Jayson Ness defeated 2007 national champion Paul Donahue in dramatic
fashion 4-3 during Friday night's NCAA Championship semifinals to
advance to his first career national title match. Mack Reiter, Manuel
Rivera and Dustin Schlatter won their first consolation matches of the
evening to cement All-American honors, but only Reiter won his second
wrestleback for the chance to wrestle for third place.
Senior and two-time All-American Roger Kish fell short of the honor in
his final season, as he was defeated 8-2 by Boise State's Kirk Smith in
consolation competition. The Gophers (56.5 team points) dropped to 10th
place as a team as the Iowa Hawkeyes (102 points) advanced three to the
finals and mathematically clinched their first national title since
2000.
Ness was still the main event for Gopher fans at the Scottrade Center.
It was the second win in a row for Ness over Donahue and his fourth in
five collegiate match-ups. Saturday night's 125-pound national
championship match will be a re-match of the 2008 Big Ten title bout,
as Indiana's Angel Escobedo also won his semifinal with Iowa's Charlie
Falck.
Ness and Donahue's match was just the latest entry in what is becoming
one of college wrestling's most entertaining rivalries. After a
scoreless first period, Ness jumped ahead early in the second with a
quick escape, but fell behind 2-1 with 27 seconds left in the period
when Donahue was able to score a rare takedown on the Gopher sophomore.
Ness tied the score in the waning seconds of the middle period, but
fell behind 3-2 again at the start of the third when Donahue began down
and picked up a quick escape.
It appeared Ness' championship hopes were slipping away as the final
seconds counted down on the clock with the Gopher still trailing 3-2.
The pair locked up out-of-bounds at the 57-second mark, and Donahue was
warned for stalling near the 20-second mark as he desperately clung to
his narrow lead. But with a last-ditch effort, Ness corralled the
Husker's lower half as he attempted to flee out of bounds with eight
seconds remaining in the match and was awarded the go-ahead takedown.
“You never give up,” said Ness about his mindset during the match’s
closing seconds. “You never know what is going to happen. [Donahue] was
tired, I’m tired, but good things happen if you wrestle hard for seven
minutes.”
Ness held position during the final ticks and gave his signature point
into the Gopher crowd after being recognized as the winner of the
match. Ness dropped last year's NCAA semifinal match to Indiana's
Escobedo, but has lost just one time in 40 matches during since that
instance. The Bloomington, Minn. native improved to 3-0 in the
tournament and 38-1 on the season.
“It’s going to be a great match,” said Ness about his looming title
bout with Escobedo. “He’s a tough competitor… I’m going to really have
to really fight to get off the bottom. I can’t let him ride me all day
long.”
Reiter was also a nice story during Friday night’s action, as he
clinched his third career All-American award and first since 2006. The
Gilbertville, Iowa native won two tight matches in consolation
competition after his semifinal loss to MSU’s Franklin Gomez earlier in
the day. Reiter led 4-2 heading into the third period in his first
Friday night consolation match with Northern Illinois’ Patrick
Castillo, but the Husky pulled to within one with a quick third-period
escape. Reiter then brought the Gopher crowd to its feet with a big
takedown with 46 seconds left in the match, and despite a late escape
(eight seconds remaining) held on for a 6-5 win with the bonus point
for riding time (1:57 worth).
His All-American status sealed, Reiter took to the mat against Iowa
State’s fifth-seeded Nick Fanthorpe, looking to avenge a dual meet loss
earlier this season. Reiter scored a takedown in the first and rode
Fanthorpe for over half the second period, building up an impressive
1:45 worth of riding time after two frames. The senior tacked on an
escape in the third and won 4-2 with the bonus point to advance to
Saturday morning’s consolation semifinals.
Reiter’s first match Saturday will be a re-match of his Big Ten’s
133-pound semifinal with Illinois’ Jimmy Kennedy (Kennedy defeated
Reiter 5-1 in Minneapolis two weeks ago). The winner of that match will
wrestle for third place, while the loser goes to the fifth-place match.
