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By Jim Beshey
Success is measured in many ways, including consistency. The Minnesota Wrestling Gophers have found that consistency by winning their second straight national title and maybe just as important, they have placed in the top three every year since 1997. That count stands at two thirds, two seconds and now two firsts. This year's title came at Pepsi Arena Albany, New York when the Gophers outdistanced second place, Iowa State by 22.5 points. Last year, Minnesota held off Iowa University at Iowa City by 13 points. Which one was sweeter? J Robinson responded, "They're both sweet in their own ways. Last year was sweet because I don't think you can ever replace number one, the first time you win anything. I think the second one, when you get it, it's a relief because you can say, 'I set out to do this and not only do it once, but I wanted to do it twice and that was important."
Another measure of that consistency is the placing of All-Americans. In 2001, Minnesota set a record by winning the NCAA trophy without the benefit of a finalist, but placing all 10 wrestlers as All-Americans. This year, the Gophers qualified all 10 wrestlers, who all contributed to the team scoring again, but three of them came up short of All-American status. While some of the team may have finished lower than expected, three wrestlers reached their goal of advancing to the finals. Ryan Lewis, #1 ranked 133 pounder, Jared Lawrence, #2 ranked at 149, and Luke Becker, #3 ranked at 157 gave Minnesota the same number of finalists as team runner-up, Iowa State. The Cyclones claimed all three of their contested weight classes.
Minnesota crowned two individual champions; Lawrence and Becker, while Lewis dropped a tough 5-4 decision. This is the first time Minnesota has taken two titles in one NCAA tournament. Becker's roommate and teammate, Lawrence compares the individual title to the team title; "They're both really good but the individual is just the highest high you can have. I feel like I'm on top of the world."
Robinson knew the 3rd, 5th, and 7th places were key to helping the finalists; "It's an important round. Some of the guys in the wrestlebacks took the pressure off the guys in the finals and that's what we wanted to do today. [We wanted to] let Lawrence, Becker, and Lewis worry about winning their titles and not have the whole team thing on their shoulders. They can be a little bit looser. They can focus on what they need to. They can worry about winning this in their time."
Becker's road to the title was especially sweet because he went through the two wrestlers who had defeated him earlier this season. Yoshi Nakamura, Pennsylvania, handed Becker two of his three losses 5-3 and 3-1. Becker edged Nakamura 2-1 on the tie breaker in the semi-finals. Number 1 seed, Brian Snyder of Nebraska edged Becker 5-4 on a tie breaker in early January and held a 5-1 edge in previous meetings. "Last time I wrestled Snyder, the same thing happened. It went into double overtime except he had the first takedown." Becker went on about winning, "You work so hard all season long to win that individual title. Last year we won the team title but nobody really got the glory of winning an individual title. This year we had two!" Becker secured the first takedown in the finals. Snyder escaped and got the takedown to lead 3-2. Becker scored an escape to tie the match. After a scoreless minute, Becker chose down, escaping to win the 2nd of two individual titles for Minnesota.
Lawrence's road to the finals had the appearance of a somewhat easier task. Carrying a 29-3 record into the NCAA's, the only wrestler to defeat him was Iowa's Mike Zadick, who was seeded #1. Lawrence's lone losses came to Zadick by a combined total of six points. Zadick suffered a quarter final loss to Jake Percival of Ohio and then Percival lost to Oklahoma's Jared Frayer. Lawrence attacked Frayer in the finals. "That first takedown was huge right there at the end [of the first period]." Frayer and Lawrence traded escapes to give Lawrence the top spot on the victory stand.
Lewis, the first Gopher to go after an individual NCAA title in 2002 was clearly in control of the match with the exception of a five point move by Oklahoma State's Johnny Thompson. Lewis was the number one seed, Thompson, number two; Lewis was 32-0, Thompson 36-2, coming into the finals. One of Thompson's losses was to Lewis who scored a fall, back in December. Coach Robinson took issue with a timeout by Thompson late in the match as Lewis was showing some strong wrestling. "Thompson took a time out when he wasn't hurt. I don't look at Thompson as the National Champion."
"It's just nice to have some people in the finals," said Lawrence. "It's nice for the coaches to be dressed up the last day, to go out there and show off what they've done, a little bit."
Senior, 197 pounder, Owen Elzen, finished his career with 101 wins, three NCAA appearances and finishing 3rd in 2001 and 4th in 2002. He placed 5th, 3rd and 1st in the Big Tens, moving up every year. With a 31-3 record, going into the NCAA's, Elzen had lost to Jon Trenge, Lehigh, and Nick Preston, Ohio State. These were the same two wrestlers that recorded losses for Elzen at Albany. Elzen got to the semi-finals with back to back major decisions and a fall before losing to Trenge 16-6. Seeded third, Elzen beat the #5 seed, Scott Becker in the wrestlebacks before losing to Preston, 7-4 in the 3rd place match. Preston was seeded 4th.
