NDSU Wrestling Recruiting Class Ranked No. 4 in Nation by Intermat

The North Dakota State wrestling program’s incoming 2013 recruiting class has been ranked No. 4 in the nation by Intermat, according to the rankings released by the wrestling news source on Wednesday, May 29.

 

Intermat becomes the second major wrestling media outlet to peg the Bison recruiting class as the fourth-best in the nation this year. Amateur Wrestling News awarded the same ranking for NDSU in November.

 

Michigan, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh are the top three schools in the Intermat rankings. NDSU stands in front of national wrestling powerhouses Penn State (No. 7), Iowa (No. 8), Ohio State (No. 11), Oklahoma State (No. 15) and Minnesota (No. 18).

 

NDSU’s incoming class features national Top 100 recruits Mitch Bengtson (St. Cloud Apollo HS, Minn.), Preston Lehmann (West Fargo HS, N.D.) and Clayton Ream (Holt HS, Mo.).

 

Mitch Friedman (Oconto Falls, Wis.); Kyle Gliva (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.); Grant Nehring (Kimball, Minn.); Tommy Petersen (Lakeville, Minn.); Cole Sladek (St. Michael, Minn.); and Tommy Walton (Fargo, N.D.) also signed National Letters of Intent in November to continue their education and wrestle at NDSU.

 

The Bison are coming off a 2012-13 season in which they won the Western Wrestling Conference regular season title and registered the first All-American in the program’s Division I era in Trent Sprenkle. Sprenkle was named the WWC’s Wrestler of the Year following his fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, while NDSU head coach Roger Kish earned the league’s Coach of the Year honor.

2013 Intermat Recruiting Class Rankings

1. Michigan

2. Virginia Tech

3. Pittsburgh

4. North Dakota State

5. Illinois

6. Nebraska

7. Penn State

8. Iowa

9. Missouri

10. North Carolina State

11. Ohio State

12. Stanford

13. Rutgers

14. Clarion

15. Oklahoma State

16. Virginia

17. Arizona State

18. Minnesota

19. Princeton

20. Indiana

21. Harvard

22. Oklahoma

23. Rider

24. Purdue

25. Cal Poly