University of Minnesota Athletics
Nine Wrestlers Heading to the NCAA Tournament
3/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Indianapolis - The field and seeds for the 2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships were announced today (Mar. 10), with the Gophers collecting nine bids to the Tournament Mar. 18-20. Seven Gophers earned auto-bids after their performance at the recent Big Ten Tournament, with two more gaining wild card selections today. The nine bids better the five from last season and ties the mark from the 2007-08 campaign when the Gophers finished with four All-Americans.
Zach Sanders (Wabasha, Minn.) at 125, Jayson Ness (Bloomington, Minn.) at 133, Mike Thorn (St. Michael, Minn.) at 141, Mario Mason (Moorestown, N.J.) at 149, Scott Glasser (Bismarck, N.D.) at 174, Sonny Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) at 197 and Ben Berhow (Hayward, Minn.) at heavyweight all qualified automatically by their finish at the Big Ten Championships. Dustin Schlatter (Massillion, Ohio) at 157 and Cody Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) at 165 each were selected at wild cards when the field was announced today.
Of their nine selections, seven Gophers earn seeds, five of which are seeded in the top-six. Ness, Sanders and Schlatter all return as All-Americans, with Ness and Schlatter looking to close their careers as four-time All-Americans.
Ness leads the charge at the Gophers only No. 1 seed, as he looks to cap off an undefeated senior season with his first National Championship. A three-time All-American, Ness is coming off his second career Big Ten title over the weekend and enters the NCAA Tournament on a 28-match winning streak. Last season, his first at 133-pounds, Ness entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed and went on to place third with his only loss coming from eventual runner-up Reece Humphrey of Ohio State. This season he is matched up with Sean Clair of Eastern Michigan in the first round.
Also entering the tournament as a three-time All-American is Schlatter, who garnered a No. 6 seed. He will be matched-up with Thomas Scotton of North Carolina in the first round as he looks for his second NCAA Title. Schlatter won his first NCAA Championship in his freshman season at 149 pounds, and earned all-three of his All-America certificates at 149. Schlatter ended the regular season as the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the country, but an injury forced him to miss the Big Ten Tournament. From there he was selected as a wild, and dropped in seeding to sixth.
In his second NCAA Tournament, Thorn enters as the No. 3 seed, after knocking off the nation's No. 2 ranked 141-pounder to win his first Big Ten title. Thorn, a junior, will face Anwar Goers of Binghamton in the first round and he looks for his first All-America finish. Last season, his first at the NCAA's, Thorn entered as the No. 10 seed, but lost in his first two matches to finished without placing.
Coming in as a fifth seed in his first NCAA Tournament appearance is Glasser at 174. In his junior season, Glasser found himself as the Gophers' leader in wins with 30 thus far, and just completed a runner-up finish at the Big Ten tournament. Glasser's first round opponent will come from the Pigtail match as he will get the winner of Jeff James of Oklahoma and Jarion Beets of Northern Iowa. Glasser began the season unranked, before ascending to a No. 7 ranking at the end of the regular season.
At 125, Sanders heads back to his second NCAA Tournament in his sophomore season, as one of three Gopher return All-Americans. Last season he placed sixth after entering as the No. 11 seed, while this year he enters as the No. 6 seed. Sanders will face Jerrod Garnett of Virginia Tech in the first round.
Opening up his first NCAA tournament, Sonny Yohn lands the No. 8 seed and will face Dennis Drury of North Carolina. Yohn is coming off a breakout sophomore season that saw him finish at the runner-up at the Big Ten tournament, after entering as the No. 5 seed. On his way to runner-up honors, Yohn knocked off the top seed, Chad Beatty of Iowa, who is the No. 9 seed at the NCAA's and a potential second round opponent for Yohn.
Also in his first appearance is Mason, a freshman. He just placed fifth at the Big Ten Tournament and will enter the National Championships at the seventh Gopher to earn a seed, landing at No. 12. Mason will face Eric Albright of Pittsburgh in the first round, and a win will likely mean a third matchup with Frank Molinaro of Penn State, the No. 5 seed.
Entering the tournament unseeded are Cody Yohn and Berhow. Berhow, a junior, is making his third appearance at the National tournament, in search of a deep run. He has gone 1-2 in each of his first two years. He will have no easy task this season, as his gets No. 11 seed Mitch Montiero of Cal State Bakersfield in the first round. A win will likely mean a match with six seed and Big Ten runner-up Nate Everhart of Indiana in the second round. Everhart gave Berhow his only loss last weekend at the Big Ten Championships.
Finally Cody Yohn sneaks in as a wildcard in his freshman season, after placing sixth at the Big Ten Tournament. Yohn fell 3-2 in the fifth place match at Big Ten's, meaning he was literally one-point away from an auto bid, as the top-five at the Big Ten meet automatically qualify for NCAA's. Yohn's first round opponent will also be an unseeded wrestler, Justin Kerber from Cornell. A first round win will likely put Yohn up against No. 1 seed and defending national runner-up Andrew Howe of Wisconsin.
The NCAA Tournament begins with preliminary and first round action on Thursday, Mar. 18 with the second round set for Thursday Night. Friday morning (Mar. 19) will host the quarterfinals the semifinals set for Friday night. Finally the Championship session takes place Saturday night as 10 new individual champions and a team national champion is crowned. There will also be eight place winners in each weight class with the top-eight all earning All-America status.
Players Mentioned
