No. 3 Minnesota Cruises to a 34-6 Rollercoaster Victory Over No. 13 Iowa State
The No. 3 Minnesota wrestling team dominated from the start of the evening in route to its 34-6 pounding over No. 13 ranked Iowa State. Minnesota picked up eight wins on the evening including four wins by a major decision and one fall. With the win, Minnesota improves to 4-2 overall on the season and the Cyclones fall to 0-7 on the year.
In front of over 3,000 fans inside Williams Arena, the Gophers picked up the first points of the dual at 125 lbs. as Zach Sanders won his match by a forfeit. Iowa State did not have a 125 ponder in the line-up.
David Thorn was the first real match of the evening. He picked up a 14-5 major decision victory over RJ Hallman. Thorn had total control of the match as he ended with 3:48 of riding time and scored six takedowns.
Minnesota would go onto to win the next three matches. Nick Dardanes won a 3-2 decision over Luke Goettle, Dylan Ness picked up a 13-3 major decision against Joe Cozart and the highlight of the evening came at the 157 lbs. match between Alex Oritz and Mike Moreno. Both were tied up for the majority of the opening period before Oritz scored the two-point takedown and quickly turned that into a pin, with 20 seconds left, to put the Gophers up 23-0 at the intermission.
Iowa State picked up wins in the first two matches to score six team points after the break, but Minnesota would fight back strong to take the last three.
Kevin Steinhaus, Sonny Yohn and Tony Nelson all were victorious for the Gophers to close out the night. Steinhaus won by a 16-3 major and Yohn picked up an 11-0 major victory. Nelson would be the final Gopher to wrestle as he scored a 4-0 decision.
Minnesota will now rest up a before heading south to Tennessee, for the Southern Scuffle. The Scuffle is a two day tournament and will be on Jan. 1 and 2 from Chattanooga, Tenn. Some Gophers will compete at the Husky Open tomorrow at St. Cloud State University.
No. 3 Minnesota 34 No. 13 Iowa State 6
125: No. 1 Zach Sanders (Minn) wins by forfeit
133: No. 6 David Thorn (Minn) maj. dec. RJ Hallman (ISU) 14-5
141: No: 10 Nick Dardanes (Minn) dec. Luke Goettl (ISU) 3-2
149: No. 12 Dylan Ness (Minn) maj. dec. Joe Cozart (ISU) 13-3
157: Alec Ortiz (Minn) fall Michael Moreno (ISU) 2:44
165: No. 5 Andrew Sorenson (ISU) dec. No. 8 Cody Yohn (Minn) 6-4
174: No 7 Chris Spangler (ISU) dec. No. 10 Logan Storley (Minn) 5-3
184: No. 9 Kevin Steinhaus (Minn) maj. dec. Mikey England (ISU) 16-3
197: No. 3 Sonny Yohn (Minn) maj. dec. Cole Shafer (ISU) 11-0
Hwt: No. 7 Tony Nelson (Minn) vs No. 20 Matt Gibson (ISU) 4-0