February 26th, 2008 by NCAA Wrestling Rankings College Wrestling Rankings Videos News Results
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More than 1,500 yearning fans heard the announcement they'd been waiting for: No. 1 vs. No. 2.
"At Oklahoma State, it was intense," said John Azevedo, head coach of the Cal Poly College wrestling team. "They make the announcement, 'No. 1 and 2,' and their fans are going wild."
But neither his second-ranked counterpart nor the rabid throng of onlookers in Stillwater, Okla. on Feb. 16 could phase Cal Poly's Chad Mendes, the top-ranked 141-pounder in the country.
After twice trailing, at 2-1 and then 3-2, Mendes took down Nathan Morgan with 10 seconds left in the match to claim a 4-3 victory.
It kept his dual record unblemished, at 22-0 heading into the Pac-10 Conference Championships.
"He was very calm, very poised and pulled out the match," Azevedo said.
Such composure has been a staple this season from the senior from Hanford who, on Dec. 8, pinned defending national champion Minnesota's Manuel Rivera, then the No. 3 grappler in his class, in just a minute and 34 seconds.
Now, Mendes, the eighth Mustang to go undefeated in single-season dual action, has his sights set on becoming Cal Poly's first national champion since Mark DiGirolamo accomplished the feat at 118 pounds in 1976.
As the first Cal Poly wrestler to be slotted No. 1 in 28 years, Mendes says any outside pressure stemming from being bestowed the highest assessment doesn't affect his day-to-day approach.
"It doesn't really bother me too much," Mendes said. "I've always been really close to being at the top, but just have never been quite there. I'm actually just being in the moment, taking this all in and liking it."
A Pac-10 champion in 2006, Mendes cited Cal State Fullerton junior Teddy Astorga, Arizona State freshman Chris Drouin and Boise State freshman Eli Hutchinson among those who might give him the most trouble at the conference championships.
"We've been training to win the Pac-10," Mendes said of his Mustangs (5-8, 4-4 Pac-10), who figure to also be led by sophomore Chase Pami (21-4), now No. 11 at 157. "If everyone does a little better than expected to do in rankings, we can win this, and a lot of the guys on the team are starting to know it, and it's starting to show."
Following the Pac-10 finals, held in Eugene, Ore. beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday and going through Monday, Mendes will turn his attention to the NCAA Championships, held in St. Louis March 20 to 22.
"There are guys out there I haven't wrestled," Mendes said. "I sometimes wonder about that, but it's not something I worry about. I've just got to keep my eyes on the title. I can't let that kind of stuff hold me back or scare me."
Azevedo doesn't seem worried, either.
"Some kids, if they lose early in the season, it sometimes relieves or releases the pressure of being undefeated," he said. "I've seen that, where, 'OK, I've lost and I'm not thinking about that anymore,' but I think as far as Chad is concerned, and we're concerned, the goal is to go undefeated and be a national champion."
Regardless of what transpires at the end of his pursuit of perfection, Mendes likely won't forget the simplest reason for his commitment to the sport: the fun of it.
"It's been fine," he said. "Some people keep asking, 'Is it going to get to you?' and that kind of stuff, but it doesn't bug me. This thing is fun and it doesn't get to me. It's all fun to me."
Wrestling Videos from the Big Ten Wrestling Tournament and Big 12 Wrestling Tournament will be available shortly after the events. We are still working on securing videos from the PAC 10 Wrestling Tournament.
February 24th, 2008 by NCAA Wrestling Rankings College Wrestling Rankings Videos News Results
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In the season finale defending NCAA Wrestling national champion got a big win over Ohio State, but question marks still loom as th Golden Gophers get set to defend its Big Ten and NCAA title in the coming weeks. The big questions is which Minnesota team will show up?
It was senior day at the Sports Pavilion Sunday afternoon, and despite enduring a trying regular season up to this point, the Golden Gopher wrestling team did not disappoint in their final dual meet of the season. Four of the six Gopher seniors that started Sunday’s meet picked up individual wins, as the Gophers (14-7, 5-3 Big Ten) rounded out the regular season with a 23-18 victory over Ohio State (19-4, 6-2).
