University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Southern Scuffle
Players Mentioned
Seven Gophers Punch Tickets to Semifinals in Day One of Southern Scuffle
1/1/2023 9:05:00 PM | Wrestling
CHATTANOOGA - The No. 8 University of Minnesota wrestling program wrapped up an impressive day one of the 2023 Southern Scuffle presented by Compound Sportswear on Sunday evening, as the Maroon & Gold closed out the day in third place as a team with 70.5 points.
The Gophers will head into day two of the Southern Scuffle with seven semi-finalists tomorrow morning, which is the most among all attending teams. The "U" will have a total of 13 wrestlers still alive for tomorrow's competition.
Aaron Nagao was the first Gopher to punch his ticket to the semifinals after going 2-0 on the day, defeating Gardner-Webb's Todd Carter in his first bout before knocking off ranked foe Connor Brown by 6-3 decision in the quarterfinals.
At 141 pounds, Jake Bergeland capped off his 3-0 day by avenging one of his previous losses in the quarterfinal round, defeating Oklahoma State's Carter Young by a score of 2-0. Prior to that, Bergeland earned a decision over Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State) and a technical fall against Dylan Chappell (Bucknell).
The Gophers had two wrestlers punch their ticket to the semifinals at 165 pounds, as both Cael Carlson and Andrew Sparks both defeated ranked opponents in the Sunday night session to stay alive. Carlson knocked off Oklahoma State's Wyatt Sheets by a score of 9-4, while Sparks earned the match-clinching takedown in the final fifteen seconds to earn the decision win over William Formato (Appalachian State).
174 pounds also saw a pair of Gophers earn semifinal bids, with Bailee O'Reilly and Jared Krattiger set to represent the Maroon & Gold tomorrow. Krattiger earned a 3-2 upset win over Tyler Eischens (Stanford) in his quarterfinal bout, while Bailee O'Reilly knocked off Little Rock's Tristan Wills by a 3-1 decision. The pair each went 3-0 today, respectively.
Minnesota's final semifinalist came at heavyweight, as Garrett Joles defeated North Dakota State's Juan Mora for the second time this season to stay in the title hunt heading into day two. Joles also earned an opening-round decision over Appalachian State's Jacob Sartorio and pinned Seamus O'Malley (Stanford) to round out a 3-0 day.
The Gophers also saw Troy Spratley and Michial Foy compete in the quarterfinal round, but both fell to ranked opponents to drop to the backside. Jake Gliva, Blaine Brenner, Marcos Polanco, and Gabe Nagel round out the group of wrestlers still alive in the consolations heading into tomorrow's action.
The Southern Scuffle resumes tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. CST, with the semifinal round beginning at 1:00 p.m. CST. The tournament is scheduled to conclude with the Finals session at 6:00 p.m. CST, with all live coverage of the event being held on FloWrestling.
Full day one results of the Southern Scuffle presented by Compound Sportswear can be found here.