Golden Gophers Hang On For Big Win Over Wolverines
January 26, 2008
The fourth-ranked Golden Gopher wrestling
team completed a perfect weekend in the state of Michigan with a big
24-15 win over the No. 6 Wolverines Saturday night. The Gophers jumped
out to an early 15-0 lead and held on to defeat Michigan and improve
their dual meet record to 12-3 (2-0 in the Big Ten).
After Michigan stormed back to within three points (18-15) following
the 184-pound bout, Minnesota’s Justin Bronson (197 pounds) and Ben
Berhow (heavyweight) pulled off impressive victories to seal the win
for the Gophers. The dual meet victory avenges the Wolverines’ 23-16
upset of Minnesota earlier this month at the National Duals and was the
Gophers’ second in their last five meetings with Michigan.
Minnesota also defeated Michigan State 23-15 Friday in East Lansing.
The defending national champions have won their past 11 Big Ten dual
meets dating back to the 2005-06 season.
Minnesota’s vaunted group of lightweights took care of business in the
early going Saturday and allowed the Gophers to jump out to a
substantial lead after just three matches. Both No. 1 Jayson Ness (125
pounds) and No. 2 Mack Reiter (133 pounds) earned sub-2:00 minute pins
to start the dual, and No. 4 Manny Rivera followed that with an upset
victory over third-ranked Kellen Russell of the Wolverines at 141
pounds.
Ness’ pin (coming in just 1:13 over Michigan’s Jason Lara) was his NCAA
Division I-leading 17th of the season and puts him just three shy of
the Gophers’ single season mark of 20, set by current head assistant
head coach Marty Morgan in 1989-90. Ness is a perfect 26-0 on the
season and owns the second-longest active winning streak in Division I
wrestling.
Reiter, coming off a hard-fought loss to No. 5 Franklin Gomez of
Michigan State Friday night, bounced back with a dominating performance
against Michigan’s Chris Diehl. The two-time All-American pinned his
Wolverine opponent in just 1:34 to improve his overall record to 16-2
on the season.
Rivera gained a measure of revenge at 141 pounds against the freshman
Russell. Then ranked first in the nation, Russell beat Rivera 10-6 in
mid-January at the National Duals, but it was the Gopher that turned
the tables Saturday night. Rivera scored a takedown in the second and a
clutch reversal in the third period to emerge with the 4-2 win and
improve to 25-2 on the season.
Down big early, the Wolverines narrowed the gap to 15-6 after
Minnesota’s Luke Mellmer was pinned by No. 8 Josh Churella, but No. 7
C.P. Schlatter extended the Gopher lead with a 10-4 win over Jeff Marsh
at 157 pounds.
Tyler Safratowich wrestled well against third-ranked Eric Tannenbaum at
165 pounds, but lost a tight 6-2 decision. The Gopher junior, well
known for knocking off several highly-ranked wrestlers last season en
route to his first-ever NCAA appearance, was down just 2-1 after two
periods but could not muster anything offensively in the final two
minutes of action.
Gabe Dretsch, fresh off his 100th career victory Friday night against
the Spartans, was overpowered by Michigan’s second-ranked Steve Luke at
174 pounds and lost a 9-3 decision. Luke also topped Dretsch earlier
this month at the National Duals. After Mitch Kuhlman was beaten at 184
pounds by No. 2 Tyrel Todd, the Wolverines had closed the gap to 18-15
entering the final two matches of the night.
Needing an individual victory, Minnesota turned to Bronson at 197
pounds against Michigan’s Ryan Selley. The two evenly-matched wrestlers
battled through a scoreless first two periods, but the Gopher senior
finally wore down his opponent in the third frame. Bronson earned an
escape to start the third and notched a late takedown which, combined
with the bonus point for riding time, gave him a 4-0 victory in the
match.
Redshirt freshman Berhow had struggled somewhat in dual meets this
season, posting a 2-3 record entering Saturday. But the Hayward, Minn.
native outscored Matt Guhn 5-1 in the third period to pull off the 7-3
victory at heavyweight and send the Gophers home with a perfect Big Ten
opening weekend.
Saturday’s announced attendance was 1,181.
Minnesota now turns its attention to the top-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, who
will visit Williams Arena Friday night (Feb. 1) at 7:30 p.m. The
Hawkeyes will enter the highly-anticipated meet sporting a 14-1 dual
meet record and have held the top spot in the nation since winning the
National Duals two weeks ago. Iowa will be without top-ranked
165-pounder (and defending national champion) Mark Perry, who underwent
arthroscopic knee surgery earlier this week. The meet will begin at
7:30 p.m. and will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.
#4 Minnesota 24, #6 Michigan 15
125: #1 Jayson Ness (MN) pinned Jason Lara (UM), 1:13
133: #2 Mack Reiter (MN) pinned Chris Diehl (UM), 1:26
141: #4 Manuel Rivera (MN) dec. #3 Kellen Russell (UM), 4-2
149: #8 Josh Churella (UM) pinned Luke Mellmer (MN), 4:19
157: #7 C.P. Schlatter (MN) dec. Jeff Marsh (UM), 10-4
165: #3 Eric Tannenbaum (UM) dec. Tyler Safratowich (MN), 6-2
174: #2 Steve Luke (UM) dec. #11 Gabriel Dretsch (MN), 9-3
184: #2 Tyrel Todd (UM) dec. Mitch Kuhlman (MN), 12-5
197: Justin Bronson (MN) dec. Ryan Selley (UM), 4-0
Hwt: Ben Berhow (MN) dec. Matt Guhn (UM), 7-3