Jayson Ness, Manuel Rivera, Dustin Schlatter and Gabe Dretsch all finished in second place after losing during Sunday afternoon's championship round. The top seven in each weight class, along with two wildcards, qualify for nationals. Minnesota's Mack Reiter (fourth), C.P. Schlatter (sixth), Roger Kish (sixth), Justin Bronson (seventh) and Ben Berhow (sixth) will also make the trip to St. Louis March 20-22.
While Sunday's announced crowd of 7,271 witnessed an exciting day of collegiate wrestling, no match carried more weight than the 149-pound title match between Iowa's Brent Metcalf and Dustin Schlatter. This pair of former four-time high school state champions squared off for the first time in nearly three years (their first match as collegians), with Metcalf winning by a 5-3 decision.
Schlatter grabbed the early lead in Sunday's much-anticipated "Match of the Century" with a takedown of Metcalf a little over one minute into the match. But the Hawkeye tied the score at two with escapes in the first and second periods. Schlatter started down in the second and jumped ahead with an escape, but was called for stalling late in the match and finally suffered a takedown with 11 seconds remaining in the final frame.
The loss was just the fifth in 102 collegiate matches for Schlatter, who was the two-time defending Big Ten champion.
Sunday's other big disappointment for Gopher fans came at 125 pounds, where sophomore Ness was relinquished his Big Ten title to Indiana's Angel Escobedo by a 4-2 decision. A second-period reversal allowed the Hoosier to get on top of the previously-undefeated Ness, a position he did not relinquish until the closing seconds of the match. Ness' only points came on a reversal with under 10 seconds left as Escobedo racked up an impressive 3:39 worth of riding time.
It was the first loss for Ness this season (35-1) and snaps a 36-match winning streak for the Bloomington, Minn. native. Escobedo is the only wrestler to beat Ness in his previous 38 matches – Ness' win streak began at the 2007 NCAA Championships after a 7-3 loss to Escobedo in the consolation bracket.
At 141 pounds, Rivera's first-ever conference title match did not go as planned against Michigan freshman Kellen Russell. Rivera beat Russell 4-2 at a Jan. 26 dual meet, only to lose 3-2 Sunday at Williams Arena. Russell jumped ahead with an early takedown and tacked on a second-period escape, as Rivera was unable to muster any offense against the 2008 Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Minnesota's last finalist of the day was another senior making his first-ever Big Ten title bout. Frazee, Minn. native Dretsch took on Michigan's Steve Luke at 174 pounds and lost a close 5-3 match. The stocky Luke took down Dretsch twice in the first period to open a 4-0 lead and held on for his fourth straight win against the Minnesota wrestler. Luke also beat Dretsch twice earlier this season and once at last year's NCAAs.
Minnesota's consolation wrestlers also did not fare particularly well during Sunday's final session. Reiter dropped his third-place match to second-seeded Joe Slaton at 133 pounds (losing 3-0) to place fourth, while 2007 NCAA qualifier and third-seeded Tyler Safratowich suffered a surprising pin in the seventh-place match at 165 pounds to Wisconsin's Jake Donar to finish out of the NCAA qualifying set.
Safratowich did not earn one of the Big Ten's two at-large wild card bids despite entering the tournament ranked 11th in the national coaches poll. He was named as a first alternate for NCAA consideration.
The Gophers' two first-time conference tournament wrestlers were the only bright spots at an otherwise-disappointing final day. Bronson picked up the Gophers' lone victory of the day with a pin of Ohio State's John Weakley at 197 pounds to earn seventh place and a spot at his first-ever NCAA Championships, while heavyweight Berhow finished sixth after close losses to fourth-seeded Matt Fields of Iowa (4-1 in overtime) and fifth-seeded John Wise of Illinois (4-1).
The Gophers were also shut out of the conference awards, as Iowa's Metcalf was named the tournament's most outstanding wrestler and Big Ten Wrestler of the Year. Iowa coach Tom Brands was the conference's coach of the year, while Russell was voted best newcomer.
Nearly 20,000 fans attended this weekend's event in Minneapolis, which was hosted by the University of Minnesota and Williams Arena for the first time since 1997. Sunday's attendance of over 7,000 pushed the official tally to 19,981 for all three sessions.
The Big Ten Network broadcast Sunday's championship matches live to over 35 million households nationwide, their final wrestling telecast of the 2007-08 season.
Minnesota and head coach J Robinson must now turn their attention to the 2008 NCAA Championships, to be held March 20-22 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. The defending national champion Gophers' nine qualifiers is their highest total since 2005. The Gophers had eight qualifiers and five All-Americans last season en route to their third national title.
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