University of Minnesota Athletics
GOLDEN GOPHER WRESTLERS DEFEAT NEBRASKA 29-13
1/7/2000 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
The night started off at 197 pounds where No. 3-ranked Brad Vering defeated sophomore Owen Elzen, ranked seventh in the nation, with a 17-7 major decision. Minnesota fought right back when senior All-American heavyweight Brock Lesnar, ranked No. 1 nationally, pinned Matt Zutavern in 39 seconds.
Sophomore All-American Leroy Vega, ranked second in the nation, defeated Joe Malia with an 18-4 major decision to improve his undefeated record to 17-0. At 133 pounds, junior Brett Lawrence, ranked 13th nationally, and Todd Beckerman, ranked 14th, battled it out. Beckerman came away with the 8-2 decision. Just before halftime, sophomore Chad Erikson recorded his ninth pin of the season in 3:20 over Adam Kastl of Nebraska.
At 149 pounds, redshirt freshman Jared Lawrence collected his 16th victory of the season with a 12-4 major decision over 15th-ranked Joe Henson. Lawrence is ranked ninth in the country. The other redshirt freshman for the Golden Gophers, Luke Becker, had one of the toughest matches of the night against No. 3-ranked All- American Bryan Snyder. Snyder pulled out an 11-4 victory with a hard fight from Becker. The 165- pound match was forfeited by Nebraska, giving sophomore John Hardy a victory.
At 174 pounds, junior Brad Pike made his return to the mat. Pike and No. 19-ranked Ati Conner had a battle that went down to the final seconds, but Conner came away with the 7-6 victory in the end. No. 2-ranked Brandon Eggum finished the match with an 8-6 decision over No. 7-ranked Charles McTorry at 184 pounds to finish out the match.
The Golden Gophers will travel to Stillwater, Okla., Sunday to compete against No. 3-ranked Oklahoma State at 3 p.m.
Minnesota 29, Nebraska 13 Sports Pavilion 197 -- No. 3 Brad Vering (NU) maj. dec. No. 7 Owen Elzen 17-7 HWT -- No. 1 Brock Lesnar (MINN) pinned Matt Zutavern 0:39 125 -- No. 2 Leroy Vega (MINN) maj. dec. Joe Malia (NU) 18-4 133 -- No. 14 Todd Beckerman (NU) dec. No. 13 Brett Lawrence (MINN) 8-2 141 -- No. 17 Chad Erikson (MINN) pinned Adam Kastl (NU) 3:20 149 -- No. 9 Jared Lawrence (MINN) maj. dec. No. 15 Joe Henson (NU) 12-4 157 -- No. 3 Bryan Snyder (NU) dec. Luke Becker (MINN) 11-4 165 -- John Hardy (MINN) won by forfeit 174 -- No. 19 Ati Conner (NU) dec. Brad Pike (MINN) 7-6 184 -- No. 2 Brandon Eggum (MINN) dec. No. 7 Charles McTorry (NU) 8-6
