University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Move Up to Eighth after Session II
3/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
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.
Players Mentioned
