University of Minnesota Athletics
NO. 2 WRESTLERS SET TO DEFEND BIG TEN TITLE
3/1/2000 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
LAWRENCE AND EGGUM ARE NO. 1 SEEDS: All 10 members of the starting lineup are seeded in the 2000 Big Ten Championships. Two are No. 1 seeds while three wrestlers are No. 2 seeds.
125 Pounds: 1. Jeremy Hunter (PSU); 2. Jody Strittmatter (IOWA), 3. Leroy Vega (MINN); 4. Jason Silverstein (PUR); 5. Pat Cassidy (IND); 6. Ryan Escobar (ILL); 7. Kore Sharpley (OSU); 8. Chris Williams (OSU).
133 Pounds: 1. Eric Juergens (IOWA); 2. Pat McNamara (MSU); 3. Joe Warren (MICH); 4. Brett Lawrence (MINN); 5. Scott Moore (PSU); 6. Evan Robinson (PUR); 7. John Giacche (NW); 8. David Stoltz (ILL).
141 Pounds: 1. Scott Schatzman (NW); 2. Doug Schwab (IOWA); 3. Carl Perry (ILL); 4. Chad Erikson (MINN); 5. Damion Logan (MICH); 6. Mike Castillo (MSU); 7. Jason Betz (PSU); 8. Grant Hoerr (WIS).
149 Pounds: 1. Jared Lawrence (MINN); 2. Mike Zadick (IOWA); 3. Adam Tirapelle (ILL); 4. Mike Kulczycki (MICH); 5. Karl Nadolsky (MSU); 6. Brian Roskovich (OSU); 7. Tim Meyers (IND); 8. Brent Narkiewicz (PSU).
157 Pounds: 1. T.J. Williams (IOWA); 2. Luke Becker (MINN); 3. Gray Maynard (MSU); 4. Kevin Stanley (IND); 5. Griff Powell (ILL); 6. Cory Wallman (WIS); 7. Drew Pariano (NW); 8. Josh Janson (OSU).
165 Pounds: 1. Don Pritzlaff (WIS); 2. Brad Pike (MINN); 3. Peter Rogers (OSU); 4. Bill Zeman (ILL); 5. Greg DeGrand (MSU); 6. Matt Anderson (IOWA); 7. Jason Rawls (MICH); 8. Butch Hildebrand (IND).
174 Pounds: 1. Kole Clauson (WIS); 2. Ben King (ILL); 3. Gabe McMahan (IOWA); 4. Mark Bybee (NW); 5. William Hill (MSU); 6. Delaney Berger (MINN); 7. Joel Walker (OSU); 8. Mark Becks (PSU).
184 Pounds: 1. Brandon Eggum (MINN); 2. Andy Hrovat (MICH); 3. Nate Patrick (ILL); 4. Jessman Smith (IOWA); 5. Jeff Knupp (PSU); 6. Ty Matthews (IND); 7. Jared Williams (PUR); 8. Tom Ciezki (NW).
197 Pounds: 1. Nick Muzashvili (MSU); 2. Nick Preston (OSU); 3. Viktor Sveda (IND); 4. Pat Quirk (ILL); 5. Owen Elzen (MINN); 6. Ross Thatcher (PSU); 7. Lee Weber (IOWA); 8. Steve Alf (WIS).
285 Pounds: 1. Wes Hand (IOWA); 2. Brock Lesnar (MINN); 3. John Lochart (ILL); 4. Matt Brink (MICH); 5. Matt Lamb (MSU); 6. Jake Vercelli (PUR); 7. Mark Janus (PSU); 8. Josh Saul (NW).
MINNESOTA'S HISTORY AT BIG TENS: The Golden Gophers have won five Big Ten titles in their history. The first one came back in 1914, which actually was a tie with Illinois for the crown. Minnesota also won the title in 1941 in Columbus, Ohio. The Golden Gophers also won the championship in 1957 in Evanston, Ill., and the last time they won it was in 1959 in Iowa City, Iowa.
Overall, Minnesota has claimed 61 individual titles and has had one four-time Big Ten Champion in Verne Gagne (1944, 1947-49). The Golden Gophers have also had three three-time Big Ten champions in Dick Mueller (1953, 1957-58), Larry Zilverberg (1974-75, 1976) and Tim Hartung (1997-99). Minnesota has eight wrestlers who have won two Big Ten titles.
Minnesota has had four wrestlers earn the Wrestler of the Year Award in the Big Ten. Those include Ed Giese (1986), Dave Zuniga (1990), Marty Morgan (1991) and Tim Hartung (1999). The Golden Gophers have only had one Big Ten Freshman of the Year in Keith Nix in 1988.
