GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- It was good things all around for the Dickinson State wrestling team on Saturday.
In a dual between two teams tied for fourth in the NAIA poll, the Blue Hawks got a big pin from Stanton Schlect at the 165-pound weight class and Brett Owen knocked off top-ranked Michael French at 184 to help the Blue Hawks to a 25-12 win over the University of Great Falls.
DSU got off to a fast start when 125-pounder Angel Olea won by technical fall in 6 minutes flat over Kyle Middlemint. Blake Hunter followed with a forfeit to give the Blue Hawks an 11-0 lead.
DSU held a 14-6 edge when Schlect pinned Justin Gardner a minute into the match, allowing the Hawks to take a commanding 20-6 lead. A decision by Jose Serratto at 149 also helped DSU's cause.
O'Donnell said Schlect worked on countering Gardner's tactics all week in practice and when Schlect saw his opportunity, he took it.
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"He'd been working on things all week," O'Donnell said. "The kid (Gardner) did exactly what we had been talking about and Stan put him on his back and pinned him. He definitely drilled the right thing."
Two matches later, Owen proved that he's at the top of his game by decisioning French 7-3.
Cody Jamtgaard won by 4-3 decision over sixth-ranked Brad Fraser at heavyweight to close out the match.
"Team-wise, this gives us a lot of confidence," Dickinson State Thadd O'Donnell said. "We wrestled solid all the way through. Individually, we had a lot of big wins. ... It's the biggest win of the year for us, especially going into the end-of-the-season run."
125: Angel Olea, DSU, tech. falled Kyle Middlemint, 6:00. 133: Blake Hunter, DSU, won by forfeit. 141: Anthony Heffernan, GF, dec. Eli Zuniga, 6-4. 149: Jose Serratto, DSU, dec. Josh Beerman, 11-4. 157: Ross Mosher, GF, dec. Nick Zumwalt, 9-3. 165: Stanton Schlect, DSU, pinned Justin Gardner, 1:00. 174: Brendon DeCock, GF, dec. Shane Bennett, 7-2. 184: Brett Owen, DSU, dec. Michael French, 7-3. 197: Alex Calvi, GF, dec. Matt Michaelson, 2-0. HWT: Cody Jamtgaard, DSU, dec. Brad Fraser, 4-3.
NOTE: One technical point was deducted from DSU's team score.
