride. He made the semifinals where he lost to the #1 ranked wrestler in Division III in a hard fought battle. He then came back to defeat two NDSU wrestlers, one by fall.

Lastly, senior Branden Schorr placed sixth at 149. Like Novak, Branden wrestles an exciting style and is constantly trying to end matches early! He had two pins on the day, adding to his fall total of 9, which leads the Johnnies this season.

Thanks for your support of this blog and our program! Please continue to pass this on to friends as we continue to try to grow our fanbase.

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