The Gophers’ ten seniors – Mack Reiter, Manuel Rivera, C.P. Schlatter, Gabe Dretsch, Jeremy Larson, Roger Kish, Justin Bronson, Mitch Kuhlman, Dan Jackson and Jason Waidzulis – entered Minnesota as the top-ranked recruiting class in the nation and have presided over a national championship and two Big Ten team titles. Sunday, they were recognized at the Sports Pavilion with family and friends in front of an announced crowd of 2,006.
On the mat, the win snapped a two-meet losing streak for the Gophers, who will now turn their attention to the 2008 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. This year’s Big Ten meet will be hosted by Minnesota for the first time since 1997 and take place in Williams Arena March 8-9.
Sunday’s meet began at 157 pounds, and despite missing last weekend’s dual meets due to an injury, senior C.P. Schlatter was hardly rusty in his match with John Johnstone of the Buckeyes. Both wrestlers are natives of Massillon, Ohio, but it was the Golden Gopher who had the upper hand Sunday. Schlatter pulled out an 8-5 win after out-scoring Johnstone 5-2 after the first period. The sixth-ranked senior rounds out the regular season with a stellar 26-2 overall record.
Tyler Safratowich took on highly-touted freshman Colt Sponseller at 165 pounds. Both wrestlers entered the match ranked (Safratowich 20th, Sponseller 8th), and the battle was a tight one in the early going. The Minnesota junior scored first with a stall warning point partway through the second and jumped to a 4-0 lead after two periods with a highly-acrobatic takedown, bringing the Gopher faithful to their feet. Safratowich held off Sponseller’s advances through the final frame to emerge the 4-2 victor.
Sponseller becomes the third ranked opponent Safratowich has beaten this season, and the second top-ten foe he has toppled. Safratowich also beat No. 5 Jake Dieffenbach of Okalahoma State on Feb. 3. He has beaten a whopping nine ranked wrestlers during the last two seasons and improved to 25-7 this season.
Another Gopher senior, 11th-ranked Dretsch, took to the mat at 174 pounds to face Alex Picazo. Dretsch had the match in hand, leading 6-2 heading into the final 30 seconds, before he was able to maneuver Picazo onto his back and gain the fall with 12 seconds remaining, to the cheers of the hometown crowd. It was the fifth pin of the season for Dretsch and allowed him to finish the regular season with a 26-9 record, including a career-best 13-6 in dual meets.
With the Gophers leading 12-0 in the dual, Minnesota’s coaching staff elected not to send out announced starter Roger Kish to face second-ranked Mike Pucillo at 184 pounds. Instead, senior Jeremy Larson got the call for the second time this season at 184. Larson lasted the entire seven minutes but was defeated by technical fall 25-6 to make the score 12-5 in favor of Minnesota.
Justin Bronson was the fourth Gopher senior in action Sunday as he took on true freshman John Weakley of OSU. Bronson wrestled his typical close-to-the-vest match, leading 1-0 after two periods (scoring on a second period escape) before winning 2-1 on the strength of 1:27 worth of riding time. The win was a crucial one in the dual (putting the Gophers up 15-5 at the time) and allowed the Gopher senior to round out his final regular season with a career-high 17 wins, including seven in dual meets.
Redshirt freshman Ben Berhow took to the mat at heavyweight following the senior day intermission ceremony, but had a tough draw in second-ranked J.D. Bergman (24-1 on the season entering Sunday). Berhow dropped a hard-fought 13-3 major decision.
Minnesota led 15-9 heading into the lightweight session of the meet. Top-ranked Jayson Ness met true freshman Nikko Triggas at 125 pounds, with Ness finishing up a perfect 33-0 regular season after the 6-0 victory. Ness cruised through the first two periods with a 4-0 lead, then tacked on a reversal in the final stanza, nearly picking up his 19th pin of the season in the process.
