FARGO, N.D. - The North Dakota State wrestling team (9-7, 2-3 WWC) will travel to Brookings, S.D. to compete at the NCAA West Regional on Saturday, March 6.  Action begins at 10 a.m.  The West Regional serves as the NCAA Championships qualifying tournament for the Western Wrestling Conference.  The NCAA has allotted 14 automatic qualifying bids to the West Regional based on Division I winning percentage, the Coaches Panel Rankings and the RPI.

NCAA West Regional Preview

NDSU will be looking to improve on last year’s fourth place finish at the West Regional.  Senior 141-pounder Ryan Adams is currently ranked No. 25 in the coaches rankings and No. 17 in the RPI.  Adams will be looking for his third bid to the NCAA Championships, after justing missing out on a spot last year.  He is the only athlete on the roster with NCAA Championship experience. Sophomores Tyler Johnson (165) and Justin Solberg (125) both finished third at the regional last year.

Regional Information

A tournament schedule, updated brackets and more can be found at GoJacks.com.  Live video of the finals will be available free on GoJacks.com beginning at 5 p.m.

Jacks stun Bison in regular season finale

NDSU dropped a 23-22 decision to South Dakota State on Thursday, Feb. 18 for the team’s third straight conference loss.  After going down 10-0 early, the Bison came back to win the next five bouts.  Senior Ryan Adams (141), junior Andrey Patselov (149) and junior Vince Salminen (157) and redshirt freshman Mac Stoll (174) all won by major decision and sophomore Tyler Johnson posted a pin at 165 pounds to give the Bison a 22-10 lead.  The Jacks came back to claim the final three bouts, including a pin at 184 pounds.  A 4-1 decision in the heavyweight match gave the visitors the win, their first over the Bison since the 1996-1997 season.

Adams in final coaches rankings, Salminen cracks RPI

Senior Ryan Adams is ranked No. 25 at 141 pounds in the final edition of the Coaches Panel Rankings, moving up from No. 29.  He also makes his first appearance in the RPI rankings at No. 17.  Junior Vince Salminen joins Adams in the RPI rankings at No. 24 at 157 pounds.   Wrestlers in each weight class will be measured by winning percentage, rating percentage index (RPI) and coaches’ rankings to earn spots for the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. The final rankings will be one of the tools used as part of the selection process to determine the at-large qualifiers for the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.  Overall, 17 wrestlers from the Western Wrestling Conference are ranked in the coaches rankings and 20 are ranked in the RPI.