When the Northern State wrestlers step on the mat today for their season opener in Jamestown, there will be no lack of energy, enthusiasm and expectations.

The Wolves will feature a solid blend of proven veterans along with talented newcomers.

“We really like the makeup of our team this year. We are relatively young, but even our guys that are sophomores and juniors, they’ve got a ton of experience, just being in the program for multiple years and doing the right thing, knowing how to lead and how to handle themselves on a day-to-day basis,” said Northern coach Josh Nolan. “They’re really kind of paving the way, and the young guys are so hungry,  they’re just feeding off it, so the energy has been great in the room.”

The Wolves will be led by a trio of wrestlers who are all rated nationally: Sloan Johannsen, Griffin Lundeen, and Ryan Hirschkorn.

Johannsen is rated sixth at 125 pounds, Lundeen is rated fourth at 157, and Hirschkorn is rated 15th at 197.

“All three of those guys are captains for us. We know that we can lean on them for anything,” Nolan said. “All of them do amazing in the classroom, all of them bring great energy every single day.”

Johannsen, a sophomore from Watertown, is coming off a stellar campaign for the Wolves.

“He’s our fire starter. He’s the guy that we look to a lot of times to get things going,” Nolan said. “It’s not just on the wrestling mat. He’s setting the standard in the classroom.”

Lundeen is a model of consistency for the program, according to Nolan.

“Griffin Lundeen, he’s a guy you now exactly what you’re going to get from him every single day,” Nolan said. “There’s really no questions asked. He’s a guy that’s going to lift the room up, no matter what room he’s in.”

Hirschkorn, a senior, is one of the most experienced wrestlers on the team, and has embraced that leaderhip position.

“Being a guy that has been in the program for a long time, he’s seen all aspects of it. We’ve really, over the last couple years, seen Ryan come into his own and just take ownership of everything that he does,” Nolan said. “He’s always kind of been the silent assassin. Over the last year we’ve really started to see him come out of his shell and step into that leadership role.”

Nolan, who served as an assistant before taking over as head coach a year ago, said things feel a bit more clear as he heads into his second season at the helm of the squad.

“This year it feels like we have things a bit more under control,” Nolan said, “and have better idea of what we want to get accomplished and how we want to do it.”

The Wolves were picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference preseason poll. Nolan said he doesn’t talk much about those types of things.

“We know how hard we work and we know how tough it is, too,” Nolan said. “It’s not something that’s lost on us. We’re not blind to it. That’s something that we love. We love the fact that it’s a tough conference. We get to go wrestle some of the best teams in the country.”

Northern will be the host site for this year’s Super V Region in February. Nolan said that will be an advantage for his wrestlers.

“We’ll take any opportunity to wrestle in front of our fans,” Nolan said. “We’ve got some of the best fans in the country, no matter where we go. … To be able to have that at the Barnett Center and Wachs Arena is something that we’re super excited about. We really feel like it’s going to be in our advantage.”

While the curtain goes up on the season today at the Jimmie Open, Nolan said the Wolves have long-term goals, culminating with the NCAA national championships in March.

“We’ve got huge goals. We talk all the time about what it takes to not only be at the top of our conference, but being one of the teams at the top when the dust settles on Saturday in March,” Nolan said. “We want to bring a team trophy back to Aberdeen and to Northern State University for the first time in program history. It’s going to take a lot. We’re not shy about talking about it, but we’re also not blind to the fact that it’s going to take a ton work.”

The first step on that journey starts today and Nolan said the wrestlers are fired up and ready to get going.

“It’s going to be a fun year. We’ve got a great group of guys,” Nolan said. “They’re excited to go score points and have some fun out there. It’s going to be a heckuva year.”