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February 2, 2003
The fourth-ranked University of Minnesota wrestling team defeated No. 3 Ohio State, 20-15, today in Columbus, Ohio. The Golden Gophers (13-4, 3-0 Big Ten) won all five of their matches in the first six bouts to build an insurmountable lead and post UM's third win of the season over a top-five ranked opponent.
The Maroon and Gold got off to a 3-0 start as No. 9 Damion Hahn downed No. 8 Anton Talamantes, 7-3, at 197 pounds. Hahn returned to action following an academic dispute to improve his record to 8-2 on the season. The Buckeyes tied the meet at three as second-ranked heavyweight Tommy Rowlands maintained his perfect mark on No. 9 Garrett Lowney with a 9-4 decision.
Minnesota then went on a run from 125 to 149 pounds to build a 20-3 lead. Bobbe Lowe began the streak at 125 pounds with his 14-5 major decision over Nathan Costello. The triumph marked Lowe's first career Big Ten win. At 133 pounds, second-ranked Ryan Lewis pushed the Minnesota lead to 13-3 with! a fall over Rob Rosenfeld in 2:42. It was Lewis' team-leading eighth pin of the season.
The newest Golden Gopher, No. 12 Derek Phillips kept the ball rolling at 141 pounds, edging No. 18 Jeff Ratliff, 9-8. Phillips moved to 2-1 on the year. Second-ranked Jared Lawrence wrapped up Minnesota's wins in the meet with an 11-3 major decision over No. 14 Josh Daugherty at 149 pounds. The win moved Lawrence to 19-2 overall this season.
OSU won the final four matches, including the featured bout of the day at 157 pounds between No. 1 Luke Becker and No. 2 Keaton Anderson. The Buckeye got the better of Becker this time with a 10-3 win. Anderson and Becker scrapped to a 0-0 tie after the first period before Anderson tallied a takedown midway through the second period. He carried a 3-1 advantage into the third stanza and extended the lead with two takedowns. Fourth-ranked John Clark looked to carry the OSU momentum into the 165 match as he faced fifth-ranked Jacob Volkmann. The two battled to a 1-1 tie with less than a minute remaining in the match before Clark scored a takedown with just :08 remaining in the bout for the 3-1 victory and close OSU to within 20-9.
The Buckeyes closed out the dual with two decisions as Blake Kaplan defeated No. 18 Josh McLay, 2-0, at 174 pounds, and Casey Kaputska dropped Matt Nagel, 9-5, at 184 pounds.
With the win, Minnesota avoided its first Big Ten loss since Feb. 6, 1998, at Penn State (21-13). The Golden Gophers return home next weekend to face conference foes Michigan and Northwestern.