Gopher Wrestlers Take Down #1 Oklahoma State, 21-15

After winning the National Championship in 2000 and 2001, the Gophers and everyone else in the wrestling world watched as Oklahoma State took home the top prize the past four years. Last year the Gophers finished a distant second as the Cowboys claimed their 34th National Title. This season was finally going to be the year when somebody had the fire power to match OSU, and that team was the unanimous preseason #1 Minnesota Gophers. The Gophers suffered an early season loss when 2-time All-America Mack Reiter suffered a serious knee injury and was followed by an 18-17 upset to #11 Hofstra in the season opener at the Northeast Duals. The Gophers bounced back with 4 wins but dropped to #3 in the polls while OSU was back in the comfortable position of #1.

Which brings us to yesterday’s match in front a near sell-out crowd of 5,700 at the U of M Sports Pavilion. Oklahoma State has a dual record of 123 and 13 since 1999 but 7 of those defeats have come at the hands of the Gophers, including two last season. Unfortunately, neither team was at full strength due to injuries. Minnesota was without the services of 133 Mack Reiter and 157 C.P. Schlatter and OSU was missing # 3 ranked 141 Nathan Morgan.

The Match started at 125 with a battle a two freshman, #9 Jayson Ness for the Gophers and #19 Tyler Shin for OSU. Ness controlled most of the match and came out with a 6-3 win. The 133 match was pretty one-sided with #4 Coleman Scott, who was 5th last year at nationals at 125 for OSU, moving up a weight class and dominating Gopher true freshman Mike Thorn, who is filling in for Reiter, 10-1 for a major decision and a 4-3 Oklahoma State lead. Thorn was a three-time state champion at St. Michael Albertville but was no match for the experienced Scott. The 141 match was one of the most anticipated but ended up being no contest with OSU’s Morgan out. Minnesota’s Manny Rivera is ranked 5th and had his way with fill in Ethan Kyle in a 13-3 major decision. Next up was the superstar for the Gophers, defending National Champion as a true freshman at 149, Dustin Schlatter. Dustin almost pinned Ryan Freeman several times and cruised to a 16-0 Tech fall and a 12-4 Gophers lead. With C.P Schlatter out with a minor injury, the Gophers turned to a sophomore from Park Rapids named Tyler Safratowich. He was going against unranked Newly McSpadden at 157 (yes, that is his real name and for some reason made me laugh every time I say it). McSpadden had little difficulty with Safratowich and recorded yet another major decision, 11-3, which brought us to intermission with the Gophers ahead 12-8.

The second half started with the Cowboys bringing out their big gun, defending 165 pound national champion Johnny Hendricks. 165 is a big hole right now in the Gophers lineup and this time it was filled by junior Jeremy Larson. Larson could do little with the #1 ranked Hendricks and was pretty lucky to escape without getting pinned. The final was 19-6 and yet another major decision which tied the match at 12. What was likely the best and most competitive match of the evening was at 174 with the Gophers #13 Gabriel Dretsch pulling a minor upset over #8 Brandon Mason 3-1. This was the swing match and meant for OSU to win, they would need to pull an upset of their own against two of the Gopher big boys. First up was Roger Kish, last year’s national runner-up at 184. He was never in danger against unranked Jack Jensen and went on to a 13-7 win. With an 18-12 lead, this all but locked up the match for the Gophers who had Cole Konrad still to wrestle. At 197, the Gophers had 2005 junior college national champion Yura Malamura making his debut in front of the home fans and it’s safe to say it was not the first impression Yura wanted to leave. With the match in OSU control, all he really had to do was avoid getting pinned. OSU JUCO transfer Jared Shelton almost got the pin but in the end had to settle with a 9-2 decision. Minnesota led 18-15 going into the Heavyweight match, so for OSU to pull out the win they would’ve needed freshman Jared Rosholt to major Cole Konrad, the defending champ one of the most successful wrestlers in the history of Gopher wrestling. At 82-3 over the last two seasons, it will be considered an upset if Konrad loses at all this year, and it didn’t happen tonight. Cole held on for a 3-1 win giving the Gophers a 21-15 win.

The Gophers have little time for celebration as they travel to Ames, Iowa on Friday for a battle against the 7th ranked Cyclones and then need to get ready for the National Duals coming up later this month before the Big Ten season kicks off. It’s a long season and all that really matters is how you are performing come March but it was a nice bounce back for the Gophers after the Hofstra loss.