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Tim's Blog from NCAA Wrestling Championships
Saturday, March 22nd As much as it pains me to write this, Jayson Ness went down in tonight's 125lb. final to Angel Escobedo of Indiana by a score of 10-3. Believe it or not the match was tied 2-2 after two periods, but got out of hand in the 3rd. Ness started the 3rd period on top, and after being issued a stall warning Jayson chose to cut Escobedo loose, restoring the Indiana Sophomore's 1-point advantage. Escobedo scored a takedown with less them a minute left. Nes escaped with 30-seconds to go, but tried to throw Escobedo over his back and instead went down with his shoulders exposed to the mat, accounting for the final lop-sided tally. Ness lost just twice this season, both times to Escobedo, and both are sophomores, so expect this rivalry to continue. Some might call this a fitting end to what's been an especially trying weekend for the Gopher grapplers, but I know in my heart that Jayson Ness deserved a heck of a lot better than this. He'll be back, and the rest of the returning Gophers would be wise to follow his lead. A personal thanks for reading this blog, and an even bigger thanks for supporting the Gophers wrestling program. Happy Easter to all, see you back in the real world. TM. Seniors end on high note. Senior Mack Reiter split a pair of matches in this morning's wrestlebacks, losing his first before rebounding to grind out a 10-7 win over Mike Grey of Cornell in the 5th place match at 133lbs. Fellow Senior Manny Rivera went out in sytyle, sticking Cody Cleveland of Chattanooga with a pin in the 7th place match at 133. Junior Dustin Schlatter made it a clean sweep when he outlasted Lance Palmer of Ohio State, 3-2 in overtime for 7th place at 141. For Schlatter it was a measure of revenge considering that Palmer had pinned him in their previous match at Williams Arena, back in February. Tonight, Sophomore Jayson Ness steps into the spotlight when he wrestles for the National title against Indiana's Angel Escobedo in the 125lb final. You know Ness is serious because he didn't come over to watch his teammates wrestle this morning, and he's the consumate teammate so I'm hoping he's just getting his rest, and I know he'll be ready to go tonight. TM Friday, March 21st, St. Louis Ness comes through! Wow! Trailing right down to the match's final seconds, Jayson Ness took down Nebraska's Paul Donahoe to win his 125lb semifinal, 4-3. Ness advances to face Indiana's Angel Escobedo in tomorrow night's final. Escobedo beat ness in the final at the Big-10 Tournament two weeks ago and Escobedo beat Jayson in last year's NCAA tournament as well. Time for a change? If anybody can do it, it's Jayson Ness. More good news: Mack Reiter, Manny Rivera and Dustin Schlatter all won their first matches tonight to become All-American's. Reiter and Schlatter for the 3rd time each and for Rivera it's his first time. Believe me, nobody on the Gophers works harder than Manny Rivera, and it's nice to see something go right for him at nationals for a change. TM. Dretsch is out. Like C.P Schlatter, Justin Bronson, and Ben Berhow before him, Dretsch, a senior, failed to achieve All-American status. The 8th seed coming in, Dretsch failed to wrestle up to his seed and is indicative of why the Gophers will struggle to finish in the top-3. It's a forgone conclusion that Iowa will win the team title, so for the Gophers it's all about Jayson Ness and trying to figure out a way to top Iowa some time in the next 3-years (The Hawkeyes are loaded with Sophs.). TM. It's early afternoon and we still haven't finished this morning's quarterfinal action. Ben Berhow lost a heavyweight and is eliminated short of All-American status. Now, Mack Reiter, Manny Rivera, Dustin Schlatter and Roger Kish must all return to the mat to try to bounce back from their quarterfinal losses and attempt to achieve All-American status, while Gabe Dretsch remains alive at 174-lbs also. Latest rumor has "Shavegate" being recinded, but I have no confirmation of that at this point. Only at the NCAA Wrestling Tournament.. TM. Roger Kish was unable to find a way to escaped from Iowa State's top-seeded Jake Varner, and fell out of contention for a title by a score of 2-0. Varner scored his points with an escape, and by way of riding time, making the Gophers 1 for 4 in this morning's quarterfinals. In wrestlebacks C.P. Schlatter lost to iowa's Ryan Morningstar 4-0 in the first meeting between wrestlers from the arch-rivals in this tournament. Gabe Dretsch stays alive in wrestlebacks with a 10-2 major decision, while heavyweight Ben Berhow is about to take the mat.. Stay tuned.. TM. Ouch... As I write this the Gophers have lost 3 of 4 quarterfinal matches, with Roger Kish yet to take the mat at 184lbs. To add insult to injury, the Gophers were also docked points in the team race when tournament officials ruled that some team members had not shaved closely enough. I'm not kidding. 