For sophomore Nathan Althoff wrestling for SDSU is a family tradition.

“I was a three-time state champion in South Dakota for Watertown and I broke a lot of school records there,” he said. “My brother wrestled for SDSU so that kind of pushed me into coming here to wrestle.”

During his high school career, Althoff won titles in the 135-pound weight class as a sophomore, 152-pound as a junior and 160-pound as a senior. His success has carried over into college.

Recruited to wrestle at 165-pound, Althoff redshirted his freshman year.

“(Coach) Liles had a really good 165-pound wrestler in Ty Bryant, a three-time All-American,” Althoff said. “He was a senior so I took my redshirt year and I was able to take his spot by wrestling off a couple kids for it.”

At 165-pounds, Althoff finished the 2003-2004 season with a 25-10 record. He also finished the season by earning the title of All-American. To earn this designation a wrestler must finish in the top four at the regional competition in order to advance to nationals where the top eight are classified as All-Americans. Althoff finished fifth in nationals.

“It was my goal last year to be an All-American,” Althoff said. “My goal for this year is to improve and make it to nationals in two years.”

Constant upheaval has been the story of the wrestling program’s placement in NCAA competitions. Last year the North Central Conference had to compete in the NCAA North Regional in order to qualify for the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship instead of just going through the conference like in previous years.

This year the wrestling program has been granted reclassification into Division I. Starting in 2007, SDSU wrestlers will be able to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships.

The changes in classification present a new level of competition for the program.

“Being the only returning All-American or qualifier, I’m trying to help the younger guys learn what it takes to compete at this level,” Althoff said.

Pressure from wrestling isn’t the only obstacle for the mechanical engineering major. Juggling practices and course loads can get tricky.

“It makes school hard, because you lose a lot of time. It seems like a lot of professor’s office hours are during practice times,” Althoff said. “But as far as that goes, you get to meet a lot of cool people and you have a sort of family to go to every day.”

Aside from the extra pressure of sports and school Althoff has had a good start to the season. At home on Nov. 6 for the Warren Williamson/Daktronics Open, he won the 174-pound championship.

“I expect to do well and if I don’t I won’t be happy with my performance,” Althoff said. “You get used to doing well and you want to continue that.”

At the Harold Nichols Open on Nov. 13, Althoff finished with the team’s best record of the day, 4-2. On Nov. 20, Althoff finished second with a 4-1 record at the Kaufman-Brand Open.

“I don’t know what to expect out of the next tournament. I just go out there and wrestle hard every time that is all you can do,” he said.

The team’s next meet is Dec. 5 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. On Dec. 9, the team hosts North Dakota’s University of Mary at home in Frost Arena.

#1.885548:1267910508.jpg:WRESTLING ( COACH AND LEV.jpg:Coach Jason Liles demonstrates a move on Levi Krehmeyer during practice.:Mike Carlson

Three first-place finishes helped the men’s swim team capture the men’s title at the home swimming invitational. The women finished fifth in the Nov. 13 competition after finishing 2-1 in the quadrangular meet Friday, Nov. 12.

Junior Adam Pick came in first in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 12:54.15. Freshman Nathan Bylander finished second with a time of 12:56.85.

Freshman Justin Manning took first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:51.71 while freshman Will Erickson earned second place with a time of 1:53.57.

In the 100-yard freestyle, freshman Ty Nordtvedt finished in a time of 50.52 to earn second place while teammate Jake Berg received third in a time of 54.33. Berg also finished third in the 100-yard fly in a time of 58.74.

Pick added a third-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.28. In the 200-yard backstroke Alex Ksiazek finished third in a time of 2:20.39.

Brandon Maydew picked up second-place finishes in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke with times of 1:04.12 and 2:28.56.

The men’s 400-yard relay teams finished first and second. The winning team of Manning, Nordvedt, Hadleigh and Erickson finished with a time of 3:32.33.

The men’s 200-yard medley relay team of Ksiazek, Maydew, Berg and Nordtvedt finished second with a time of 1:44.62.

The men won the team competition with 416 points.

“The men had a few good individual swims. When you look at the results at the end of the week you can see there is room for improvement which means we need to step up the intensity in practices,” head coach Brad Erickson said.

In Saturday’s competition sophomore Mariah Pavlicek finished first in the 100-yard backstroke in a winning time of 1:03.37. Pavlicek added fourth-place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke, 2:21.76, and in the 200-yard individual medley, 2:21.38.

