University of Minnesota Athletics
Saturday, March 8
Evanston, IL
5:00 PM
University of Minnesota
vs
Big Ten Championships - Session II (Consolations)
Players Mentioned
157 lbs.
/ Wrestling
125 lbs.
/ Wrestling
184 lbs.
/ Wrestling
149 lbs.
/ Wrestling
184 lbs.
/ Wrestling
174 lbs.
/ Wrestling
285 lbs.
/ Wrestling
141 lbs.
/ Wrestling
133 lbs.
/ Wrestling
174 lbs.
/ Wrestling
Photo by: Brad Rempel
Three Gophers Reach Finals at Big Ten Championships
3/8/2025 11:58:00 PM | Wrestling
EVANSTON, Ill. – Minnesota wrestling is sending three Gophers to the finals of the Big Ten Championships following the opening day of competition Saturday night inside Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Minnesota will have multiple finalists for the third year in a row, while it's the first time since 2015 that the Golden Gophers put three into the finals. That year, Chris Dardanes won at 133 pounds, while Dylan Ness and Brett Pfarr both finished second at 157 and 184 pounds, respectively. Minnesota last had at least three champions in 2007 when four Gophers took home titles.
Reaching the finals Saturday were graduate Gable Steveson, redshirt freshman Max McEnelly and redshirt junior Vance VomBaur. As a team, the Gophers are currently in fourth place with 88.5 points, trailing Penn State (145.0), Nebraska (118.5) and Iowa (98.0). A fourth-place finish would tie for the best under head coach Brandon Eggum, finishing there in 2019. In addition, Minnesota has qualified eight wrestlers to the NCAA Championships with a chance for No. 9 to come Sunday.
Session III starts Sunday at noon on B1G+ with consolation semifinals, 7th-place matches and 9th-place brackets. The championship session with 1st-, 3rd- and 5th-place matches begins at 430 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
Steveson has now reached the Big Ten finals in each of his five seasons in the Maroon and Gold, and he's looking to become the first heavyweight to win four conference championships. He got there by taking care of No. 4 Nick Feldman of Ohio State, 15-4. Leading 3-1 after the opening period, Steveson blew the match open in the second with an 8-1 advantage highlighted by a pair of takedowns.
The win was the 65th straight for Steveson, tying former Gopher Dustin Schlatter for the second longest in program history. To take sole possession, Steveson will need to get past Greg Kerkvliet, a four-time All-American from Penn State and the defending national champion. Steveson is 2-0 over Kerkvliet in their collegiate careers, beating him in 2021 and 2022 at NCAAs on Steveson's way to his two national championships.
McEnelly showed no jitters under the bright lights of the Big Ten semifinals, easily dispatching No. 6 seed Edmond Ruth of Illinois, 11-3. McEnelly recorded takedowns in each period and picked up extra points behind an escape in the second period and riding time. He's looking to make it two straight titles at 184 for the Gophers after Isaiah Salazar won at the weight a year ago. Now 20-0 on the year, McEnelly is also trying to become the third Gopher freshman since 1999 to win a Big Ten title along with Jayson Ness in 2007 and Schlatter in 2006.
McEnelly will face top-seeded Carter Starocci of Penn State, a four-time NCAA champion and two-time Big Ten title winner who hasn't lost a wrestled match since 2021 to current Gopher assistant coach Michael Kemerer.
The No. 4 seed, VomBaur took down top-ranked and previously undefeated Beau Bartlett of Penn State, 5-3 to become the first Gopher to reach the 141-pound finals since Mike Thorn in 2011. VomBaur struck first with an opening-period takedown, getting in on Bartlett's left leg. That would be the only offense as Bartlett lodged a pair of escapes in the final periods and got a point for stalling, while VomBaur escaped to start the second period. Bartlett entered the match 19-0 after placing second at nationals last year.
VomBaur will face No. 3 Brock Hardy of Nebraska in the championship Sunday night. They met once this season with Hardy winning in the Big Ten opener, 12-10. VomBaur is looking to become the first Gopher winner at the weight since Thorn took the crown in 2010.