HEAD COACH J ROBINSON: Minnesota Head Coach J Robinson has built quite the wrestling dynasty at Minnesota. In his 14th season, Robinson has one of his best teams ready to defend a Big Ten title and make a run at a first-ever NCAA Championship. Robinson has won Big Ten Coach of the Year four times in his career: 1989, 1994, 1997 and last year. He currently has compiled a 202-80-3 overall record and 68-41-2 in the Big Ten.
MULTIPLE BIG TEN CHAMPIONS: Minnesota has had more than one individual Big Ten Champion in 10 different years. In 1948, 1981, 1990 and 1999, Minnesota had three individual champions. The other years, the Golden Gophers had two individual champions. Those years are 1937, 1963, 1964, 1979, 1983 and 1989.
DOMINANACE: Minnesota senior All-American heavyweight Brock Lesnar finished the season with a near flawless record of 22-1 overall and led the team with 11 pins. Lesnar is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation according to Amateur Wrestling News and third according to Intermat. He is also 19-1 in dual meets and 7-1 in the Big Ten. He has won three matches by major decision and one by technical fall. In 23 matches, Lesnar has scored 93 points. Lesnar's lone loss occurred in the final meet of the season to No. 3-ranked Wes Hand of Iowa, a 5-3 decision.
A TALE OF TWO BROTHERS: Minnesota like several other wrestling programs, has several sets of brothers on the team. This year, two of them are both starters for the Golden Gophers. Junior Brett Lawrence starts at 133 pounds, while redshirt freshman Jared Lawrence is the starter at 149 pounds. Both are from Sandpoint, Idaho. Brett is ranked 12th nationally with an overall record of 24-10 and is 11-8 in dual meets with four pins. Jared, ranked third, is 27-5 overall and 15-4 in dual meets with eight pins. Jared finished the season undefeated in the Big Ten, while Brett was 5-3 in conference meets.
ROBINSON REACHES WIN NO. 200: The Golden Gophers and head coach J Robinson reached win No. 200 with a 32-6 victory over No. 9 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. Robinson's career mark 202-80- 3 overall.
BECKER IS ON THE RISE: Redshirt freshman Luke Becker is making a name for himself in his first season as a member of the starting lineup. Becker, ranked ninth nationally at 157 pounds, recorded two outstanding victories at Michigan and Michigan State. Becker pinned Tony Holified in 6:12 and then pinned No. 8-ranked Gray Maynard of Michigan State in 6:49. Becker had won four consecutive matches since losing to Iowa State's Cole Sanderson in the championship match of the National Duals. In the final meet of the season he faced No. 1- ranked T.J. Williams of Iowa. Becker led the match 10-9 in the final seconds, but with not even one second remaining the official signaled a reversal for Williams, giving him the 11-10 decision. It was Becker's lone loss in the Big Ten.
EMERGING ELZEN: Sophomore Owen Elzen has also made his name become well-known over the past month. Elzen, ranked ninth at 197 pounds, also beat two ranked opponents five weeks ago. Elzen defeated No. 14 Steve Alf with a 4-0 decision and Saturday he snuck away with an 8-6 decision over No. 11-ranked Viktor Sveda. Four weeks ago he defeated two Big Ten opponents. Elzen defeated Matt Huebner of Michigan State with a 14-2 major decision. He then beat Iowa's Lee Weber, ranked 11th, 8-4. Elzen finished the year with a 25-11 overall record, a 10-7 dual meet record and a 4-4 mark in the Big Ten.
LAWRENCE CONTINUES TO DOMINATE: Redshirt freshman Jared Lawrence is having a very successful season with a 27-5 overall mark, including a 15-4 dual meet mark and a flawless 8- 0 mark in the Big Ten. Lawrence, along with Brandon Eggum, were the only two Golden Gophers to finish the season with undefeated mark in the Big Ten. Lawrence pinned Wisconsin's P.J. Dowling in 5:45 four weeks ago and defeated Dan Cysewski of Indiana with a 22-6 technical fall decision in 6:29 the following day. He finished the regular dual meet schedule with a 12-match win streak. The last match he lost was an 11-4 decision to Oklahoma State's Reggie Wright. Two weeks ago, Lawrence defeated No. 3-ranked Mike Zadick of Iowa with an 8-4 decision.
PIKE'S PEAK: Junior Brad Pike is in his first year with the starting lineup at Minnesota. The 165- pounder has made his way into the national rankings this year and will look to reach the title match of the Big Ten Championships this weekend. Of his four losses on the year, two of them are to Big Ten opponents. Pike lost to Peter Rogers of Ohio State 1-0 and to Wisconsin's Don Pritzlaff 7-3. Pike is currently 14-4 overall with a dual meet mark of 10-3.