Ness will enter the Big Ten Championships at the prohibitive favorite and most likely the number one seed at 125 pounds.
The Gophers held a comfortable 18-9 lead in the dual when ninth-ranked senior Reiter took to the mat at 133 pounds. The Gilbertville, Iowa native successfully shrugged off his two disappointing losses last weekend with a dominating 18-2 tech fall victory over No. 13 Reece Humphrey. Reiter came out aggressively at the whistle, earning a takedown and two-point nearfall just 42 seconds into the match and then another three-point nearfall at the end of the period. He had racked up an impressive 2:24 of riding time after just three minutes of wrestling.
Reiter continued his aggressive approach over the next five minutes of action, scoring 11 more points in the final two periods of his dismantling of Humphrey. Reiter walked off the mat to a standing ovation from the Gopher crowd after picking up the tech fall and finishes his final regular season 19-6 overall. Reiter will be one of the top seeds at the upcoming Big Ten Championships.
Rivera, the fifth-ranked wrestler in the country at 141 pounds, was the final Gopher senior to take the mat Sunday afternoon. Rivera lost a hard-fought match with No. 8 J Jaggers 6-4 to finish out his regular season with a 28-6 overall record. Down 5-2 heading into the final 40 seconds of the match, Rivera scored a takedown to close the gap to 5-4 but could not pick up the match-tying points in the waning seconds.
Unfortunately Gopher fans were sent home with a sour taste in their mouths as No. 7 Lance Palmer pinned third-ranked Dustin Schlatter at 149 pounds in 3:19. It marked the first time Schlatter had been pinned in his collegiate career and was just the fourth loss as a Golden Gopher.
The team victory was the Gophers’ 13th straight over the Buckeyes, a streak that dates back to 1993. After going 0-4 in Williams Arena during the dual meet season, Minnesota finishes with a 3-0 record in the Sports Pavilion.
Minnesota’s focus now turns to the 2008 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, which will get underway in less than two weeks. The Gophers are the two-time defending conference champions and crowned four individuals (Jayson Ness, Dustin Schlatter, C.P. Schlatter and departed heavyweight Cole Konrad) at last year’s event, which was held in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The first session of the championships will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 8. Approximately 4,400 all-session tickets have been sold already, with single-session tickets set to go on sale Monday, March 3.
February 24th, 2008 by NCAA Wrestling Rankings College Wrestling Rankings Videos News Results
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The Big 10 and Big 12 High School Wrestling Tournaments are about to kick off. You can follow all of the action without heading down to Minneapolis by visiting the Big 10 Wrestling Tournament Results thread. The and this is the thread for the Big 12 Wrestling Tournament results.
The Big Ten Favorite this year is Iowa and the competition level is once again very high. Minneapolis is the perfect stage for the Championships this year, as it will draw in many fans hoping for the upset of the #1 Hawkeyes.
The Big Twelve Favorite is Oklahoma State. Lead by #1 Coleman Scott and Head Coach John Smith, the Cowboys will not go untested.
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More than 1,500 yearning fans heard the announcement they'd been waiting for: No. 1 vs. No. 2.
"At Oklahoma State, it was intense," said John Azevedo, head coach of the Cal Poly College wrestling team. "They make the announcement, 'No. 1 and 2,' and their fans are going wild."
But neither his second-ranked counterpart nor the rabid throng of onlookers in Stillwater, Okla. on Feb. 16 could phase Cal Poly's Chad Mendes, the top-ranked 141-pounder in the country.
After twice trailing, at 2-1 and then 3-2, Mendes took down Nathan Morgan with 10 seconds left in the match to claim a 4-3 victory.
It kept his dual record unblemished, at 22-0 heading into the Pac-10 Conference Championships.
"He was very calm, very poised and pulled out the match," Azevedo said.
Such composure has been a staple this season from the senior from Hanford who, on Dec. 8, pinned defending national champion Minnesota's Manuel Rivera, then the No. 3 grappler in his class, in just a minute and 34 seconds.
