Eight Gophers advance to Quarterfinals
Minnesota sits in second place after day one of the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships with 33 points. Penn State leads the field with 38.5 and Cornell sits in third with 27.5.
The Golden Gophers have advanced eight wrestlers into tomorrow mornings quarterfinal round, which is the most in the entire field. Penn State advanced seven and Iowa who sits in sixth place adavanced six.
Minnesota had key wins in the afternoon session from Nick Dardanes, Kevin Steinhaus, Sonny Yohn and Tony Nelson.
Ninth seed Dardanes scored an early 4-2 decision over North Carolina State’s eighth seed Darius Little. Dardanes lost to Little back at the Southern Scuffle in the quarterfinals 7-3. The Chicago native will square off with top ranked Kellen Russell of Michigan tomorrow morning. Dardanes nearly beat last year’s National Champion at the Big Ten Championships (3-1 dec.) a few weeks back.
Once again Steinhaus put Minnesota fans on the edge of their seat. The Penncok, Minn., native scored a last second takedown against Virginia’s Jon Fausey. Just like in the Big Ten Championship, Steinhaus blocked a shot from his opponent and turned it into his own takedown, bringing the Scottrade Center fans to their feet. Steinhaus will square off with Cornell’s Steve Bosak in the quarterfinals. Bosak beat Steinhaus by an 8-2 decision earlier in the season.
Yohn moved onto the quarterfinals tomorrow after knocking off Big Ten Champion Mario Gonzalez of Illinois. Yohn fell to Gonzalez by a 5-4 decision back in January, but the senior wrestled all seven minutes and pulled off win. The two-time All-American will take on Christopher Honeycutt of Edinboro, who is the second overall seed.
Nelson would close out the championship portion of matches for the Gophers with a 6-0 decision over Central Michigan’s Peter Stuergeon. The Cambridge, Minn., native fell to Sturgeon (6-4 dec.) for his first loss of the season, back in December.
Zach Sanders, Chris Dardanes, Dylan Ness and Logan Storley are the four other Gophers to advance to the quarterfinals. Matches will start at 10 a.m. CST and will be broadcasted on ESPNU.
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Results from Day 1
125
Champ. Round 2 :Zach Sanders (Minnesota) pinned Austin Miller (Bucknell) (Pin 6:00)
Champ. Round 3: Zach Sanders (Minnesota) 2-0 dec. over Jonathon Morrison (Oklahoma St.)
133
Champ. Round 2 – Chris Dardanes (Minnesota) pinned Jamie Franco (Hofstra) (Pin 2:43)
Champ. Round 3 – Chris Dardanes (Minnesota) 7-3 dec. over Aaron Schopp (Edinboro) 37-5
141
Champ Round 2 – Nick Dardanes 12-4 maj. Over Kevin Fanta (NIU)
Champ Round 3 –Nick Dardanes 4-2 dec. over Darius Little (NC State)
149
Champ Round 2- Dylan Ness 4-2 dec. Shane Welsh (Lehigh)
Champ Round 3-Dylan Ness 11-7 dec. Corey Jantzen (Harvard)
165
Champ Round 2- Dominc Kastl (Cal Poly) 2-1 dec. Cody Yohn
Consolation Rd Nick Sulzer (Virginia) 3-2 OT Cody Yohn
174
Champ. Round 2 – Logan Storley 11-2 maj. Levi Clemons (Chattanooga)
Champ. Round 3 – Logan Storley (Minnesota) 2-0 dec. Lance Bryson (West Virginia)
184
Champ. Round 2 – Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota) pinned Steven Cressley (Clarion (Pin 6:21)
Champ. Round 3 – Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota) 7-6 dec. Jonathan Fausey (Virginia)
197
Champ. Round 2 – Sonny Yohn (Minnesota) 2-0 dec. Ryan Smith (Cal Poly)
Champ. Round 3 – Sonny Yohn (Minnesota) 8-5 dec. Mario Gonzalez (Illinois)
Hwt.
Champ. Round 2 – Tony Nelson (Minnesota) 8-0 maj. Nick Gwiazdowski (Binghamton)
Champ. Round 3 – Tony Nelson (Minnesota) 6-0 dec. Peter Sturgeon (Central Michigan)