Fort Hays State wrestler Walker Clarke is ranked No. 1 in the 184-pound class in the latest NCAA Division II rankings, released today (Jan. 11) by the NCAA Division II Wrestling Coaches Association. The Tiger wrestlers as a team dropped from 12th to 15th in the poll, while sophomore Mitchell Means also fell in the 149-pound class, dropping from No. 2 to No. 3.

Clarke, a junior from Stillwater, Okla., rose in the rankings from No. 3 to No. 1, passing Derek Skala of St. Cloud State (Minn.) and Mitch Schulz of Upper Iowa. Clarke is 11-1 on the season with his only loss coming at the Midwest Classic to Kyle Reid of McKendree, where Clarke finished sixth. Clarke won his weight class at the Newman Invitational and Bob Smith Open this season.

Means, a sophomore from Goddard, Kan., dropped one place in the 149-pound class. Raufeon Stotts of Nebraska-Kearney jumped to No. 2 after being unranked in the last poll. Means, an All-American a season ago, was ranked No. 2 in the two previous polls. Most recently, Means won the Newman Invitational on Dec. 11.

The Tigers fell from No. 12 to No. 15 in the poll. FHSU is 3-1 this season in duals, including 2-1 in the RMAC. In their three wins, the Tigers defeated Central Oklahoma (21-18), who is No. 6 in the polls; New Mexico (40-12) and Chadron State (24-10). FHSU dropped a close 18-15 decision to No. 20 CSU-Pueblo for their lone loss in dual action.

Rank School (State) Points Last Ranking
1. St. Cloud State (Minn.) 160 3rd
2. Newberry (S.C.) 152 1st
3. Upper Iowa 141 2nd
4. Nebraska-Kearney 138 4th
5. Augustana (S.D.) 127 6th
6. Central Oklahoma 116 7th
7. Grand Canyon (Ariz.) 112 5th
8. Mercyhurst (Pa.) 93 8th
9. Wisconsin-Parkside 85 11th
10. Limestone (S.C.) 80 NR
T11. King (Tenn.) 79 15th
T11. Adams State (Colo.) 79 9th
13. Pittsburgh-Johnstown (Pa.) 63 14th
14. West Liberty (W.Va.) 60 13th
15. Fort Hays State (Kan.) 47 12th
16. Findlay (Ohio) 40 17th
17. Minnesota State 27 19th
18. Ashland (Ohio) 23 10th
19. San Francisco State (Calif.) 16 NR
20. Colorado State-Pueblo 11 NR

Others receiving votes: Chadron State (Neb.), Colorado Mesa, East Stroudsburg (Pa.), Gannon (Pa.), Kutztown (Pa.), Mary (N.D.), Maryville (Mo.), North Carolina-Pembroke, Western State (Colo.).

-FHSU Sports Information-

The Fort Hays State men’s basketball team dropped from No. 8 to No. 19 in the latest NABC Division II National Poll, released on Tuesday, January 10. Fort Hays State’s two road games and the home game against Southwest Baptist last week were considered for the latest poll. The Tigers went 1-2 in those games, suffering consecutive losses to Central Missouri and Southwest Baptist.

Fort Hays State’s run of 34 consecutive weeks in the regular season poll, dating back to the 2009-10 season, could be on the verge of ending after its loss to Missouri Southern in Hays on Monday. Missouri Southern is No. 23 in this week’s poll, falling from the No. 14 spot last week. Fort Hays State has just one more game this week before the next poll release, that being at Pittsburg State on Saturday. The Tigers currently stand at 10-4 overall.

The 34-consecutive week streak of being ranked in the NABC regular season poll is the longest ever for Fort Hays State. The Tigers eclipsed the old mark of 29, which started with the first regular season poll of the 1995-96 undefeated national championship season for the Tigers and ended on the ninth poll of the 1997-98 season, in the second regular season poll this year.

The Tigers have now been ranked in 47 regular season polls under 11th-year head coach Mark Johnson. All of those polls have been since the 2005-06 season, a year that saw the Tigers reach the No. 1 ranking in the nation.

Finally cracking the Top 25 this week is Northwest Missouri State, which continues to lead the conference standings at 6-1 and 12-1 overall. The Bearcats check in at No. 24 this week. Northwest Missouri State’s only loss this year was to Fort Hays State in Hays. The Bearcats give the MIAA three teams in this week’s poll.

See complete poll below…

– FHSU Sports Information –

NABC/Division II Coaches Poll (Jan. 10, 2012)
1. Lincoln Memorial, Tenn.  (14-0)
2. Kentucky Wesleyan (12-0)
3. Bellarmine, Ky. (11-1)
4. West Liberty, W.Va. (12-1)
5. Metropolitan State, Colo. (13-1)
6. Tarleton State, Texas (11-1 )
7. Southern Indiana (11-1)
8. Northern Kentucky 12-09
9. Colorado School of Mines (12-1)
10. Cal Poly Pomona (9-1)
11. Midwestern State, Texas (12-0)
12. Bowie State, Md. (9-1)
13. Winona State, Minn. (13-2)
14. Indiana, Pa. (10-2)
15. Christian Brothers, Tenn. (11-2)
16. Minnesota State-Moorhead (12-1)
17. Alabama-Huntsville (9-3)
18. Hillsdale, Mich. (13-1)
19. Fort Hays State, Kan. (10-3)
20. Montevallo, Ala. (12-2)
21. St. Cloud State, Minn. (11-2)
22. District of Columbia (12-1)
23. Missouri Southern (12-3)
24. Northwest Missouri State (12-1)
25. West Georgia (14-2)

Others receiving votes: Findlay (Ohio) 20, Western Oregon 20, Alaska-Anchorage 16, Arkansas-Monticello 15, South Carolina Aiken 13, Western Washington 10, Bentley (Mass.) 6, Charleston (W.Va.) 4, Seattle Pacific (Wash.) 4, King (Tenn.) 3, West Texas A&M 3, Missouri-St. Louis 1.

