KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tanner Sloan capped his collegiate career with a fifth-place finish at 197 pounds while redshirt freshman Bennett Berge recorded South Dakota State’s highest placing with a fourth-place finish in the 184-pound division during competition Saturday morning at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships contested at T-Mobile Center.
A senior from Alburnett, Iowa, Sloan split his two matches on the day to finish the three-day tournament with a 4-2 record. He began the day with a 6-2 defeat at the hands of Oklahoma’s Stephen Buchanan, then rebounded with a 7-0 decision over longtime rival Rocky Elam of Missouri. In sweeping the three-match season series from Elam, Sloan registered a takedown in the final minute of the first period and added a second takedown in the closing seconds of the second period.
Sloan, who repeated as an All-American, ended his career with a 113-23 overall record to rank ninth for victories in program history.
Berge, meanwhile, registered his sixth consecutive tournament victory in the consolation semifinals by outlasting Minnesota’s Isaiah Salazar, 3-2. Berge’s only points of the match came on a takedown in the first period.
In the third-place bout, the redshirt freshman from Mantorville, Minnesota, fell behind fourth-seeded Trey Munoz of Oregon State, 6-1, on a pair of early takedowns. Berge was able to trim the deficit to 6-5 before Munoz added a final takedown and tallied a point for riding time in a 9-6 decision.
Also claiming fifth place for the Jackrabbits was 174-pounder Cade DeVos. For the second time this season, DeVos was upended by Michigan’s Shane Griffith, coming up on the short end of a 6-2 decision.
DeVos responded, however, in the fifth-place match as he avenged a loss in the quarterfinals to Lennox Wolak of Columbia with a 5-0 victory. DeVos scored a takedown in the opening 40 seconds of the match and rode out the remainder of the first period to set the tone for his 28th win of the season.
Also wrestling Saturday morning was Tanner Jordan in the 125-pound seventh-place match. An early takedown by Wyoming’s Jore Volk proved to be the difference in a 4-0 decision.
Heading into tonight’s championship session, South Dakota State is 13th in the team standings. The Jackrabbits’ 48.5 team points are the most by an SDSU squad in the NCAA Division I Championships, surpassing the 42 points en route to a 12th-place finish in 2018.
Penn State leads the team race with 155.5 points, followed by Michigan (70) and Cornell (68.5).
SDSU RESULTS
125: #23 Tanner Jordan, Sr., St. Paris, Ohio (4-3 record)
• lost to #10 Eric Barnett, Wisconsin, by fall 0:45
• def. #26 Blake West, Northern Illinois, by major dec., 6-2
• def. #9 Patrick McKee, Minnesota, by dec., 11-4
• def. #17 Brett Ungar, Cornell, by dec., 3-0
• def. #6 Troy Spratley, Oklahoma State, by dec., 9-3
• lost to #15 Caleb Smith, Nebraska, by dec., 5-2 [SV-1]
• lost to #5 Jore Volk, Wyoming, by dec., 4-0
ALL-AMERICAN – Eighth Place – ends season 28-12 overall
133: #18 Derrick Cardinal, So., Forest Lake, Minn. (1-2 record)
• lost to #15 Brody Teske, Iowa, by major dec., 12-4
• def. #31 Maximilian Leete, American, by dec., 8-2
• lost to #16 Nic Bouzakis, Ohio State, by dec., 14-8
Cardinal eliminated — ends season 21-11 overall
141: #29 Clay Carlson, Sr., Willmar, Minn. (0-2 record)
• lost to #4 Ryan Jack, North Carolina State, by dec., 8-3
• lost to #13 Jordan Titus, West Virginia, by dec., 5-3
Carlson eliminated — ends season 15-9 overall
149: #29 Alek Martin, So., St. Paris, Ohio (0-2 record)
• lost to #4 Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech, by tech. fall, 18-3 (4:47)
• lost to #13 Caleb Rathjen, Iowa, by injury default (2:37)
Martin eliminated — ends season 20-12 overall
157: #15 Cael Swensen, So., Plymouth, Minn. (2-2 record)
• def. #18 Vinny Zerban, Northern Colorado, by dec., 4-1
• lost to #2 Jacori Teemer, Arizona State, by dec., 4-1 [SV-1]
• def. #32 Isaac Wilcox, Ohio State, by dec., 8-5
• lost to #7 Peyten Kellar, Ohio, by dec., 1-0
Swensen eliminated — ends season 22-11 overall
174: #2 Cade DeVos, Sr., Altoona, Iowa (5-2 record)
• def. #31 Michael Wilson, Rider, by tech. fall, 15-0 (4:43)
• def. #18 Benjamin Pasiuk, Army, by dec., 10-4
• lost to #7 Lennox Wolak, Columbia, by dec., 4-2
• def. #14 Gaven Sax, North Dakota State, by dec., 6-3
• def. #3 Edmond Ruth, Illinois, by dec., 5-3
• lost to #4 Shane Griffith, Michigan, by dec., 6-2
• def. #7 Lennox Wolak, Columbia, by dec., 5-0
ALL-AMERICAN – Fifth Place – ends season 28-3 overall
184: #9 Bennett Berge, R-Fr., Mantorville, Minn. (6-2 record)
• lost to #24 Shane Liegel, Wisconsin, by major dec., 9-1
• def. #8 Sam Wolf, Air Force, by major dec., 11-0
• def. #23 Layne Malczewski, Michigan State, by dec., 7-6
• def. #16 Nate Dugan, Princeton, by dec., 14-7
• def. #5 Lenny Pinto, Nebraska, by dec., 13-8
• def. #25 David Key, Navy, by tech. fall, 17-2 (5:47)
• def. #2 Isaiah Salazar, Minnesota, by dec., 3-2
• lost to #4 Trey Munoz, Oregon State, by dec., 9-6
ALL-AMERICAN – Fourth Place – ends season 25-7 overall
197: #3 Tanner Sloan, Sr., Alburnett, Iowa (4-2 record)
• def. #30 Sam Mitchell, Buffalo, by fall 5:25
• def. #14 John Poznanski, Rutgers, by major dec., 14-4
• def. #6 Lou Deprez, Binghamton, by tech. fall, 16-1 (7:00)
• lost to #2 Trent Hidlay, North Carolina State, by dec., 4-1
• lost to #8 Stephen Buchanan, Oklahoma, by dec., 6-2
• def. #12 Rocky Elam, Missouri, by dec., 7-0
ALL-AMERICAN – Fifth Place – ends season 27-3 overall
TEAM STANDINGS (Top 15)
1. Penn State – 155.5
2. Michigan – 70.0
3. Cornell – 68.5
4. Iowa – 67.0
5. Iowa State – 64.5
T6. Arizona State – 60.5
T6. Nebraska – 60.5
8. Virginia Tech – 59.0
9. Ohio State – 58.0
10. Oklahoma State – 56.0
T11. Missouri – 49.5
T11. North Carolina State – 49.5
13. South Dakota State – 48.5
14. Lehigh – 36.5
15. Northern Iowa – 34.5