Five Gopher wrestlers defended titles led by Jayson Ness (Bloomington, Minn.) at 133 who is now a three-time Bison Open Champion. Ness' only Bison Open loss came in his freshman season in the championship round. As a senior in 2009 he tallied three first period falls before matching up with teammate David Thorn (St. Michael, Minn.) in the finals where the two shared the title. In the first action of his college career, Thorn won three matches by two decisions and one third period tech fall to advance to the finals.
At the top of the line-up, Zach Sanders (Wabasha, Minn.) claimed the 125-pound title for the second consecutive season, again beating Trent Sprenkle of host North Dakota State in the finals. Sanders won his first two matches by fall before a 13-6 decision in the semifinals and 17-7 major decision in the finals for the title.
At 141 pounds, Mike Thorn (St. Michael, Minn.) also repeated as champion, beating teammate Bart Reiter (Gilbertville, Iowa) to do so. As was the case for the Gophers throughout the day, Thorn was dominant, winning two matches by fall and one by major decision before a tech fall in the finals. Reiter, in his first collegiate action, earned two wins by decision and a third by major decision en route to his appearance in the finals.
A year ago Mario Mason (Moorestown, N.J.) shared the title at 149, but this season it was all his as he went 5-0 in the tournament. Mason won his first match by tech fall and also tallied a major decision on his way to the championship round. His opponent was Gopher rookie Danny Zilverberg (Wayzata, Minn.) who won his first career match by fall in the first period before making his way to the finals. In the championship match Mason tabbed a 7-4 decision for the win.
The final Gopher to defend a title was heavyweight Ben Berhow (Hayward, Minn.), who shared champion honors with freshman Tony Nelson (Cambridge, Minn.). Berhow ended his first match with a pin in less than two minutes and then added a 15-4 major decision for a berth in the championship. On the other side of the bracket, Nelson earned a close 2-1 decision for his first career win and then notched a 7-0 win over fellow freshman Jake Kettler (Ramsey, Minn.) in the semifinals. Continuing in dominating fashion, the Gopher boasted three of the four heavyweights competing in the semifinals.
One-upping the heavyweights, however, were the 174-pounders who claimed all four semifinal spots in their class. Scott Glasser (Bismarck, N.D.) earned a 5-2 win over Kevin Steinhaus (Pennock, Minn.) for a berth in the finals and Nate Matousek (Glencoe, Minn.) tallied a tight 2-1 win over Matt Everson (Mitchell, S.D.) in the other semifinal. Glasser would go on to win the 174 title with a 14-1 win.
The last all-Gopher final was at 197 where Sonny Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) met up with Joe Nord (Waconia, Minn.). Yohn tallied two tech falls and one major decision in advancing to the championship round while Nord notched a fall and two major decisions on his way to the finals. In the championship, Yohn was able to score a 10-2 victory.
The final Gopher to appear in the finals was Alec Ortiz (Grand Ronde, Ore.) at 165, who got there via major decision, fall and decision. In the championship, Ortiz came up just short of a title, falling 9-7.
The Gophers also claimed three third place finishes on the day for a very successful season opener.
"There was a lot of good," head coach J Robinson said. "I think we learned a lot, and got a good look at where we're at. I think our young recruiting class showed a lot. We had a lot of freshman in the finals, and they really went out and got after people. Overall our guys went out at battled and it was really good to see."
The Golden Gophers will return to the mat in one week when the head to Nebraska-Omaha and the Kaufman-Brand Open on Nov. 21. Always highly competitive, Minnesota won two titles at the Kaufman-Brand in 2008, and they will look to continue their early season success as they build towards their first dual meet on Nov. 28 at Williams Arena, when they host Cal State-Bakersfield.
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