Also competing in the semifinals was No. 5 Tommy Askey at 157 pounds. He started quickly against No. 8 Brandon Cannon of Ohio State, getting a first-period takedown to lead 3-0 after the opening period. Cannon came back to lead 4-3 after the second period, however, and pulled away in a 10-3 decision to send Askey to the consolation semifinals.
Andrew Sparks also reached the consolation semifinals and earned a trip to NCAAs in Philadelphia with a pair of wrestleback wins at 165 pounds in Session II. Seeded fifth, he dispatched No. 11 Stoney Buell of Purdue, 12-5, then posted a 4-1 decision over No. 9 Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State. A win Sunday over No. 6 Braeden Scoles of Illinois would move Sparks into the third-place match, while a loss sends him into a bout for fifth.
Joining Askey and Sparks in the consolation semifinals was 197-pounder Isaiah Salazar, who shut out his opponents by a combined 25-0 in the session. First, the No. 4 seed blanked No. 11 Ben Vanadia of Purdue, 12-0, then held No. 9 Seth Shumate of Ohio State scoreless in a 13-0 major decision. Salazar will face Penn State's second-seeded Josh Barr with a trip to the third-place match on the line.
Cooper Flynn went 1-1 in the session to move to Sunday's seventh-place match at 125 pounds and clinch a spot at the NCAA Championships. Flynn, seeded 10th, dominated No. 10 Dedrick Navarro of Northwestern, 10-0, but dropped a 10-3 decision to No. 6 Jacob Moran of Indiana. Flynn will wrestle No. 11 Caleb Weiand of Michigan State in the seventh-place match.
Also going 1-1 and earning a trip to Philadelphia was Clayton Whiting at 174 pounds. The No. 5 seed defeated No. 11 Joseph Walker of Michigan in overtime, 4-1, before an 8-2 loss to No. 2 Carson Kharchla of Ohio State. Whiting will face Purdue's No. 8 Brody Baumann of Purdue in the seventh-place match.
At 133 pounds, No. 10 Tyler Wells fell to the ninth-place bracket with an 8-5 loss in sudden victory to No. 8 Angelo Rini of Indiana. Wells led 4-2 late in the third period when Rini was given a takedown upon review. Needing to escape in 10 seconds to force overtime, Wells did just that, but Rini struck in overtime. With 10 allocation spots for the Big Ten at NCAAs, Wells needs one win in Session III to clinch a second straight trip to the NCAA Championships.
Drew Roberts will also compete in a ninth-place bracket looking to improve his resume for NCAAs. The No. 10 seed at 149 pounds lost to No. 8 Kal Miller in round two of the consolations, 4-3, but will have at least two chances Sunday to add wins to his record.
Minnesota will have multiple finalists for the third year in a row, while it's the first time since 2015 that the Golden Gophers put three into the finals. That year, Chris Dardanes won at 133 pounds, while Dylan Ness and Brett Pfarr both finished second at 157 and 184 pounds, respectively. Minnesota last had at least three champions in 2007 when four Gophers took home titles.
Reaching the finals Saturday were graduate Gable Steveson, redshirt freshman Max McEnelly and redshirt junior Vance VomBaur. As a team, the Gophers are currently in fourth place with 88.5 points, trailing Penn State (145.0), Nebraska (118.5) and Iowa (98.0). A fourth-place finish would tie for the best under head coach Brandon Eggum, finishing there in 2019. In addition, Minnesota has qualified eight wrestlers to the NCAA Championships with a chance for No. 9 to come Sunday.
Session III starts Sunday at noon on B1G+ with consolation semifinals, 7th-place matches and 9th-place brackets. The championship session with 1st-, 3rd- and 5th-place matches begins at 430 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
Steveson has now reached the Big Ten finals in each of his five seasons in the Maroon and Gold, and he's looking to become the first heavyweight to win four conference championships. He got there by taking care of No. 4 Nick Feldman of Ohio State, 15-4. Leading 3-1 after the opening period, Steveson blew the match open in the second with an 8-1 advantage highlighted by a pair of takedowns.
The win was the 65th straight for Steveson, tying former Gopher Dustin Schlatter for the second longest in program history. To take sole possession, Steveson will need to get past Greg Kerkvliet, a four-time All-American from Penn State and the defending national champion. Steveson is 2-0 over Kerkvliet in their collegiate careers, beating him in 2021 and 2022 at NCAAs on Steveson's way to his two national championships.
