The Minnesota wrestling team continued its dominance over the Big Ten on Sunday with another convincing conference victory, 32-9, against unranked Purdue.
The Boilermakers came to the Sports Pavilion having lost their first four conference meets, and the Gophers made sure they would be leaving with their fifth.
up next
Indiana
when: 7 p.m. Friday
where: Bloomington, Ind.
After dominating Michigan just two days before, 29-6, Minnesota cruised to its 13th consecutive victory and maintained its perfect conference record at 3-0.
Coach J Robinson said despite a weaker opponent in Purdue, the match was a great way to conclude the week.
“Everyone is wrestling with a lot of intensity and that’s where you want to be at this time of the year,” he said. “This is the Big Ten season and all these matches count for seeding in the (Big Ten) Tournament.”
The match kicked off with redshirt freshman Jayson Ness, ranked No. 4 in the country at 125 pounds, doing battle with unranked junior Brandon Tucker.
With Tucker keeping it close at 5-5 heading into the final period, Ness, seeking his ninth straight victory, took over, scoring eight third-period points to pick up the major decision at 14-5.
And despite a setback in the 133-pound match, which freshman Mike Thorn dropped 4-2, Minnesota stormed back with a major decision by junior No. 2 Manuel Rivera at 141 pounds, a decision by top-ranked Dustin Schlatter at 149 pounds and another major decision by C.P. Schlatter at 157 pounds to give Minnesota a 15-3 advantage at the intermission.
After junior Jeremy Larson came out on the wrong side of a 13-8 decision, the next two matches provided the highlights of the afternoon.
Junior Gabriel Dretsch, ranked No. 12 at 174 pounds, picked up a technical fall at 2:52 in a high-scoring first period to conclude a successful weekend for the junior, who picked up a major decision Friday night.
“I went away from my style for a bit, and I came back to it this weekend Ö wrestling wide open,” Dretsch said. “I’ll get scored on with it, but I’ll make opponents wrestle and get out of position, that’s when I strike.”
Junior Roger Kish, ranked No. 2 at 184 pounds, followed up the performance with an impressive one of his own, scoring 15 third-period points to pick up a 23-8 technical fall.
Robinson said Kish’s aggressiveness was turned up over the weekend.
“He’s getting more and more confident as the season goes on,” Robinson said. “And you can see it in the way he’s been wrestling.”
Freshman Brent Eidenschink, wrestling his fifth straight ranked opponent in No. 14 Nathan Moore, fell 5-1 before Purdue forfeited the heavyweight match to give top-ranked Cole Konrad his 61st consecutive victory, extending his school-record streak.
Dretsch said the team is only getting better as the season wears on.
“Everyone individually is wrestling great, wrestling their styles,” he said. “Our team’s very composed right now.”
Gophers down Michigan
Minnesota defeated No. 17 Michigan on Friday night at the Sports Pavilion 29-6 to avenge the Wolverines, who gave the Gophers their only dual meet loss last season.
The match highlights included Dustin Schlatter’s 2-1 decision over No. 3 Josh Churella, his 53rd straight, and Roger Kish’s 15-8 decision over No. 4 Tyrel Todd.
Manuel Rivera picked up his 28th straight decision in his 19-6 major over unranked Justin Chrzanowski.
Reiter returns
Two-time All-American junior Mack Reiter continued his journey back to the starting lineup Saturday, taking the 133-pound division crown at the Jamestown Open in North Dakota, winning four straight matches along the way, all by pin. His status for next weekend is questionable.
