With
the 2002
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference team championship
already secured, Northern set out for Marshall, Minn., Sunday
to decide the league's individual weight class champions.
The
Wolves came home with four individual champions.
Northern
won the team crown by going 3-0 in dual competition during
the regular season, defeating
Minnesota State-Moorhead at home Jan. 24 to win the
title.
In
Marshall on the campus of Southwest State University Sunday,
senior 133-pounder Richard Goethals (Belle Fourche) broke
through with his first individual crown. Goethals earned
all-conference honors for being a runner-up as both a sophomore
and junior. He defeated SSU's own Josh Soupir 6-5 to earn
his shining moment.
Also
picking up his first individual championship Sunday was
149-pound sophomore Dana Dargatz (Webster). Dargatz defeated
MSUM's Denny Meyer 8-6 to earn the title.
Northern
had two repeat champions Sunday as well. At 184 pounds,
junior Joey Krause (Aberdeen) avenged an earlier season
loss to MSUM's Ryan Kopiasz to win the title. Both national
qualifiers from last season, Kopiasz upset Krause during
Northern's dual with MSUM earlier in the season, forcing
Northern's to come up with late heroics in the dual's final
two matches to come back and earn the win and team championship.
Krause defeated Kopiasz 4-2 Sunday to earn his second straight
individual championship at 184 pounds.
At
heavyweight, Northern's Baron Blanchard crowned himself
king of the hill again. The sophomore from Kindred, N.D.,
racked up his second straight individual crown and hasn't
been beaten during an NSIC Championship event. He defeated
MSUM's Don Hoonhorst 4-3 to win the title.
Earning
second-place finishes and subsequent all-conference honors
on the day were senior Cory Anderson (Milbank) at 174 pounds,
and freshman Cory Wellnitz (Milbank) at 197 pounds.
In
addition, NSU's second-year head coach Patrick Timm was
named the league's coach of the year.
Complete
results from the day's action will be posted as soon as
they become available.