3-team points were taken away and Head Coach J Robinson was supposedly suspended. I say supposedly because the matter is under appeal, and of course if you know anything about J Robinson, you know he was mat-side during this morning's quarterfinals. To the action: Jayson Ness continued his brilliant performance by posting a pin, his 2nd in 3 matches, over his opponent from Old Dominion. Mack Reiter dropped a 5-3 decision to #1 sees Franklin Gomaz from Michigan State. Manny Rivera was dominated 8-1 by a familiar foe in Nathan Morgan from Oklahoma State. And the most dissapointing moment from a dissapointing morning was watching Dustin Schlatter lose 4-1 to 7th-seed Darrion Caldwell from North Carolina State. Roger Kish has yet to take the mat, but he has a brutal draw in iowa state's Jake Varner, and iowa is 3 for 3 so far so as far as the team race is concerned, it's over. Back with an update on Kish a.s.a.p. TM. Thursday, March 20th, St. Louis Day-1 is finally in the books... for the most part. 9 Gophers started the day in search of an individual title, and near the end of session-2, 5 still have that dream alive. 7 through day-1 would have been ideal and possible, but Gabe Dretsch lost his first match, and fellow senior C.P. Schlatter lost his second. Advancing are Jayson Ness at 125, Mach Reiter at 133, Manny Rivera at 141, Dustin Schlatter at 149, and unbelievably, Roger Kish at 184. That's unbelievable because Kish is wrestling with a dislocated shoulder, and what is rumored to be a bulging disc in his back. The point is, the kids are trying, the problem is, it just might not be enough to catch Iowa. Without team scores at this point, I'm guessing Iowa in 1st, with the Gophers and Iowa State hanging in. Friday morning's quarterfinal round should make or break the Gophs, as their draws are brutal, but you have to hang in there with them because against increasingly long odds, they're hanging in there too. Until tomorrow, TM. For the Gophers the first session closed with mixed results. Gabe Dretsch lost a 3-1 overtime decision at 174, while Heavyweight Ben Berhow dropped his opening match to a seeded wrestler from Kent State, 8-6. The lone bright spot in the Gophers upper weights came from Roger Kish, who somehow pulled-off a 6-3 victory at 184, despite having a shoulder that was dislocated at Big-10's, heavily encased in a protective device. First round results are not yet in but expect the Gophers to be in 2nd place behind guess who? The best and most realistic hope would have been to have 7 of the 9 wrestlers who started the day still in Championship contention, but the number heading into tonight's second session is 6 instead. To have any chance of catching Iowa I think five of those guys have to make it into tomorrow's quarterfinals, and oh yeah, bonus points in tonight's 2nd round wouldn't hurt, either. Talk to you later, TM. So far, so good.. Thursday, March 20th, St. Louis The Gophers came out flying in the first session of this NCAA Division-1 wrestling tournament. Jayson Ness taking just :51 seconds to pin his opponent from U.C. Davis, getting off the mat in a hurry, and getting the Gophers some much needed bonus points. Mack Reiter followed with a fall of his own at 133, and Manny Rivera just missed a pin, but was still off the mat in the 2nd period with a 17-nothing tech fall. Dustin Schlatter had a tough draw at 149, but advances with a 5-3 victory, while big brother C.P. slips into the 2nd round with a 4-2 win. The Gophers still have wrestlers to take the mat at 174, 184, and HWT, while Justin Bronson lost his "pigtails" match at 197 and will have to do any damage from the consolation bracket. Bonus news? Iowa has had wrestlers upset at 141 and 157, so while it's still early, the door is definitely open... Stay tuned... TM. Call it the calm before the storm, however, if you're a Golden Gopher wrestling fan, there are already dark clouds brewing on the horizon. The defending National Champs didn't storm into St. Louis today so much as they limped in. There have been rumors concerning the health of 184lb. senior Roger Kish all season, but now those rumors extend to three of the other eight Gophers who'll take the mat tomorrow as well. Let's face it, it's tough for any wrestler to be 100% at this time of the year, and J Robinson is the last guy to make excuses, but take it from me, I can't ever remember a Gopher squad that's been more snake bit for an entire season, and perhaps never more than now. So, a season that started with so much promise begins to come to a conclusion with a pair of sessions tomorrow, and it's still up to this talented group of seniors who've accomplished so much to write the final chapter. I'm just not sure they're capable of writing the ending so many, myself included, expected when this story began.
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