MSU wrestling heads into season with a younger teams and high expectations

Beaver men’s wrestling has seen a lot of change from last year as they head into the 2025-2026 season. The team lost six of their ten Super Regional participants at the end of the last season, and the preseason coaches’ poll put them in ninth for the new season. Head coach Evan Forde disagrees with the placement.

“We’re going from being a pretty experienced team and roster to being pretty young. This is something we have seen coming for a while and we’re very excited for our freshman class, the new guys coming in,” said Coach Forde. “We’ll be a little bit young but we have a lot of talent. Time will tell once we start competing how good we are, but we think we’re better than where we got ranked.”

The men’s wrestling team will have their first competition this Sunday, Oct. 26, for the Beavers Intersquad dual. Ahead of the exhibition matches, Coach Forde had the Beavers conduct and independent test tournament this past weekend. Their time there was meant to prepare the athletes for the upcoming season and give the new faces of the team a glimpse into what the coming season will bring.

Submitted Photo The MSU women’s basketball team beat the Augustana Vikings during their last game of the 2024-2025 regular season. Photo by Sean Arbaut.

“Just about everyone got three matches, and we did a weigh in with a three-pound weight allowance,” said Coach Forde. “Just getting the guys down competing close to their weight class. That will help us set up matches for this Sunday.”

Coach Forde says that he expects everyone to be able to secure a match at the exhibition competition. The two top contenders in each weight class will face off against each other and for some of them, will get their first taste of college wrestling in a real competition with real referees. With so many of their veteran athletes out of the picture, Forde and the other coaching staff are looking forward to getting a picture of what the wrestling team’s starting line up is going to look like.

“Every season, we try to reflect back on the previous year and we want to make changes where we think we can improve and we want to continue what we think is working,” said Coach Forde. “We’re always looking to make adjustments, but our guys are in really good shape. I think they look strong and explosive, I think their strength program is really paying off for them. It’s just a really good group and I think we have a really good team culture right now. We just really like this freshman class that’s in here.”

Forde says that he is confident in the new athletes’ abilities to fill the shoes of their predecessors and feels like a good number of them have the chance to make it into the starting line-up right off the bat. With so many new faces in the men’s wrestling program, Forde thinks it will shape up to be an exciting season.

“I’m excited to see what we can do as we start competing. They’re hard workers, they’re good students and they are really committed to what they are doing,” Coach Forde said.

The 2025-2026 is also looking to be exciting for women’s wrestling as for the first time, the NCAA announced that women’s wrestling will be a championship sport for the 2025-26 academic year. The Beaver women’s wrestling are coming into the new year off of a record breaking last season when then-sophomore Haleigh Lematta made history for Minot State as the Beavers’ only two-time national qualifier as she picked up her first win at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships. Lematta is now entering into her junior year as a Minot STate Beavers as the women’s wrestling program enters their fourth season. Lematta as the Beavers are looking to keep the steam rolling heading into their new season. After their regular season contests, the team will once again compete in the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships and will get to debut in the first ever NCAA National Tournament for women’s wrestling.

Women’s basketball climbs the ranks and the men’s team sees fresh faces

Head coach Ryan Clark is heading into his second season as top dog in the women’s basketball program, and he credits the league coaches’ ranking to the girls.

The Minot State women’s team were picked to finish 9th in the 2025-26 NSIC Preseason Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Poll that was released earlier this month, and they were ranked fourth in the North Division Preseason Coaches’ Poll, showing that other teams view them as a playoff contender.

“It’s probably one of our higher ranking in recent years, which obviously doesn’t mean a lot because you have to play the games still, but I think to get that recognition from the other coaches in our league, to put us in that spot shows us that we are going in the right direction,” said Coach Clark. “To go from second to last last year to ninth is a massive jump, and again credit to the girls and the hard work they’ve done to get the program worked out. It was awesome to get that kind of recognition.”

Coach Clark says that he is excited, optimistic and anxious ahead of the 2025-2026 season. The women’s team has a lot of returning players and a lot of players who weren’t able to play last year due to injuries. They also have a lot of new players coming in that Coach Clark feels confident in their success.

“Practice has been good, we’re getting better. I have a good feeling about it and everybody is excited to get going and to see where we are really at,” said Coach Clark.

For his first season, Coach Clark says that they created a good team culture that he thinks helped them be successful. He wants to keep that same culture and keep on the path of improvement that he sees ahead for the Beavers team.

“Offensively, we play at a faster pace, which I spread the court out, so just getting better with the decisions that we make on our side of the ball,” said Coach Clark. “Its the same thing defensively. We play a certain style again, and we’re just trying to take steps forward in what we’ve done. I think we’ve done a good job of creating a foundation for where we’re at and now it’s just trying to build that up and be better with it as well.”

Coach Clark says he was happy to see how the team was doing last year and is looking forward to refining what works for them. Coach Clark says that he thinks the women on the team are even more excited for their first match than he is. The team has been practicing every week since the later part of August and are itching to get to play some actual games.

While the women’s basketball team is heading into their new season with a familiar plan with familiar people, the men’s team is starting with a new head coach and a lot of new players.

Though the position is new, the man filling it is not. Back in May of this year, Minot State’s Vice President for Student Affairs and Intercollegiate Athletics, Kevin Harmon, announced that former assistant coach Randall Herbst would be returning to Minot StateState as the men’s basketball team’s new head coach. Herbst previously spent two seasons under head coach Matt Murken.

“On behalf of Minot State University, I’m thrilled to welcome Randall Herbst as our next head men’s basketball coach,” Harmon said. “Coach Herbst brings a proven track record of success in the NSIC, and his deep understanding of our conference and region made him the ideal choice to lead our program. His prior experience in Minot and strong ties throughout the Upper Midwest will be invaluable as we continue to build a championship culture at Minot State University. We’re excited for what the future holds under his leadership.”

Coach Herbst spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of North Dakota under their head coach, Paul Sather. Overall, Herbst boasts a 72-47 overall head coaching career record over his decades of experience.

Herbst isn’t the only new face on the Beavers’ men’s team this year, as Minot State spent the past summer recruiting players from all over, including Minot High School star Darik Dissette, Dissette is returning to his hometown of Minot after transferring from North Dakota State. Coach Herbst is happy to have him back.

“I’m super excited to have Darik join the Minot State basketball program and come back home to the Magic City,” Coach Herbst said of the 6-foot-4 junior guard. “He’s got great versatility, can play multiple positions, and causes problems for opponents on both ends of the floor.”

The Beavers will need their top talent heading into the new season, but all the new faces returning to the Magic City have put the Beavers at No. 11 the 2025-26 NSIC Preseason Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Poll. After last year’s historic season, including a first trip to both the NSIC Championship and NCAA National Tournament, the pressure is on for Coach Herbst and the Beavers to deliver an explosive season. But Coach Herbst isn’t letting the pressure get to him.

“With only four players returning from last year’s roster, and with 11 newcomers having joined the program, I am excited for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead,” Coach Herbst said. “We have some depth and some versatility; let’s see where this thing goes.”

Minot State men’s basketball opens the new season at the NSIC/GAC Crossover tournament hosted by Southeastern Oklahoma State on Nov. 14-15. The Beavers will play the host Savage Storm on Friday, Nov. 14, and East Central Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov 15.