40 Gopher wrestlers be in Fargo on Saturday to compete in the Bison Open.
No. 1 Minnesota will officially begin its season this Saturday when 40 Gophers travel to Fargo to compete in the Bison Open. Hosted each year in Fargo, N.D., the Bison Open is the traditional opening event for Minnesota. The team has participated in the event every year since 2005, with the tournament serving as the team’s first official competition in all but one of those seasons. During that stretch, Gopher wrestlers have brought home at least seven titles each year all but once.
Last season, the team placed a wrestler in the championship match at all 10 weights, ultimately capturing eight titles. At three weights, the final match featured Gopher teammates wrestling each other for the championship. In those matches, Nick Dardanes defeated Jake Short 6-5 at 149, Dylan Ness defeated Brandon Kingsley 11-4 at 157 and Tony Nelson defeated Michael Kroells 2-1 at Heavyweight.
In all, 21 Gophers placed among the top six at their respective weights, accounting for more than one-third of the total top-six finishers at the event. Of those 21 wrestlers, 17 will be back on the mat this weekend.
Looking specifically as those Gophers defending championships this year, there will be six returning: Chris Dardanes (who won at 141 last year but will compete at 133 this year), Nick Dardanes (who won at 149 last year but, like his twin brother, will move down a weight and compete at 141 this year), Dylan Ness (157), Logan Storley (174), Brett Pfarr (184) and Scott Schiller (197). Storley and Schiller enter the event as the two-time defending champions at their weight. For Nick Dardanes, a title this year will mean an undefeated four-year run at the Bison Open. He was the 141 champ in 2011 and 2012 before capturing the 149 title last year.
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The 44th annual Bison Open will be streamed live through www.livecoverage.flowrestling.org/event/222-ndsu-bison-open (FloPro, pay per view), and live scoring will be provided through TrackWrestling.