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2008-09 College Results - Regular Season

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College Tournament Time Post-Season Results, Schedules, News

Gophers Head to Happy Valley for Big Ten Meet

March 3, 2009

A year afer the Gophers hosted the event at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, the Big Ten Championships will call the Bryce Jordan Center on the campus of Penn State home this weekend.

Minnesota will send five ranked wrestlers into the championships, including former Big Ten champion Jayson Ness (133 pounds). Zach Sanders (125 pounds), Mike Thorn (141 pounds), Tyler Safratowich (157 pounds) and Ben Berhow (Hwt) are each ranked in the NWCA/InterMat polls this week.

Just three Gophers in the lineup this week have Big Ten Championships experience (Ness, Safratowich, Berhow) and J Robinson’s lineup includes three redshirt freshmen (Sanders, Joe Grygelko, Sonny Yohn).

King Pin
With a pin of Indiana’s Matt Ortega on Feb. 22, Jayson Ness tied former Golden Gopher legend Billy Pierce (1992-96) for most pins in the history of Minnesota wrestling with 51.

A year after tying former head assistant coach Marty Morgan’s single-season falls record with 20 pins, the Bloomington, Minn. native has put together another dominating campaign, racking up 16 wins by fall this season.

Young Team Carries Flag
Minnesota will rely on an uncharacteristically young team this March to carry on a tradition of excellence during championship season. Seven grapplers in the Minnesota lineup will be making their championship season debuts this weekend. The young and talented group will work to continue on a March tradition of excellence that the team has established over the past decade. J Robinson’s Gophers have finished first or second at the Big Ten Championships each year since 1999.

Six of the seven new faces to the Gophers’ Big Ten Championships lineup did not compete at all at the varsity level last season. Zach Sanders, Mike Thorn, Joe Grygelko and Sonny Yohn each served a redshirt season last year while juniors Matt Everson and Gordon Bierschenk were finishing tours of duty with the U.S. Amry in Iraq. Scott Glasser, who makes his postseason debut this weekend as a sophomore, was injured for much of last season.

On The Bubble
Plenty of athletes wrestling at Big Ten’s this weekend will also be looking to solidify an invitation to the NCAA Championships, held Mar. 19-21 in St. Louis, Mo. Some wrestlers ‘on the bubble’ for a bid to NCAA’s include the Gophers’ Sonny Yohn (184 pounds) and Gordon Bierschenk (197 pounds), among others.

The NCAA field of 33 wrestlers in each weight class is comprised of those qualifying via a complex rating system which includes variables such as winning percentage, ratings percentage index (RPI) and Coaches’ Ranking (CR). Bierschenk enters championship season ranked 33rd in the final coaches’ poll, while Yohn has been in and out of the rankings throughout the Big Ten dual season.

Sanders Bursts On National Scene
Redshirt freshman Zach Sanders (Wabasha, Minn.) has been one of the most consistent wrestlers of the 2008-09 season for the Gophers. After taking over the 125-pound class from two-time All-American Jayson Ness, Sanders started his 2008-09 campaign with 15 consecutive victories.

The last four of those 15 season-opening wins came at the renowned Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Dec. 5-6 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Three ofSanders’ wins at the Cliff Keen came against ranked foes. After suffering a loss in the title match of the Las Vegas Invitational to Penn’s sixth-ranked Rollie Peterkin, he reeled off 12 consecutive wins.

His win on Feb. 13 over Wisconsin’s Drew Hammen made him the first Gopher to reach the 30-win plateau this season. He has six pins and six major decisions to go along with a team-leading 31 victories and five wins by technical fall.

Bierschenk Grabs Big Ten's Weekly Award
Following a pair of big wins early in the Big Ten dual season, Minnesota junior Gordon Bierschenk (Waynesville, Mo.) was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week on Feb. 3. Bierschenk, who returned to the Minnesota wrestling program this year after serving a two-year tour of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Army, is the third Gopher to earn the weekly award this season. Mike Thorn (Nov. 24) and Joe Nord (Dec. 23) have also been recognized.

The Gophers’ 197-pounder pinned Penn State’s J.R. Brown to vault the Gophers to a 20-19 win over the Nittany Lions on Jan. 30 in State College. His 5-2 decision victory over Cody Gardner was the catalyst for a Minnesota comeback that resulted in an 18-16 upset win at No. 5 Ohio State on Feb. 1. With the wins, Bierschenk improved his season record to 11-9, including a perfect 3-0 mark in Big Ten duals.

