goferphan

Jayson Ness Named Freshman of the Year by Amateur Wrestling News
Courtesy: University of Minnesota
Release: 05/22/2007









Courtesy: Alicia Jerome/University of Minnesota
http://gophersports.com/



University of Minnesota wrestler Jayson Ness has been selected as the national Freshman of the Year by Amateur Wrestling News.

A native of Bloomington, Minn., Ness finished the year with a 40-5 overall record, leading the Gophers with 15 pins and tying for the team-lead with nine major decisions. His 40 victories and 15 pins are both totals which rank tied for seventh in school history.

The 125-pounder posted a 16-5 record against ranked opponents on the season, including a 12-4 mark against wrestlers ranked in the top 10. He registered a pair of regular season wins over eventual NCAA champion Paul Donahoe of Nebraska.

Ness capped off his decorated redshirt freshman season with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships in March to earn his first All-America certificate. He scored 16 critical team points, which included three pins, to help Minnesota to the national title, its third in the last seven seasons.

Entering the national tournament, Ness had won 19 consecutive matches, with bonus points in 14 of those victories. He defeated 12 ranked opponents during that stretch, including eight against the top 10.

Ness captured Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors after breezing to an individual title with two pins and a major decision to help Minnesota run away with its second straight conference championship. He was also selected as Minnesota’s representative for the Big Ten Sportsmanship award.

At the team’s annual awards banquet in April, Ness collected multiple awards as he earned Most Outstanding Freshman honors and received the Most Falls Award.

Ness is the second straight Gopher rookie to earn AWN Freshman of the Year honors, following Dustin Schlatter, who ran away with the award last season. Ness was selected ahead of Iowa State’s Jake Varner, Missouri’s Max Askren, Ohio State’s Mike Pucillo and Harvard’s J.P. O’Connor.

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"That is what Gable would have done to Owings the second time around. (Metcalf/Caldwell)"

goferphan

Thats pretty funny that Paul Donahoe takes the title but Minnesota Freshmen own him.

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"That is what Gable would have done to Owings the second time around. (Metcalf/Caldwell)"

silvermedal

Congrats to Ness but there needs to be a way to distinguish between a true frosh and redshirt frosh.

Champ Kind

I feel bad for fellow freshman Angel Escobedo who placed higher and beat him or Jake Varner who was the national runner-up.

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I will smash your face into a car windshield and then take your mother, Dorothy Mantooth, out to a nice seafood dinner and never call her again!

Tell me about it, this morning, I woke up and I shit a squirrel, but what I can't get is the damn thing is still alive. So now, I've got a shit covered squirrel running around my office and I don't know what to name it.

headshuck

There's a good long thread on TheMat.com on this very topic. In the end the consensus was that Ness was probably the right choice. Won his conference in dominating fashion, defeated Escobedo 2x, Donahoe 2x, had more pins, techs and majors than the rest, better record against returning AA's and Top10 ranked wrestlers... But dang, I wish he had beaten Escobedo again and faced Nickerson for 3rd.

TLV

Hold on a minute! The award is Freshman of the YEAR, not freshman of the NCAA championships.

The award is based upon an entire season's worth of work, not simply a snapshot over one weekend.

Ness was Big 10 champion, Escobedo 3rd and Varner 2nd in the Big 12.
Ness was 40-5, Escobedo 39-7(ok not much difference there) and Varner 30-7.
Varner got to the NCAA finals by upsetting Kish who had beaten him twice during the season.
Ness had 15 falls, 9 majors and 4 tech.


All three had great seasons, but IMO good call on choosing Ness

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The Art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.

Champ Kind

Ness was 1-1 against Escobedo.

__________________
I will smash your face into a car windshield and then take your mother, Dorothy Mantooth, out to a nice seafood dinner and never call her again!

Tell me about it, this morning, I woke up and I shit a squirrel, but what I can't get is the damn thing is still alive. So now, I've got a shit covered squirrel running around my office and I don't know what to name it.

headshuck

So we assume you concede on the other points?

Champ Kind

I'm not saying it was a bad choice, but there were a couple others that did just as well. I think the NCAA finish should be above any other finish throughout the year.

__________________
I will smash your face into a car windshield and then take your mother, Dorothy Mantooth, out to a nice seafood dinner and never call her again!

Tell me about it, this morning, I woke up and I shit a squirrel, but what I can't get is the damn thing is still alive. So now, I've got a shit covered squirrel running around my office and I don't know what to name it.

goferphan

i disagree...good night now...

__________________
"That is what Gable would have done to Owings the second time around. (Metcalf/Caldwell)"