Three Golden Gophers to wrestle for NCAA Championships on Saturday Night

March 17, 2006

A trio of Golden Gopher wrestlers will compete for NCAA Championships on Saturday night in Oklahoma City. Top-ranked heavyweight Cole Konrad will face two-time NCAA Champion Steve Mocco of Oklahoma State in a rematch of last year’s final. True freshman Dustin Schlatter and sophomore Roger Kish will wrestle in the finals at 149 and 184 pounds, respectively. In addition, sophomore All-American Mack Reiter won a pair of matches to reach tomorrow morning’s consolation semifinal.

Minnesota moved into second place with its strong showing in the evening session. The Golden Gophers have 72.5 points, while three-time NCAA Champion Oklahoma State is in first place with 106. The Cowboys have three finalists and three more competing in the consolation bracket. Oklahoma is in third with 64.5 points, followed by Iowa with 61.5 and Arizona State with 56.

Schlatter advanced to the finals with a 5-1 decision over fourth-seeded Matt Storniolo of Oklahoma at 149 pounds. Schlatter took a 2-0 lead with a takedown near the edge of the mat nearly two minutes into the match. After Storniolo cut the lead to 2-1 in the second period, Schlatter put the match away with another takedown with 34 seconds to go in regulation. He added another point for riding time.

“It feels great right now,” Schlatter said. “It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I’m not there yet, but it does feel good to make the finals. Hopefully I’ve gained enough experience this year wrestling against the top competition. I know tomorrow is going to be a lot bigger than anything I’ve ever done before, but I think my head is on straight and I know what I have to do.”

Schlatter will face a rematch with Iowa’s Ty Eustice in tomorrow championship final. Eustice defeated defending NCAA Champion Zack Esposito of Oklahoma State in the other semifinal. Schlatter defeated Esposito twice this year and claimed a 4-1 decision over Eustice in their only meeting this past January. Schlatter is now 41-1 with a 29-match winning streak. Schlatter is one of two true freshmen that will wrestle for NCAA titles tomorrow. Cornell’s Troy Nickerson advanced at 125 pounds.

In a rematch of this year’s Big Ten Championship final, Kish defeated Illinois’ Pete Friedl for a second time at 184 pounds. Kish took an early 2-0 lead on a first-period takedown before Friedl tied the match with a pair of escapes. Entering the third period tied, Kish held off Friedl and used his bonus point for riding time to claim the 3-2 decision.

“It’s been a long week with a lot of tough matches,” Kish said. “I’m excited for the chance to wrestle in the finals tomorrow. We don’t know a lot about each other so it should be an exciting match.”

Kish will meet fifth-seeded Shane Webster of Oregon in the finals. Webster upset top-seeded Josh Glenn of American in the other semifinal. It will be the first meeting between Kish and Webster. Kish is now 37-4 on the year and has won 19 of his last 20 matches.

Konrad reached his goal of returning to the finals with an exhausting double overtime victory against fourth-seeded Cain Velasquez of Arizona State. The match remained scoreless until the overtime tiebreakers when each wrestler earned a pair of escapes. At the end of the second tiebreaker, Konrad was awarded the match due to his nearly 20-second advantage in riding time.

Konrad will meet Mocco for the fourth time this season and the seventh time in the last two years. Mocco won all three meetings between the two a year ago, including a 3-1 overtime decision in last year’s final. This season, Konrad won an exhibition match in November and then shocked Mocco with a pin at the National Duals. That victory ended Mocco’s 85-match winning streak. Konrad confirmed his number one ranking with an overtime victory in their last meeting in February.

“I have a lot of confidence against him (Mocco) this year,” Konrad said. “I plan to go in and win the match, but I know he feels the same way. I’ve beat him three times this year, but he won the title last year. That’s all that matters. I’m sure it will be a close match and I just have to make sure I’m in position to win it in the end.”

Konrad is now 40-0 on the year and with his win tonight, passed Marty Morgan for the second-longest win streak in school history. Konrad also became the second wrestler in school history to record two 40-win seasons. He will attempt to join Morgan and Tim Hartung as the only wrestlers in school history to finish the season unbeaten.

