University of Minnesota Athletics
Saturday, December 7
Edwardsville, IL
10:00 AM
University of Minnesota
at
Cougar Clash
Players Mentioned
157 lbs.
/ Wrestling
133 lbs.
/ Wrestling
125 lbs.
/ Wrestling
197 lbs.
/ Wrestling
184 lbs.
/ Wrestling
197 lbs.
/ Wrestling
149 lbs.
/ Wrestling
184 lbs.
/ Wrestling
174 lbs.
/ Wrestling
174 lbs.
/ Wrestling
285 lbs.
/ Wrestling
285 lbs.
/ Wrestling
141 lbs.
/ Wrestling
133 lbs.
/ Wrestling
174 lbs.
/ Wrestling
Photo by: Jamie Bergeland
Minnesota Primed for Cougar Clash
12/6/2024 12:30:00 PM | Wrestling
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota wrestling takes a break from dual action this weekend as it travels to the Cougar Clash, hosted by SIUE. The tournament starts at 10 a.m. Saturday with finals scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. FloWrestling will be streaming the event (subscription required), while TrackWrestling will have live results.
The Golden Gophers, ranked third in the latest Intermat Tournament Team Rankings and seventh in Intermat's Dual Rankings, are one of eight schools in action at the Cougar Clash along with #8/15 Missouri, #16/30 Northern Colorado, #17/16 Little Rock, #19/11 Illinois, Bellarmine, Northern Illinois and host-SIUE.
The Golden Gophers are scheduled to send 15 wrestlers to the Clash, including eight who appear in the latest Intermat rankings: No. 4 Max McEnelly (184 pounds), No. 5 Vance VomBaur (141), No. 7 Tommy Askey (157), No. 8 Tyler Wells (133), No. 11 Andrew Sparks (165), No. 13 Cooper Flynn (125) and No. 25 Clayton Whiting (174).
Depending on who is sent by the other schools, there could be as many as 41 ranked wrestlers competing this weekend, according to Intermat's rankings. As noted above, Minnesota is sending eight of its 10 ranked wrestlers. Illinois could be sending as many as 10, while Little Rock and Missouri each have eight, Northern Colorado has six and Northern Illinois has one.
Saturday marks the fourth major tournament of the season so far for the Gophers. The opening weekend saw the team capture seven titles combined at the Mountaineer Invite and Bison Open, while the follow week featured five undefeated wrestlers at the Daktronics Open. In addition, Minnesota sent a small contingent to the Jim Koch Open on Nov. 23, winning an additional title there.
Minnesota heads into the weekend with a 4-0 record in duals this season, topping Bucknell on Nov. 15, 35-3, before shutting out both North Dakota State, 39-0, and Campbell, 44-0, and then winning at Sout Dakota State, 30-3, on Dec. 1. It was the first time posting back-to-back shutouts since blanking four straight opponents in December of 1997 when current head coach Brandon Eggum was a sophomore on the team. Prior to that, the only other time it happened in program history came in the first three matches of the 1936-37 campaign.
Minnesota has won 10 straight duals dating back to last season. During the current streak, Minnesota has outscored opponents 329-54 and hasn't allowed more than 12 points in any dual.
Ten Gopher wrestlers are ranked in at least two of the major polls with eight appearing in all four: Intermat, Win, Flo and OpenMat. Heavyweight Gable Steveson is ranked No. 1 in all four polls, while returning All-Americans Isaiah Salazar and VomBaur, plus Wells, Askey and McEnelly are all ranked in the top 10 of all four publications.
McEnelly is 7-0 on the season with all six wins by tech fall. Those six tech fall wins rank second in the nation behind Purdue's Matt Ramos (7). VomBaur is 8-0 on the year with four of the wins coming by major decision, tying him for second in the country in MD wins.
LAST YEAR AT THE COUGAR CLASH
The Golden Gophers, ranked third in the latest Intermat Tournament Team Rankings and seventh in Intermat's Dual Rankings, are one of eight schools in action at the Cougar Clash along with #8/15 Missouri, #16/30 Northern Colorado, #17/16 Little Rock, #19/11 Illinois, Bellarmine, Northern Illinois and host-SIUE.
The Golden Gophers are scheduled to send 15 wrestlers to the Clash, including eight who appear in the latest Intermat rankings: No. 4 Max McEnelly (184 pounds), No. 5 Vance VomBaur (141), No. 7 Tommy Askey (157), No. 8 Tyler Wells (133), No. 11 Andrew Sparks (165), No. 13 Cooper Flynn (125) and No. 25 Clayton Whiting (174).