ERIKSON WILL LOOK TO QUALIFY: Last year sophomore Chad Erikson had just as much ability as anybody to not only place at the Big Ten Championships, but to win the enter thing at 141 pounds. What happened was the opposite. In his second match, Erikson sprained his ankle, leaving him limited movement and resulting in a 15-7 loss to Carl Perry of Illinois. Erikson managed to wrestle two more matches, facing Michigan State's Isaac Miller in the seventh place match. The winner of the match would qualify, the loser would be sent home. In the seventh place match, Erikson wrestled with a lot of heart, but Miller attacked at the ankle and won the match 7-6 to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Erikson did not receive the wildcard bid and was the only Golden Gopher to not qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
VEGA ON A VENGEANCE: Sophomore All-American Leroy Vega has compiled a 28-3 overall record with a dual meet record of 17-3. His three losses all came within three points. Vega's first loss was to Jeremy Hunter of Penn State, a 4-1 loss at University Park, Pa. His second loss came at National Duals to Oklahoma State's Jeff Ragan, an 8-8 tie in two overtimes with Ragan winning the match. In the last dual meet of the year, Vega led his match with Iowa's Jody Strittmatter, but ended up losing with a 9-6 decision. After placing third in the 1999 Big Ten Championships, look for Vega to reach for the title in 2000.
DEFENDING HIS TITLE: Senior All- American Brandon Eggum is one of two returning Big Ten Champions from last year's Big Ten title winning team. Eggum has suffered only four losses on the year, three of which are to Cael Sanderson, the defending NCAA Champion and the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 184 pounds. Eggum finished the Big Ten season with an undefeated mark of 8-0. He is the No. 1 seed at 184 pounds and will look to defend his Big Ten title.
CLIMBING THE ALL-TIME CAREER MARKS: Senior Brandon Eggum is climbing the all-time career victories list in 14th place with a 106-22-0. He is chasing Marty Morgan (1988-91) in 13th place with a career mark of 110-12-0.
STREAK ENDS: The Golden Gophers started the year with a 12-0 dual match undefeated streak before losing to Iowa State Sunday at the National Duals Tournament. Before the match, Minnesota was riding a 23-dual match win streak dating back to last season. The 23-dual match win streak was the longest in Golden Gopher history. Previously, Minnesota had put together two 18-dual match win streaks.
BREAKING THE MARK: The University of Minnesota broke the school record in attendance by packing Williams Arena with 13,128 people Sunday afternoon against No. 1-ranked Iowa. The previous school record was set January 23, 1998, against Iowa in Williams Arena.
FOLLOW THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS ON WRESTLINGMALL.COM: The Wrestlingmall.com will be covering the Big Ten Championships live match-by- match this weekend. Go to www.thewrestlingmall.com on your computer to access results from the Big Ten Championships.
NO. 1 IOWA WRESTLERS DEFEAT NO. 2 MINNESOTA 20-13: The No. 1-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes edged the No. 2-ranked Golden Gophers 20-13 in front of a school record crowd of 13,128 at Williams Arena.
The afternoon started at 141 pounds with defending national champion junior Doug Schwab, ranked No. 1 in the nation, defeating No. 12-ranked Chad Erikson with a 23-10 major decision. Minnesota redshirt freshman Jared Lawrence, ranked fifth, put the Golden Gophers on the board with a 8-4 decision over No. 3-ranked Mike Zadick at 149 pounds.
At 157 pounds, redshirt freshman Luke Becker led the match 10-9 but with just one second remaining No. 1-ranked T.J. Williams scored a reversal to win the match 11-10. At 165 pounds junior Brad Pike recorded an 11-4 decision over Matt Anderson to put the Golden Gophers down by one point 7-6.
Senior Delaney Berger lost his match at 174 pounds to No. 16- ranked Gabe McMahan 12-6. At 184 pounds senior All-American Brandon Eggum defeated Jessman Smith with a15-6 major decision to tie the score at 10 each. At 197 pounds, sophomore Owen Elzen defeated No. 11-ranked Lee Weber with a 8-4 decision to give Minnesota its first lead 13-10.
In the heavyweight match, No. 1-ranked Brock Lesnar faced No. 3-ranked Wes Hand. The match remained close, but Hand came away with a 5-3 decision to tie the score one again. At 125 pounds, sophomore Leroy Vega also came close, but dropped a 9- 6 decision to No. 2-ranked Jody Strittmatter to give Iowa the 16- 13 lead.
In the final match of the afternoon junior Brett Lawrence, ranked 11th nationally, could not handle No.1-ranked Eric Juergens of Iowa, losing 19-6.
