Golden Gophers back in command after medal matches, on brink of winning third NCAA title
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by Craig Sesker
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - He has a sprained ligament in his left knee and his hopes of repeating as national champion were shattered in the semifinals.
But Minnesota sophomore Dustin Schlatter fought through the pain of his injury and the heartache of losing to come back and place third at the NCAA Championships on Saturday before 14,604 fans at The Palace. Schlatter's wins, coupled with a third-place finish by teammate Roger Kish (184) and a fifth-place finish by Jayson Ness (125), has put the Gophers on the brink of winning their third national team title.
Top-ranked Minnesota regained the team lead over No. 2 Iowa State after the consolation finals, and will take a 92-84.5 lead over the Cyclones into Saturday night's finals. Travis Paulson (165), ISU's only competitor in the wrestlebacks, placed fifth on Saturday.
ISU has three finalists in Trent Paulson (157), Jake Varner (184) and Kurt Backes (197) while Minnesota has one finalist in national champion Cole Konrad (heavyweight). With Konrad heavily favored over Penn State's Aaron Anspach in the finals, Iowa State likely will need to sweep its three finals matches to have any shot to win the team title.
The finals are set for 8 p.m. Eastern Time and will be televised live by ESPN.
"There was enough stress," Minnesota coach J Robinson said when asked how Saturday's early session went. "We wrestled well. We did what we had to do. We got bonus points from Ness and a few other key wins. We got focused again. We are in good position.
"You have to have a closer. (Iowa State will) have to win all three of their matches and Cole's got to win. They have to win some really tough matches."
Third-ranked Missouri is third with 76 points and one finalist in returning national champion and reigning Hodge Trophy winner Ben Askren (174). Fourth-ranked Oklahoma State is fourth with 69 points and two finalists in Coleman Scott (133) and Johny Hendricks (165). Northwestern is fifth with 67.5 points and finalists in Ryan Lang (141) and Jake Herbert (184).
This will mark the first time since 1994 that the team champion will not score 100 points. Oklahoma State scored 94 points to win the 1994 team title.
The top-seeded Schlatter (149) rebounded after having his 65-match winning streak snapped Friday night in a 3-2 semifinal loss to No. 5 Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro. Schlatter fought back to beat Harvard's sixth-seeded J.P. O'Connor 5-4 in the consolation semifinals before downing Ohio State's 10th-seeded Lance Palmer 1-0 in the third-place match.
"It was incredibly hard to come back," Schlatter said. "You don't go through not losing for over a year and get upset in the semifinals, and not have trouble coming back. We didn't have a good round last night - our team had a real bad round. We needed to come back and do it for the team today."
Schlatter said he sprained his left Medial Collateral Ligament in his Big Ten finals win over Michigan's Josh Churella.
"I sprained my MCL, but I'm not using that as an excuse for losing," Schlatter said. "With the injury, I wasn't really able to train for this like I wanted to. But again, that's no excuse for losing.
"It was hard to get my shots and my offense going."
Schlatter is now 79-2 at the halfway mark of his collegiate career. Schlatter, a four-time Ohio State champion, won the 149-pound NCAA title as a freshman in 2006.
Prior to Friday night, Schlatter had not lost a collegiate match since early in his freshman season. He was asked about the pressure he had to deal with as a guy that had already been talked about as the next four-time NCAA champion.
"It was enormous," Schlatter said. "I think obviously you all know this year was a lot tougher for me, based on the closer matches I've had. People are scouting me more and trying to figure out ways to beat me, and they're backing up and trying to slow me down. That makes it tougher."
Ness recovered from a loss in the consolation semifinals to pin Lock Haven's Obenson Blanc just one minute into their fifth-place match. Ness picked up two huge bonus points for that win.
Konrad pinned Anspach in the Big Ten finals, and a similar outcome would make it very difficult for ISU to overtake the Gophers even if ISU goes 3-0 in the finals. Finals wins are worth four points apiece with two points awarded for a pin.
Travis Paulson won his final collegiate match to keep the Cyclones within striking distance entering the finals. Paulson used a body-lock near the edge of the mat to score the winning takedown as he rallied for a 5-4 win over Hofstra's Michael Patrovich in the match for fifth.
"It was really hard to come back this morning after a tough semifinal loss," Paulson said of his 2-1 overtime loss to two-time national champion Johny Hendricks of Oklahoma State. "I just had to keep wrestling hard and stay focused, and try to help the team win this thing. It was good to go out with a win."
Saturday night's final-round matchups
125 POUNDS
Sam Hazewinkel (#1/Oklahoma) vs. Paul Donahoe (#6/Nebraska)
133
Coleman Scott (#4/Oklahoma State) vs. Matt Valenti (#2/Penn)
141
Ryan Lang (#1/Northwestern) vs. Derek Moore (#2/UC Davis)
149
Gregor Gillespie (#5/Edinboro) vs. Josh Churella (#3/Michigan)
157
Trent Paulson (#1/Iowa State) vs. vs. Craig Henning (#7/Wisconsin)
165
Johny Hendricks (#1/Oklahoma State) vs. Mark Perry (#2/Iowa)
174
Ben Askren (#1/Missouri) vs. Keith Gavin (#2) Pittsburgh
184
Jake Herbert (#1/Northwestern) vs. Jake Varner (#6/Iowa State)
197
Kurt Backes (#9/Iowa State) vs. Josh Glenn (#2/American)
285
Cole Konrad (#1/Minnesota) vs. Aaron Anspach (#2/Penn State)
But Minnesota sophomore Dustin Schlatter fought through the pain of his injury and the heartache of losing to come back and place third at the NCAA Championships on Saturday before 14,604 fans at The Palace. Schlatter's wins, coupled with a third-place finish by teammate Roger Kish (184) and a fifth-place finish by Jayson Ness (125), has put the Gophers on the brink of winning their third national team title.
