ROCHESTER, Minn. – The No. 6-ranked Minnesota State wrestling team began the 2026-27 season at the Yellowjacket Open Saturday on the campus of Rochester Community and Technical College.  The Mavericks came away with four titles of the 17 wrestlers competing. 
 
Two wrestlers finished runner-up and one placed third for the Mavericks in a strong start to the season in the freshman/sophomore division.  Leading the way, Damarion Ross won at 184 pounds, while Dominic Heim won at 197, while Sam Drietz won at 157 and Torrey Paplow won at 165. 
 
Drietz downed St. Cloud State's Hudson Scranton 7-6 in the final at 157 and recorded three decisions and a forfeit in the semifinals.  Against Scranton, Drietz trailed 3-0 after the first period and 5-3 after the second, before recording an escape, takedown and won with two seconds remaining on a stalling call in the third.
 
At 165, Paplow won 7-4 in the final over Will Brooks of Iowa Central breaking a scoreless tie with six points in the second period. He won by decision in the semifinals and had a technical fall and fall to begin the day.
 
Ross bested Yassael Gonzalez of Iowa Lakes 4-1 in the final at 184 after defeating Sawyer Dailey of St. Cloud State by fall at 1:56 in the semifinals.  He won via technical fall 19-3 over Clark Dailey of Upper Iowa and won by technical fall over Noah Ballweber of RCTC, 23-7.
 
Heim won five matches, including a major decision at 197 over Jayden DeLeo of UW-La Crosse in the final, while recording one fall and one technical fall.
 
Finishing runner-up at 285 pounds, Sam Winkels opened his day with a pair of falls and a 4-0 decision over Jesse Mains of St. Cloud State, before falling 4-1 to Cooper Martinson of St. Cloud State in the championship.
 
Also finishing second, Luke Harrington won 6-5 over Roger Flege of UW-La Crosse and needed overtime versus Cale Nash of Upper Iowa, 2-1. In the semifinals, Harrington bested Cole Bozile of St. Cloud State, 4-3, before falling 5-1 to Jase Jaspers of St. Cloud State in the championship match. 
 
Finishing third at 285 was Callen Smithpeter, while Grady Mortensen finished fourth at 157. Both Graham Raydon and Roman Clouse placed sixth at 133 and 149, respectively.
 
The Mavericks return to action at the Luther Open in Decorah, Iowa, on Nov. 14 beginning at 9 a.m.  MSU then will open the dual match season beginning on Nov. 20 inside the Taylor Center versus RCTC at 4 p.m. and Upper Iowa at 6 p.m.