Three Gophers will have to earn their way into the quarterfinals as Ben Berhow (Hayward, Minn.), Mario Mason (Moorestown, N.J.) and Kaleb Young (Tenstrike, Minn.) all take the mat first in the Pigtails. Unseeded Young was the only guarantee to open up in the first round, and he drew sixth seeded Eric Cameron of Indiana for his preliminary match-up at 184. With a win in his first match, Young will advance to face third seeded Phil Keddy of Iowa in the quarterfinals. Young dropped a tough sudden victory match to Cameron in the regular season, as lost by major decision to Keddy.
Berhow and Mason were each among the top-eight in the pre-seeds but were drawn to open up against unseeded opponents. Fourth seeded Berhow matches up with Marcus Shrewsbury from Northwestern at heavyweight, and win puts him up against Eric Bugenhagen of Wisconsin in the quarterfinals. Berhow beat Bugenhagen on the regular season, and never met Shrewsbury.
At 149, seventh seeded Mason drew Eric Terrazas of Illinois, and with a win he will advance to face second seeded Lance Palmer from Ohio State in the quarterfinals. Mason beat Terrazas 3-1 during the Big Ten season, and in his match with Palmer, at the National Duals, he lost by a 7-1 final.
Top seeded Jayson Ness (Bloomington, Minn.) gets no surprises at 133 and will meet eighth seeded Akif Eren from Purdue in the quarterfinals, the first match for each. The two did not meet in the regular season.
Similarly, second seeded Mike Thorn (St. Michael, Minn.) at 141 and Scott Glasser (Bismarck, N.D.) at 174 each get byes to the quarters. Thorn will meet seventh seeded Dan Osterman of Michigan State, who majored back in January, while Glasser will face off for the first time with Brian Roddy of Northwestern. It will be the first match of the tournament for each wrestler.
Zach Sanders (Wabasha, Minn.) at 125, Cody Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) at 165 and Sonny Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) at 197 all also get byes into the quarterfinals, but must wait until after the Pigtails are over to find out their first opponents.
Dustin Schlatter (Massilion, Ohio) was seeded No. 1 when the pre-seeds were originally announced, but an injury during the week of practice has forced him to take a medical forfeit for the tournament in preparation for the NCAA Championships in two weeks. Knowing that Schlatter would be forfeiting his matches, the coaches decided to reseed the 157 bracket, leaving Schlatter unseeded. He will still weigh in and take the mat for his Pigtail match with new No. 1 Colton Salazar of Purdue, but will take the medical forfeit loss, leaving him eligible for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament on Omaha, Neb. Mar. 18-20.
All the action at the Big Ten Tournament begins tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. with preliminary round action. Be sure to follow the official championship page at MGoBlue.com, and GopherSports.com for updates throughout the weekend.
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