Roger Kish, a two-time All-American and three-time NCAA qualifier at 184 pounds, will wrestle for the University of Minnesota
Friday night in their dual meet against the top-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes,
Minnesota head coach J Robinson announced Monday afternoon.
Kish, currently ranked fifth in the latest USA Today/NWCA/InterMat
poll, has wrestled just two times since Dec. 6 due to various injuries
(going 0-2 at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals Jan. 13-14). He will
most likely compete against Iowa’s Phil Keddy (ranked eighth) in a
much-anticipated match at 184 pounds.
The Gopher coaching staff also announced that 2006 national champion
and two-time All-American Dustin Schlatter is a “possibility” to
wrestle at 149 pounds Friday night. Schlatter has not wrestled since
the Dec. 29-30 Southern Scuffle tournament due to a hamstring injury.
If he wrestles, Schlatter would most likely square off with
third-ranked Brent Metcalf of Iowa in what is arguably the most highly
anticipated individual match-up of the collegiate wrestling season. The
pair has never met in official collegiate competition and both are both
former four-time high school state champions (Schlatter in Ohio and
Metcalf in Michigan).
“It’s exciting,” said Robinson about the return of Kish for the
defending national champions. “When you go against the number one team
in the country, you want to make sure that you have your whole lineup
out there. It’s exciting for us that we’re getting our guys back one by
one.”
Below is the complete projected lineup for Friday night’s dual meet,
which will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minn.
#4 Minnesota vs. #1 Iowa
Minnesota Probable Lineup
125 Pounds: #1 Jayson Ness (25-0, Division I-leading 17 pins)
133 Pounds: #2 Mack Reiter (16-3, 10-2 in dual meets)
141 Pounds: #4 Manuel Rivera (25-2, beat #3 Kellen Russell of MSU last Friday)
149 Pounds: Luke Mellmer (8-14) OR #2 Dustin Schlatter (13-1)
157 Pounds: #7 C.P. Schlatter (21-2, 11-2 in dual meets)
165 Pounds: Tyler Safratowich (19-7, 2007 NCAA qualifier)
174 Pounds: #11 Gabe Dretsch (21-7, will face #2 Jay Borschel Friday)
184 Pounds: #5 Roger Kish (8-3, two-time All-American)
197 Pounds: Justin Bronson (14-12) OR Chris McPhail (3-2)
Heavyweight: Ben Berhow (12-10) OR Yura Malamura (10-8)
Fans may purchase tickets for the Minnesota-Iowa “Border Brawl” online through www.gophersports.com, in person at the athletics ticket office in Mariucci Arena or by calling 1-800-U-GOPHER or 612-624-8080.
Friday’s meet will also be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network. The
BTN is available in Minnesota and Iowa via Dish Network (channel 439)
and DirecTV (channel 220). Tim Johnson and Jim Gibbons will be on the
call.