MSU-Northern wrestling has had over a week to prepare for the NAIA National Championships, the last frontier of the sport. New Media Broadcasters caught up with head coach Tyson Thivierge and he shared his thoughts after placing fifth at the conference tournament and how proud he was of getting his wrestlers qualified for this important stage.
“Absolutely proud,” Thivierge said. “We’ve always projected ourselves to be a top-5 team. I feel like we peaked pretty well at the conference tournament.”
“(We) didn’t have a conference finalist, but this could be a special year for us,” Thivierge continued. “That’s what we’ve been planning on all year long and we’re excited about it.”
Eight Lights are officially going to nationals and as coach Thivierge pointed out, that’s the most in a while during his almost two-decade tenure. He mentioned three specifically who can pull off major upsets and said in an overall grand scheme of things how he likes his team individually on the mat in the most peak times.
“(There are) three guys on our roster right now: Orion (Thivierge), (Austin) Vanek, and Shane (Mattson) (who) can be bracket busters at their weight classes,” Thivierge said.
“We’re just prepping,” Thivierge continued. “It’s the most kids we’ve had in eight years going to the national tournament. We’ve got a lot of guys going that are capable of placing.”
The 2025 NAIA Wrestling National Championships will be held in Wichita, KS all day from Thursday through Saturday. New Media Broadcasters will have results each day to see who moves on in an MSU-Northern singlet.
