Hawks back on mat after long layoff

• Shane Bennett

Press Photo by Kyle Smith Dickinson State senior Shane Bennett, right, wrestles against Northern State on Dec. 1 at Scott Gymnasium. Bennett takes the NAIA’s No. 1 ranking at 165 pounds into the National Duals this weekend.

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It has been more than a month since Dickinson State’s wrestling team last competed.

The No. 8-ranked Blue Hawks aren’t taking their return to the mat lightly either. They open the NAIA National Duals on Saturday in Cedar Falls, Iowa, against No. 11 Cumberland University (Tenn.).

“It’ll definitely be a tough one to open up with,” DSU head coach Thadd O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell added that DSU has been holding two-a-day practices since Dec. 30 to prepare for the National Duals, which invites the top 16 teams from all levels of college wrestling to compete in a massive tournament at the University of Northern Iowa’s UNI-Dome.

The NAIA tournament is traditionally used as a barometer for national team and individual rankings heading into the final two months of the season.

“The position we’re in now, it’s more key matchups and seeing guys, individuals on teams that kind of set the stage for the postseason,” O’Donnell said.

DSU senior Shane Bennett came into a month-long break in the rankings with the No. 1 spot at 165 pounds.

Seven Blue Hawks were ranked in the NAIA’s top 12 entering the break, including junior Cameron Schrempp, who is ranked third at 174.

Bennett will most likely face fourth-ranked Corey Bleaken. At 141 pounds, third-ranked Michael Davis could face DSU’s Adam Orton, ranked 11th.

A win over Cumberland in the opening round would likely match DSU against No. 1-ranked Notre Dame College of Ohio, the defending national champions.

“They’re definitely head and shoulders above everybody, but that’ll be a great experience,” O’Donnell said, “and maybe we’ll get into that matchup and knock some of the luster off them.”

O’Donnell said he doesn’t mind having giving the team more than a month off from duals and tournaments over the holidays.

“Sometimes it’s good to take a break, come in a little fresh and come in with a competitive attitude,” he said.

DSU women looking for first DAC win this weekend

With three consecutive home games to start its season-ending Dakota Athletic Conference run, DSU women’s basketball coach Andre Goldberg feels the next six days could be big in the grand scheme of the team’s season.

DSU dropped the first two games of its DAC schedule on the road at No. 23-ranked Valley City State and Jamestown College — which is 11-3 and could very well be ranked in next week’s NAIA Division II poll.

The Blue Hawks (7-6, 0-2 DAC) host Mayville State (2-7, 1-0 DAC) at 5:30 p.m. today and Dakota State (4-8, 0-1 DAC) at 4 p.m. Saturday. No. 13-ranked Minot State (10-3, 1-1 DAC) comes to DSU at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“I think we’ve been working on stuff that we can do better, and the last two weeks, I think we’ve executed those things in game situations better than at the time we played Jamestown and Valley.”

Goldberg said Monday night’s 84-30 win over overmatched Briercrest College of Saskatchewan was helpful in that DSU was able to see how its bench players could contribute.

“It was really good for us,” Goldberg said. “The people that came off the bench, they were ready to go. They showed some things we don’t normally see or don’t normally give them the chance to do.”

The Blue Hawks, however, look like they’ll be playing the rest of the season without junior point guard Terri Washington.

Sidelined by a sore left knee before the Christmas break, Washington recently underwent an MRI and discovered she had torn meniscus. She was advised not to play.

It is a blow to the position that was expected to be deep coming into the season. Then, junior transfer Ashley Jelly tore ligaments in her knee in the Blue Hawks’ season-opening loss at Montana Western.

Senior Teryl Norton, who opened the season coming off the bench, has been in the starting lineup since Washington was injured. DSU has won all three games Norton has started.

Dufault named Buffs’ male athlete of the week

On Wednesday, Killdeer High School graduate Austin Dufault was named the University of Colorado’s male athlete of the week for Dec. 27-Jan. 2 after his performances in two victories for the men’s basketball team.

Dufault, a 6-foot-9 junior center, had 18 points and seven rebounds against Maryland-Eastern Shore and 10 points and nine rebounds against Cal State-Bakersfield.

The Buffaloes open Big 12 Conference play at 11:30 a.m. Saturday when they host No. 9 Missouri.

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