Top 10 (or 11) Moments of the 2005-06 Golden Gopher Wrestling Season

Top 10 (or 11) Moments of the 2005-06 Golden Gopher Wrestling Season The Golden Gopher wrestling team capped off an outstanding 2005-06 season with a pair of national titles, along with a second-place team finish in Oklahoma City at the NCAA Championships. Gophersports.com takes a look back on the top 11 moments of the past season. The season was just too memorable for just 10 moments. 11. The Rout of Iowa State
Early in December, the Golden Gopher wrestling team rallied for a 21-13 victory over Iowa State at Williams Arena. The win snapped a four-match losing streak to the Cyclones, but turned out to just be a preview of what was to come. Minnesota looked to start a streak of its own in the quarterfinals of the National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Golden Gophers proceeded to claim its biggest win in 56 years against Iowa State in a 32-6 rout. Minnesota won eight of its 10 matches and even made a statement in its losses. The Golden Gophers took a 7-0 lead on a decision by Travis Lang and a major decision by Mack Reiter over fellow four-time Iowa state champion Jesse Sundell. True freshman Tyler Safratowich then made his Golden Gopher debut at 141 pounds against top-ranked and eventual NCAA Champion Nate Gallick. Safratowich held tough in a 9-4 loss. From there, Minnesota closed out the Cyclones with wins in six of the last seven matches. Matt Nagel repeated his win in the 2005 All-America match at the NCAA Championships with a 3-2 overtime decision against Travis Paulson. Roger Kish also exorcised some demons with his first career win against All-American Kurt Backes at 184 pounds. After Mitch Kuhlman pinned Joe Curran, the Cyclones raised the white flag and forfeited at heavyweight.

10. Sending a Message
Minnesota set the tone for the 2005-06 season in November at the NWCA/Marines All- Star Classic in Stillwater, Okla. In his first meeting with two-time NCAA Champion Steve Mocco of Oklahoma State since the 2005 national finals, Cole Konrad earned a 4-1 overtime decision. Little did Mocco know that Konrad would add three more wins to claim their all-time series 4-3. Senior Matt Nagel wasn’t going to let Konrad have all the glory. A late addition due to the withdrawal of Michigan’s Ryan Churella, Nagel stepped in and produced a 5-3 upset of defending NCAA Champion Johny Hendricks, also from Oklahoma State. Nagel’s takedown with four seconds to go in the match proved to be the difference.

“It feels really good,” Konrad told the Minnesota Daily after his match. “It was actually more of a relief more than anything. It felt good to get past this little hump.”

9. Senior Salute
Matt Nagel arrived on campus in the fall of 2001 as a five-time Minnesota state champion out of Frazee, Minn. He was also a member of a recruiting class numbering 11. Nagel spent that year on the sidelines as the Golden Gophers won their second straight NCAA Championship. Four years later, he was the lone senior and co-captain of the top-ranked wrestling team in the nation. On February 5 against Indiana, Nagel was honored at intermission for not only his accomplishments on the mat, but also for his leadership off of it. He led off the dual with a 10-6 decision against Max Dean as Minnesota went on to claim a 25-13 victory. Despite a disappointing showing at the 2006 NCAA Championships, the All-American was singled out in the post-tournament press conference by head coach J Robinson. Nagel’s ability to bring together one of the youngest teams in the country, both on and off the mat, proved instrumental in an amazing season. Nagel finished his career with a 100-60 record and was just the 27th wrestler in school history to record 100 wins. He was a three-time NCAA qualifier, a 2005 All-American and 2006 Big Ten runner-up.

8. At Least FDR Wasn’t Around to See it
In the 1990s, a victory over the University of Iowa made headlines across the nation. With the emergence of Minnesota as a national wrestling power, the Golden Gophers have claimed their fair share of wins against the Hawkeyes in recent years. Still, no one expected what occurred on Jan. 22 at Williams Arena. Minnesota earned its biggest win over the Hawkeyes since 1941 with a 23-6 rout. There were many heroes on the day, including Manuel Rivera. He upset 12th-ranked Ty Eustice at 141 pounds to give Minnesota an early 7-3 lead. Next up was 149 in what would become a preview of the eventual NCAA Championship final between Dustin Schlatter and Ty Eustice. Schlatter broke a scoreless tie with an escape and a takedown in the third for a 4-0 decision. The lead continued to grow as C.P. Schlatter and Roger Kish both earned their first win in three tries against their respective opponents. Schlatter topped Joe Johnston, 12-7, at 157 pounds, while Kish defeated Paul Bradley, 4-1, at 184. The finale of the match did end on a sour note. Top- ranked Cole Konrad was dominating sixth-ranked Matt Fields, 10-1, but Fields injured his knee and was forced to default. Fields would be out the rest of the season.