Bierschenk finished the Big Ten dual season with a 5-2 mark in Big Ten duals and enters the meet this weekend as the fourth seed at 197 pounds.

Berhow Turning Heads
Ben Berhow enjoyed a career-long nine-match winning streak punctuated with wins over No. 8 Kyle Massey of Wisconsin and Jordan Johnson of Iowa in the midst of the Big Ten dual season. Berhow’s streak was finally snapped with a loss to top-ranked David Zabriske of Iowa State on Feb. 20.

With a win on Feb. 22 in the Gophers’ Big Ten dual finale against Indiana, Berhow put the finishing touches on a perfect 8-0 mark in Big Ten duals. Berhow is the only Minnesota wrestler with more than six wins in conference duals this season.

His win over Massey on Feb. 13 was his second over the Wisconsin heavyweight this season and helped Berhow to leapfrog Massey in the following week’s InterMat/NWCA individual rankings, moving to 17th in the poll. Berhow is the third-highest ranked Big Ten heavyweight in the poll behind Iowa’s Dan Erekson (No. 7) and Illinois’ John Wise (No. 8).

Berhow, who is ranked 16th nationally by W.I.N. Magazine and 18th by Amateur Wrestling News this week, is the second seed in the heavyweight bracket this weekend.

Early Reviews Prove Positive
After inking the nation’s top recruiting class prior to the 2008-09 season, the Gophers’ 2009 class is already drawing acclaim. Minnesota announced the signing of Jake Kettler (Ramsey, Minn.), Alec Ortiz (Newberg, Ore.), Bart Reiter (Gilbertville, Iowa), Pat Smith (Chaska, Minn.), Kevin Steinhaus (Pennock, Minn.), David Thorn (St. Michael, Minn.) and Danny Zilverberg (Wayzata, Minn.) during the early signing period that culminated with National Signing Day on Nov. 20.

In the issue released Dec. 8, W.I.N. Magazine ranks Minnesota’s early signing class tops in the Big Ten and sixth nationally.

Thorn in Opponents' Sides
Mike Thorn (St. Michael, Minn.) stepped into the Gophers’ starting lineup at 133 pounds for a significant portion of the season during the 2006-07 campaign to fill in for an injured Mack Reiter. After serving a redshirt season last year, and armed with his experience wrestling against some of the best collegiate wresters in the country as a true freshman, Thorn has posted an impressive 26-13 record thus far this season at 141 pounds.

On Feb. 22, Thorn wrapped up the Big Ten dual season with a 7-3 win over Indiana’s Andrae Hernadez. Thorn, who is tabbed 7th in this week’s InterMat/NWCA rankings, has logged a team-high 17 matches against ranked foes this year, including nine bouts with top-five ranked opponents. Thorn is seeded fourth for this weekend’s Championships, behind Wisconsin’s Zach Tanelli (1st), Michigan’s Kellen Russell (2nd) and Iowa’s Alex Tsirtsis (3rd).

Six Gophers Nab Seeds
Six Golden Gophers are seeded in the top eight in their weight class in the preliminary seeds announced Mar. 2 by the Big Ten. The pre-seeds are determined by a vote amongst the conference’s head wrestling coaches after consideration of regular-season results. As a team, Minnesota claimed one second seed, four fourth-seeds and one fifth seed.

BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS LINEUP

Wt.	Wrestler	Overall	Big Ten Seed
125	#7 Zach Sanders (R-Fr., Wabasha, Minn.)	31-5	5
133	#4 Jayson Ness (Jr., Bloomington, Minn.)	30-5	4
141	#7 Mike Thorn (So., St. Michael, Minn.)	26-13	4
149	Joe Grygelko (R-Fr., Greenfield, Minn.)	7-18	-
157	#16 Tyler Safratowich (Sr., Park Rapids, Minn.)	26-11	4
165	Scott Glasser (So., Bismarck, N.D.)	19-15	-
174	Matt Everson (Jr., Mitchell, S.D.)	4-6	-
184	Sonny Yohn (R-Fr., Alamosa, Colo.)	8-13	-
197	Gordon Bierschenk (Jr., Waynesville, Mo.)	13-12	4
285	#16 Ben Berhow (So., Hayward, Minn.)	24-7	2

NCAA's Return to Gateway City
After participating at the Big Ten meet this weekend, the Gophers will hope to make a splash at the NCAA Championships in two weeks. The Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. will host the event for the second consecutive year. For more information on the championships, visit stlsports.org/wrestling.