SPORTS

Seniors, individuals focus in Argos’ last home dual

Lee Vernoy
lvernoy@greatfallstribune.com

The University of Great Falls wrestlers will honor their senior class Saturday night when they entertain Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the Argos’ final home dual of the season at McLaughlin Center.

This year’s senior class is led by 125-pound Luke Schlosser of Conrad; Spokane 133-pound Jared Berlinger; 165-pound Francisco Rueda of Lemoore, Calif.; 174-pound Michael Ayala of Chicago; and former Eureka standout Taylor Vaughn at 184.

Argo head coach Caleb Schaeffer says with the season winding down and the National NAIA Tournament in Topeka, Kan., just a month away, the emphasis is going to be on the individual grappler.

“We need to change our focus, but this is definitely a dual we should win,” Schaeffer said. “Now we need to get the best seeds for our guys at Nationals.

“We’re not going to worry about the duals so much as our individual rankings.”

Schaeffer said the key bouts the Argos need to win Saturday to keep their No. 14 ranking in the NAIA polls will be 125, 133, and 165.

“Our goal now is to focus on getting as many individual All-Americans and individual national champions as we can get,” Schaeffer added. “If we can get those, the team ranking will take care of itself.”

The Argos’ match with the Eagles will start at 7 p.m. After that dual, there’s one more bout with MSU-Northern on Wednesday night at the Armory in Havre, before the Western Regional Tournament Feb. 20 at Embry-Riddle in Prescott, Ariz. The 59th National Championships will be March 4-5 at Topeka’s Kansas Expocentre.