Minnesota Takes Care of Business Against Ohio State
Bonus Points Key in 19-15 Victory over Buckeyes
By Andrew Hipps “Staff Writer
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MINNEAPOLIS – On Sunday afternoon, seventh-ranked Minnesota edged Ohio State, 19-15, in Big Ten conference action at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis.
“Today we tried some guys in different weight classes and I think the guys wrestled harder than they did on Friday night,” said Minnesota coach J Robinson. “That’s the key to the end of the year – you have to be able wrestle hard.”
Although the teams split the ten matches, the Gophers earned bonus points in two of the matches, which proved to be the difference.
“We didn’t wrestle real well today, “said Ohio State coach Russ Hellickson. “Minnesota tried hard to give us a line-up that was terrible and we didn’t take advantage of it.”
Ohio State’s Keegan Mueller opened the dual by defeating Minnesota’s Matt Everson (who was filling in for the injured C.P Schlatter), 5-3, at 157. But Minnesota claimed two of the next three matches, highlighted by Matt Nagel’s pin over Ohio State’s John Vogel at 1:05.
“After losing at Iowa on Friday, I had a little built up aggression,” said Nagel. “I just wanted to go there and wrestle as hard as I could, and whatever happened, happened. And I ended up pinning him.”
At 197, Ohio State All-American J.D. Bergman claimed a 9-5 decision over Minnesota’s Jon Duncombe to knot the dual score at nine heading into the intermission.
“I would have liked to wrestle a little better today,” said Bergman after the match. “He had some good defense and was fighting off a lot of my attempts. But he’s well coached.”
At heavyweight, Minnesota’s Cole Konrad, ranked second in the country, struggled in a 3-2 win over 16th-ranked Kirk Nail of Ohio State.
Konrad scored a reversal at the beginning of the third period to go ahead for the first time in the match. He then added riding time to earn the one-point victory. With the victory, Konrad improved his record to 31-2 on the season.
“These guys know how I wrestle, so they’re just trying to slow me down and block me,” said Konrad. “You can tell that they’re not really trying to win; they’re trying to keep it close. I’ve got to get through that. I have to figure out more offense, so I can get some more dominating wins.”
Minnesota’s Andrew Domingues defeated Nathan Costello of Ohio State, 5-3, at 125.
Ohio State’s T.J. Enright, ranked 18th in the country, earned the upset of the dual, with a 5-3 sudden-victory decision over third-ranked Mack Reiter of Minnesota in the 133-pound match. Trailing 3-2 after two periods, Reiter earned an escape at the start of the third period, but was unable to score again which sent the match to overtime tied 3-3. Enright scored a takedown less than 20 seconds into the one-minute sudden-victory period. The loss snapped Reiter’s 12 match winning streak, dating back to December 29th.
“People aren’t going to do a whole lot on their feet (against Reiter),” Robinson said about the match. “They’re going to try and keep it as close as they can, so there’s just one takedown, one score. Enright shot once and got one takedown, and other than that last scramble, he never shot in the whole match.”
Hellickson was pleased with the performance of his freshman 133-pounder.
“I liked Enright’s effort tonight,” said Hellickson. “I think he did a great job. He has been pretty tough all year, a little inconsistent, but that was nice match for him to win.”
Tommy Owen clinched the dual for Minnesota with a 5-1 win over Ohio State’s Jason Johnstone. Ryan Needle of Ohio State defeated Danny Williams of Minnesota, 3-1 in sudden victory, in the final match of the dual.
The Gophers were still without the services of 157-pounder C.P. Schlatter and 184-pounder Roger Kish, both out with injuries. They are expected to be back in the lineup next weekend when the Gophers travel to Madison to face the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday, before returning home next Sunday to wrestle Illinois in the final home meet of the season.
Minnesota wrestled four non regular starters against the Buckeyes.
“It’s always nice for them to get a chance, but they are in there because a lot of our guys are hurt,” said Robinson. “So it’s not a real positive thing. But hopefully be the end of this week, we’ll have everyone back and in the right weight classes as we get ready for the Big Tens.”
Ohio State fell to 7-11 on the season and remains winless in Big Ten duals (0-7).
“We’re struggling a lit bit, but you can’t give up on the guys,” said Hellickson. “I think their hearts are in the right place, but they are second guessing themselves. The mental attitude or psychological approach to wrestling is so critical to how you perform – and sometimes when you get down on yourself, it’s hard to come back.”
The Buckeyes close out their regular season next Friday night when they head to State College to wrestle Penn State.
Both teams will then get ready to compete in the Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, Iowa, on March 5-6.
#7 MINNESOTA 19 (9-7, 3-3 Big Ten), OHIO STATE 15 (7-11, 0-7)
157 “Keegan Mueller (OSU) dec. Matt Everson (MN), 5-3
165 – #10 Matt Nagel (MN) pinned John Vogel (OSU), 1: 05
174 “Gabriel Dretsch (MN) dec. Nathaniel Augustson (OSU), 10-4
184 “Alex Picazo (OSU) dec. Jeremy Larson (MN), 3-2
197 – #7 J.D. Bergman (OSU) dec. Jon Duncombe (MN), 9-5
HWT – #2 Cole Konrad (MN) dec. #16 Kirk Nail (OSU), 3 -2
125 “Andrew Domingues (MN) maj. dec. Nathan Costello (OSU), 13-4
133 – #18 T.J. Enright (OSU) dec. #3 Mack Reiter (MN), 5-3 SV
141 “Tommy Owen (MN) dec. Jason Johnstone (OSU), 5-1
149 “Ryan Needle (OSU) dec. Danny Williams, 3-1
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