“We weren’t favored to win a lot of these matches,” J Robinson said after the match. “I thought Manuel’s win gave us a spark. That gave Dustin a lift, and then Dustin gave C.P. a lift. C.P. had been having trouble scoring when he was tired. But he really dug in his heels today and scored.”

7. The Unsung Hero
Sophomore Manuel Rivera made only two starts for Minnesota as a redshirt freshman in 2005, but in 2006, he found himself as the full-time starter at 141 pounds. Rivera would finish fifth at the Big Ten Championships and qualify for his first national tournament. He was also key in the two biggest wins of the season. In November at the Kaufman-Brand Open, Rivera upset then-No. 4 Daniel Frishkorn of Oklahoma State, 5-3, to claim fifth place in the tournament. Rivera proved that it wasn’t a fluke two months later in the finals of the National Duals. Trailing top-ranked Oklahoma State 7-0, Rivera stepped to the mat against then-No. 6 Frishkorn. Trailing 4-1 in the second period, Rivera turned the tables with a takedown and three-point near fall. Rivera’s 9-4 win propelled the Golden Gophers to the 21-14 win, which snapped Oklahoma State’s 30-match win streak. A month later, Rivera improved to 3-0 against Oklahoma State grapplers with another impressive win. With Minnesota trailing 6-0 this time, Rivera tied the match against the Cowboys with his pin of Justin Porter in 6:23. The pin proved crucial in a 19-16 victory in Oklahoma City, Okla.

“Bonus points, that’s what it comes down to,” assistant Joe Russell said following the three-point win in Oklahoma City. “Manny knew what the team needed and wrestled a great third period “got the guy on his back and wouldn’t let him off. Didn’t know it at the time, but we always preach to our guys that bonus points are what wins. And when it ended five matches apiece, that was the difference maker.”

6. New Kid on the Block
Dustin Schlatter entered the 2005-06 season as the top recruit in the nation, but he still maintained a relatively low profile through the first two months of the season. That changed in mid-January. Schlatter began the year unranked and opened with 12 wins, 11 by major, tech. fall or pin. He then suffered his lone loss against Central Michigan’s Mark DiSalvo by a 1-0 count on Nov. 26 at the Northeast Duals. Schlatter announced his arrival as a legitimate title contender in a two-week span in January. Schlatter opened the National Duals with a 6-0 decision against second-ranked Jon Masa of Hofstra. He followed that with a 4-1 victory over DiSalvo. In the finals against Oklahoma State, Schlatter knocked off top-ranked and defending NCAA Champion Zack Esposito in a wild 8-7 decision. His win cut the OSU lead to 7-6 as Minnesota rallied for the 21-14 win. A week later, he earned his fourth win over a top-five opponent and second straight over the nation’s number one wrestler when he defeated Iowa’s Ty Eustice of Iowa, 4-1, at Williams Arena. Schlatter moved up to number one in the country the following week, a rank he would never relinquish.

“I’m ranked number one right now,” Schlatter said at the time. “But that doesn’t mean I’m a national champ. I’ve got a long way to go. I’ve got to beat all these guys again.”

5. History Repeating Itself
Following Minnesota’s stunning upset of Oklahoma State at the National Duals, the Golden Gophers headed into Cowboy territory for the rematch in late February. The match followed a similar script to the meeting in Cedar Falls. Minnesota fell behind 6-0 following a pair of losses, but Manuel Rivera claimed the first of three wins with his pin of Justin Porter at 141 pounds. Dustin Schlatter then shocked defending national champion Zack Esposito with an 11-2 major decision. His older brother, C.P., followed with a 7-3 decision against Kevin Ward to even their season series at two apiece. With the match tied at 16, Cole Konrad picked up his third straight win against Steve Mocco with a 3-1 overtime decision. Since 2000, Oklahoma State had lost a total of 13 duals, with seven of those delivered by the Golden Gophers.

“For our guys, it kind of solidifies what our guys did at the National Duals,” Russell said. “We are for real, and we’ve got a pretty good team. To come down here just one-on-one against them and win is a tribute to where these guys are at. We’ve just got to keep making progress here, but we feel pretty good about where we’re at right now.”

4. The Pin Heard ‘Round the World
At the NWCA/All-Star Marines Classic in November, Cole Konrad claimed a 4-1 decision against two-time NCAA Champion Steve Mocco. The result turned heads around the country, but most wrestling fans thought “let’s see what happens when it counts.” The next match that counted occurred at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in the finals of the National Duals. With Minnesota leading 15-14, the match between the top two heavyweights in the country began like every other one. The pair traded escapes to remain tied, but just 26 seconds into the third period, Konrad locked up Mocco and tripped him flat to his back. The immediate whistle for the pin not only gave Minnesota a 21-14 win, but signaled the arrival of the new king of the heavyweight division. Konrad’s win snapped Mocco’s 85-match winning streak, which began following his loss in the 2002 NCAA finals.

