Jayson Ness Becomes Four-Time All-American
March 19, 2010
Omaha, Neb. - Session III started in grand fashion for the Gophers
this morning (Mar. 19), with five consecutive wins. Zach Sanders
(Wabasha, Minn.), Jayson Ness (Bloomington, Minn.), Mike Thorn (St.
Michael, Minn.) Cody Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) and Scott Glasser (Bismarck,
N.D.) all opened the day with wins, but the most notable of course was
Ness.
The senior becomes just the sixth Golden Gopher ever to earn
All-America honors all four years, as he advanced to the semifinals
tonight. He was his 31st straight match, beating No. 8 seed Tyler Graff
of Wisconsin 4-0. Ness finds himself in the semifinals for the fourth
time in his career, having advanced to the National Championship match
once previously.
As a team the Gophers climbed up one spot to seventh, holding 35.0
points, just ahead of Penn State and Wisconsin with 33.0 in eighth, but
eight behind Oklahoma State with 43.0 in sixth. Iowa has strengthened
their grip on first place, extending their lead to 19.0 points with
73.0 through three sessions, ahead of second place Cornell with 54.0.
Iowa State and Ohio State with 46.0 and Oklahoma with 44.0 round out
the top-five.
Iowa is riding the strength of five wrestlers still in championship
contention, whereas Ness is the Gophers last undefeated competitor.
Sonny Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) and Ben Berhow (Hayward, Minn.) each joined
Ness in the championship bracket at the start of the day, but lost in
their quarterfinal matches to top-seeded opponents.
Sonny Yohn lost to the nation's No. 1 seed in Jake Varner from Iowa
State. A close match throughout, Varner scored just one takedown in a
4-0 victory, beating Yohn for the second time on the season. The No. 8
seed, Yohn will face unseeded Tyler Sorenson with a win meaning
All-America status.
Ben Berhow (Hayward, Minn.) is also one win away from being an
All-American, after entering the tournament unseeded. He fell out of
the championship round, losing 2-1 in the tiebreaker to Zachery Rey of
Lehihg, his third straight match that went to overtime. Berhow must now
face Jarrod Trice of Central Michigan, the No. 7 seed entering the
tournament.
Sanders and Thorn each won twice in the morning session, advancing in
the consolation bracket. After a disappointing loss to start the
tournament, Sanders has now won three straight and is one win from his
second All-American certificate. He began the day with an 8-5 decision
over Frank Lomas of Cal State Bakersfield, beating him for the second
time on the season. He then took down Jason Lara of Oregon State to
advance to Session IV tonight. This evening he'll Fred Santaite from
Boston University.
Third seeded Thorn rebounded from a loss last night to notch his second
major decision of the tournament with a 9-1 win over Chris Drouin of
Arizona State. He then came from behind to win by fall over Todd
Schavrein of Missouri, beating him for the second time. His second
appearance at the NCAA Tournament, he is one win away from becoming an
All-American, and he'll face Seth Ciasuli from Lehigh to get there.
After opening with wins on the day, Cody Yohn and Glasser lost in their
second match, ending their seasons. Each went 2-2 in their first
appearance at the National Championships, and return next season. Yohn,
a freshman who split time at weights classes, finishes the season 23-17
with a 7-10 mark at 165. Glasser, a junior Big Ten runner-up, ends the
year 32-8, as the team wins leader.
Berhow, Ness, Sanders, Thorn, and Sonny Yohn will return to the mat
tonight for Session IV at 6:30. Ness is one win away from a national
championship match, while the rest are two wins away from the third
place match.