Top-ranked Minnesota regained the team lead over No. 2 Iowa State after the consolation finals, and will take a 92-84.5 lead over the Cyclones into Saturday night's finals. Travis Paulson (165), ISU's only competitor in the wrestlebacks, placed fifth on Saturday.
ISU has three finalists in Trent Paulson (157), Jake Varner (184) and Kurt Backes (197) while Minnesota has one finalist in national champion Cole Konrad (heavyweight). With Konrad heavily favored over Penn State's Aaron Anspach in the finals, Iowa State likely will need to sweep its three finals matches to have any shot to win the team title.
The finals are set for 8 p.m. Eastern Time and will be televised live by ESPN.
"There was enough stress," Minnesota coach J Robinson said when asked how Saturday's early session went. "We wrestled well. We did what we had to do. We got bonus points from Ness and a few other key wins. We got focused again. We are in good position.
"You have to have a closer. (Iowa State will) have to win all three of their matches and Cole's got to win. They have to win some really tough matches."
Third-ranked Missouri is third with 76 points and one finalist in returning national champion and reigning Hodge Trophy winner Ben Askren (174). Fourth-ranked Oklahoma State is fourth with 69 points and two finalists in Coleman Scott (133) and Johny Hendricks (165). Northwestern is fifth with 67.5 points and finalists in Ryan Lang (141) and Jake Herbert (184).
This will mark the first time since 1994 that the team champion will not score 100 points. Oklahoma State scored 94 points to win the 1994 team title.
The top-seeded Schlatter (149) rebounded after having his 65-match winning streak snapped Friday night in a 3-2 semifinal loss to No. 5 Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro. Schlatter fought back to beat Harvard's sixth-seeded J.P. O'Connor 5-4 in the consolation semifinals before downing Ohio State's 10th-seeded Lance Palmer 1-0 in the third-place match.
"It was incredibly hard to come back," Schlatter said. "You don't go through not losing for over a year and get upset in the semifinals, and not have trouble coming back. We didn't have a good round last night - our team had a real bad round. We needed to come back and do it for the team today."
Schlatter said he sprained his left Medial Collateral Ligament in his Big Ten finals win over Michigan's Josh Churella.
"I sprained my MCL, but I'm not using that as an excuse for losing," Schlatter said. "With the injury, I wasn't really able to train for this like I wanted to. But again, that's no excuse for losing.
"It was hard to get my shots and my offense going."
Schlatter is now 79-2 at the halfway mark of his collegiate career. Schlatter, a four-time Ohio State champion, won the 149-pound NCAA title as a freshman in 2006.
Prior to Friday night, Schlatter had not lost a collegiate match since early in his freshman season. He was asked about the pressure he had to deal with as a guy that had already been talked about as the next four-time NCAA champion.
"It was enormous," Schlatter said. "I think obviously you all know this year was a lot tougher for me, based on the closer matches I've had. People are scouting me more and trying to figure out ways to beat me, and they're backing up and trying to slow me down. That makes it tougher."
Ness recovered from a loss in the consolation semifinals to pin Lock Haven's Obenson Blanc just one minute into their fifth-place match. Ness picked up two huge bonus points for that win.
Konrad pinned Anspach in the Big Ten finals, and a similar outcome would make it very difficult for ISU to overtake the Gophers even if ISU goes 3-0 in the finals. Finals wins are worth four points apiece with two points awarded for a pin.
Travis Paulson won his final collegiate match to keep the Cyclones within striking distance entering the finals. Paulson used a body-lock near the edge of the mat to score the winning takedown as he rallied for a 5-4 win over Hofstra's Michael Patrovich in the match for fifth.
"It was really hard to come back this morning after a tough semifinal loss," Paulson said of his 2-1 overtime loss to two-time national champion Johny Hendricks of Oklahoma State. "I just had to keep wrestling hard and stay focused, and try to help the team win this thing. It was good to go out with a win."
Saturday night's final-round matchups
125 POUNDS
Sam Hazewinkel (#1/Oklahoma) vs. Paul Donahoe (#6/Nebraska)
133
Coleman Scott (#4/Oklahoma State) vs. Matt Valenti (#2/Penn)
141
Ryan Lang (#1/Northwestern) vs. Derek Moore (#2/UC Davis)
149
Gregor Gillespie (#5/Edinboro) vs. Josh Churella (#3/Michigan)
157
Trent Paulson (#1/Iowa State) vs. vs. Craig Henning (#7/Wisconsin)
165
Johny Hendricks (#1/Oklahoma State) vs. Mark Perry (#2/Iowa)
174
Ben Askren (#1/Missouri) vs. Keith Gavin (#2) Pittsburgh
184
Jake Herbert (#1/Northwestern) vs. Jake Varner (#6/Iowa State)
197
Kurt Backes (#9/Iowa State) vs. Josh Glenn (#2/American)
285
Cole Konrad (#1/Minnesota) vs. Aaron Anspach (#2/Penn State)
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