Gophers Come Up Short, Finish Second at Big Ten Championships
March 9, 2008
The Golden Gopher wrestling team
was unable to hold onto its opening day lead at the 2008 Big Ten
Championships Sunday afternoon at Williams Arena, relinquishing the Big
Ten team title to the Iowa Hawkeyes 127 – 112.5. Minnesota did qualify
nine wrestlers for the 2008 NCAA Championships in two weeks, but saw
its four finalists come up short in their championship matches.
Jayson Ness, Manuel Rivera, Dustin Schlatter and Gabe Dretsch all
finished in second place after losing during Sunday afternoon’s
championship round. The top seven in each weight class, along with two
wild cards, qualify for nationals. Minnesota’s Mack Reiter (fourth),
C.P. Schlatter (sixth), Roger Kish (sixth), Justin Bronson (seventh)
and Ben Berhow (sixth) will also make the trip to St. Louis March 20-22.
While Sunday’s announced crowd of 7,271 witnessed an exciting day of
collegiate wrestling, no match carried more weight than the 149-pound
title match between Iowa’s Brent Metcalf and Dustin Schlatter. This
pair of former four-time high school state champions squared off for
the first time in nearly three years (their first match as collegians),
with Metcalf winning by a 5-3 decision.
Schlatter grabbed the early lead in Sunday’s much-anticipated “Match of
the Century” with a takedown of Metcalf a little over one minute into
the match. But the Hawkeye tied the score at two with escapes in the
first and second periods. Schlatter started down in the second and
jumped ahead with an escape, but was called for stalling late in the
match and finally suffered a takedown with 11 seconds remaining in the
final frame.
The loss was just the fifth in 102 collegiate matches for Schlatter, who was the two-time defending Big Ten champion.
Sunday’s other big disappointment for Gopher fans came at 125 pounds,
where sophomore Ness was relinquished his Big Ten title to Indiana’s
Angel Escobedo by a 4-2 decision. A second-period reversal allowed the
Hoosier to get on top of the previously-undefeated Ness, a position he
did not relinquish until the closing seconds of the match. Ness’ only
points came on a reversal with under 10 seconds left as Escobedo racked
up an impressive 3:39 worth of riding time.
It was the first loss for Ness this season (35-1) and snaps a 36-match
winning streak for the Bloomington, Minn. native. Escobedo is the only
wrestler to beat Ness in his previous 38 matches – Ness’ win streak
began at the 2007 NCAA Championships after a 7-3 loss to Escobedo in
the consolation bracket.
At 141 pounds, Rivera’s first-ever conference title match did not go as
planned against Michigan freshman Kellen Russell. Rivera beat Russell
4-2 at a Jan. 26 dual meet, only to lose 3-2 Sunday at Williams Arena.
Russell jumped ahead with an early takedown and tacked on a
second-period escape, as Rivera was unable to muster any offense
against the 2008 Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Minnesota’s last finalist of the day was another senior making his
first-ever Big Ten title bout. Frazee, Minn. native Dretsch took on
Michigan’s Steve Luke at 174 pounds and lost a close 5-3 match. The
stocky Luke took down Dretsch twice in the first period to open a 4-0
lead and held on for his fourth straight win against the Minnesota
wrestler. Luke also beat Dretsch twice earlier this season and once at
last year’s NCAAs.
Minnesota’s consolation wrestlers also did not fare particularly well
during Sunday’s final session. Reiter dropped his third-place match to
second-seeded Joe Slaton at 133 pounds (losing 3-0) to place fourth,
while 2007 NCAA qualifier and third-seeded Tyler Safratowich suffered a
surprising pin in the seventh-place match at 165 pounds to Wisconsin’s
Jake Donar to finish out of the NCAA qualifying set.
Safratowich did not earn one of the Big Ten’s two at-large wild card
bids despite entering the tournament ranked 11th in the national
coaches poll. He was named as a first alternate for NCAA consideration.
Seniors Kish and C.P. Schlatter, who suffered both suffered injuries
Saturday night and were forced to default in the semifinal matches, did
not wrestle Sunday and placed sixth at 184 and 157 pounds,
respectively. Each qualified for their fourth career NCAA Championship
tournament.
The Gophers’ two first-time conference tournament wrestlers were the
only bright spots at an otherwise-disappointing final day. Bronson
picked up the Gophers’ lone victory of the day with a pin of Ohio
State’s John Weakley at 197 pounds to earn seventh place and a spot at
his first-ever NCAA Championships, while heavyweight Berhow finished
sixth after close losses to fourth-seeded Matt Fields of Iowa (4-1 in
overtime) and fifth-seeded John Wise of Illinois (4-1).
The Gophers were also shut out of the conference awards, as Iowa’s
Metcalf was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler and Big
Ten Wrestler of the Year. Iowa coach Tom Brands was the conference’s
coach of the year, while Russell was voted best newcomer.
Nearly 20,000 fans attended this weekend’s event in Minneapolis, which
was hosted by the University of Minnesota and Williams Arena for the
first time since 1997. Sunday’s attendance of over 7,000 pushed the
official tally to 19,981 for all three sessions.
The Big Ten Network broadcast Sunday’s championship matches live, their final wrestling telecast of the 2007-08 season.
Minnesota and head coach J Robinson must now turn their attention to
the 2008 NCAA Championships, to be held March 20-22 at the Scottrade
Center in St. Louis. The defending national champion Gophers’ nine
qualifiers is their highest total since 2005. The Gophers had eight
qualifiers and five All-Americans last season en route to their third
national title.