Mary started fast but couldn’t hold on Thursday evening at #9 Mankato.  The Marauders won the first two matches of the dual, starting with a huge fall from Ryan Stottler at 197 pounds.  Mary 285 Gerardo Jaime made the dual score 9-0 when he scored a 6-0 decision over Mankato’s Logan Linderbaum.  Nate Humann looked strong at 125, but gave up four near fall in his bout with Andrew McFall.  The nearfall was the different in a 9-5 decision that put Mankato on the team scoreboard.

In the first feature match of the evening, #6 ranked Marauder Tate Barnhardt mauled #1 George Farmah from start to finish.  Barnhardt kept going to the well on his sweep single and kept scoring, racking up four takedowns against last year’s national second place finisher.  Barnhardt had a major decision secured with just seconds remaining on the clock when Farmah was given a questionable escape call that made the final score 9-2.  Marauder head coach Adam Aho attempted to challenge the call, but the referee kept the extra team point off the board for Mary.  Still without Hunter Eckert at 141, Mary’s Nate Huff gave up an 18-3 technical fall to Louie Sanders to make the dual score 12-8. From there, Mankato won three more matches, two decisions and a major decision from Daniel Close at 157.  At 149, Max Bruss continues to come up short while racking up loads of riding time against highly rated competitors.  Mankato’s #7 Kyle Rathman led Bruss 4-2 after the first period when Bruss got on top and rode out the last four minutes of regulation.  A riding time point, plus two stalling points sent the match to overtime, but Rathman scored a takedown and won 6-4.  The match was a carbon copy of Bruss’s battle with #3 Jim Pleski of St. Cloud last Saturday.

The second feature of the evening took place at 174 with. With Mankato leading the team race by six, returning Maverick All American and #4 ranked Zach Johnston took a 6-2 lead into the second period against #7 ranked Marauder Phil Springsteen.  In the second period, Springsteen chose the top position and calmly locked up a ball and chain tilt that he turned into a fall.  With the dual tied at 18 and only one match remaining, Mankato’s Trevor Turriff defeated Lance Jarrett by major decision to give Mankato the 22-18 dual victory.  Mary will be back in action tomorrow evening at Upper Iowa.