Montana State-Northern pins down Cards in opener

HAVRE, Mont. — In its opening match of the season, the North Idaho College wrestling team looked good in some weights.

Others, the work is still to be done.

Christian Grover beat Jake French of Montana State-Northern by a 7-2 decision at 184 pounds, the lone win of the night for the Cardinals in a 35-3 loss to the Lights of the NAIA on Thursday night.

“Obviously, it was not the outcome we desired, but it’s one of the reasons we jump on a train and come here,” NIC coach Pat Whitcomb said. “They (Montana State-Northern) looked good. We looked good at some weights, but outmatched at others. We’re young, but not young young, so that’s not an excuse.”

Whitcomb credited Hassan Hawthorne, who fought hard in a 4-3 loss to former Cardinal Brent Evans, a junior who competed at NIC the past two years, at 149 pounds.

“Hassan had a really good match,” Whitcomb said. “Evans is a tough kid that we know really well. (Nicholas) Hara was 1-1 in his match and got called for stalling and lost in overtime. Some of the other matches, they were just a little meaner and tougher than us.”

NIC travels to face the University of Providence in Great Falls today at 3:30 p.m. PDT.

125 — Nick Kunz, MSUN, d. Jacob Garrison, 8-2. 133 — Landon Bailey, MSUN, d. Nicholas Hara, 8-6. 141 — Matt Weber, MSUN, p. Dylan Lockwood, 4:55. 149 — Brent Evans, MSUN, d. Hassan Hawthorne, 4-3. 157 — Brandon Weber, MSUN, d. Cooper McCullough, 9-3. 165 — Andrew Bartel, MSUN, md. Izaiah Duran, 13-0. 174 — Chris Nile, MSUN, d. Trager Abatti, 7-2. 184 — Christian Grover, NIC, d. Jake French, 7-2. 197 — Isaac Bartel, MSUN, md. Hunter Gregerson, 15-3. 285 — Jase Stokes, MSUN, p. Connor Sullivan, 4:39.