University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Day One
Gophers Third after Day One of B1Gs
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
After the first day of the 2015 Big Ten Championships, three Gopher wrestlers advanced to the championship matches at their respective weights, while eight Gopher wrestlers will compete for place during tomorrow's final day. In the team standings, Minnesota will enter Sunday in third, 16 points behind first-place Ohio State.
Two of the three Minnesota wrestlers with reserved spots in tomorrow's title matches will be making their first appearances in the tournament's final matches - Chris Dardanes at 133 and Brett Pfarr at 184. The third, Dylan Ness at 157, will be appearing in his second Big Ten championship match. Ness won the 149 title in 2013.
Dardanes fought his way to the title bout with a pair of victories on Saturday, continuing his undefeated season and improving to 22-0. Dardanes defeated Rossi Bruno of Michigan in the quarterfinals, his third win over Bruno this season, then won a thrilling 6-2 decision over Cory Clark of Iowa, his second victory against Clark this year. In his bout with Clark, the score remained knotted at one after bothregulation and sudden victory overtime. After surrendering an escape to Clark in the first 30-second tiebreaker, Dardanes reboundedand scoreda takedown, setting up his victory by forcing Clark to take chances and creating the chance for a second takedown to seal the win.He will face second-seeded Ryan Taylor of Wisconsin in tomorrow's final.
Ness also reached the finals by continuing winning streaks over a pair of familiar foes. First, Ness dispatched Michael Kelly of Iowa, 15-6, to improve to 5-0 lifetime in that series. In the semifinals, Ness found himself trailing James Green of Nebraska, 5-3, heading to the third. After an escape to make it 5-4, Ness got the better of a scramble on the mat with just 15 second remaining in the match to flip a one-point deficit into a one-point victory. That win was his third straight over Green and sets up an anticipated, first-ever meeting between Ness and top-seed Isaiah Martinez of Illinois tomorrow.
Pfarr, in his Big Ten Championships debut, earned the opportunity to claim the crown with three victories on Saturday. After earning a major decision over Matt Irick of Indiana in the opening round, Pfarr knocked off Kenny Courts of Ohio State in the semifinals, avenging a loss in a conference dual three weeks ago and giving Pfarr a 2-1 advantage over Courts in their series this season. Pfarr reached the finals with his second victory this year over Penn State's Matt McCutcheon, a 4-2 decision. Pfarr will meet No. 1 seed Domenic Abounader of Michigan in the final, looking to avenge a loss in Minneapolis in January.
Beyond those three, five additional Gophers will be wrestling for place tomorrow. Four Gophers will continue through wrestlebacks, starting in the consolation semifinals, when action resumes tomorrow: Nick Dardanes at 141, Logan Storley at 174, Scott Schiller at 197 and Michael Kroells at 285. In addition to that quartet, Ethan Lizak will wrestle for seventh place at 125.
Today's resultsmean that seven Gophers have automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships: both Dardanes, Ness, Storley, Pfarr, Schiller and Kroells.
Action at the Big Ten Championships resumes tomorrow at 12 p.m. CT at St. John Arena. Every match from Session 3 will be streamed live on BTN Plus, as well as non-championship matches from Session 4. Championship matches begin at 2 p.m. CT and will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network and available to stream for free via BTN2Go.
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Individual Match Results
*Note: Numbers next to individuals' names reflect their seed in this tournament, not their national ranking
125: No. 7 Ethan Lizak (1-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Quarters: No. 2 Jesse Delgado (Ill) dec. No. 7 Ethan Lizak (Minn), 6-3
Cons Rnd 2: No. 7 Ethan Lizak (Minn) dec. Mitch Rogaliner (MSU), 5-0
Cons Rnd 3: No. 6 Conor Youtsey (Mich) dec. (SV-1) No. 7 Ethan Lizak (Minn), 5-3
133: No. 1 Chris Dardanes (2-0)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Quarters: No. 1 Chris Dardanes (Minn) dec. No. 8 Rossi Bruno (Mich), 8-3
Semis: No. 1 Chris Dardanes (Minn) dec. (TB-1) No. 5 Cory Clark (Iowa), 6-2
141: No. 2 Nick Dardanes (1-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Quarters: No. 2 Nick Dardanes (Minn) fall (3:58) No. 7 Jameson Oster (NW)
Semis: No. 6 Josh Dziewa (Iowa) dec. No. 2 Nick Dardanes (Minn), 5-1
149: Jake Short (0-1)
Champ Rnd 1: No. 1 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) Inj. (5:52) Jake Short (Minn)
Cons Rnd 1: Nick Trimble (MSU) M. For. Jake Short (Minn)
157: No. 2 Dylan Ness (2-0)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Quarters: No. 2 Dylan Ness (Minn) maj. dec. No. 7 Michael Kelly (Iowa), 15-6
Semis: No. 2 Dylan Ness (Minn) dec. No. 3 James Green (Neb), 6-5
165: No. 8 Nick Wanzek (0-3)
Champ Rnd 1: No. 9 Austin Wilson (Neb) maj. dec. No. 8 Nick Wanzek (Minn), 11-2
Cons Rnd 1: Bye
Cons Rnd 2: No. 10 Pat Robinson (PU) dec. (SV-1) No. 8 Nick Wanzek (Minn), 7-5
Ninth Place Semis: No. 7 Nick Moore fall (5:53) No. 8 Nick Wanzek (Minn)
174: No. 4 Logan Storley (2-1)
Champ Rnd 1: No. 4 Logan Storley (Minn) maj. dec. No. 13 Nick Proctor (MSU), 14-0
Quarters: No. 4 Logan Storley (Minn) dec. No. 5 Zach Brunson (Ill), 5-2
Semis: No. 1 Robert Kokesh (Neb) dec. No. 4 Logan Storley (Minn), 2-1
184: No. 4 Brett Pfarr (3-0)
Champ Rnd 1: No. 4 Brett Pfarr (Minn) maj. dec. No. 13 Matt Irick (Ind), 12-3
Quarters: No. 4 Brett Pfarr (Minn) dec. No. 5 Kenny Courts (OSU), 7-2
Semis: No. 4 Brett Pfarr (Minn) dec. No. 8 Matt McCutcheon (PSU), 4-2
197: No. 3 Scott Schiller (2-1)
Champ Rnd 1: No. 3 Scott Schiller (Minn) maj. dec. No. 14 Luke Sheridan (Ind), 12-3
Quarters: No. 3 Scott Schiller (Minn) dec. No. 6 Max Huntley (Mich), 9-6
Semis: No. 2 Morgan McIntosh (PSU) dec. No. 3 Scott Schiller (Minn), 5-4
285: No. 6 Michael Kroells (3-1)
Champ Rnd 1: No. 6 Michael Kroells (Minn) dec. No. 11 Collin Jensen (Neb), 8-4
Quarters: No. 3 Mike McMullan (NW) dec. (SV-1) No. 6 Michael Kroells (Minn), 10-8
Cons Rnd 2: No. 6 Michael Kroells (Minn) dec. No. 13 Garret Goldman (Ind), 7-2
Cons Rnd 3: No. 6 Michael Kroells (Minn) dec. No. 10 Brooks Black (Ill), 2-0
Players Mentioned
