JACKS SET FOR BORDER BELL SHOWDOWN

Sunday, February 22

Brookings, S.D.

2 p.m.

South Dakota State University

North Dakota State

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Brady Roark, a wrestler in a blue singlet, has his hand raised by a referee at the Sanford Pentagon after a match.

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

2/20/2026 9:37:00 AM | Wrestling

Week 15: #19 South Dakota State vs. North Dakota State
Date and Time	Sunday, Feb. 22nd, 2 p.m. CT
Location	Brookings, S.D.
Site	First Bank & Trust Arena
Television/Stream	Midco Sports Plus
Live Stats	TrackWrestling
South Dakota State	Game Notes \| Home Page

Brookings, S.D. - The Jackrabbits host rivals North Dakota State this weekend as the Bison come to town for the Border Bell Dual on Sunday. SDSU is looking to make it five wins in a row over the Bison taking the last four duals between the two schools by a combined score of 108-36. The Jackrabbits ground out a win against the Bison last year in Fargo, 23-10 in a hard-fought dual where six of the 10 matches were decided by one takedown or less. Last time the Bison came to Brookings, the Jacks held their own, sticking a 34-6 dual victory and defending home mat.

THE LINEUP:
125: No. 19 Brady Roark (17-3) or Daniel Guanajuato (15-5)
133: Cale Seaton (13-8)
141: No. 10 Julian Tagg (15-4)
149: Colin Dupill (5-10) or No. 25 Alek Martin (5-7)
157: No. 13 Cael Swensen (21-4)
165: No. 29 Marcus Espinoza-Owens (12-9)
174: No. 15 Moses Espinoza-Owens (23-6)
184: Jarrett Wadsen (13-2) or Jared Thiry (16-8)
197: No. 4 Bennett Berge (12-2)
HWT: No.25 Luke Rasmussen (9-7) or Micah Hach (18-3)
*Coaches Rankings as of 2/17

LAST TIME OUT: JACKRABBITS OPEN
The Jackrabbits brought home four first-place finishes at the Inaugural Jackrabbits Open as Cale Seaton, Jared Thiry, Quin Morgan, and Micah Hach went undefeated on the day.

In a 133-pound bracket that only featured three Jackrabbits, Cale Seaton took first by scoring a tech fall on Kenton Cooke and following it up with a tough 5-0 decision over Derrick Cardinal.

Jared Thiry made the most of his opportunities at 184 pounds by scoring a pin in his first bout over Marco Christiansen at 3:54 and following it up with a tech fall over Dominic Thebeau, 19-3, in his second bout.

Quin Morgan started his day off slow with a 4-2 decision over Minnesota's Silas Dailey at 197 pounds, but he finished it off with a bang as he pinned Jackson Rotterman at 2:31 in the first period, to secure the top spot at 197 pounds.

Micah Hach cruised through the 285-pound bracket with ease, pinning both of his opponents. He pinned USAFA's Elijah Sumler at 4:26 in the second period and outdid himself in his second bout with a pin over Austin Barnett at 3:52.

Elsewhere, Logan Graf, Jacob Herm and Jarrett Wadsen all finished second in their respective brackets. Graf scored a decision over Iowa's Keyan Hernandez, 7-4, before medically forfeiting out of the first-place match, ending his day.

Jacob Herm scored a quick pin in his first match against Coy Gunderson at 1:21. In his first-place match against Mizzou's Maxx Mayfield, he scored the first two takedowns of the match, but Mayfield rallied back and scored a late takedown in the third to secure the win and the title at 165 pounds.

Jarrett Wadsen closed the show for the Jacks with a bang against Dominic Thebeau. After racking up five takedowns, Wadsen was able to lock up a cradle against Thebeau, securing the first-period pin, but finishing second in the bracket on criteria.

Liam Neitzel, Logan Swensen, Bas Diaz and Zach Ballante all finished third in their bracket due to no contest matches between the pairs. Burk Blasius finished outright third at 184 pounds on criteria after a tech fall over Dominic Thebeau, 17-2.

JACKS IN THE RANKINGS
125: Brady Roark       19/20/19
133:Derrick Cardinal       25/23/30
141: Julian Tagg       17/17/10
149: Alek Martin       22/NR/25
157: Cael Swensen       21/18/13
165: Marcus Espinoza-Owens    33/26/29
174: Moses Espinoza-Owens   16/17/15
197: Bennett Berge       4/5/4
285: Luke Rasmussen       29/33/25
*Flo/Intermat/Coaches

NWCA COACHES POLL
Rank   Team (First)   Record   Points
1   Penn St. (16)        (14-0)        400
2   Ohio St.                (18-1)        384
3   Oklahoma St.       (14-1)        368
4   Iowa St.                (11-2)        350
5   Nebraska              (12-6)    328
6   Virginia Tech        (10-3)        313
7   Iowa                  (12-5)        311
8   NC State          (14-4)        291
9   Minnesota            (11-5)        267
10   Illinois                (12-5)        249
11   Rutgers            (13-5)        226
12   North Carolina   (9-4)      201
13   Michigan        (8-6) 200
14   Missouri            (12-7)        181
15   Pittsburgh      (10-4)        173
16   Wisconsin      (12-4)        152
17   West Virginia   (10-5)        146
18   Northern Iowa   (10-8)        118
19   S. Dakota St.   (12-4)       117
20   Stanford          (6-6)      93
21   Indiana        (8-5)          75
22   Lehigh          (11-6)      69
23   Wyoming          (8-5)      66
24   Oklahoma    (9-6)          62
25   Oregon State   (7-2)           28

Others Receiving Votes: Columbia 14, Rider 14, Lock Haven 4.