The Golden Gophers have won 16 individual national championships, including seven in the last eight years. Minnesota has won multiple titles in the same year just once. Jared Lawrence and Luke Becker won titles in 2002. Schlatter will attempt to become the first freshman in school history to win a national title.

The tournament concludes tomorrow at the Ford Center. Consolation semifinals and along with the third-place, fifth-place and seventh-place matches will begin at 10 a.m. Central. The NCAA Championship finals will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will air live on ESPN.

2006 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
March 17, 2006 at Ford Center, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Session IV

Team Scores
1. Oklahoma State, 106
2. Minnesota, 72.5
3. Oklahoma, 64.5
4. Iowa, 61.5
5. Arizona State, 56
6. Cornell, 54
7. Penn State, 53.5
8. Michigan, 52
9. Hofstra, 47
10. Lehigh, 46

Individual Results
133 - #4 Mack Reiter
1st – Reiter pinned Mark Budd (Buffalo), 1:32
2nd – Reiter dec. Joshua Pniewski (Gardner-Webb), 7-2
Qtrs – #5 Christopher Fleeger (Purdue) wins by injury default
Consolation – Reiter dec. Scott Jorgenson (Boise State), 5-0
Consolation – Reiter dec. #8 Matt Keller (Chattanooga), 4-3
Consolation – vs. #2 Nathan Morgan (Oklahoma State)

141 – Manuel Rivera
1st - #2 Teyon Ware (Oklahoma) dec. Rivera, 4-3
Consolation – Rivera dec. Kyle Larson (Oregon State), 7-4
Consolation – #12 Sean Markey (The Citadel) dec. Rivera, 9-2
1-2 record

149 - #1 Dustin Schlatter
1st – Schlatter maj. dec. Anthony Baza (CS Bakersfield), 8-0
2nd – Schlatter maj. dec. Ryan Osgood (Northern Iowa), 14-1
Qtrs – Schlatter maj. dec. #5 Eric Tannenbaum (Michigan), 8-0
Semis – Schlatter dec. #4 Matt Storniolo (Oklahoma), 5-1
Finals – vs. #2 Ty Eustice (Iowa)

157 - #2 C.P. Schlatter
1st – Schlatter dec. Seth Martin (Lock Haven), 3-2
2nd – Andrew Flanagan (Harvard) dec. Schlatter, 4-3
Consolation – Schlatter dec. Kevin Ward (Oklahoma State), 3-2
Consolation – Tony Hook (Oregon State) dec. Schlatter, 7-3
2-2 record

165 - #6 Matt Nagel
1st – Deonte Penn (Edinboro) dec. Nagel, 8-5
Consolation – Nagel dec. #11 Stephen Anceravage (Cornell), 4-3
Consolation – Chris Vondruska (Hofstra) pinned Nagel, 6:14
1-2 record

174 - #10 Gabriel Dretsch
1st – Kenneth Robertson (Eastern Illinois) dec. Dretsch, 3-2
Consolation – Dretsch dec. Blake Maurer (Ohio State), 6-1
Consolation – Kurt Brenner (West Virginia) dec. Dretsch, 8-4
1-2 record

184 - #2 Roger Kish
1st – Kish pinned Jeremy Colbert (N.C. State), 2:00
2nd – Kish dec. Ryan Halsey (Cal Poly), 7-2
Qtrs – Kish dec. #10 C.B. Dolloway (Arizona State), 7-4
Semis – Kish dec. #6 Pete Friedl (Illinois), 3-2
Finals – vs. #5 Shane Webster (Oregon)

HWT - #1 Cole Konrad
1st – Konrad dec. Dusty Hoffschneider (Wyoming), 8-4
2nd – Konrad pinned Tyler Shovlin (UNC Greensboro), 3:19
Qtrs – Konrad dec. #8 Michael Faust (Virginia Tech), 4-0
Semis – Konrad dec. #4 Cain Velasquez (Arizona State), 2-2 tb2 rt
Finals – vs. #2 Steve Mocco (Oklahoma State)