University of Minnesota Athletics
Three Gopher Alums Punch Tickets to Olympic Trials
12/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Many of the nation's best wrestlers descended on Las Vegas this weekend to compete in the U.S Nationals, an Olympic Trials qualifier event. From that world-class field, three Gopher alums - Scott Schiller, Pat Smith and Tony Nelson - earned automatic bids into April's U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City.
Among that trio, Schiller's run to a second-place finish in freestyle at 97 kilograms was the least expected. Schiller entered the tournament unseeded and drew top seed Dustin Kilgore in his opening bout. Schiller knocked off Kilgore, 12-10, and began matching toward the finals. Schiller pinned eighth-seed Jeffrey Felix in the quarterfinals before edging fourth-seed Micah Burak, 4-3, in the semifinals. Despite a loss to Wynn Michalak in the title match, Schiller's victories positioned him.
Also on the freestyle side, Tony Nelson punched his ticket to Iowa City with a third-place performance at 125 kilograms. Nelson began the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Matthew Meuleners, before falling by that same score to Tyrell Fortune in the semifinals. A strong 9-3 showing against Connor Medbery put Nelson through to the third-place match, where he dropped a 5-2 decision to Bobby Telford.
Like Schiller, Pat Smith outwrestled his seed. Competing in Greco at 66 kilograms, the fourth seed won four matches - the most of any among the Gopher contingent - beginning with consecutive 7-2 decisions before a 9-0 technical fall in the quarterfinals. Smith scored his biggest victory of the day in the semis, where he upset top seed Alejandro Sancho, 5-2. Smith's run ended in the finals, where he lost a 4-2 decision to Olympian Ellis Coleman.
Six other former Gophers competed in Las Vegas but did not place, including Alec Ortiz and Dylan Ness (both of whom wrestled Greco at 75 kilograms), Zach Sanders (freestyle, 57 kilograms), Jayson Ness, Chris Dardanes and Nick Dardanes (all of whom wrestled freestyle at 65 kilograms).
For Minnesota alumni with hopes of representing the U.S. in Rio next summer, there are more opportunities to reach the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. The next event on the Road to Iowa City will be this January in Colorado Springs, host of the Dave Schultz Memorial International.
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Match Results
Greco, 66kg: Pat Smith (4-1, 2nd Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Pat Smith dec William Simpson, 7-2
Champ Rnd 2: Pat Smith dec Michael Hooker, 7-2
Quarters: Pat Smith tech fall (2:32) Austin Morrow, 9-0
Semis: Pat Smith dec Alejandro Sancho, 5-2
Finals: Ellis Coleman dec Pat Smith, 4-2
Greco, 75kg: Alec Ortiz (2-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Alec Ortiz fall (6:00) Joshua Castellano
Champ Rnd 2: Alec Ortiz dec Dylan Ness, 10-9
Quarters: Cheney Haight tech fall (1:04) Alex Ortiz, 11-0
Round of 12: Corey Hope tech fall (2:43) Alec Ortiz, 8-0
Greco, 75kg: Dylan Ness (1-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Dylan Ness tech fall (3:25) Kyle Bateman, 9-0
Champ Rnd 2: Alec Ortiz dec Dylan Ness, 10-9
Cons Rnd 4: Jacen Petersen med. for. Dylan Ness
Freestyle, 57kg: Zach Sanders (1-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Zach Sanders dec Stephen Abas
Champ Rnd 2: Alan Waters dec Zach Sanders, 9-3
Cons Rnd 2: Ben Kjar dec Zach Sanders, 2-1
Freestyle, 65kg: Nick Dardanes (2-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Aaron Pico dec Nick Dardanes, 6-0
Cons Rnd 1: Bye
Cons Rnd 2: Nick Dardanes dec Mario Mason, 12-3
Cons Rnd 3: Nick Dardanes tech fall (0:37) Joseph Hulen, 10-0
Round of 12: Bernard Futrell dec Nick Dardanes, 8-7
Freestyle, 65kg: Chris Dardanes (2-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Frank Molinaro tech fall (5:24) Chris Dardanes, 11-0
Cons Rnd 1: Bye
Cons Rnd 2: Chris Dardanes tech fall (1:18) Justin Feldman, 11-0
Cons Rnd 3: Chris Dardanes dec Michael Dunkum, 10-4
Round of 12: Jason Chamberlain dec Chris Dardanes, 3-1
Freestyle, 65kg: Jayson Ness (1-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Champ Rnd 2: Logan Stieber dec Jayson Ness, 12-4
Cons Rnd 2: Jayson Ness dec Filip Novachkov, 10-2
Cons Rnd 3: Nazar Kulchytskyy dec Jayson Ness, 13-4
Freestyle, 97kg: Scott Schiller (3-1, 2nd Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Scott Schiller dec Dustin Kilgore, 12-10
Quarters: Scott Schiller fall (4:48) Jeffery Felix
Semis: Scott Schiller dec Micah Burak, 4-3
Finals: Wynn Michalak dec Scott Schiller, 12-4
Freestyle, 125kg: Tony Nelson (2-2, 3rd Place)
Quarters: Tony Nelson dec Matthew Meuleners, 2-1
Semis: Tyrell Fortune dec Tony Nelson, 2-1
Cons Semis: Tony Nelson dec Connor Medbery, 9-3
3rd Place: Bobby Telford dec Tony Nelson, 5-2
Players Mentioned