NWCA MID-MAJOR POLL
Rank   Team (First)   Record   Points   Conference
1   UNI (4)       (9-6)   117   Big 12
2   SDSU (1)   (12-3)   115   Big 12
3   Lehigh (1)   (8-6)   107   EIWA
4   Oregon State   (6-1)   103   Pac-12
5   Wyoming   (4-5)   94   Big 12
6   Columbia   (9-3)   80   Ivy League
7   Cornell       (5-6)   78   Ivy League
8   Drexel       (12-3)   75   EIWA
9   Penn       (6-1)   70   Ivy League
10   Lock Haven   (10-3)   66   MAC
11   Navy       (5-4)   56   EIWA
12t   Rider       (9-5)   51   MAC
12t   SIUE       (8-1)   51   MAC
14   Utah Valley   (3-6)   43   Big 12
15   Army       (2-5)   31   EIWA
16   Cal Poly   (4-4)   20   Pac-12
17   C. Michigan   (7-5)   15   MAC
18   N.Illinois   (7-6)   14   MAC
19   NDSU       (6-7)   13   Big 12
20   Little Rock   (3-9)   12   Pac-12
Others Receiving Votes: Appalachian State 10, Bucknell 9, Harvard 7, Clarion 6, Princeton 6, Ohio 4, Kent State 3, George Mason 2, The Citadel 2.

WRESTLERS TO WATCH: Brady Roark
Brady Roark will have a tough match in front of him this weekend as he takes on #27 Zeke Witt at 125 pounds.

Roark has come into his own as the starter for the Jacks at 125 pounds, with a 17-3 overall record and a 9-1 record in duals. Roark last wrestled a tough match against No. 13 Stevo Poulin during SDSU's dual with Iowa State on Jan. 25th.
Witt has had an up and down season after coming into this season with high expectations at 125 pounds for NDSU.

Witt is 19-10 on the year but had an upset victory over No. 10 Nico Provo of Stanford back on Dec. 20th. Witt got the better of All-American Tanner Jordan, 3-2 during last year's Border Bell Dual, a result Brady Roark will look to reverse this year.

Roark will have to be on his game this week as he makes his return to mat against the Bison.

Key Storylines

BACK FOR MORE: The Jackrabbits return Cael Swensen and Alek Martin to their lineup after both sat out the 2024-25 season with injuries
PROGRAM RECORDS: The Jackrabbits continued to set program records under Damion Hahn in 2024-25, sending a record nine wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia
REPLACING DEVOS: The Jackrabbits will have a few options at 174 pounds this year as they try to replace two-time All-American and five-time NCAA Qualifier Cade DeVos. Fighting for the spot will be Connor Gaynor and Moses Espinoza-Owens.
MOVIN' ON, MOVIN' UP: All-American Bennett Berge will make the jump from 184 pounds, where he was a two-time NCAA Qualifier and a fourth-place finisher in 2024 to 197 pounds this year, replacing the graduated Zach Glazier. The jump to 197 pounds mirrors Coach Hahn's jump from 184 pounds to 197 pounds, where he won two National Championships.
RETURNING PRODUCTION: The Jacks will have an NCAA Qualifier at 7 of their 10 weights this year, while Moses Espinoza-Owens, Brock Fettig and Brady Roark all filled in at their respective weights due to injuries last season.
JACKS IN THE RANKINGS: SDSU has nine of its starters listed in InterMat's and FloWrestling's Rankings. Amongst the highest ranked are Berge at No. 4, Cael Swensen at No. 17, Brady Roark at No. 19, Julian Tagg at No. 17 and Moses Espinoza-Owens at 1No. 6. The Jacks also dropped to number 19 in the NWCA Division 1 Coaches Poll.
PROVEN WINNER: Last season, Damion Hahn became the winningest coach at the D1 level in South Dakota State history, passing Chris Bono with 65 wins. Hahn's 84 dual wins for the Jackrabbits rank fourth all-time among all Jackrabbit Wrestling coaches behind Jason Liles, Warren Williamson and Mike Engels.
OFF-SEASON WORK: The JWC was incredibly successful on the freestyle and Greco-Roman circuits between March and August. Quin Morgan took home the U20 Greco-Roman Championship at 97kg at the US Open to start the season. Tommy Dineen and Daniel Guanjuato added runner-up finishes at their respective weights at the U23 Freestyle Nationals. Dineen also added a gold medal at the Junior Pan-American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Last year's freshman class put up an impressive 92-28 total record through open competitions and duals. Leading the way was freshman Logan Swensen with a 28-6 record overall. Swensen looks to back up returning NCAA Qualifier Derrick Cardinal at 133 pounds this year.
STOP SIGNS IN BROOKINGS: The incoming freshmen at SDSU are coming off an impressive summer. Micah Hach (8th), Keenan Sheridan (8th), Conlan Carlson (8th) and Jarrett Wadsen (2nd) all earned All-American honors at the Fargo Nationals in Freestyle. Wadsen (4th) and Bas Diaz (2nd) earned All-American honors in Greco as well.

A Look Ahead
The Jacks' next competition is the Big 12 Championships at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 6th and 7th. The Jacks have finished third at the Big 12 Championships the last two years and will look to cause some chaos this year down in Tulsa.

-GoJacks.com-