COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's wrestling suffered a 31-16 loss to No. 18 (NJCAA) Minnesota North-Itasca on Thursday afternoon, Jan. 4, in Sexton Arena.

SJU (1-1 dual record) earned three bonus-point wins but forfeited the match at 149 pounds and injury defaulted the bout in the second period at 184.

Freshman Connor Krueger (Superior, Wis.) put SJU on the scoreboard with a second-period pin at 141 pounds to improve his season record to 11-6. 

Itasca tallied 22-straight points, including a pair of narrow decisions at 157 and 165 pounds, before the Johnnies posted wins in the final two matches. Freshman Aidan Wayne (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo) moved his record to 8-7 with a pin at 197 pounds and freshman Cody Kwak (Ridgeland, Wis./Menomonie) collected a 15-4, major decision at heavyweight and is now 9-7 on the year. 

Freshman Jawahn Cockfield (St. Paul, Minn./Stillwater Area) made his collegiate debut and registered a 23-second pin in an exhibition at heavyweight. The Vikings won the other five exhibition bouts, including four pins.

The Johnnies travel south to compete at Central's Under Armour Invitational at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 6, in Pella, Iowa.

No. 18 Minnesota North-Itasca (MNI) 31, Saint John's (SJU) 16
125: No. 10 (NJCAA) Logan Harel (MNI) pinned Erick Solano, 4:12 [0-6]
133: Johnny Colon (MNI) dec. Xavier Jones, 14-9 [0-9]
141: Connor Krueger (SJU) pinned Hayden Trupe, 4:32 [6-9]
149: Cade Kohler (MNI) won by forfeit [6-15]
157: Kristian Orloff (MNI) dec. Kris Castro, 4-2 [6-18]
165: Bryson Larrabee (MNI) dec. Logan Thorsten, 4-1 (OT) [6-21]
174: Treytin Byers (MNI) major dec. Andy Johnson, 15-2 [6-25]
184: London Kiser (MNI) injury def. Ben Gilbertson, 4:05 [6-31]
197: Aidan Wayne (SJU) pinned Isaac Pearce, 5:26 [12-31]
285: Cody Kwak (SJU) major dec. Andreas Barnett, 15-4 [16-31]

Exhibition Matches
174: Tucker Hass (MNI) pinned Noah Whitfield-Lopez, 2:25
285: Tucker Mugg (MNI) pinned Thomas Allen, 2:04
184: Tucker Hass (MNI) pinned Eric Jurek, 6:28
285: Jawahn Cockfield (SJU) pinned Tucker Mugg, 0:23
174: David Platt (MNI) pinned Cage Linton, 4:00
197: London Kiser (MNI) dec. D.J. Myles, 15-8