University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Advance Over No. 6 Boise State
1/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
A battle between two top-ten teams ended in dramatic fashion on Saturday afternoon as the No. 5 Minnesota wrestling team edged No. 6 Boise State 18-17 in the quarterfinals of the 2011 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Minnesota, which picked up a 26-9 win over Northern Illinois in its opening round dual, will now face off against top-ranked Cornell on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. in the UNI Dome.
"The win today was a big one for us. The great thing about it was everybody wrestled - it was a great team win," Minnesota assistant coach Luke Becker said. "Everybody went out and wrestled and fought for every point. It was a great, overall team effort."
In his biggest match yet, redshirt heavyweight Tony Nelson swung the match in Minnesota's favor one final time after the two elite programs exchanged the lead seven times in the ten-match dual. Nelson scored a first-period takedown and followed up with two escapes in the second to pick up a 4-2 decision that gave the Gophers the final 18-17 win.
No. 6 Zach Sanders opened the dual with an 11-5 decision over No. 17 Allen Bartelli in the 125 lbs. match, but the Broncos quickly erased the Minnesota lead when Andrew Hochstrasser picked up a decision in the 133 lbs. match over David Thorn. Thorn's defense against Hochstrasser, the second-ranked 133 pounder in the nation, kept the match close and paid dividends to the Gophers squad later in the dual.
Minnesota (8-1 overall, 0-0 Big Ten) put some distant between its opponent in the 141 lbs. match when No. 2 Mike Thorn quickly pinned No. 11 Levi Jones at the 49 second mark, but the Broncos proved to be difficult in the middleweights when Jason Chamberlain and Adam Hall, ranked as the No. 3 149 lbs. grappler and the No. 2 157 pounder, respectively, each majored their Gophers counterpart to take over an 11-9 lead.
The tide shifted once again in the Gophers favor when Cody Yohn and Scott Glasser both picked up decisions in their favor, but Boise State caught a piece of luck when top-ranked 184 pounder Kirk Smith edged No. 7 Kevin Steinhaus with a 3-1 decision in overtime and Matt Casperson picked up a 6-0 decision at 197 over Joe Nord setting up a two-point deficit for Minnesota heading into Nelson's heavyweight match against T.J. Felix.
2011 NWCA/Cliff Keen Results
125: No. 6 Zach Sanders (MINN) dec. No. 17 Allen Bartelli (BSU) 11-5
133: No. 2 Andrew Hochstrasser (BSU) dec. David Thorn (MINN) 8-1
141: No. 2 Mike Thorn (MINN) fall No. 11 Levi Jones (BSU) 0:49
149: No. 3 Jason Chamberlain (BSU) maj. Danny Zilverberg (MINN) 16-5
157: No.2 Adam Hall (BSU) maj. Alec Ortiz (MINN) 27-15
165: No. 7 Cody Yohn (MINN) dec. Kurt Swartz (BSU) 6-0
174: No. 8 Scott Glasser (MINN) dec. No. 13 Jake Swartz (BSU) 3-2
184: No. 1 Kirk Smith dec. No. 7 Kevin Steinhaus (MINN) 3-1 in OT
197: Matt Casperson (BSU) dec. Joe Nord (MINN) 6-0
285: No. 9 Tony Nelson (MINN) dec. T.J. Felix 4-2
Players Mentioned
