Park Rapids’ Justin Dravis and Ashton Clark competed for collegiate wrestling teams at the NCAA Division II level this winter.
Dravis capped off his senior season at Minnesota State University Moorhead by posting a 3-10 record wrestling at 174 pounds.
In his season debut, Dravis lost a 7-0 decision to Kaden Spindler in the Dragons’ 31-6 loss to Concordia College on Nov. 17.
Dravis claimed runner-up honors in the Red Division at the Dragon Open on Dec. 5. Dravis reached the title match by defeating Minot State’s Isaac Bertalotto with an 18-0 technical fall, pinning U Mary’s Riley Mitchell in 3:45 and pinning North Dakota State University’s Mannix Morgan in 2:10 before dropping a 7-0 decision to St. Cloud State’s Shaeden Scheidt in the title match.
In Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches, Dravis posted an 0-8 record as the Dragons went 0-8 in those duals.
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U Mary’s Max Bruss pinned Dravis in 4:13 in a 41-0 loss on Dec. 9, Southwest Minnesota State’s Carter Marx defeated Dravis 7-2 in a 32-8 loss on Jan. 20, Northern State’s Kelley Hawkins edged Dravis 9-8 in a 21-18 loss on Jan. 23, Augustana’s Dylan Schuck defeated Dravis 6-2 in a 29-12 loss on Jan. 29, Parkside’s Adrian Cervantes topped Dravis 3-2 in a 31-3 loss on Jan. 30, Minnesota State University Mankato’s Trevor Turiff posted an 18-3 technical fall win over Dravis in a 41-6 loss on Feb. 4, Upper Iowa’s Colter Bye defeated Dravis 9-0 in a 34-9 loss on Feb. 5 and St. Cloud State’ s Dominic Murphy posted a 14-6 win over Dravis in a 40-4 loss on Feb. 10.
Northern State (No. 21), Augustana (No. 18), Parkside (No. 8), Minnesota State University Mankato (No. 17) and St. Cloud State (No. 1) were all ranked nationally.
In five seasons for the Dragons, Dravis posted a 29-55 overall record. Dravis went 7-10 wrestling unattached as a redshirt freshman in 2017-18, 10-22 at 165 in 2018-19, 9-7 at 164 and 0-3 at 157 in 2019-20, and 0-3 at 165 in 2020-21.
Clark, a redshirt sophomore, posted a 6-3 record while wrestling in two tournaments for St. Cloud State this season.
At the Dakota Wesleyan Open at Mitchell, South Dakota, on Nov. 13, Clark went 3-1 to finish third at 125. Clark posted a 17-1 technical fall win over Fort Hays State’s Broderick Green in the first round and defeated Briar Cliff’s Juan Lugo 3-0 in the quarterfinals before dropping an 8-1 decision to teammate Paxton Creese in the semifinals. Clark finished third by winning the next two matches by medical forfeit against teammate Nic Cantu and Nebraska Wesleyan’s Hector Serratus.
At the Dragon Open at Moorhead on Dec. 5, Clark split four matches to place fourth. Clark opened with an 8-6 overtime loss to Northern State’s Landen Fischer before defeating Southwest Minnesota State’s Ben Emrich 5-0 and Minot State’s Logan Fischer 12-7. Northern State’s Brenden Salfrank pinned Clark in 5:00 in the third-place match.
Clark posted a 6-4 record in 2019-20 and didn’t wrestle in any matches during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.
SCSU ended the regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation with a 14-1 record, including a 7-0 record against NSIC teams. The Huskies had their 77-match winning streak snapped with a 19-14 loss to No. 1 Central Oklahoma on Jan. 7. SCSU captured its sixth straight Super Region V title on Feb. 26. The Huskies capped off the season by placing fourth at the NCAA Division II Championships at St. Louis, Missouri, on March 11-12. SCSU was the three-time defending NCAA Division II champions.
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