Monday, March 17, 2008

Minnesota's NCAA Tournament History

MINNESOTA FALLS TO IOWA AT BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Golden Gopher wrestling team was unable to hold onto its opening day lead at the 2008 Big Ten Championships at Williams Arena, relinquishing the Big Ten team title to the Iowa Hawkeyes 127 – 112.5. Minnesota did qualify nine wrestlers for the the 2008 NCAA Championships in two weeks, but saw its four finalists come up short their championship matches.

Jayson Ness, Manuel Rivera, Dustin Schlatter and Gabe Dretsch all finished in second place after losing during the March 9 championship round. Minnesota’s Mack Reiter (fourth), C.P. Schlatter (sixth), Roger Kish (sixth), Justin Bronson (seventh) and Ben Berhow (sixth) will also make the trip to St. Louis March 20-22.

The disappointing final day performance came on the heels of an excellent Saturday effort by the former two-time defending conference champions. The Gophers held a 106-93.5 lead over Iowa after two sessions, but were also hurt by losing Kish and C.P. Schlatter to injuries during their semifinal matches.

GOPHERS SEEK SECOND STRAIGHT NATIONAL TITLE
The top-ranked University of Minnesota wrestling team won its third NCAA Championship since 2001 on March 17, 2007 at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich. The Golden Gophers clinched the team race following back-to-back losses by Iowa State wrestlers in the 184- and 197-pound title matches. In the final bout of the tournament, heavyweight Cole Konrad concluded his stellar collegiate career with a pin of Penn State's Aaron Anspach in the finals. Konrad became the fourth two-time national champion in school history. Minnesota finished with 98.0 points, while Iowa State finished second with 88.5.

During the morning medal round, Kish and Dustin Schlatter earned third place at 184 and 149 pounds, respectively. Jayson Ness claimed fifth place at 125 pounds with his third pin of the tournament. C.P. Schlatter finished his first All-American season with a sixth-place finish at 157 pounds.

J AND MINNESOTA AT NCAAS
Head Coach J Robinson has built Minnesota into a powerhouse in the world of collegiate wrestling during his tenure in Gold Country. In his 21 full seasons, Robinson has led the Golden Gophers to a top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships 15 times, including each of the past 11 seasons. Minnesota has won three national titles in the last seven seasons, including the 2007 championship and back-to-back titles in 2001 and ’02, and also has four runner-up finishes since 1997.
Under Robinson, the Maroon and Gold have earned 85 All-America honors, including a school-record 10 All-Americans in 2001. In 2006, Dustin Schlatter and Cole Konrad became the seventh and eighth Golden Gophers under Robinson to win an NCAA individual title, with Konrad winning again last year. Other national champions during the Robinson era include: Damian Hahn in 2003 and ’04, Jared Lawrence and Luke Becker in 2002, Brock Lesnar in 2000, Tim Hartung in 1998 and ’99 and Marty Morgan in 1991.

ALL-AMERICAN BOYS
Minnesota will have five returning All-Americans competing in this week’s NCAA Championships. Jayson Ness and C.P. Schlatter picked up their first career All-American awards last season at 125 and 157 pounds, respectively, while Dustin Schlatter (149) and Roger Kish (184) also finished in the top eight nationally a year ago. Mack Reiter earned All-America status as a freshman in 2005 and sophomore in 2006, taking fourth both instances.

A CUT ABOVE THE REST
Minnesota, Oklahoma State and Iowa have combined to win the last 19 NCAA Championships. The Golden Gophers (2007, ‘01-02) and Cowboys (2003-06) have won the last seven titles. The last team outside of those three to win a national title was Arizona State in 1988.

STILL THE CLASS OF THE CONFERENCE
Since snapping Iowa’s run of 25 consecutive conference titles at the 1999 Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., the Golden Gophers have claimed six of the last 10 Big Ten Conference crowns to overtake the Hawkeyes as the class of the conference.
After their runner-up finish at the 2008 Big Ten Championships, Minnesota has finished either first or second at the Big Ten Championships 10 straight seasons and has placed in the top three each of the past 12 years.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

NCAA Has a new Forum

Here is my first post on the NCAAs forum. I still favor The Wrestling Talk over that though.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Justin Ruiz delivers gritty comeback performance to win Pan American Championships

Justin Ruiz delivers gritty comeback performance to win Pan American Championships
Craig Sesker USA Wrestling
02/29/2008

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Veteran Justin Ruiz has been in his share of pressure matches during his career.