Damion Hahn blasted into the Big Ten Tournament and defeated the #1 and #2 ranked wrestlers in the nation finishing first. This gave him the number two seed at the NCAA's and a shot at making the finals. Hahn posted three wins but lost to sixth ranked Josh Lambrecht, of Oklahoma 8-6. He then dropped a 4-1 match to unranked Tom Tanis of Rutgers who battled his way to fourth place, after losing in the first round. Hahn then wrestled number 7 Clint Wattenberg, Cornell for the second time in two days. He nailed a 3-3 tie breaker for fifth place to make him a two-time All-American.
Heavyweight sophomore, Garrett Lowney also became an All-American for the second straight year, placing 5th in this year's Big Show. Lowney had lost to Ohio State's Tommy Rowlands three times going into the National Tournament. He caught a bye, scored two wins from his fourth seed before meeting number one ranked Rowlands in the semi-finals. Rowlands won 7-5. Lowney lost his next match to last year's NCAA Champion, John Lockhart, Illinois, 2-1 tie breaker. Lowney finished the tournament with a 6-1 victory over Northern Iowa's Paul Hynek.
Senior, Chad Erikson battled his way to his 2nd consecutive All-American status at 141 pounds going 4-2. Seeded 8th, Erikson won 8-5 and scored bonus points with a fall in his second match. Number one ranked Mark Conley, Navy, won in the semi finals, sending Erikson to the wrestlebacks. Not to be denied twice by the Armed Forces, Erikson won 4-3 over Army's Phillip Simpson, then lost 9-6 to Robert Sessley, Ohio State. Erikson locked up seventh place with a 4-3 score over Lock Haven's Mike Maney. "It wasn't the way I wanted to go out," said Erikson. "Not the best finish I could have had, but being an All-American helps ease the pain a little bit."
Any loss is tough but for last year's All Americans to not place is indescribable. LeRoy Vega and Jacob Volkman added points to the team championship but something is missing as assistant coach Mark Schwab explains after Vega's second loss and elimination. "It's always a big loss when you have a senior captain who is a three-time All-American, a #2 seed coming in, and he gets beat in the consolations. He's not going to go home an All-American. When one of your team leaders goes down, it's disappointing for everybody but this is an individual sport. It's a matter of having your points come together collectively so everyone just has to do their own thing."
The Gopher pre-tournament stats book tells us best what Vega has accomplished in his five years at Minnesota:
For Vega, only one thing is missing.
Volkman, a third year sophomore, finishes the season 29-9. He scored bonus team points in both of his wins at the Nationals. Wrestling at 174 pounds, Volkman was seeded 8th. He dropped a second round match 3-2, to Ryan Lange of Purdue. Volkman had defeated Lange 6-4 at the Big Tens. His consolation loss was to Terry Parham, Air Force, who was unseeded but took seventh.
Redshirt freshman, Nate Baker, came in unseeded after finishing fifth at the Big Tens. Baker finished the season 29-15, losing to the NCAA champion, Joe Heskett, Iowa State, 12-2 and number sixth seed, Chris Vitale, Lehigh, 8-3. Baker added team advancement points in his first round win over Pierre Pryor, No. Carolina 13-11. When asked about Baker's performance, Coach Schwab was positive. "I think he has learned a lot, wrestling in the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments. He's only going to get better. In a year from now he will have some different results in the NCAA Tournament."
And it seemed that over 1,000 Minnesota faithful fans agreed as they cheered the entire team to their National Titles. This was the final step for the 2001-02 team that went 19-0 in duals, won their third consecutive Big Ten Title, and their second straight NWCA National Duals Championship. If you're winning consistently do you become a target? Robinson theorizes, "If they're after us, they must be after us for a reason. We're good, we're doing something right."
Tournament Highlights
Cael Sanderson does the improbable by winning all of his college matches; running his record to 159-0. The Iowa State senior is only the second wrestler to win four NCAA titles and the first to go unbeaten. Pat Smith of Oklahoma State was the first four-time National Champion but like the legendary Dan Gable, they all suffered a loss in college wrestling. Sanderson also is the first wrestler to win four Most Outstanding Wrestler Awards at the NCAA Tournament. A crowd of over 13,000 gave Sanderson a standing ovation as he was interviewed by ESPN2 T.V. announcer Bruce Baumgartner. Iowa State claimed two other individual champions; Aaron Holker at 141 pounds and Joe Heskett at 165.
Senior Stephen Abas, Fresno State became a three time NCAA Titlist and also was recognized warmly by the Pepsi Arena crowd. Freshman, Greg Jones of West Virginia, the number two seed, had an impressive tournament winning all five matches. His closest match score was 8-3 in the quarter finals.
Lehigh and Iowa each had two finalists. Lehigh had one champion; 184 pound Rob Rohn scored four falls including one in the finals to give him the Gorrarian Award for most pins in the least amount of time. Rohn's teammate, Jon Trenge was Sanderson's 159th win at the 197 pound match. Iowa lost both their matches in the finals. Iowa's Luke Eustice (Blue Earth, MN), seeded 7th, lost to Abas 8-4 at 125 pounds and his Hawkeye teammate, true freshman, Steve Mocco, at heavyweight, was defeated by Tommy Rowlands 1-1, sudden victory.