at Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MN
January 27, 2001
Top Ranked Golden Gopher Wrestlers rout Purdue 31-6
By Kevin Kurtt
The top-ranked University of Minnesota wrestling team routed unranked Pudue 31-6 at Williams Arena Saturday night, winning eight of ten matches to improve to 13-1 on the season, including a 2-0 mark in Big Ten dual meets. The Golden Gophers won four of their matches by major decision and lost one match in double overtime.
The meet started at 141 pounds with Golden Gopher Brett Lawrence winning by forfeit. At 149 pounds, third-ranked Jared Lawrence dominated Purdue's Brad Harper, winning a 20-7 major decision. Lawrence, now 22-3 on the season, scored eight takedowns in the match. Fourth-ranked Luke Becker gave Gold Country four more team points with his 18-9 triumph over Oscar Santiago. Becker ended with 2:52 of advantage time over Santiago.
Purdue's first win of the night came at 165 pounds as Kirk Moore notched a takedown of Brad Pike with four seconds remaining in regulation to force the match to overtime. Neither wrestler scored in sudden victory overtime and Moore rode Pike for the 30-second tiebreaker to win the match. It was Pike's first loss in a dual meet this season. The Boilermakers won their second and final match at 174 pounds as Ryan Lange downed Jacob Volkmann 10-6.
Minnesota rebounded at 184 pounds behind Damion Hahn's 12-4 major decision victory over Jared Williams. Hahn improved to 22-2 on the year, including a 12-1 mark in dual meets. At 197 pounds, ninth-ranked Owen Elzen dropped Jon Bush 11-4 to give the Golden Gophers a commanding 21-6 lead. Eighth-ranked heavyweight Garrett Lowney continued his excellent wrestling, defeating No. 20 Jake Vercelli 10-7.
At 125 pounds, No. 3 Leroy Vega posted a 6-1 decision on No. 13 Jason Silverstein to improve to 21-4 on the year. Vega led throughout the match and ended with 2:38 advantage time. Unranked 133-pounder Ryan Lewis provided meet-ending excitement, upsetting eighth-ranked Evan Robinson convincingly with a 12-4 major decision. Lewis nearly pinned Robinson in the second period and cruised to victory with 2:49 advantage time. Lewis has now defeated ranked opponents in three of his last four matches.
The Golden Gophers face No. 24 Indiana, Friday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. in Bloomington, Ind., and No. 5 Illinois, Sunday, Feb. 4 at 1 p.m. in Champaign, Ill.