Alumni at Northwestern

• PREVIEW
• RESULTS/RECAP

The 2007-08 Raider wrestlers greeted the Alumni Team with great anticipation on Saturday, October 5^th at 11:30 a.m. in the N-Club meeting room prior to the match for conversation, introductions and program history from Coach Petty.  “It was awesome to be in that room full of alumni from 1995-2007 and the current team.  There were past and current National Qualifiers and All-Americans; it was great to have the families and friends of the program all together.  It was especially awesome to be in the presence of the humble legendary coach who led this program for twenty-two years and is now a NAIA Hall of Fame candidate coach, Coach Bartlett.”

The day began with the 2007-08 Raider wrestlers and Coaches Petty and Schmidt and his wife Kristy (who ran past Coach Petty and some of the guys, but then again she is a National Champion Basketball player for NWC, back to wrestling) meeting near Christ Chapel to participate in the 2007 Homecoming 5K race at 8:30 a.m.  After the meeting in the N Club room, the action began in the Bultman Center Gymnasium.

The first match began with (second year wrestler) D.J. Jackson (MD) who had a 5-11 freshman campaign at 141/149 matched up against Rich Meekhof whose last season with the Red Raiders was in 2006.  Rich is currently the Head Wrestling Coach at Sioux Center High School.  Jackson’s youth and strength proved too much for Meekhof and put the 2007-08 squad on the board first with a 10-1 major decision.

The second match would pair freshman Cody Perry (IA) against Rick Dahl (197, All American).  This was one of the most entertaining matches that would find its way into overtime.  It was the All-American, Dahl who struck first in the first period and after a scoreless second period, Dahl would start the third with a 2 point “old school” reversal on the younger Raider.  Down 4-0 with time running out, Perry found some confidence and was able to tie the score 5-5 with less than 3 seconds remaining to force overtime at which point, the All—American Dahl made a mental decision to wrestle in overtime but it appeared that his physical stamina balked at the deal.  Perry would score a take down in OT for the 7-5 win to put the 2007-08 Raider Wrestlers up 7-0 in the match.

The Third match put freshman, Kyle Bartlett (IL) up against Bill Hermanson (current NWC athlete).  This match was a battle of wills being imposed on one another.  Bartlett would score the first take down finish the period but Hermanson would provide the crowd with some thrilling excitement by scoring a take down to bring the score to 3-4 with less than 15 seconds remaining in regulation.  He was forced to cut Bartlett to try to score another take down to send the match into OT but time would not be on his side as Bartlett would have his arm raised for his first time as a Red Raider and giving the 2007-08 squad a 10-0 lead.

The forth match would shock the crowd as Alumni team member, Ezra Strubbe (’98) caught David DeBoer (IN; 0-8 in 2007) in the first period in a cradle.  DeBoer would fight as time wound down only to hear the ref slap the mat to score a fall for Strubbe and the Alumni’s first points.  To close the lead to 10-6. 

The next match pitted Cole Spree (IA; JC/AA) against Scott Van Der Brink (’96, #5 Most Falls in a Season, #3 Most Falls in Career and #2 Most Reversals in Career).  It was Van Der Brink who scored first and led until the final period.  Spree, down 2-0, choose bottom and would get an escape with 30 seconds remaining.  Down 1-2, Spree would have to reach deep into his bag of tricks to pull out the match and he did by executing the “Spree Grey Roll” named by Coach Petty because it is a unique roll by Spree and gives Coach Petty grey hairs!  Van Der Brink, on of NWC’s most notorious funky wrestlers would pall prey to Spree’s funky move.  Spree recorded the fall and gave the 2007-08 squad a 16-6 lead. 

The ensuing match, would have Levi Price (MN: 2007 National Qualifier) face off against Dan Armagost (’00)  This was a very evenly styled match up as both Price and Armagost are both fans of Greco-Roman style of wrestling, they entertained the crowd by trying to throw one another most of the match.  Price would draw first blood by catching Armagost for five points and nearly ending the match with a first period pin, but Armagost would eventually fight off his back and score an escape to end the period down 1-5.  They traded 1 point escapes in the second and third periods to finish the match 6-2 in favor of Price, giving the 2007-08 squad a 19-6 lead.

The much anticipated seventh match was here; it would have the highly touted freshman, David Carter (OR; 2X State Placer) against Brian Heiberger (’07 temporary retirement) Brian was a match away from hearing NWC’s 4^th All-American of the 2007 National Tournament.  There was plenty of action, but no score in the first period.  Heiberger, choice bottom to begin the second period, but it was Carter, who was able to capitalize by turning Heiberger for a 2 point near fall as the period ended, giving Carter a 2-0 lead going into the third.  The freshman choose bottom, but did not go conservative, scoring an escape and a take down, to open a 5-0 lead on the resilient non-stop Heiberger, who would end the match by scoring a 2 point reversal, giving Carter the 5-2 victory and putting the squad ahead by the score of 22-6. 

The eighth match for the night would show case the returning All-American Enoch Francois (FL) against Mike Rozenboom (’95) who had been unbeaten in Alumni matches until last year’s meeting against Francois.  This year’s match proved to be just as entertaining and unfortunately for Rozenboom, the same results as last year with Francois coming out as the victor again with a 5-1 decision, pushing the 2007-08 squad lead to 25-6.

The ninth and final match of the afternoon, would match up two repeat wrestlers from both sides, Jackson (MD) verses Hermanson.  Jackson’s aggressiveness led to a 15-0, technical fall and a final team score of 30-6 for the 2007-08 Raider Wrestlers.

“I feel good about this event and it has nothing to do with the final score.  I saw a much improved team as compared to last year’s team that faced the alumni last year.  We are more disciplined than last year in our decisions and positioning; which is everything in wrestling.  This was a fun event for the alumni and I was told by some of the alumni that this is a team that they felt good about which I felt good because I did not get that comment last year; so hopefully that means that we will continue to improve throughout the season.  Thanks to Coach Bartlett and the Alumni that were able to participate in this years event.”