GREELEY, Colo. - The North Dakota State wrestling team finished in fourth place at the NCAA West Regional on Saturday, March 7.  Junior Ryan Adams came in second at 149 pounds and freshmen Justin Solberg and Tyler Johnson both posted third place finishes.  Senior Gabriel Mooney and sophomores Vince Salminen, Kenny Moenkedick and Tyler Hemmesch also came in fourth.

Northern Iowa won its 24th straight Regional, followed by Wyoming and Northern Colorado.  South Dakota State was fifth and Air Force was sixth.  UNI's Moza Fay was named the tournament's outstanding wrestler and Wyoming head coach Mark Branch was honored as coach of the year.

Adams was the top seed at 149 pounds and defeated Alec Williams of Air Force in a 10-3 decision in the opening round.  He then won a 10-4 decision over Wyoming's Chase Smith in the semifinal.  In the championship bout, he dropped a close 5-4 decision to Northern Colorado's Mitchell Polkowske.  He just missed out on automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships when he fell to UNI's Trevor Kittleson in the true second place place in a 7-6 decision.

At 125 pounds, Solberg defeated South Dakota State's Alan Marvin in the opening round, 5-2.  Solberg then fell in the semifinals to UNC's Tony Mustari, 8-4.  With a 5-2 decision over Andrew Zwirlein of Air Force, Solberg advanced to the third place match against Cruse Aarhus of UNI, where he emerged as a 7-6 winner and third place finisher. 

Johnson opened action with a 15-3 major decision over Weston Ginther of South Dakota State at 165 pounds.  In the semifinal, Johnson fell to Wyoming's Alex Rieder in an 8-7 decision.  Johnson then advanced to the third place match after pinning Justin Shadrix of Air Force.  In the third place final, Johnson defeated Northern Colorado's Daniel Prater in a 7-2 decision.

Mooney dropped his semifinal bout to top-seeded Trent Washington of UNI in a 5-2 decision.  He then advanced to the third place final with a 13-3 major decision over South Dakota State's Dustin Walraven.  In the third place bout, Mooney fell to Wyoming's Cole Dallaserra, 4-2.

Salminen started strong with a 10-0 major decision over Joseph Stafford of Air Force at 157 pounds.  He then fell to top-seeded Justin Gaethje of Northern Colorado, 12-7 in the semifinals.  In the third place final, Salminen fell to Wyoming's Eric Coxbill in a 10-4 decision.

Moenkedick opened with an 8-6 victory over Brett Boyce of Air Force at 184 pounds before falling to Wyoming's Joe LeBlance by technical fall.  In the third place final, he lost to UNC's Ryan Johnson in an 8-2 decision.

At heavyweight, Hemmesch fell to second-seeded Jason Stripling in a 6-2 decision.  In the third place semifinal ,he defeated UNC's Justin Tuell by pin only 26 seconds into the match.  In the third place final, Hemmesch was pinned by Wyoming's Jacob Scharbrough.

At 133 pounds, freshman Trent Sprenkle went 0-2, dropping a 2-1 decision to Steven Fitzgerald of UNI and then falling to Air Force's Derek Gillespie in a 4-3 decision. 

At 174 pounds, senior Adam Aho also went 0-2 on the day.  He was pinned by second-seeded Shane Onufer of Wyoming and then lost to top-seeded Jarion Beets in an 11-2 major decision.

Drew Ross went 0-2 at the Regional, falling to top-seeded Andrew Anderson of UNI at the 2:11 mark.  In his second match, Ross was pinned by Eric Brennan of Northern Colorado.

After all the qualifying events have finished, the 52 at-large selections will be announced on Wednesday, March 11.  All weight classes will have 33 wrestlers.  At-large selections will be based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; qualifying event placement; quality wins; results against common opponents; winning percentage; RPI; coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class.

The NCAA National Championships will be held in St. Louis, Mo. from March 19-21.