Depending on who is sent by the other schools, there could be as many as 41 ranked wrestlers competing this weekend, according to Intermat's rankings. As noted above, Minnesota is sending eight of its 10 ranked wrestlers. Illinois could be sending as many as 10, while Little Rock and Missouri each have eight, Northern Colorado has six and Northern Illinois has one.
Saturday marks the fourth major tournament of the season so far for the Gophers. The opening weekend saw the team capture seven titles combined at the Mountaineer Invite and Bison Open, while the follow week featured five undefeated wrestlers at the Daktronics Open. In addition, Minnesota sent a small contingent to the Jim Koch Open on Nov. 23, winning an additional title there.
Minnesota heads into the weekend with a 4-0 record in duals this season, topping Bucknell on Nov. 15, 35-3, before shutting out both North Dakota State, 39-0, and Campbell, 44-0, and then winning at Sout Dakota State, 30-3, on Dec. 1. It was the first time posting back-to-back shutouts since blanking four straight opponents in December of 1997 when current head coach Brandon Eggum was a sophomore on the team. Prior to that, the only other time it happened in program history came in the first three matches of the 1936-37 campaign.
Minnesota has won 10 straight duals dating back to last season. During the current streak, Minnesota has outscored opponents 329-54 and hasn't allowed more than 12 points in any dual.
Ten Gopher wrestlers are ranked in at least two of the major polls with eight appearing in all four: Intermat, Win, Flo and OpenMat. Heavyweight Gable Steveson is ranked No. 1 in all four polls, while returning All-Americans Isaiah Salazar and VomBaur, plus Wells, Askey and McEnelly are all ranked in the top 10 of all four publications.
McEnelly is 7-0 on the season with all six wins by tech fall. Those six tech fall wins rank second in the nation behind Purdue's Matt Ramos (7). VomBaur is 8-0 on the year with four of the wins coming by major decision, tying him for second in the country in MD wins.
LAST YEAR AT THE COUGAR CLASH
Minnesota captured a pair of individual titles and sent five to their respective championships last year at the Cougar Clash.
Andrew Sparks earned the title at 174 pounds, while Max McEnelly continued a dominant run to win at 184 pounds. After a first-round bye, Sparks defeated Austin Keal of Little Rock by an 18-1 tech fall, then followed with a second bonus-point victory by topping Dillon Sheehy of Army, 11-0. Sparks was crowned champion by medical forfeit over teammate Sam Skillings, who reached the finals by his own tech fall and major decision.
McEnelly opened with his first of two tech falls on the day, and then picked up a major decision in the quarterfinals. He was limited to a decision with a 7-4 win over Missouri's Sean Harman in the semifinals, and punctuated his day with a 23-6 tech fall over Colton Hawks of Missouri.
In addition to Skillings, Minnesota also got runner-up finishes from Jager Eisch at 133 pounds and Garrett Joles at 197. Eisch recorded a pair of wins over ranked foes as he started his day with a 15-0 tech fall shutout of No. 32 Zeke Selter of Missouri and beat No. 18 Braden Basile of Army in the semifinals, 4-2.
Five different Gophers earned third-place finishes, including Tyler Wells (133 pounds), Drew Roberts (149), Isaiah Salazar (184), Gabe Nagel (197) and Bennett Tabor (285).
Andrew Sparks earned the title at 174 pounds, while Max McEnelly continued a dominant run to win at 184 pounds. After a first-round bye, Sparks defeated Austin Keal of Little Rock by an 18-1 tech fall, then followed with a second bonus-point victory by topping Dillon Sheehy of Army, 11-0. Sparks was crowned champion by medical forfeit over teammate Sam Skillings, who reached the finals by his own tech fall and major decision.
McEnelly opened with his first of two tech falls on the day, and then picked up a major decision in the quarterfinals. He was limited to a decision with a 7-4 win over Missouri's Sean Harman in the semifinals, and punctuated his day with a 23-6 tech fall over Colton Hawks of Missouri.
In addition to Skillings, Minnesota also got runner-up finishes from Jager Eisch at 133 pounds and Garrett Joles at 197. Eisch recorded a pair of wins over ranked foes as he started his day with a 15-0 tech fall shutout of No. 32 Zeke Selter of Missouri and beat No. 18 Braden Basile of Army in the semifinals, 4-2.
Five different Gophers earned third-place finishes, including Tyler Wells (133 pounds), Drew Roberts (149), Isaiah Salazar (184), Gabe Nagel (197) and Bennett Tabor (285).
Gopher Wrestling Tries Gymnastics
Thursday, May 29
Steveson Advances to NCAA Title Match
Friday, March 21
Gable Steveson: NCAA Quarterfinals
Friday, March 21
Gable Steveson: NCAA Pin
Thursday, March 20