Now, Mendes, the eighth Mustang to go undefeated in single-season dual action, has his sights set on becoming Cal Poly's first national champion since Mark DiGirolamo accomplished the feat at 118 pounds in 1976.
As the first Cal Poly wrestler to be slotted No. 1 in 28 years, Mendes says any outside pressure stemming from being bestowed the highest assessment doesn't affect his day-to-day approach.
"It doesn't really bother me too much," Mendes said. "I've always been really close to being at the top, but just have never been quite there. I'm actually just being in the moment, taking this all in and liking it."
A Pac-10 champion in 2006, Mendes cited Cal State Fullerton junior Teddy Astorga, Arizona State freshman Chris Drouin and Boise State freshman Eli Hutchinson among those who might give him the most trouble at the conference championships.
"We've been training to win the Pac-10," Mendes said of his Mustangs (5-8, 4-4 Pac-10), who figure to also be led by sophomore Chase Pami (21-4), now No. 11 at 157. "If everyone does a little better than expected to do in rankings, we can win this, and a lot of the guys on the team are starting to know it, and it's starting to show."
Following the Pac-10 finals, held in Eugene, Ore. beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday and going through Monday, Mendes will turn his attention to the NCAA Championships, held in St. Louis March 20 to 22.
"There are guys out there I haven't wrestled," Mendes said. "I sometimes wonder about that, but it's not something I worry about. I've just got to keep my eyes on the title. I can't let that kind of stuff hold me back or scare me."
Azevedo doesn't seem worried, either.
"Some kids, if they lose early in the season, it sometimes relieves or releases the pressure of being undefeated," he said. "I've seen that, where, 'OK, I've lost and I'm not thinking about that anymore,' but I think as far as Chad is concerned, and we're concerned, the goal is to go undefeated and be a national champion."
Regardless of what transpires at the end of his pursuit of perfection, Mendes likely won't forget the simplest reason for his commitment to the sport: the fun of it.
"It's been fine," he said. "Some people keep asking, 'Is it going to get to you?' and that kind of stuff, but it doesn't bug me. This thing is fun and it doesn't get to me. It's all fun to me."
Wrestling Videos from the Big Ten Wrestling Tournament and Big 12 Wrestling Tournament will be available shortly after the events. We are still working on securing videos from the PAC 10 Wrestling Tournament.
February 25, 2008
Ann Arbor, MI (UWIRE) -- Joe McFarland couldn't help himself Saturday.
The Michigan wrestling coach was pleased with
February 25, 2008
Ann Arbor, MI (UWIRE) -- Joe McFarland couldn't help himself Saturday.
The Michigan wrestling coach was pleased with
February 25, 2008
Iowa City, IA (UWIRE) -- After overcoming a rocky road dual with Illinois on Sunday, the top-ranked Iowa wrestling team end
February 25, 2008
Ames, IA (UWIRE) -- On paper, the ISU wrestling team was the underdog going into its meet against second-ranked Nebr
February 25, 2008
Ames, IA (UWIRE) -- On paper, the ISU wrestling team was the underdog going into its meet against second-ranked Nebr
February 25, 2008
Minneapolis, MN (UWIRE) -- Justin Bronson was not going to lose the last dual-meet match of his career.
The senior squeake
February 25, 2008
Minneapolis, MN (UWIRE) -- Justin Bronson was not going to lose the last dual-meet match of his career.
The senior squeake
In the season finale defending NCAA Wrestling national champion got a big win over Ohio State, but question marks still loom as th Golden Gophers get set to defend its Big Ten and NCAA title in the coming weeks. The big questions is which Minnesota team will show up?
It was senior day at the Sports Pavilion Sunday afternoon, and despite enduring a trying regular season up to this point, the Golden Gopher wrestling team did not disappoint in their final dual meet of the season. Four of the six Gopher seniors that started Sunday’s meet picked up individual wins, as the Gophers (14-7, 5-3 Big Ten) rounded out the regular season with a 23-18 victory over Ohio State (19-4, 6-2).
