University of Minnesota Athletics
Looking Back: 2007 National Champs
1/18/2017 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Nearly five full years had passed since Minnesota completed its back-to-back national championship seasons when the 2006-07 Gophers took the mat for the first time. Though the team had not taken home a title at the four previous NCAA tournaments, a second-place finish in 2006 and a lineup that returned many of its key contributors stoked expectations that Minnesota would again rule the college wrestling world. Those expectations were reflected in the Gophers' preseason ranking that season -- No. 1 in the nation.
Seven starters were back in the lineup following the team's runner-up finish at the 2006 national tournament: Mack Reiter, Manny Rivera, Dustin Schlatter, C.P. Schlatter, Gabe Dretsch, Roger Kish and Cole Konrad. The younger Schlatter and Konrad returned as defending national champions, and Kish hoped to move up one spot on the podium from a runner-up finish the year before. New additions to the starting lineup included Jayson Ness and Tyler Safratowich.
The season began in the Guilderland High School gym in Albany, N.Y., at the Northeast Duals, where Minnesota was prepared to take on several top-15 teams. In the opening dual of the event, against No. 11 Hofstra, the country's top-ranked team took an unexpected loss, dropping six matches and losing to the Pride, 18-17. That loss was a wake-up call, and the Gophers heeded it. The team won its three remaining duals that day by an average of almost 18 points and never looked back. The team would not lose again that season, winning its final 20 duals (16 against ranked teams) and not allowing any of its opponents to score more than 16 points in any of those contests.
While all that made for an impressive dual season, the team's legacy would be defined -- as it is for all great wrestling teams -- by its performance in March. That began at the Big Ten tournament, where Minnesota successfully defended its title from the previous year. Three Gophers repeated as conference champions (both Schlatters and Konrad) and Ness captured the 125-pound crown as a redshirt freshman. Three other Gophers -- Reiter, Safratowich and Kish -- all turned in top-three performances to help the team score 156 points, a total that overwhelmed runner-up Wisconsin (100.5) and the rest of the field.
With the momentum of a dominate four months of wrestling behind them, the Gophers arrived in Auburn Hills, Mich., having reassumed their preseason status at the country's best college wrestling team. Now, they would have to prove it over the course of three days. Powered by nine qualifiers all winning at least two matches in the tournament and five All-Americans, led by Konrad winning his second straight national title, Minnesota held off challenges from Iowa State (88.5) and Missouri (80) to win the program's third national title with 98 team points.
Konrad's season demanded the spotlight. He finished 35-0 as a senior, capping his remarkable 73-match winning streak that dated back 16 months to the early days of the 2005-06 season. To this day, Konrad's winning streak is the longest in program history.
Five other Gophers won at least 35 matches that season, with Ness pacing that group with an incredible 40-5 record. To put 40 wins into perspective, no Gopher matched that total for nine season, until Brett Pfarr reached the same mark in 2015-16. The other four Minnesota wrestlers to hit the 35-win milestone included Rivera, D. Schlatter, Safratowich and Kish.
It can be hard to believe a decade has passed since that incredible season, but this year is the 10-year anniversary of that 2007 national title. As part of its annual Alumni Night, the program will celebrate that anniversary with a special halftime ceremony honoring the 2007 team at this Friday's dual against Nebraska. Be sure to be a part of this trip down memory lane by getting your tickets to Friday's match today. Seats are still available at MyGopherSports.com.
GopherSports.com continues to be your home for all Gopher Wrestling news, whether that's about the current crop of Gophers or the greats of years past. Be sure to follow Gopher Wrestling on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest updates.