The women’s 200-yard medley relay team of Pavlicek, Jane Tschetter, Chelsea Colburn and Heather Youngberg finished second in a time of 1:58.69.

Youngberg contributed a third-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 55.95 and a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:04.29.

The women finished fifth with 278 points.

In the women’s quadrangular competition on Friday night, Colburn and Pavlicek each finished with three wins while Youngberg captured one title to add to the team’s 2-1 finish.

Colburn won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:02.14. She also captured victories in the 100-yard freestyle in 2:05.46 and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:43.15.

Pavlicek won the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:56.05. She took first in both the 200-yard individual medley, 2:21.46, and 100-yard backstroke, 1:03.50.

Youngberg won the 100-yard freestyle in 55.05.

“The women’s side had a good meet Friday,” Erickson said. “The physical impact of competing on back-to-back nights has to be kept in perspective when looking at Saturday’s performance.”

The teams travel Nov. 19 to 21 to Minneapolis to compete in the Minnesota Invitational.

#1.885646:1507378592.jpg:Swim meet.jpg:Kim Elenkiwich sets herself for the 100-yard breaststroke.:Mike Carlson

A plasma television near the west entrance of the HPER Center greets visitors with information about upcoming events.

“It had nothing to do with us moving to Division I. It was nothing we solicited; it kind of fell into our laps so to speak,” said Intramural Director Brad Erickson.

The University Network, who owns the television, visited campus this summer with the hopes of establishing their network here.

The plasma screens are typically displayed in high traffic areas such as student unions and arenas. Currently the display at the HPER Center is the only one on campus and the only one in the state to be connected to the network.

The board is completely paid for by The University Network. In fact, SDSU actually receives revenue from having the board displayed.

“They find the sponsors and we receive a percentage of the profit, which pays the only fee: a monthly charge for Internet and electricity,” Erickson said.

Advertisers, according to how many ads they buy and how much they pay, will ultimately determine the amount of money the school will receive, but the amount is estimated to be anywhere between $2,000 and $20,000 a year, Erickson said. The money, besides paying the monthly bills, will also be used by the Intramural Sports program.

All ads are approved by the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) and can be previewed by campus personnel before they are shown. Besides finding advertisers, the company also prepares the clips that contain information about Intramural Sports, the Wellness Center and Athletics at SDSU.

The information is e-mailed to the company where it is further developed with pictures and sound before the final product is sent to the board. A non-stop repetitive loop of footage conists of three 20-second spots SDSU-informational spots, 30-second advertisements and a two-second logo shot.

The event information can be changed hourly, daily or weekly. The 20-second spots can even be spilt in half to cover more events depending upon the week.

“Regardless of how much or how little we put up, it’s free of charge to us,” Erickson said.

The Jacks dominated a three-game sweep over Bethel University on Saturday, Oct. 23. Carley Boll contributed 13 kills and Kim Bostrom added 10 to take the win.

The final scores for the night were 30-19, 30-16 and 30-10 bringing the Jacks’ season record to 12-11.

“Handling the ball on our side, no matter what Bethel was doing, was key,” said Coach Andrew Palileo. “We wanted to look sharp and we did.”

Sarah Simet led the team with 18 digs while Samatha Pearson finished with 11.

Simet became the ninth player in SDSU history to record 1,000 career digs.

“It was a very important milestone in my career and it’s great to have my coaches and my teammates along for the ride,” Simet said.

The Jacks defeated Dakota Wesleyan University in a three-game tournament with scores of 30-19, 30-17 and 30-14. Ten players added kills to help the team to victory. Boll led the team with eight kills and five blocks while Kristina Martin and Minette Ridenour each contributed seven kills.

Not only has the team experienced success on the court, but individual players have broken records. Sarah Biggerstaff broke the school record for block assists set at 301 by Roxie Roth from 1995-1998. Kim Bostrom also recorded enough block assists to move into second place behind Biggerstaff on the list of career block assist leaders.

“Breaking the record was a goal at the beginning of the season. It is really neat that Kim and I started together and now we will probably finish one and two in the standings,” Biggerstaff said.

Next week the Jacks face off again at home-on Wednesday, Oct. 27 they will take on Northern State University and face North Dakota State University on Saturday, Oct. 30. Both games start at 7 p.m.

“These are tougher teams next week and we need to get better and sharpen up. We have to come out and play at a higher level than we did against Bethel,” Palileo said.