Josh Nolan has stepped into the head coaching role at Northern State for a new era of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference wrestling.
The Wolves are not only under new reins this season, Braydon Mogle and Wyatt Turnquist, who were both ranked last season, graduated. The Wolves come into the season receiving votes in the NWCA DII Coaches Rankings and find themselves sixth in the NSIC Preseason Rankings.
Sloan Johannsen was named the team’s NSIC Wrestler to watch and is already off to a solid start.
“Sloan had an impressive true freshman season, showing growth both mentally and physically every time he stepped on the mat,” Nolan said. “He’s an athlete who shows up every day ready to work, improve, and push those around him. Since the conclusion of last season, he’s demonstrated outstanding consistency in his training, and we expect him to emerge as a leader on our team.”
Johannsen, a former Watertown standout, is ranked 13th in the 125-pound class. Teammate Rudy Lopez, a transfer from Northern Colorado, is ranked 11th at 149 according to the NWCA DII Coaches rankings.
The Wolves also brought in Krayle Stormer, an Oregon State transfer, who wrestles at 141.
On top of those two transfers, the Wolves added 10 freshmen from the high school ranks.
The Wolves have already competed in two tournaments, with a third coming up this weekend at Nebraska Kearney for the Younes Hospitality Open.
In their first tournament of the year, the Wolves competed in the Jimmie Open at Jamestown, N.D. Three Wolves walked away with championships: Johannsen at 125, Brady Westall at 184 after defeating teammate Travis Smith, and Mason Schrempp at 165.
Johannsen said that he came into this year’s tournament feeling less stress than a year ago.
“Coming into this year, it was a big mental thing that we focused on, is not worrying about that, like we were saying. Really just kind of worrying about yourself,” Johannsen said. “So, I walked into the day a lot less nervous.”
Johannsen won all four of his matches heading into the championship match, where he faced a familiar opponent.
“My finals match was against an NDSU kid who had beaten me at this tournament last year, so I was really, really looking forward to getting that win,” Johannsen said. “I wrestled a really good match, had a really good mindset going into it. And I ended up getting that match back and the coaches were super happy with my performance. I was super happy with my performance.”
The Wolves had five third-place finishers which included Clay Gates at 133, Stormer at 141, Mason Fey at 174, Nathan Schauer at 285, and Ryan Hirschkorn at 197.
The following weekend, the squad competed at the DWU Open and came home with a pair of first-place finishes. Westall won his second tournament in a row at 184, and Stormer won at 141.
Stormer went into the tournament working on specific areas, and saw it pan out in the championship match, when he defeated Colton Hush of Minnesota State 2-0.
“Especially in that championship match, I was on the guy the whole time, like in on his leg, close to scoring, but never ended up finishing anything. Then he went down the next period, and I rode him out the whole period,” Stormer said. “The next period, I chose down, got an escape and then as soon as I escaped, I was right back in on him. I was trying to take his butt down.”
The Wolves had two second-place finishers, as well as a pair of NSU wrestlers who shared that runner-up position.
Gates and Hirschkorn took second place outright, while Calder Sheehan and Lopez advanced to a championship match that wasn’t wrestled.
Northern will compete in the Younes Hospitality Open on Saturday. The Wolves will start NSIC action on Thursday, Dec. 4 when they host Augustana University at 7 p.m., followed by a road dual against UMary on Saturday, Dec. 6.