McEnelly showed no jitters under the bright lights of the Big Ten semifinals, easily dispatching No. 6 seed Edmond Ruth of Illinois, 11-3. McEnelly recorded takedowns in each period and picked up extra points behind an escape in the second period and riding time. He's looking to make it two straight titles at 184 for the Gophers after Isaiah Salazar won at the weight a year ago. Now 20-0 on the year, McEnelly is also trying to become the third Gopher freshman since 1999 to win a Big Ten title along with Jayson Ness in 2007 and Schlatter in 2006.
McEnelly will face top-seeded Carter Starocci of Penn State, a four-time NCAA champion and two-time Big Ten title winner who hasn't lost a wrestled match since 2021 to current Gopher assistant coach Michael Kemerer.
The No. 4 seed, VomBaur took down top-ranked and previously undefeated Beau Bartlett of Penn State, 5-3 to become the first Gopher to reach the 141-pound finals since Mike Thorn in 2011. VomBaur struck first with an opening-period takedown, getting in on Bartlett's left leg. That would be the only offense as Bartlett lodged a pair of escapes in the final periods and got a point for stalling, while VomBaur escaped to start the second period. Bartlett entered the match 19-0 after placing second at nationals last year.
VomBaur will face No. 3 Brock Hardy of Nebraska in the championship Sunday night. They met once this season with Hardy winning in the Big Ten opener, 12-10. VomBaur is looking to become the first Gopher winner at the weight since Thorn took the crown in 2010.
Also competing in the semifinals was No. 5 Tommy Askey at 157 pounds. He started quickly against No. 8 Brandon Cannon of Ohio State, getting a first-period takedown to lead 3-0 after the opening period. Cannon came back to lead 4-3 after the second period, however, and pulled away in a 10-3 decision to send Askey to the consolation semifinals.
Andrew Sparks also reached the consolation semifinals and earned a trip to NCAAs in Philadelphia with a pair of wrestleback wins at 165 pounds in Session II. Seeded fifth, he dispatched No. 11 Stoney Buell of Purdue, 12-5, then posted a 4-1 decision over No. 9 Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State. A win Sunday over No. 6 Braeden Scoles of Illinois would move Sparks into the third-place match, while a loss sends him into a bout for fifth.
Joining Askey and Sparks in the consolation semifinals was 197-pounder Isaiah Salazar, who shut out his opponents by a combined 25-0 in the session. First, the No. 4 seed blanked No. 11 Ben Vanadia of Purdue, 12-0, then held No. 9 Seth Shumate of Ohio State scoreless in a 13-0 major decision. Salazar will face Penn State's second-seeded Josh Barr with a trip to the third-place match on the line.
Cooper Flynn went 1-1 in the session to move to Sunday's seventh-place match at 125 pounds and clinch a spot at the NCAA Championships. Flynn, seeded 10th, dominated No. 10 Dedrick Navarro of Northwestern, 10-0, but dropped a 10-3 decision to No. 6 Jacob Moran of Indiana. Flynn will wrestle No. 11 Caleb Weiand of Michigan State in the seventh-place match.
Also going 1-1 and earning a trip to Philadelphia was Clayton Whiting at 174 pounds. The No. 5 seed defeated No. 11 Joseph Walker of Michigan in overtime, 4-1, before an 8-2 loss to No. 2 Carson Kharchla of Ohio State. Whiting will face Purdue's No. 8 Brody Baumann of Purdue in the seventh-place match.
At 133 pounds, No. 10 Tyler Wells fell to the ninth-place bracket with an 8-5 loss in sudden victory to No. 8 Angelo Rini of Indiana. Wells led 4-2 late in the third period when Rini was given a takedown upon review. Needing to escape in 10 seconds to force overtime, Wells did just that, but Rini struck in overtime. With 10 allocation spots for the Big Ten at NCAAs, Wells needs one win in Session III to clinch a second straight trip to the NCAA Championships.
Drew Roberts will also compete in a ninth-place bracket looking to improve his resume for NCAAs. The No. 10 seed at 149 pounds lost to No. 8 Kal Miller in round two of the consolations, 4-3, but will have at least two chances Sunday to add wins to his record.
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