U matmen: Taking on the nation
Posted on January 7th, 2009 – 3:07 PMBy Roman Augustoviz
This blog is primarily for men’s hockey but, once in a while, we venture off into other Gophers sports. Today the subject is rasslin’, a true tough-guy sport.
The Gophers, ranked No. 11 in the nation, will compete in the National Duals on Saturday and Sunday in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
They will face Buffalo at 9 a.m. in their first match in Northern Iowa’s UNI Dome. The winner will undoubtedly get No. 1-rated Iowa in the quarterfinals if the Hawkeyes beat Wyoming in their opener.
Last year Minnesota was 2-2 and finished fourth at the National Duals after winning the tournament the previous two years.
The Gopher to watch in this meet is junior Jayson Ness. He has 13 pins this season and 48 for his career — which is only three shy of the program record. Heavyweight Billy Pierce had 51.
So Ness could catch and pass Pierce this weekend.
With Ness at 133, Zach Sanders at 125 and Mike Thorn at 141, the Gophers’ strength is obviously at the bottom of their line-up.
One wrestler noticeably absent from the lineup is senior Dustin Schlatter, who won an NCAA title as a freshman. He is 6-1 so far, competing only in open competition.
It seems more and more likely he will redshirt this season, especially since he wrestles at 157. That’s also the weight class in which Tyler Safratowich competes. Safratowich is the only other senior on the roster. He is also a solid wrestler. His record is 15-7.
Here is the Gophers’ probable lineup for the National Duals:
Wt. Wrestler Overall Pins
125 #5 Zach Sanders (R-Fr., Wabasha, Minn.) 20-1 4
133 #4 Jayson Ness (Jr., Bloomington, Minn.) 19-1 13
141 #8 Mike Thorn (So., St. Michael, Minn.) 19-5 8
149 Brian Peterson (R-Fr., Richmond, Mich.) 7-8 2
157 #16 Tyler Safratowich (Sr., Park Rapids, Minn.) 15-7 5
165 #16 Scott Glasser (So., Bismarck, N.D.) 15-5 3
174 Kaleb Young (R-Fr., Tenstrike, Minn.) 16-7 1
184 #20 Sonny Yohn (R-Fr., Alamosa, Colo.) 5-4 1
197 Chris McPhail (Jr., Pine Island, Minn.) 13-5 7
Hwt Ben Berhow (So., Hayward, Minn.) 14-5 4
-or- Joe Nord (So., Waconia, Minn.) 8-3 3
2 Responses to "U matmen: Taking on the nation"
Actually this is in Cedar Falls, Iowa - Not all that far from Hayward, in case you want to scoot down - Excellent world class wrestling - Has to be tough when a commit backs out at the last minute like the Anoka kid - Leaves a hole in the program too late to fill - Like Laurinatis bailing for Ohio State at the last minute - Sucks - Anyway, good note about the event -
Thanks NEI Gopher. I fixed Cedar Rapids to Cedar Falls. Wish I could be there, but I have to go to Grand Forks, N.D. for the Gophers hockey.
