BISMARCK, N.D. - The University of Mary Wrestling team played host today for the Inaugural Marauder Duals that featured six school from around the nation, including a team from Canada.
 
The Marauders (1-1) took the first two exhibition matches of the day against Ridgewater College and the University of Regina, defeated the University of Great Falls 24-16 for the first official match of the 2015 season, and fell to Northern State University 29-21.
 
Ridgwater, a two-year junior college based in Willmar, Minn., served as the first exhibition match for U-Mary on the day and the Marauder grapplers put on a display with six newcomers making their first appearance on the mat.
 
Josh Jensen led the match off at the 125-pound matchup and made short work of his opponent, Keinnan Thacker, as Jensen started off his collegiate career with a 19-7 major decision. Tate Barnhardt proved more explosive as he pinned Logan Crosby in the first period with only five seconds remaining to earn a victory by fall, and was only beaten by teammate Rudy Guillen who had an even faster pin of his opponent, Brian McDonald, in a match that only lasted 1:14 into the first period.
 
Hunter Eckert was awarded a forfeit at the 157-pound weight class, and Dane Fischer was the first returner to make an appearance for U-Mary on the day. Fischer had his work cut out for him but ultimately proved victorious as he won by 10-7 decision over Travis Deegan to keep the Marauders perfect through five matches.
 
Paul Michaelson, another returner, kept the momentum on U-Mary's side with a hard fought 4-1 victory by decision over Zach Revier at the 165-pound weight class, and Riley Nagel, one of three resident seniors on the 2015-16 squad, simply dominated his opponent, Brandon Bratsch, in a convincing 17-0 win by technical fall.
 
Jonathan Pelach had his first taste of collegiate wrestling at the 184-pound matchup and held his ground against Estevan Navarro through three rounds but ultimately loss by 3-2 decision against his foe, but Jacob Green got U-Mary back on the winning path with a 6-3 win by decision against Augustine Hahn at the 197-pound match. Travis Smith provided the finishing touches on the first bout of the day as he handled his opponent, John Wittman, with ease en route to an 8-1 win by decision in the final match, giving the Marauders a 39-3 win in the dual against Ridgewater.
 
U-Mary then faced a different type of opponent against the University of Regina as the school from Canada forced the Marauder grapplers into a different style of wrestling known as freestyle, compared to the folkstyle U-Mary is accustomed to.
 
The difference in styles had little impact as Barnhardt earned the win in his matchup at 133 with a 10-0 technical fall victory over Conner McLachlan. Jensen was slated to wrestle at 125 but there was no opponent there to face him as he earned the victory by forfeit, a similar situation was encountered at the 149, 157, and 165-pound matchups against Regina.
 
Reed Cronin got his first match of the day at 141 pounds against Sam Dretrich and kept U-Mary on the positive side of scoring with a 10-0 technical fall win, followed by back-to-back technical fall wins at the 174 and 184-pound matchups as Nagel and Green made short work of their opponents.
 
Pelach had a tough time with his opponent, Sean Belisle, as Pelach scored four takedowns but couldn't slow Belisle down as the Cougar earned his technical fall at 19-8. Travis Smith added the cherry on top of the matchup sundae for the Marauders as he pulled off the 12-2 technical fall win over Waylon Decoteau for a final score of 49-5 in favor of U-Mary.
 
With the exhibition matches out of the way, the Marauders were geared up to take on the University of Great Falls in the penultimate match of the day.
 
Jensen got the call again at the 125-pound matchup against Luke Schlosser and the Utah prospect remained competitive throughout the match but couldn't find the winning combination as he lost by 8-5 decision to the Argo. Barnhardt was there to pick his teammate up and responded with U-Mary's first win of the match with a blistering fast pin of Clinton Garvin only 55 seconds into the first round and came away with the victory by fall.
 
Rudy Guillen kept up his impressive performance as he earned a hard fought victory over Justin Whitman with a 10-4 decision, but Jakob Weisbrod couldn't follow that up as he lost to Kyle Leir after a tough three rounds for a 3-1 decision loss. Fischer returned to the mat at 157 pounds as he took on Arram Price, but the Argo couldn't keep up with Fischer's pace as the Marauder came away with the 9-4 victory by decision.
 
Michaelson had his hands full with Khaldoon Rashid at the 165-pound bout as the Argo eked out a 3-2 victory by decision over the Marauder, and Nagel reversed the trend his strong outing with a hard earned pin of Francisco Rueda in the third period as he got the fall at 6:03 into the 174-pound match. Green had his first tough opponent of the day at the 184-pound matchup as he lost by 12-6 decision to Taylor Vaughn, and Pelach ran headfirst into his opponent, Sam Voightlaender, at 197 pounds as the Argo had a dominating 17-1 win by technical fall.
 
Smith was slated for the final matchup of the third round, but Great Falls couldn't trot out a competitor and handed U-Mary another victory by forfeit to make the score 24-16 final on the match.
 
With three opponents down and one to go, the Marauders took on their fellow NSIC foe, Northern State University. Jensen got his first look at conference-level wrestling as he took on Carson Henry in the opening bout, but was caught out of position with Henry scoring the pin and putting U-Mary in an immediate hole only 44 seconds into the first period. Barnhardt was there to complete his perfect day with a dominating 17-2 win by technical fall over Kenny McAleavey and Rudy Guillen came away with the easy forfeit win as Northern State failed to produce an opponent at the 141-pound bout.
 
Eckert also felt the sting of NSIC wrestling as Tyler Steinberg scored the pin in the second period and got the victory by fall at the 4:26 mark of the match, with Grant Steen following that up with a 11-3 victory by major decision over Fischer at 157 pounds.
 