Dustin Schlatter joined Reiter in the Gopher three-time All-American
club, but will finish with the lowest national place in his career this
season. After losing to N.C. State’s Darrion Caldwell in Friday
morning’s quarterfinals, Schlatter took care of business against
Purdue’s Jake Patacsil in his first consolation match, winning 4-1. But
the junior met up with third-ranked J.P. O’Connor of Harvard in his
next consolation bout and simply ran out of energy in a marathon,
three-overtime match, losing 3-2.
With the semifinal matches taking center stage, those watching O’Connor
and Schlatter were treated to an epic match between two top-three
wrestlers. After a scoreless first, O’Connor took a 1-0 lead with a
second period escape. Schlatter started down in the final regulation
period and grabbed a 2-1 lead with a nifty reversal, but O’Connor
quickly tied the score and sent match into overtime. The one-minute
sudden victory overtime passed without either wrestler able to score,
and a noticeably-tired Schlatter was unable to escape O’Connor after
starting down in the initial 30-second tiebreaker period.
Schlatter nearly suppressed O’Connor during the second tiebreaker
period, but the Crimson grappler escaped his grasp with just four
seconds remaining to win the match. Schlatter will wrestle Mike Rowe of
Oklahoma for seventh place Saturday morning.
Although he didn’t wrestle up to his seed, three-time NCAA qualifier
Rivera did cement his first-career All-American award in his final
national tournament. He dominated Arizona State’s Chris Drouin en route
to a 12-1 major decision, but dropped a tough 8-2 match to Iowa State’s
Nick Gallick in his second consolation match. Rivera will wrestle
10th-seeded Cody Cleveland of Tennessee-Chattanooga for seventh place
Saturday.
After falling to top-seeded Jake Varner in the quarterfinals, Kish
battled through his final career match with Boise State’s Smith. Kish
finishes his Gopher career as one of the most decorated 184-pounders in
Minnesota history with 117 wins, three national tournament appearances
and two All-American awards.
Their second straight national title officially out of reach, Ness’
title bout with Escobedo will be the main focus for Minnesota during
Saturday’s final day. ESPN is set to broadcast Saturday’s championship
session live beginning at 7 p.m., with the 125-pound scheduled to be
the first of the evening.
Team Standings After Four Sessions:
1. Iowa (102 points)
2. Ohio State (71.0)
3. Iowa State (68.0)
4. Penn State (63.0)
5. Central Michigan (61.5)
6. Michigan (61.0)
7. Nebraska (58.0)
7. Oklahoma State
9. Cornell (57.5)
10. Minnesota (56.5)
11. Missouri (42.0)
12. Illinois (37.0)
13. Northwestern (36.0)
Session Four Results:
125 – No. 1 Jayson Ness
Semifinal: Ness dec. Paul Donahue (Nebraska), 4-3
Ness advances to final vs. Angel Escobedo (Indiana)
133 – No. 8 Mack Reiter
Consolation: Reiter dec. #10 Patrick Castillo (Northern Illinois), 6-5
Consolation: Reiter dec. #5 Nick Fanthorpe (Iowa State), 4-2
Reiter advances to consolation semifinal vs. #2 Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois)
141 – No. 5 Manuel Rivera
Consolation: Rivera maj. dec. Chris Drouin (Arizona State), 12-1
Consolation: #9 Nick Gallick (Iowa State) dec. Rivera, 8-2
Rivera vs. #3 Kellen Russell (Michigan) in seventh place match Saturday morning
149 – No. 2 Dustin Schlatter
Consolation: Schlatter dec. #8 Jake Patacsil (Purdue), 4-1
Consolation: #3 J.P. O’Connor (Harvard) dec. Schlatter, 3-2 TB2
Schlatter vs. Mike Rowe (Oklahoma) in seventh place match Saturday morning
184 – No. 8 Roger Kish
Consolation: #10 Kirk Smith (Boise State) dec. Kish, 8-2
Kish eliminated (2-3 record)