The Gophers’ ten seniors – Mack Reiter, Manuel Rivera, C.P. Schlatter, Gabe Dretsch, Jeremy Larson, Roger Kish, Justin Bronson, Mitch Kuhlman, Dan Jackson and Jason Waidzulis – entered Minnesota as the top-ranked recruiting class in the nation and have presided over a national championship and two Big Ten team titles. Sunday, they were recognized at the Sports Pavilion with family and friends in front of an announced crowd of 2,006.
On the mat, the win snapped a two-meet losing streak for the Gophers, who will now turn their attention to the 2008 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. This year’s Big Ten meet will be hosted by Minnesota for the first time since 1997 and take place in Williams Arena March 8-9.
Sunday’s meet began at 157 pounds, and despite missing last weekend’s dual meets due to an injury, senior C.P. Schlatter was hardly rusty in his match with John Johnstone of the Buckeyes. Both wrestlers are natives of Massillon, Ohio, but it was the Golden Gopher who had the upper hand Sunday. Schlatter pulled out an 8-5 win after out-scoring Johnstone 5-2 after the first period. The sixth-ranked senior rounds out the regular season with a stellar 26-2 overall record.
Tyler Safratowich took on highly-touted freshman Colt Sponseller at 165 pounds. Both wrestlers entered the match ranked (Safratowich 20th, Sponseller 8th), and the battle was a tight one in the early going. The Minnesota junior scored first with a stall warning point partway through the second and jumped to a 4-0 lead after two periods with a highly-acrobatic takedown, bringing the Gopher faithful to their feet. Safratowich held off Sponseller’s advances through the final frame to emerge the 4-2 victor.
Sponseller becomes the third ranked opponent Safratowich has beaten this season, and the second top-ten foe he has toppled. Safratowich also beat No. 5 Jake Dieffenbach of Okalahoma State on Feb. 3. He has beaten a whopping nine ranked wrestlers during the last two seasons and improved to 25-7 this season.
Another Gopher senior, 11th-ranked Dretsch, took to the mat at 174 pounds to face Alex Picazo. Dretsch had the match in hand, leading 6-2 heading into the final 30 seconds, before he was able to maneuver Picazo onto his back and gain the fall with 12 seconds remaining, to the cheers of the hometown crowd. It was the fifth pin of the season for Dretsch and allowed him to finish the regular season with a 26-9 record, including a career-best 13-6 in dual meets.
With the Gophers leading 12-0 in the dual, Minnesota’s coaching staff elected not to send out announced starter Roger Kish to face second-ranked Mike Pucillo at 184 pounds. Instead, senior Jeremy Larson got the call for the second time this season at 184. Larson lasted the entire seven minutes but was defeated by technical fall 25-6 to make the score 12-5 in favor of Minnesota.
Justin Bronson was the fourth Gopher senior in action Sunday as he took on true freshman John Weakley of OSU. Bronson wrestled his typical close-to-the-vest match, leading 1-0 after two periods (scoring on a second period escape) before winning 2-1 on the strength of 1:27 worth of riding time. The win was a crucial one in the dual (putting the Gophers up 15-5 at the time) and allowed the Gopher senior to round out his final regular season with a career-high 17 wins, including seven in dual meets.
Redshirt freshman Ben Berhow took to the mat at heavyweight following the senior day intermission ceremony, but had a tough draw in second-ranked J.D. Bergman (24-1 on the season entering Sunday). Berhow dropped a hard-fought 13-3 major decision.
Minnesota led 15-9 heading into the lightweight session of the meet. Top-ranked Jayson Ness met true freshman Nikko Triggas at 125 pounds, with Ness finishing up a perfect 33-0 regular season after the 6-0 victory. Ness cruised through the first two periods with a 4-0 lead, then tacked on a reversal in the final stanza, nearly picking up his 19th pin of the season in the process.
Ness will enter the Big Ten Championships at the prohibitive favorite and most likely the number one seed at 125 pounds.
