The majority of the NDSU lineup will wrestle in the friendly confines of the Sanford Health Athletic Complex this Sunday at 2:00 in the second annual Green/Gold wrestle off.    The true freshmen, plus NCAA qualifiers Cam Sykora and Andrew Fogarty and a few others, are headed to Brookings, South Dakota for the Daktronics Open. Daktronics is one of the most talked about open tournaments in this, the first weekend of the college wrestling season.  Big Ten teams Minnesota and Nebraska, plus the home team South Dakota State Jackrabbits and a few high school hammers will be in attendance.

It is possible that NCAA qualifier Bison 133 Cameron Sykora could run into Minnesota’s Mitch McKee and SDSU’s Seth Gross.  McKee and Gross are both ranked in the top five in the nation, and Gross was an NCAA finalist for the Jackrabbits last year.

This will be the first chance for Bison wrestling fans to see prized local recruits Brandon Metz and Jesse Shearer, plus the rest of what I think will end up being a very strong recruiting class, take the mat at the college level.  Metz’s heavyweight class at Daktronics is particularly intriguing given that Junior world champion Gable Steveson, a senior at Apple Valley High School and University of Minnesota recruit, is confirmed in the field as well.  Steveson is the #1 pound for pound high school wrestler in American right now.  Bison fans should also pay attention to McGwire Midkiff, Jaden Van Maanen, and Gavin Sutton.  Each has the potential to make a strong impact in the Bison lineup in the near future.

NDSU DAKTRONICS ENTRIES

Sawyer Degen 133

McGwire Midkiff 133

Cameron Sykora 133

Taylor Nein 141

Austin Braun 149

Gavin Sutton 149

Jaden Van Maanen 149

Andrew Fogarty 165

Michael Otomo 174

Jesse Shearer 174

Brandon Metz 285