NO. 2 WRESTLERS CRUSH NORTHWESTERN 35-6: The No. 2- ranked Golden Gopher wrestling team crushed Northwestern 35-6 this evening in a Big Ten dual meet held in Fairmont, Minn. Minnesota won eight of 10 matches this evening to score 35 team points and win the match. The Golden Gophers improve to 17-1 overall and 7-0 in the Big Ten, while Northwestern drops to 6-11-1 and 1-7 in the Big Ten.
The evening began at 184 pounds with No. 3-ranked senior All-American Brandon Eggum against senior Tom Ciezki. After one period, Eggum led the match 8-3. In the second period, Eggum increased his lead to 16-6 and ended the match with a 23-9 major decision to give the Golden Gophers an early 4-0 lead. At 197 pounds,sophomore Owen Elzen was leading Matt Huebner 2-1 at the end of the first period. After scoring two nearfalls, Elzen increased his lead to 9-2 with 3:01 minutes of riding time. Elzen defeated Huebner with a 14-2 major decision.
Heavyweight All-American Brock Lesnar came out and scored a quick five points before pinning Josh Saul in 1:15 to give Minnesota six team points and increase the lead to 14-0. Sophomore All-American Leroy Vega scored several quick takedowns and defeated Rob Potashnick with a technical fall decision 20-4 in 4:04. At 133 pounds junior Brett Lawrence, ranked 11th nationally,wrestled a close match with John Giaache.At the end of two periods the score was tied at two with 1:37 minutes of riding time for Lawrence. After regulation, Lawrence and Giaache were tied at four. Lawrence scored a quick takedown to win the match 6-4 in overtime.
At 141 pounds, sophomore Chad Erikson, ranked 12th nationally, had the toughest challenge of the night against No. 1-ranked Scott Schatzman. After one period, Erikson scored a takedown and a nearfall to lead 5- 1.At the end of the second, Erikson held on to a 7-5 lead. A takedown late in the third period was the difference in the third as Schatzman won the match with a 12-10 decision.
Redshirt freshman Jared Lawrence, ranked fifth nationally, took care of Nick Scacco at 149 pounds with a quick pin in 2:00 to increase the Golden Gopher lead to 28-3. Next up was redshirt freshman Luke Becker at 157 pounds. Becker, ranked ninth nationally, wrestled Drew Pariano to a 4-4 tie at the end of second period.Becker scored a takedown and two more points on the nearfall to increase his lead to 9-5. Becker won the match with a 15-6 major decision.
At 165 pounds, junior Brad Pike faced Will Marcantel.Pike, ranked 11th nationally, defeated Will Marcantel with a 10-4 decision. Finishing out the match was senior Delaney Berger, ranked 14th nationally at 174 pounds against No. 12-ranked Mark Bybee. Bybee came away with the victory defeating Berger with a 7-2 decision.
WRESTLERS REMAIN UNDEFEATED IN BIG TEN; TOP MICHIGAN STATE 25-9: The No. 2-ranked University of Minnesota wrestling team remained undefeated in the Big Ten Conference with a victory over No. 11 Michigan State 25-9 in East Lansing, Mich., Sunday afternoon. Minnesota is now 16-1 overall and 6-0 in the Big Ten.
The match started at 133 pounds with No. 3-ranked Pat McNamara of Michigan State handing junior Brett Lawrence a 3-0 loss, only one of three losses the Golden Gophers had on the afternoon. At 141 pounds, sophmore Chad Erikson decisioned Mike Castillo 15-10 to tie the score at three.
Redshirt freshman Jared Lawrence, ranked fifth, defeated Cory Posey with an 8-3 decision at 149 pounds. At 157 pounds, redshirt freshman Luke Becker, ranked ninth, defeated No. 8- ranked Gray Maynard with a pin in 6:49. With the pin Minnesota went ahead 12-3.
Junior Brad Pike squeaked out a win at 165 pounds over No. 13- ranked Greg DeGrand with a 2-1 overtime decision. At 174 pounds, senior Delaney Berger dropped his match to No. 14- ranked Will Hill with a 6-2 decision. Senior All-American Brandon Eggum, ranked third overall, had no problem with Joe Colant defeating him with a 24-9 technical fall decision.
Sophomore Owen Elzen dropped his match at 197 pounds to No. 4-ranked Nick Muzashvilli with a 12-5 decision. At heavyweight, senior Brock Lesnar kept his undefeated streak alive with a 6-4 decision over Matt Lamb. Finishing the match was sophomore Leroy Vega, who defeated Chris Williams with a 6- 3 decision at 125 pounds.
