STEVENS POINT, Wis. – No. 11 Saint John’s fought back from an early 9-4 deficit with wins in the remaining seven matches to defeat No. 20 Wis.-Stevens Point 30-9 on Monday, Jan. 25.
The Pointers’ Ben Engelland, ranked No. 2 nationally at 184 pounds, opened the dual with a pin in 1:48 to give the hosts an early 6-0 lead. Junior Tony Willaert (North Mankato, Minn./Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial) cut the deficit to 6-4 with a 15-4 major decision at 197 pounds, before sophomore Cody Socher (Delano, Minn.) lost a hard-nose 2-1 decision in triple overtime.
Sophomore Scott Padrnos (Brainerd, Minn.) set the tone for a proper comeback with a pin in 1:15 at 125 pounds to give SJU (10-7 dual record) its first lead of the dual. Senior Mogi Baatar (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/St. Benedict’s Prep, N.J.) earned his 15th victory of the season with a 5-2 decision at 133 pounds, while junior Minga Batsukh (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/St. Benedict’s Prep, N.J.) improved to 5-1 with a rare four-point technical fall at 141 pounds. Batsukh tallied 26 points in the match, none of which were near fall.
Junior Drew Larson (Willmar, Minn.) picked up a 5-3 win, followed by a 12-3 major decision from freshman Chris Stevermer (Savage, Minn./Prior Lake) at 157 pounds. In what was projected to be the match of the night, junior Matt Baarson (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park) tallied a 4-1 win over UWSP’s Jordan Schulte (17-4 record) at 165 pounds. Baarson improved his record to 15-2 with the win.
Junior Dustin Raygor (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) then ended the dual with a 7-4 decision at 174 pounds.
The Johnnies return to action by hosting the annual North Country Open this Saturday, Jan. 30. The meet is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Donald McNeely Spectrum in Collegeville.
125 – Scott Padrnos (SJU) pinned Jordan Poirier, 1:15 (10-9)
133 – Mogi Baatar (No. 2, SJU) dec. Jordan Kust, 5-2 (13-9)
141 – Minga Batsukh (No. 2, SJU) tech. fall Shane Sweeney, 26-10 (17-9)
149 – Drew Larson (SJU) dec. Kris Magruder, 5-3 (20-9)
157 – Chris Stevermer (SJU) major dec. Andrew Dilworth, 12-3 (24-9)
165 – Matt Baarson (SJU) dec. Jordan Schulte, 4-1 (27-9)
174 – Dustin Raygor (SJU) dec. Ryan Conat, 7-4 (30-9)
184 – Ben Engelland (No. 2, UWSP) pinned James Carlson, 1:48 (0-6)
197 – Tony Willaert (SJU) major dec. Steve Wozniak, 15-4 (4-6)
285 – Bret Oswald (UWSP) dec. Cody Socher, 2-1 3OT (4-9)
*dual started at 184 pounds