But this had to rank as one of the most pressure-packed.

Ruiz rallied from behind to pull out a gritty 1-1, 3-2, 3-1 finals win over Cuba’s Yosvani Goichochea in the Pan American Championships to qualify the United States for the Olympic Games at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.

“It feels great,” said Ruiz, a 2005 World bronze medalist. “Coming in here, I knew I had to get it done. I didn’t want to travel overseas to qualify.”

American T.C. Dantzler fought valiantly, but came up short in dropping a 1-1, 2-4, 1-1 decision to Peru’s Sixto Ochoa in the finals at 74 kg/163 lbs. Ochoa qualifies Peru for the Olympics at 74 kilos.

Dantzler (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) is a five-time U.S. World Team member. Dantzler needed to turn Ochoa in the final 30 seconds of the match, but was unable to gain the points with his reverse-lift hold.

“I can’t explain how bad I feel,” Dantzler said. “I feel at the bottom of the Earth. I let myself down, my country down, everybody down. I have never been so low.”

Joe Betterman (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOEC/New York AC) earned a bronze medal after downing Milton Guallpa of Ecuador at 60 kg/132 lbs.

The Americans have now qualified five of the seven weight classes in Greco-Roman for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The U.S. qualified the other four classes at the 2007 World Championships.

The U.S. still has two more chances to qualify for the Olympics at 60 kilos and 74 kilos. Greco-Roman qualifiers remain in May in Rome and in Serbia. The U.S. failed to qualify for the Olympics at 74 kilos in 2004, the only time in U.S. history it has not qualified a weight class for the Olympics.

Cuban crowned five champions to capture the Greco-Roman team title on Friday night at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Cuba finished with 67 points and the U.S. was second with 61 points. Venezuela was third with 36 points.

Ruiz lost the first period and nearly lost the second when some confusion among the officials nearly cost him the match even though he had won the period 3-2. Ruiz took a 1-0 lead after not being turned in the first 30-second segment of the second period. Ruiz then turned the Cuban, but both wrestlers were awarded two points in the exchange.

The scoreboard read 2-2 and the officials nearly raised the Cuban’s hand before the American coaches vehemently protested. The mistake was finally corrected and Ruiz won the period 3-2.

“There are a lot of countries that want to see anyone but the U.S. win,” Ruiz said. “My coaches told me not to worry because I already had one point. My coaches fought for the point and I got the win.”

Ruiz’s superior conditioning was evident as he won the third period 3-1. Ruiz pumped his right fist in celebration of the win. Ruiz, a four-time World Team member, will look to make his first Olympic Team at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in June.

“He got a little tired, and was a little hurt,” Ruiz said of his Cuban opponent. “He broke. He didn’t have a good period and I was able to take advantage of that.”

The U.S. also competed in the four weight classes it has already qualified for the Olympics.

Chas Betts (St. Michael, Minn./USOEC/Minnesota Storm) fell to Cuba’s Yunior Estrada 3-1, 3-0 in the finals at 84 kg/185 lbs.

Russ Davie (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) fell to two-time World champion Mijial Lopez of Cuba in the finals at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. Lopez scored a second-period pin over Davie.

Jacob Curby (LaGrange, Ill./USOEC/Gator WC) beat Panama’s Alvis Almendra in the third-place match at 66 kg/145.5 lbs.

Josh Habeck (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) went 1-3 in the round-robin format at 55 kg/121 lbs. He won one of the two bronze medals awarded in that division.

The three-day Pan American Championships continue Saturday with competition in women’s freestyle and Sunday with the freestyle competition.

2007 World Team member Marcie Van Dusen (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) will look to earn a gold medal at 55 kg/121 lbs. on Saturday and qualify her weight class for the Olympics. The U.S. has already qualified in the other three weight classes for women that will compete in the Olympics.

Other Greco-Roman wrestlers who qualified their countries for the Olympics on Friday were Cuba’s Yagnier Hernandez (55 kg/121 lbs.), Roberto Monzon (60 kg/132 lbs.) and Alain Milian (66 kg/145.5 lbs.) along with Ari Taub of Canada at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.