Jimmies wrestling looks to open season with a Jimmie Open win

The University of Jamestown wrestling team starts a new era with the Jimmie Open at 9 a.m. on Nov. 6 at the Harold Newman Arena.

The Jimmies will be facing off against Dickinson State University, Midland University, Minnesota State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Minot State University, U Mary, North Dakota State University, Northwestern (Iowa) College, South Dakota State University and Wayne State College.

In May of 2021, the Jimmies hired Jim Zalesky to be the program’s new wrestling coach. Zalesky comes to the Jimmies program after spending 14 years at Oregon State, coaching the Beavers to seven PAC-12 titles.

The team is a veteran roster with 15 returners looking to improve upon an 8th place finish in the GPAC tournament last season.

One of the returners who is looking forward to the season-opening meet is Tommy Beringer.

“It’s been a while since my whole team has been on the mat and wrestled in an actual tournament,” Beringer said. “It’s a lot of anxiety, it’s a lot of excitement and a lot of nervousness of course. The most important thing is to go out there and do your best.”

The Jimmies' best individual finish at the 2021 GPAC tournament was two third-place finishes, by Beringer in the 141-pound bracket and Ramiro Vargas Macias in the 285-pound bracket. As a result of Beringer’s 16-5 season, he was named an honorable mention for the GPAC all-conference team.

The Jimmies haven’t had an All-American on the team since Dillon Kifer and Michael Zupan were given the honors in 2017. Beringer is hoping to end the drought and be named an All-American.

“It would be really big for me personally. Especially because I was so close to going to nationals last but fell a little short,” Beringer said. “So, not only would it be huge for me and my team and the people supporting me but also for the new coach.

"He’s accomplished a lot but I’m sure for him coming to the program and having a lot of All-Americans or national qualifiers would be a big thing for him."

The Jimmies are coming off their intra-squad scrimmage back on Oct. 22. Two of the wrestlers that Zalesky and his staff were impressed by in that meet were Jesse Murrillo and Roman Carrillo.

“I like Jesse Murillo, he was at 157, now he’s back at 149," Zalesky said. "He looks really good in the room, Josh Goeden is back from taking a year off. He’s looking to have a big year this year, a lot of the other guys are looking to make big improvements.”

The expectations from Zalesky and his staff are to put down the building blocks of the program’s rebuild.

“The main thing is week to week, improve," Zalesky said. "It’s a new team for me, it’s a new coach for those guys. I’m just looking for guys that can get better every week. This week we are getting out of the wrestling room, we are getting our own tournament, we get to see where we are at.”