Gopher Wrestling Team Finishes Off Iowa State, 19-13

The third-ranked University of Minnesota wrestling team defeated its second top 10 opponent in three days with a 19-13 victory over No. 7 Iowa State on Friday night. Much like Wednesday night against top-ranked Oklahoma State, Gabriel Dretsch provided the pivotal win after the dual entered the 174-pound match in a deadlock.

Minnesota took a 9-3 lead after the first four bouts before ISU's Paulson brothers provided back-to-back decisions at 157 and 165 to tie the match at nine apiece. Enter Dretsch, who provided the most exciting victory of the night. After trailing 4-3 with less than a minute remaining, Dretsch got an escape with 30 seconds remaining to tie the match. With the Cyclone crowd at its loudest of the night, Dretsch quickly silenced the building, scoring a takedown with just five seconds remaining and gaining two back points to defeat Grant Turner, 8-4 and give the Gophers a 12-9 lead.

Second-ranked Roger Kish followed with a convincing 7-2 decision over No. 3 Jake Varner in the most anticipated match of the night. Kish was never really challenged in the match, as he scored three takedowns and allowed just two escapes to Varner.

With the score sitting at 15-13 entering the heavyweight bout, top-ranked Cole Konrad put the match away for the Gophers with a dominating 18-5 victory over Iowa State's David Zabriskie. Konrad had a clear size advantage in the match and seemed to toy with the undersized Cyclone. He scored the first takedown just two seconds in and tallied nine total takedowns in the match, racking up 4:39 minutes of riding time along the way.

Minnesota jumped out to a 9-3 lead with decisions from Jayson Ness, Manuel Rivera and Dustin Schlatter in the first four matches. Ness continued his impressive early-season performance with a 12-6 victory over Iowa State's Nick Fanthorpe. In a defensive battle early on, No. 5 Manuel Rivera scored the first point of the 141-pound match with an escape in the second period. He scored a takedown later in the period and then went on the defensive for much of the remainder of the match to earn a 4-1 victory over No. 11 Mitch Mueller.

Top-ranked Dustin Schlatter faced a solid effort from No. 12 Cyler Sanderson but showed why he is the class of the 149-pound weight class with a number of quick shots and counters in a 9-2 decision.

Minnesota's other wrestlers had nothing to be ashamed about as they battled throughout their bouts. After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, true freshman Mike Thorn wrestled Nick Gallick even-up for the remainder of the match. Sophomore Tyler Safratowich turned in a solid effort against top-ranked Trent Paulson, staying within striking distance throughout in a 5-2 decision. Larson avoided a late takedown by Travis Paulson to prevent him from getting the major decision. Iowa State's only bonus point in the match came at 197, as No. 14 Kurt Backes defeated Yura Malamura 14-3.

With finals next week and the holiday break to follow, the Golden Gophers will next be in action Dec. 29-30 at the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C.

#3 Minnesota 19, #7 Iowa State 13

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