With the victory, the Golden Gophers reached 20 dual meet wins for the fifth time in Head Coach J Robinson's tenure and finished the Big Ten regular season with an unblemished record for the fourth time in his career and the first time since their back-to-back national championship runs in 2001 and '02.
The dual meet started with a battle between two top five opponents at 125 pounds, as No. 4 Jayson Ness took on No. 5 Charlie Falck. Ness took control of the match early with a takedown just over a minute in and rode Falck out for the remainder of the first period. After starting down in the second, Ness took a 3-0 lead with an escape and built his advantage with a quick takedown and two-point near fall in the third, adding the bonus point with 2:43 of riding time to get the 8-0 major decision.
Iowa native Mack Reiter followed with a pin of Hawkeye senior Lucas Magnani in 5:38. Reiter controlled the match throughout, building an 11-1 lead with four takedowns and a two-point near fall before working Magnani onto his shoulders early in the third period.
The Hawkeyes got six points back with a pin at 141 pounds, as Minnesota gave second-ranked Manuel Rivera a night off. No. 6 Alex Tsirtsis took true freshman Mike Thorn down 17 seconds into the match and simply wore him out on his back, getting the fall at 1:16. Thorn made his first start at the weight class after spending much of the year at 133.
Top-ranked Dustin Schlatter got Minnesota back on track with a 5-2 decision over Alex Grunder at 149. Schlatter used a pair of first period takedowns to build a 4-1 lead and held off Grunder the rest of the way to earn the win.
No. 6 C.P. Schlatter followed with a 9-4 decision over No. 16 Ryan Morningstar at 157. Schlatter controlled the match from the opening whistle, scoring three takedowns in the first period to open up a 6-3 lead. Schlatter got another takedown in the second and added the bonus point for riding time to make the final score 9-4, giving the Gophers a 16-6 advantage before intermission.
Tyler Safratowich suffered his first loss at 165 pounds, falling by major decision to No. 4 Mark Perry, 10-2. Perry scored the first points of the match with a takedown midway through the first and added two back points at the end of the period to take a 4-0 lead. Down 8-0 in the third, Safratowich scored his only points of the match with a reversal, but Perry got an escape as time expired and added the bonus point for riding time to get the major decision.
In a defensive battle at 174 pounds, No. 4 Eric Luedke escaped with a 3-1 overtime decision over No. 14 Gabriel Dretsch. The two wrestlers traded escapes at the beginning of the second and third periods to send the match into overtime tied at one apiece. Dretsch nearly scored the winning takedown in the sudden victory period but could not find enough room on the edge of the mat. Luedke got the win with a reversal in the tiebreaker session to narrow the margin in the dual to 16-13.
It was as close as the Hawkeyes would get, however, as second-ranked Roger Kish defeated Phillip Keddy in the next match with a 14-5 major decision. Keddy kept the match close in the first period, but Kish went to work in the second, scoring three takedowns in the period to build a 7-2 lead. Kish got three more takedowns in the third, the last coming with under 20 seconds remaining to seal the major decision and extend Minnesota's lead to seven.
Yura Malamura then defeated Jordan McLaughlin, 4-3, at 197 to seal the match for the Gophers. After a scoreless first period, Malamura got an escape to take a 1-0 lead early in the second. Malamura added a takedown after a scramble later in the period and led 3-1 after two. McLaughlin tied the match with a reversal in the third period, but Malamura quickly broke free to get the deciding escape.
With the outcome decided, Iowa forfeited at heavyweight to make the final score 29-13, and top-ranked Cole Konrad extended his winning streak to 67 consecutive matches.
Minnesota now has two weeks off before the Big Ten Championships, which will be held March 3-4 in East Lansing, Mich.
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