The Gophers held a comfortable 18-9 lead in the dual when ninth-ranked senior Reiter took to the mat at 133 pounds. The Gilbertville, Iowa native successfully shrugged off his two disappointing losses last weekend with a dominating 18-2 tech fall victory over No. 13 Reece Humphrey. Reiter came out aggressively at the whistle, earning a takedown and two-point nearfall just 42 seconds into the match and then another three-point nearfall at the end of the period. He had racked up an impressive 2:24 of riding time after just three minutes of wrestling.
Reiter continued his aggressive approach over the next five minutes of action, scoring 11 more points in the final two periods of his dismantling of Humphrey. Reiter walked off the mat to a standing ovation from the Gopher crowd after picking up the tech fall and finishes his final regular season 19-6 overall. Reiter will be one of the top seeds at the upcoming Big Ten Championships.
Rivera, the fifth-ranked wrestler in the country at 141 pounds, was the final Gopher senior to take the mat Sunday afternoon. Rivera lost a hard-fought match with No. 8 J Jaggers 6-4 to finish out his regular season with a 28-6 overall record. Down 5-2 heading into the final 40 seconds of the match, Rivera scored a takedown to close the gap to 5-4 but could not pick up the match-tying points in the waning seconds.
Unfortunately Gopher fans were sent home with a sour taste in their mouths as No. 7 Lance Palmer pinned third-ranked Dustin Schlatter at 149 pounds in 3:19. It marked the first time Schlatter had been pinned in his collegiate career and was just the fourth loss as a Golden Gopher.
The team victory was the Gophers’ 13th straight over the Buckeyes, a streak that dates back to 1993. After going 0-4 in Williams Arena during the dual meet season, Minnesota finishes with a 3-0 record in the Sports Pavilion.
Minnesota’s focus now turns to the 2008 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, which will get underway in less than two weeks. The Gophers are the two-time defending conference champions and crowned four individuals (Jayson Ness, Dustin Schlatter, C.P. Schlatter and departed heavyweight Cole Konrad) at last year’s event, which was held in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The first session of the championships will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 8. Approximately 4,400 all-session tickets have been sold already, with single-session tickets set to go on sale Monday, March 3.
Minnesota 23, Ohio State 18 (Wrestling Camps)
157 pounds: #6 C.P. Schlatter (MINN) dec. John Johnstone (OSU), 8-5
165 pounds: #20 Tyler Safratowich (MINN) dec. #8 Colt Sponseller (OSU), 4-2
174 pounds: #11 Gabe Dretsch (MINN) pinned Alex Picazo (OSU), 6:48
184 pounds: #2 Mike Pucillo (OSU) tech. fall Jeremy Larson (MINN), 25-6 (7:00)
197 pounds: Justin Bronson (MINN) dec. John Weakley (OSU), 2-1
285 pounds: #2 J.D. Bergman (OSU) maj. dec. Ben Berhow (MINN); 13-3
125 pounds: #1 Jayson Ness (MINN) dec. Nikko Triggas (OSU); 6-0
133 pounds: #9 Mack Reiter (MINN) tech. fall #13 Reece Humphrey (OSU); 18-2 (7:00)
141 pounds: #8 J Jaggers (OSU) dec. #3 Manuel Rivera (MINN); 6-4
149 pounds: #7 Lance Palmer (OSU) pinned #3 Dustin Schlatter (MINN); 3:19
The Big 10 and Big 12 High School Wrestling Tournaments are about to kick off. You can follow all of the action without heading down to Minneapolis by visiting the Big 10 Wrestling Tournament Results thread. The and this is the thread for the Big 12 Wrestling Tournament results.
The Big Ten Favorite this year is Iowa and the competition level is once again very high. Minneapolis is the perfect stage for the Championships this year, as it will draw in many fans hoping for the upset of the #1 Hawkeyes.
The Big Twelve Favorite is Oklahoma State. Lead by #1 Coleman Scott and Head Coach John Smith, the Cowboys will not go untested.