Dropped out: Findlay (17), Alaska-Anchorage (18), Augustana (21), Arkansas Tech (22), Western Washington (23), Benedict (24).

Records and previous rankings are through games of Jan. 8, 2012.  The next poll will be released on Tuesday, Jan. 17.

The No. 12-ranked Fort Hays State grapplers defeated RMAC opponent Chadron State, 24-10, on Sunday at Gross Coliseum in Hays. The Tigers won seven of the 10 matches in the dual, upping their season record to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the RMAC.

The Tigers rolled out to an early 9-0 lead, winning the first three matches of the night at 141, 149 and 157 pounds, respectively. Sophomore C.J. Napier started the dual with a 9-3 decision win over Leandro Arias at 141 pounds. Redshirt-Freshman Joey Dozier followed that victory with his own win, defeating C.J. Clark in overtime, 7-5, at 149 pounds. Sophomore Derek Koehn gave the Tigers their third straight win with a 4-0 decision victory over Bruce Zurek, upping FHSU team score to 9-0.

After the Eagles won the next two matches at 165 pounds and 174 pounds to cut the score to 9-7, FHSU won the next four matches for a commanding 24-7 advantage. Walker Clarke, who is ranked No. 3 in his 184-pound class, started the run of four straight wins with a 14-5 decision over Jordan Debus. Clarke’s record is now 11-1 on the season. At 197 pounds, sophomore Tanner Kriss scored a technical fall by the score of 17-1 over Chris Leak, giving the Tigers a 18-7 lead.

The final two Tiger wins came via decisions at 285 and 125 pounds. Senior Justin Glenn defeated RJ Boylan in a 3-1 overtime decision, while junior Collin Hase won, 2-0, at 125-pounds over the Eagles’ Connor Larson.

The next action for FHSU is on Jan. 19 when the Tigers travel to Adams State in Alamosa, Colo for RMAC action. The scheduled start time is 8 p.m.

– FHSU Athletics –

The 12th-ranked Fort Hays State wrestling team suffered its first dual loss of the season on Thursday evening at CSU-Pueblo by a score of 18-15. The ThunderWolves won six of the 10 matches within the dual. Fort Hays State is now 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the RMAC. CSU-Pueblo moved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the RMAC.

The Tigers got an early jump on the ThunderWolves as Collin Hase dialed up a pin in 2:00 over Dustin Appelt at 125 pounds, giving FHSU a 6-0 advantage.

The Thunderwolves cut that lead in half when their ranked wrestler, Jesse Hillhouse, defeated Kyle Johnson by a 6-1 decision. Hillhouse is ranked No. 4 at 133 pounds.

C.J. Napier came out victorious in his first match of the year for FHSU, defeating Marc Fisher by a tight 5-4 margin, pushing the FHSU lead back to six at 9-3.

The Thunderwolves once again climbed within three as Nick Stahler defeated Joey Dozier at 149 pounds 9-4.

Derek Koehn continued the see-saw trend in the dual, pushing the FHSU lead back to six points with a 3-1 sudden victory overtime win over Levi Jutila at 157 pounds. From that point, CSU-Pueblo went on a run that the Tigers could not overcome.

The Thunderwolves went on to claim the 165, 174, 184, and 197 pound matches to build an 18-12 lead. Matt Addington picked up a close victory over Sam Thoman at 165 pounds by a 7-6 decision, then Trevor Grant tied the dual with an 8-3 win over Benny Armstrong at 174. Adam Carey gave the ThunderWolves the lead with a 10-5 decision over Aaron Berscheidt at 184 pounds and then Cody Johnson knocked off Tanner Kriss 2-0 at 197 pounds. That gave the ThunderWolves a six-point cushion heading into the final weight, securing no worse than a tie.

The Tigers needed Justin Glenn to pick up a fall to get a draw in the dual, but it was not to be. He did win the match by a 3-1 decision over Bill Gray, but the ThunderWolves locked up the dual win by three points.

Fort Hays State continues its busy week of action on Sunday when it hosts Chadron State in another RMAC dual at 6 pm in Hays. 

– FHSU Sports Information –

The Fort Hays State Lady Tigers hit just one of their first 12 shots to start the game, falling behind 13-2 and could never recover, losing 76-66 at Central Missouri Wednesday night.

Fort Hays State, who missed their first 12 3-point tries, trailed by 20 at the half and as many 22 with 18:early in the second half made before pulling to within eight with 6:30 to play. Central Missouri responded with a 6-2 run to go up 12. Traci Keyser hit two free throws to make it 69-63 with 1:16. She hit a 3-pointer 73-66 with :30 left but the Tigers could get no closer.

Fort Hays State shot just 28-percent in the first half and went 0-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half and trailed 44-24 at halftime.

Freshman Kate Lehman turned in her second straight big game, leading the Tigers with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Traci Keyser added 17 and a career-high 12 boards.

FHSU drops to 12-2 and 4-2 in the MIAA while the Jennies improve to 9-4 and 3-4 in the conference.

Post Game Interview:
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