University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers in Third after Session One
3/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Ann Arbor, Mich. - The Minnesota wrestling team had a strong showing today (Mar. 6) as they opened the 2010 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. Six wrestlers made it through to the semifinals leaving the Gophers in third place in the team standings.
Iowa leads the team race with 93.0 points as all 10 of their wresters are still in the winner's bracket. Penn State is currently in second with 59.0 points as they have seven wrestlers still unbeaten. Just behind is Minnesota with 56.5 points and their six set to go in the semis. Wisconsin is in fourth with 47.5 points and Ohio State rounds out the top-five with 46.0 points. Both the Badgers and Buckeyes have four wrestlers still in the winner's bracket.
Session two will consist of the consolations and semifinals and will begin tonight 6:00 p.m. (ET). First will be the consolation bracket, followed by the championship bracket.
Ben Berhow (Hayward, Minn.) was the only Gopher to go 2-0 on the day, as he opened with an 18-3 tech fall over Marcus Shrewsbury of Northwestern in the prelims. Then in the quarterfinals, the heavyweight scored a fall in the third period over Eric Bugenhagen of Wisconsin to advance to the semifinals. Tonight Berhow gets No. 1 seed Nathan Everhart of Indiana.
Berhow is joined in the semifinals by Zach Sanders (Wabasha, Minn.), Jayson Ness (Bloomington, Minn.), Mike Thorn (St. Michael, Minn.), Scott Glasser (Bismarck, N.D.) and Sonny Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.). All five wrestled just once one day, winning in the quarterfinals to advance.
Yohn pulled the minor upset at 197, entering as the fifth seed and going to overtime to earn a 2-1 win over fourth seeded Patrick Bond of Illinois. The win avenged an earlier loss to Bond this season. After the first overtime went scoreless, Yohn began the second session with an escape for one point, and then put the clamps on when Bond started down, not allowing the escape and securing the win. Yohn now faces top-seeded Chad Beaty of Iowa.
Number one seed Ness made quick work of No. 8 seed Akif Eren of Purdue at 133. Ness finished the match of with a pin in just 1:57. He now faces No. 4 seeded Tyler Graff of Wisconsin. A mat over from Ness was Sanders at 125, scoring a 6-1 win over Nikko Triggas of Ohio State in his opener. In the semifinals, third seeded Sanders will meet second seeded Matt McDonough of Iowa for the third time on the season.
Thorn, at 141, won easily over seventh seeded Dan Osterman, earning a 12-2 major decision. Seeded second, Thorn will face No. 3 seed Montel Marion in the semifinals. It will be the third match between the two this year, with the first two being split.
The last Gopher still alive for a championship is Glasser at 174. The number three seed, he opened with a win over sixth seeded Brian Roddy of Northwestern. After Roddy tied it a 6-6 late, Glasser regained control and cruised to an 11-7 win. He now gets No. 7 seed Ian Hinton of Michigan State in the semifinals after Hinton knocked off No. 2 seed Luke Manual from Purdue in the quarters.
Mario Mason (Moorestown, N.J.) at 149, Cody Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) at 165 and Kaleb Young (Tenstrike, Minn.) at 184 all lost in the quarterfinals, falling to wrestlebacks. Mason will open up with Mark Boyer of Michigan, Yohn has Robert Kellog of Northwestern and Young has Nick Palmeri of Michigan State.
Session two begins tonight, with Session three set for 12:00 p.m. (ET) tomorrow and the championships set for 2:00 p.m. (ET).
Players Mentioned
