Yogi BerraâÄôs famous utterance, âÄúIt ainâÄôt over âÄòtil itâÄôs over,âÄù apparently doesnâÄôt apply universally. At least not in wrestling. Minnesota finished third as a team Saturday at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational , but after the first day of competition, the Gophers had no chance at taking home the team crown. Statistically, Nebraska had the championship wrapped up after FridayâÄôs session with 106.5 points and a trio of finalists in line to wrestle Saturday. Minnesota, meanwhile, sat in fourth but managed to overtake Pittsburgh thanks to another strong performance by its lighter-weight wrestlers. Redshirt freshman Zach Sanders, ranked 14th in the country and seeded sixth in Las Vegas at 125 pounds, barreled through the bracket before falling 11-6 in the final to sixth-ranked Rollie Peterkin of Penn. The loss snapped SanderâÄôs 15-match win streak to start the season. Junior Jayson Ness and sophomore Mike Thorn suffered their first defeats of the year as well. Boise StateâÄôs Andrew Hochstrasser edged out Ness 5-4 in the 133-pound semifinal, but Ness answered with two pins in his final two matches to place third. Thorn suffered two losses on the weekend and finished sixth at 141, but recorded a 5-3 decision over defending national champion J Jaggers of Ohio State. Sophomores Scott Glasser and Ben Berhow were the only other Gophers to land on the podium, both recording eighth place finishes at 165 and 285, respectively.
Gophers take third at Las Vegas Invitational
Published December 7, 2008
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