Gophers Move Up to Eighth after Session II
March 18, 2010
Omaha, Neb. - After struggling in the morning, the Minnesota wrestlers
regrouped for an impressive showing in the evening session, winning six
matches today (Mar. 18) with three individuals still in contention for
a national title at the 2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships.
The Gophers ended session one in 10th place in the team standings, and
fell out of the top ten momentarily during session two. After closing
the day with back-to-back wins though, the Gophers found themselves in
eighth place with 20.0 points. Just two behind Cornell with 22.0 and
just three out of the top-four with 23.0. Iowa is still in the lead
with 34.5, ahead of second place Oklahoma State with 26.0. Iowa State
with 24.0 is third, and Ohio State, Oklahoma and Wisconsin are all tied
for fourth with 23.0.
Three Gophers are leading the charge, maintaining their status in the
winner's bracket. Advancing to tomorrow mornings championship
quarterfinals were Jayson Ness (Bloomington, Minn.) at 133, Sonny Yohn
(Alamosa, Colo.) at 197 and Ben Berhow (Hayward, Minn.) at heavyweight.
Each is now just one win away from becoming an All-American, Ness for
the fourth time and Berhow and Yohn for the first.
Also winning and avoiding elimination were Zach Sanders (Wabasha,
Minn.) at 125, Cody Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) at 165 and Scott Glasser
(Bismarck, N.D.) at 174. Each suffered disappointing losses in the
first session but turned in dominating performances to move on.
After an opening round win, third seeded Mike Thorn (St. Michael,
Minn.) was upset and now falls to the consolation bracket. He'll still
have a match tomorrow morning, though, while Mario Mason (Moorestown,
N.J.) lost for the second time in the evening session and saw his first
run at the NCAA tournament come to an end. Also officially out of the
tournament is Dustin Schlatter (Masillion, Ohio) who defaulted out of
his second match, after his injury in his opener.
Ness won his 30th straight match, claiming a 5-0 decision over Ian
Paddock of Ohio State. The 30 straight wins is the ninth best mark in
team history and the Gophers' best since he won 36 straight in his
sophomore season. In the quarterfinals he'll face the No. 8 seed, Tyler
Graff of Wisconsin. Ness beat Graff 11-4 in the Big Ten semifinals two
weeks ago.
The surprise of the day though was Berhow, who came into the tournament
unseeded, and has now knocked off two seeded wrestlers, including sixth
seeded Nate Everhart from Indiana this evening. For the second
consecutive match, Berhow found himself in overtime and for the second
consecutive match, he was on the winning end of it. A takedown with
about 10 seconds left gave Berhow his second NCAA Tournament win over
the weekend, matching his career total from his first two seasons. In
the quarterfinals Berhow will face the No. 3 seed in Lehigh's Zachery
Rey.
The toughest test tomorrow will arguably be for Sonny Yohn, who must
take on top-seeded and defending national champion Jake Varner of Iowa
State. Yohn beat Alan Gelogaev of Oklahoma State 4-3, using a riding
time advantage for the win. Yohn improves to 2-0 in his first NCAA
Tournament appearance, and is a winner in seven of his last eight.
The four in the consolation bracket will have to wrestle twice tomorrow
to stay alive, beginning with Sanders who faces Frank Lomas of CSU
Bakersfield. Thorn's first match is against Chris Drouin of Arizona
State, while Cody Yohn will wrestle 11th seeded Rick Schmelyun from
Bloomsburgh. Finally, Glasser moves on to face Daniel Rinaldi from
Rutgers.
With seven wrestlers still competing, and three in championship
contention, the Gophers will have plenty of chances to rise in the team
standings over the next two days of the tournament. Session III begins
at 9:30 a.m. (CT) on Friday, Mar. 19.
