Minnesota captured its sixth Big Ten title in the last nine years while crowning four individual champions for the second straight year.
Ness wrapped up a dominating individual performance in his first Big Ten Championships with a 12-1 major decision over Iowa's Charlie Falck to win the 125-pound title. Ness wasted no time going to work on Falck as he overpowered the Hawkeye wrestler to take him down to his back just 30 seconds into the first period to take a 4-0 lead. Ness continued to build his lead from there, getting a reversal and three-point near fall in the second to cruise to the victory and claim his 19th consecutive victory. Ness ended the championships with two pins and a major decision.
After rebounding from a quarterfinal loss yesterday, Mack Reiter continued to roll through the wrestlebacks with two pins today to finish third at 133. Reiter began the day by pinning Penn State's Jake Strayer in 1:40 to advance to set up a rematch with Illinois' James Kennedy, who handed him a 6-3 loss earlier this year. Reiter made sure a repeat would not happen. After a scoreless first period, Reiter took Kennedy down directly to his back midway through the second to get the fall at 4:02. Reiter pinned his final three opponents of the tournament.
At 141, Manuel Rivera suffered his second straight defeat in the consolation semifinals but rebounded to pin Illinois' Cassio Pero to claim fifth place. Rivera, who was unable to wrestle at full strength this weekend due to a knee injury, fell to Michigan State's Andy Simmons, 8-2, in his first match. He got back on track with the win over Pero. Rivera controlled the match throughout, getting a takedown and back points in the first period before scoring a reversal to put Pero directly on his back and get the fall at 4:17. With the win, Rivera improved to 36-2 on the season.
Top-ranked sophomore Dustin Schlatter captured his second Big Ten individual title in as many years with a 3-2 decision over Michigan's Josh Churella. In a very evenly contested match, Schlatter got a takedown 20 seconds in and rode Churella out for nearly the entire second period, which proved to be the difference. Schlatter avoided danger in the second when Churella nearly took him down with a single-leg but he scrambled out and held on for the victory. With three wins this weekend, Schlatter extended his winning streak to 62 consecutive matches.
Not to be outdone, C.P. Schlatter also successfully defended his 2006 Big Ten title with a 1-0 decision over Indiana's Brandon Becker. In a defensive battle throughout, Schlatter rode Becker out the entire second period to get the decisive point.
Tyler Safratowich completed an impressive tournament by winning his final four matches to take third place. Safratowich defeated Ohio State's Chris Vondruska, 6-3, on Sunday morning and then turned in a gutsy performance against Purdue's Justin Fraga in the third-place match. Safratowich tweaked his knee in the first period but battled to a 4-4 tie after two periods. After starting down in the third, Fraga got the escape to go ahead 5-4, He scored the decisive takedown with just six seconds remaining and added the bonus point for riding time to win 7-5.
At 174, Gabriel Dretsch took out his frustrations from a narrow loss last night by dominating Wisconsin's Matt Maciag in the consolation semifinals. Dretsch scored eight back points on Maciag on his way to a convincing 18-2 tech fall to advance to the third-place match. In a tight match much like his bout with James Yonushonis last night, Dretsch lost another heartbreaking match in overtime, this time falling to Iowa's Eric Luedke in overtime. Tied at one after regulation, Luedke got a three-point near fall in the tiebreaker on his way to a 6-3 decision. With a 2-2 record on the weekend, Dretsch matched his fourth-place finish at last year's Big Ten Championships.
In the most anticipated match of the day, second-ranked Roger Kish fell to No. 1 Jake Herbert in the 184-pound final. Down 3-0 in the second, Kish had a chance to cut into Herbert's lead when he got in deep with a shot but could not quite finish as Herbert scrambled out. Herbert added a pair of takedowns in the third period to win 8-1, handing Kish just his second loss of the year, both of which have come against top-ranked wrestlers.
Konrad captured his third straight Big Ten title with a pin of second-seeded Aaron Anspach of Penn State. Konrad used a body lock to take Anspach down in the first period and after a restart quickly rolled him to his back to get the fall in 2:20. The victory was Konrad's 70th in a row as he became just the fifth wrestler in school history to win three Big Ten individual titles.
Minnesota also brought home three Big Ten awards. With a 36-3 record on the year, Ness was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Cole Konrad earned Big Ten Wrestler of the Years honors for the second straight year, while Head Coach J Robinson captured his seventh conference Coach of the year accolade.
The Gophers now have two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Championships which will be held March 15-17 in Auburn Hills, Mich.
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