Two of the most experienced Marauders put the momentum back into U-Mary's hands as Michaelson and Nagel both earned technical falls over Blake Perryman and Ayden Garcia, respectively, to put the team score at 21-16 in favor of the home team. Yet Northern State came right back as Anthony Navarro earned the 11-3 major decision over Pelach to keep the Wolves close at 21-20.
 
The apex of the day came in the matchup at 197 pounds between Green and David Murphy, with the Marauder owning a comfortable lead at 11-5 late in the third period. Murphy pulled out the tricky move, though, as he caught Green out of position in the third period after feigning to cut him loose, leading to the eventual pin of the Marauder with 16 seconds left in the matchup.
 
With the team score at 26-21 favoring Northern State, the Marauders needed a pin to seal the win, but Joe Gomez proved extremely difficult to take down as Smith had his hands full throughout the matchup and the Northern State grappler earned the close win by decision at 3-2, making the score 29-21 final in favor of the Wolves.
 
The Marauders will have a long road trip ahead of them next week, as they will travel to either Fargo, N.D., to compete in the Bison Open, or Mitchell, S.D., to compete in the Dakota Wesleyan Open on Saturday, November 14.
 
U-Mary Results:
 
Match #1 Round 1: Univ of Mary defeated Ridgewater 39-3
125 - Josh Jensen (Univ of Mary) over Keinnan Thacker (Ridgewater ) Maj 19-7
133 - Tate Barnhardt (Univ of Mary) over Logan Crosby (Ridgewater ) Fall 2:55
141 - Rudy Guillen (Univ of Mary) over Brian McDonald (Ridgewater ) Fall 1:14
149 - Hunter Eckert (Univ of Mary) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
157 - Dane Fischer (Univ of Mary) over Travis Deegan (Ridgewater ) Dec 10-7
165 - Paul Michaelson (Univ of Mary) over Zach Revier (Ridgewater ) Dec 4-1
174 - Riley Nagel (Univ of Mary) over Brandon Bratsch (Ridgewater ) TF 17-0
184 - Estevan Navarro (Ridgewater ) over Jonathan Pelach (Univ of Mary) Dec 3-2
197 - Jacob Green (Univ of Mary) over Augustine Hahn (Ridgewater ) Dec 6-3
285 - Travis Smith (Univ of Mary) over John Wittman (Ridgewater ) Dec 8-1

Match #2 Round 2: Univ of Mary defeated Regina 49-5
125 - Josh Jensen (Univ of Mary) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
133 - Tate Barnhardt (Univ of Mary) over Conner McLachlan (Regina) TF 10-0
141 - Reed Cronin (Univ of Mary) over Sam Dretrich (Regina) TF 10-0
149 - Jakob Weisbrod (Univ of Mary) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
157 - Dane Fischer (Univ of Mary) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
165 - Paul Michaelson (Univ of Mary) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
174 - Riley Nagel (Univ of Mary) over Brett Kruyger (Regina) TF 10-0
184 - Jacob Green (Univ of Mary) over Austin Waldron (Regina) TF 10-0
197 - Sean Belisle (Regina) over Jonathan Pelach (Univ of Mary) TF 19-8
285 - Travis Smith (Univ of Mary) over Waylon Decoteau (Regina) TF 12-2

Match #3 Round 3: Univ of Mary defeated Great Falls 24-16
125 - Luke Schlosser (Great Falls) over Josh Jensen (Univ of Mary) Dec 8-5
133 - Tate Barnhardt (Univ of Mary) over Clinton Garvin (Great Falls) Fall 0:55
141 - Rudy Guillen (Univ of Mary) over Justin Whitman (Great Falls) Dec 10-4
149 - Kyle Leir (Great Falls) over Jakob Weisbrod (Univ of Mary) Dec 3-1
157 - Dane Fischer (Univ of Mary) over Arram Price (Great Falls) Dec 9-4
165 - Khaldoon Rashid (Great Falls) over Paul Michaelson (Univ of Mary) Dec 3-2
174 - Riley Nagel (Univ of Mary) over Francisco Rueda (Great Falls) Fall 6:03
184 - Taylor Vaughn (Great Falls) over Jacob Green (Univ of Mary) Dec 12-6
197 - Sam Voigtlaender (Great Falls) over Jonathan Pelach (Univ of Mary) TF 17-1
285 - Travis Smith (Univ of Mary) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
Great Falls's team score was adjusted by -1 for Unsportsmanlike Misconduct (Coach)

Match #4 Round 4: Northern State defeated Univ of Mary 29-21
125 - Carson Henry (Northern State ) over Josh Jensen (Univ of Mary) Fall 0:44
133 - Tate Barnhardt (Univ of Mary) over Kenny McAleavey (Northern State ) TF 17-2
141 - Rudy Guillen (Univ of Mary) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
149 - Tyler Stenberg (Northern State ) over Hunter Eckert (Univ of Mary) Fall 4:26
157 - Grant Steen (Northern State ) over Dane Fischer (Univ of Mary) Maj 11-3
165 - Paul Michaelson (Univ of Mary) over Blake Perryman (Northern State ) TF 20-4
174 - Riley Nagel (Univ of Mary) over Ayden Garcia (Northern State ) TF 16-1
184 - Anthony Navarro (Northern State ) over Jonathan Pelach (Univ of Mary) Maj 11-3
197 - David Murphy (Northern State ) over Jacob Green (Univ of Mary) Fall 6:44
285 - Joe Gomez (Northern State ) over Travis Smith (Univ of Mary) Dec 3-2
 
Team Results:
 
Great Falls def. Northern State 28-14
Jamestown def. Regina 39-13
Great Falls def. Jamestown 37-12
Northern State def. Ridgwater 32-13
Ridgwater def. Jamestown 28-16
 
#marauders#