Gophers Hang Tough During Second Session at NCAA Championships
March 20, 2008
The defending national champion Gopher wrestling team
wasn’t perfect, but remained in the title hunt during the second
session at the 2008 NCAA Championships at the Scottrade Center in St.
Louis Thursday evening. Five Minnesota athletes remained in the
winner’s bracket after the second round, with eight of nine Gophers
still alive after day one.
Minnesota is tied with Central Michigan (24 team points) for fourth
place after a day’s worth of action, trailing first-place Iowa by 5.5
points. The Hawkeyes (29.5 points) extended their session one lead over
second-place Nebraska (26.5) and third-place Iowa State (25). Seven of
Iowa’s nine wrestlers remained in championship contention after day one.
After an outstanding showing in the morning session, Minnesota’s
lightweight corps of Jayson Ness, Mack Reiter, Manny Rivera and Dustin
Schlatter all advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals with wins Thursday
night, as did two-time All-American Roger Kish.
Unfortunately for the Gophers, senior C.P. Schlatter was upset by No.
12 seed Josh Zupancic of Stanford. He will be forced to regain his
All-American status through the wrestlebacks.
Senior Gabe Dretsch, the eighth seed at 174 pounds, bounced back from
his first round loss to post a 5-3 win over Penn’s Scott Giffin in the
wrestlebacks, and heavyweight Ben Berhow also won his consolation match
to stay alive in the tournament. Senior Justin Bronson’s first career
NCAA appearance came to an end Thursday when he lost his consolation
match with Jared Villers of West Virginia 12-4.
After picking up his 19th pin of the season Thursday morning, returning
All-American Ness was outstanding in his second round match-up with
Central Michigan’s Luke Smith. Ness, who beat Smith 8-2 at the National
Duals earlier this season, used a big second period to win a 9-0 major
decision Thursday night. The lanky Ness and diminutive Smith locked up
for much of the first three minutes, but Ness turned the tide with a
second-period reversal and racked up an impressive 3:05 worth of riding
time to improve his overall record to 37-1 on the season.
Two-time All-American Reiter seems to have regained the form he flashed
in his first two national tournaments as he thoroughly handled Central
Michigan’s Conor Beebe in a 15-6 major decision win. Reiter led just
3-2 after a period but out-scored Beebe a whopping 12-4 the rest of the
way to advance to the quarterfinals.
This will be the fourth NCAA quarterfinal appearance of Reiter’s
career, but it might also be his toughest – the senior captain will
match up with No. 1 seed and defending Big Ten champion Franklin Gomez
of Michigan State Friday night. Gomez defeated Reiter 7-4 in a dual
meet earlier this year.
Rivera looked good in his quest for an All-American award, as he won a
close 8-5 decision with No. 12 Garrett Scott of Penn State to advance.
Rivera trailed 3-0 early in the second period but scored both a
takedown and three-point nearfall late in the frame to jump ahead and
bring the Gopher faithful in attendance to their feet. Rivera’s victory
propels him to a Friday night quarterfinal match with Oklahoma State’s
Nathan Morgan. Morgan narrowly defeated Rivera 6-4 earlier this year.
Despite being the No. 2 seed, Dustin Schlatter had another tough match
at 149 pounds. After beating Boise State’s Adam Hall 5-3 early
Thursday, Schlatter had to contend with Iowa State’s Mitch Mueller in
the second round. Schlatter’s elusive style prevented Mueller from
scoring a single takedown, and the former NCAA champion put the match
away with a third-period takedown of his own. Schlatter will take on
N.C. State’s Darrion Caldwell in the quarterfinals. Caldwell is the
only wrestler to defeat top-seeded Brent Metcalf of Iowa this season.
Unfortunately, Dustin’s older brother C.P. did not fare as well in his
efforts to end his career with back-to-back All-American laurels.
Schlatter took on little-known No. 12 seed Josh Zupancic of Stanford
and appeared to have the match under control by jumping out to a 4-1
lead. But Zupancic took Schlatter down in the second and rode him out
for much of the period, closing the deficit and gaining a significant
riding time advantage. Zupancic started down in the third and escaped
to tie the score at four and prevented Schlatter from scoring the
go-ahead points the rest of the way to with 5-4 with 1:05 worth of
riding time.
Schlatter, who was forced to take an injury timeout during the match
because of a hamstring injury suffered during the Big Ten semifinals,
drops down to the wrestleback bracket and must now fight his way back
through for third place.
It wasn’t always pretty, but returning Gopher All-American Kish showed
an impressive amount of veteran guile in his 4-0 win over Purdue’s A.J.
Kissel at 184 pounds. Kish, who defeated UT-Chattanooga’s Josh
Edmundson early Thursday afternoon to advance to the second round,
retained excellent position throughout his match with Kissel to notch
the shutout win.
Kish’s quarterfinal draw is also a tough one – he must take on
top-ranked sophomore Jake Varner of Iowa State. After beating Varner in
two dual meets last season, Kish has dropped his last three matches
with the undefeated sophomore sensation – during last year’s NCAA
semifinals, the All-Star Classic event last November and the teams’
Dec. 2 dual meet match-up at Williams Arena.
Thursday’s second session announced attendance was 15,170.
The Gophers will look to make up ground Friday morning during the
quarterfinals and wrestleback rounds. The action begins at 10 a.m. at
the Scottrade Center, with Friday night’s semifinal round set to start
at 6 p.m.
Television coverage also gets underway Friday on ESPNU and ESPN360.com.
All of Friday’s wrestling will be feature live ESPNU broadcasts, and
ESPN360.com will offer viewers the option to view any quarterfinal and
semifinal matches they wish to see on-demand.
Day One Results:
125 – No. 2 Jayson Ness, Second Seed
First Round: Ness pinned Marcos Orozco (UC Davis), 2:09
Second Round: Ness maj. dec. Luke Smith (Central Michigan), 9-0