Stripped of a pair of All-Americans, including a national champion, Minnesota State University Moorhead must face a serious rebuilding challenge in 2007-08. Right?

Don’t be so sure.

Head coach Keenan Spiess is fully confident the restructured Dragons will continue to be a major force on the regional level and will once again make a splash on the NCAA Division II national landscape as well.

Sure, there are concerns. The Dragons must live without Nate Baker, a national champion at 165 pounds in 2006 and a third place finisher last spring as a senior, and Kyle Trout who exited as a senior with NCAA II All-American honors for an eighth place finish at 157. Still, MSU Moorhead retains five national qualifiers, including seniors Troy MacFarland (Grand Forks, ND), 133, and Shane Walton (Pine River), 149, and juniors Kelly Janke (Frazee), 141, Rockie Stavn (Bismarck, ND), an eighth place finisher at the 2005 nationals, and Tyler Tubbs (Chokio), 174.

Tubbs finished 17-7 overall last season, followed by MacFarland, 15-18, Janke, 15-20, and Walton, 16-16.

In all, Dragon head coach Keenan Spiess returns 15 lettermen, including seniors Brandon Kok (Beulah, ND), 149, MacFarland, 133, and Walton, 157, juniors Josiah Bush (North Pole, AK), 197, Casey Dschaak (Beulah, ND), 133, Janke, 141, Matt Nelson (Burnsville), 197, Stavn, 165, Tubbs, 184, and Joe Werner (Richville), 125, and sophomores Shaun Bingaman (North Pole, AK), 165, Steve Carlon (Eden Prairie), 141, Kyle Dukowitz (Pillager), 157, Dustin Nagel (Hillsboro, ND), 174, and Beau Tweten (Moorhead), 133.

The Dragons also retains several redshirt freshmen targeted for prominent roles this winter, including Derek Bomstad (Hutchinson), 141, a Minnesota State champion, 184-pound Chris Lundberg (West Fargo, ND), a two-time North Dakota State champ, 285-pound Jon Swart (Fargo, ND), a North Dakota State champion, Evan Forde (Fargo, ND), 125, Dan LeDuc (Thief River Falls), 165, and Tim Richards (Wadena), 285.

A classy recruiting class should pay sizable dividends this winter as well. The list of incoming state high school champions includes Michael Guehna (Perham), 157, Corey Ulmer (Ashley, ND), 125, Zach Tourangeau (Apache Junction, AZ), 285, and Max Collins (North Pole, AK), 285.

The latest Dragon recruiting class also includes 141-pound Lane Srock of Crosby-Ironton High School, a state qualifier in 2006, 125-pound Luke Tweten and 152-pound Ben Wheeler of Moorhead, state qualifiers last spring, 135-pound Pat Schilling of Cottage Grove, a sixth place finisher at the 2007 Minnesota State Championships, and Alex Freed of Apache Junction, AZ, a state placewinner in Arizona last spring.

The Dragons posted a 14-8 dual record last winter, including a 3-1 NSIC mark and placed 18th at the national championships.

Once again, the Dragons will face topflight competition in 2007-08, including dual matches with Augsburg College, Augustana College, Concordia College, Northern State, MSU, Mankato, Portland State, St. Cloud State, Southwest Minnesota State, University of Mary and Upper Iowa University. MSUM will also host the Dragon Duals and test its mettle at the Terry Haws Duals, National Duals and the Viking Duals.