“I think I needed more to prove it to myself that I really beat him straight up last time and that I can do it again,” Konrad said following the win. “It was more mental than anything.”

3. A Gopher Rally at Big Tens
Minnesota entered the Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind., ranked first in the nation, but the experts still predicted a dog fight between the Golden Gophers, defending Big Ten Champion Illinois, regular-season champion Michigan and perennial power Iowa. Minnesota entered the final day with a 4.5-point lead over Illinois, but trailed early on in the final session. The Golden Gophers turned the tide with a perfect 4-0 record against Illinois in head-to-head matchups, including three wins in championship matches. In all, Illinois lost all five of its championship matches, while Minnesota finished 4-2. The Schlatter brothers claimed their first Big Ten titles in back-to-back wins over the Tirapelle brothers at 149 and 157 pounds. Roger Kish and Cole Konrad rounded out Minnesota’s conference champions. The Golden Gophers’ four titles were the second-most in school history. Minnesota also won its fifth Big Ten title in the last eight years.

“It’s kind of a ‘the Capulets and Montagues’ type of moment,” Shakespeare enthusiast Joe Russell said. “Those two (Schlatters and Tirapelles) going head-to-head, there was extra pressure on them and the way they stepped up was unbelievable.”

“Our team needed us to come through,” C.P. Schlatter said following his title win. “It was a make or break situation for us to win the title.”

2. Let’s Hear it for the Boy
Dustin Schlatter entered the 149-pound NCAA Championship match as the favorite against second-seeded Ty Eustice of Iowa. But still, the doubts remained. Could a true freshman really take center stage in front of nearly 17,000 people at the Ford Center and a national television audience on ESPN and perform? Safe to say, this was no ordinary true freshman. Schlatter capped off the best rookie season in school history with a workmanlike 4-0 decision against his Hawkeye foe. In the process, he became the first freshman in school history to win a national title and the first true freshman in the nation to win it all since 2003. Schlatter finished his first season in the Maroon and Gold with a final record of 42-1, the fourth-highest win total in school history. He will enter his sophomore season with a 30-match winning streak, the seventh-longest in school history.

“In the back of my mind I had the goal of being a national champion,” Schlatter said. “I don’t know how many people would’ve been believed me if I told them. I definitely thought I could do it.”

1. What a Difference a Year Makes
Cole Konrad sat slumped in the locker room in St. Louis, Mo., following his loss to Steve Mocco of Oklahoma State in the 2005 NCAA finals. Mocco’s patented footsweep in overtime was still fresh in his mind when Konrad talked to the media in bowels of the Savvis Center that night. Konrad spent hours upon hours watching video, working in the practice room and basically, taking apart his entire game and putting it back together again during the long offseason.

Maybe the exhibition win in November over Mocco was a fluke. The season was still early. The pin in January at the National Duals? Luck? The gritty overtime win in Oklahoma City in February. Hmm, maybe this lightly-regarded recruit out of Freedom, Wis., has a chance.

Most in attendance at the Ford Center that Saturday night must have had the same thought. Could Konrad really beat Mocco for a fourth straight time on the sport’s biggest stage and in the process, deny the great heavyweight a third national title? The match started out like all the rest. Overtime as expected came and the pair traded escapes. Tied at one in the second tiebreaker, Konrad rode Mocco the entire 30-second period. Konrad started down in the next tiebreaker and earned the escape to take a 3-2 lead. With time winding down and Mocco needing a takedown, Konrad put the match away for good on a takedown with 10 seconds to go. The win not only silenced his doubters, but gave Konrad one of the best single seasons in the history of Golden Gopher wrestling. He became the third wrestler in school history to finish a season unbeaten. Konrad also put his name along side the legends – Brock Lesnar, Verne Gagne and Leonard Levy – as Minnesota heavyweight national champions.

The Golden Gophers didn’t reach their ultimate goal of winning a national title. No one associated with Minnesota wrestling has ever been satisfied by second place. Regardless, the 2005-06 season will go down as one of the most memorable in the history of storied program.

“We’re disappointed in our finish because we came here to win a national championship,” head coach J Robinson said following the NCAA Championships. “If you look at it from where we were last year, if I told our fans we would have two national champions, three finalists, a 20-1 record and two wins over Oklahoma State, I’m sure they would take it. From where we started at the beginning of the year, it’s a pretty amazing story.”