Jayson Ness and Manuel Rivera both earned decisions over ranked opponents, while Mack Reiter got his first pin in dual meet action this season to lead the Gophers to victory. Gabriel Dretsch and Roger Kish contributed major decisions to help in the cause. With the win, Minnesota is now unbeaten in its last 18 matches and sits at 18-1 overall and 6-0 in the Big Ten heading into the final week of dual meet action.
Ness, ranked No. 4 in the country, was forced to stage a late comeback in the first match of the day after No. 13 Paul Donahoe took a 6-3 lead midway through the third period. Despite trailing almost the entire match, Ness was relentless in the final stanza, working his way free to get the escape before scoring a takedown with less than 10 seconds remaining to send the match into overtime. In the extra session, Ness was simply too strong for Donahoe and scored the winning takedown just over 30 seconds in to earn the 8-6 decision.
Reiter also faced an early deficit at 133 pounds when Nebraska's Patrick Aleksanyan scored an early takedown, but he responded to take control of the match and pinned the Nebraska wrestler in the second period. Reiter got an escape and takedown to take a 3-2 after the first, and with Aleksanyan starting down in the second, Reiter worked him to his back to get the fall in 3:34.
In a tight battle between two top 10 opponents at 141, Rivera wore down seventh-ranked Dominick Moyer to earn a 5-2 decision. Moyer tied the score at two with an escape early in the third period, but Rivera got a takedown less than 30 seconds later and rode him out the rest of the way to add the bonus point for riding time. With the win, Rivera remained unbeaten at 33-0 on the season.
Top-ranked Dustin Schlatter followed with a 9-6 decision over Jordan Burroughs to move into a tie for second place in school history with his 58th consecutive win. Schlatter took an early 2-0 lead with a takedown just 13 seconds into the match, but Burroughs wrestled aggressively and remained within striking distance the rest of the way. Schlatter put the match out of reach, however, with a takedown late in the third period to put Minnesota ahead 15-0 in the dual.
Nebraska got on the board in the next match when Chris Oliver upset third-ranked C.P. Schlatter at 157 pounds by a score of 7-4 in overtime. With the match tied at four in the third period, Schlatter nearly got what would have been the deciding points with a reversal, but Oliver scrambled out of it and stayed on top of Schlatter to send the match into overtime. After a scoreless sudden victory period, Oliver rode Schlatter out for the first 30 seconds of the tiebreaker and then got an escape and late takedown to claim the victory.
Tyler Safratowich followed with his fourth straight victory since re-entering the starting lineup, downing Stephen Dwyer 10-4. Safratowich controlled the match throughout, scoring the first takedown midway through the first period. He led 4-1 after the first and built his lead in the third with an escape and two more takedowns while also adding the bonus point for riding time advantage.
At 174, Dretsch out-muscled Marc Harwood on his way to a 10-1 decision to seal the dual for the Gophers. With a 2-1 advantage, Dretsch rode Harwood out the entire second period and then built his lead with an escape, takedown and three back points in the third, adding the bonus point for riding time to secure the major decision.
Kish had his eyes on bonus points from the opening whistle in his match against Casey Roberts at 184, opening up a 5-0 lead with a takedown and three-point near fall in the first period. From there, Kish repeatedly took Roberts down and allowed him to escape throughout the second and third periods, eventually winning the match 23-9. Kish's 23 points scored tied a career high as he improved to 27-1 on the season.
Nebraska got its only other win of the day at 197 pounds, with ninth-ranked Craig Brester winning an 8-1 decision over Yura Malamura. Malamura wrestled a much closer match than what the score would indicate but simply ran out of gas in the third period. With the match tied at one entering the final stanza, Brester scored a takedown midway through the period and added five back points to get the win.
With the outcome of the dual already decided, Nebraska forfeited to Cole Konrad at heavyweight to make the final margin 32-6. The Cornhuskers became the sixth team to forfeit the weight class in a dual meet this season, as Konrad extended his school-record winning streak to 65 consecutive matches.
Minnesota wraps up the regular season next weekend on the road against border rivals Wisconsin and Iowa. The Gophers will take on the seventh-ranked Badgers on Friday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m., and will clash with the Hawkeyes on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m.
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