Whether it was the electrifying pin from true freshman Mitch McKee or the consistent effort to secure a late takedown from redshirt senior Michael Kroells, the Gophers got a collection of big wins in the evening matches on the first day of the 35th annual Cliff Keen Invitational to sit in third place heading to tomorrow’s finale.
Four Gophers fought their way to tomorrow’s semifinal round, with Jake Short and No. 2 Brett Pfarr, at 157 and 197 pounds, respectively, joining 133-pounder McKee and the nation’s eighth-ranked heavyweight Kroells. Minnesota’s quartet of wrestlers still competing on the championship side of the bracket is tied for the third-most in the field. Another pair of Minnesota wrestlers – Fredy Stroker at 149 and No. 14 Nick Wanzek at 174 – have shots at podium finishes with wins in their opening bouts in tomorrow morning’s wrestlebacks.
“Going four-for-five in the quarterfinal round was critical for us, but it’s day one,” said head coach Brandon Eggum. “The big thing for us if we want to stay in the hunt is for the guys on the front side to continue to move forward. We also have a couple of guys coming through the backside that could help us finish well.”
Minnesota jumped up in the standings following the evening matches after finishing Friday’s morning session in fifth. Eight Gophers advanced to the evening rounds, tied for the second-most among all teams in the field. Bonus points, including those scored by Pfarr posting a major decision and a pair of tech falls and by McKee with his pin in the quarters, played a key role in that movement up in the standings. In total, the Gophers won 14 matches with bonus points.
“That was an exciting match from McKee, who is coming up and throwing a lot points on the board. Seeing a young guy battle at this point in the season is really exciting,” said Eggum.
While lacking the dramatic swings of McKee’s bout, Kroells’ late takedown of No. 10 Nathan Butler (Stanford) in their quarterfinal contest gave the Gophers another critical victory and their highest-ranked win of the day.
“It was crunch time there at the end, but Kroells did a good job defending and creating a scramble to end up with the win,” said Eggum. “He is a smart wrestler. He always wrestles to win. Usually, the bigger the tournament, the better he competes.”
The Gophers are currently chasing Big Ten rival Ohio State, who sits in first place with 73 points, and Virginia Tech, with 71. Several other teams are nipping at Minnesota’s heels. The next four in the standings are all within 4.5 points of the Maroon and Gold’s 61.5, leaving plenty to be decided in tomorrow’s matches.
Full match-by-match results are listed below.
Action from the Las Vegas Convention Center resumes tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. Central, beginning with the Round of 12 wrestleback matches. Championship semifinals, consolation semifinals and fifth- and seventh-place matches will begin at 12 p.m., with finals and third-place contests beginning at 5. As was the case on Friday, all mats will be streamed live on Flowrestling.org (livestreaming requires a FloPRO subscription). Updates throughout all Gopher matches can be found by following Gopher Wrestling on Twitter (@GopherWrestling).
GopherSports.com is your home for Gopher Wrestling news throughout the 2016-17 season. Be sure to follow Gopher Wrestling on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest updates.
Match-by-Match Results
125 – Skyler Petry
Champ Rnd 1: No. 16 Austin Assad (Michigan) dec Skyler Petry, 7-3
Cons Rnd 1: Skyler Petry dec Jens Lantz (Wisconsin), 7-3
Cons Rnd 2: Skyler Petry dec No. 20 Brent Fleetwood (Central Michigan), 7-4
Click Here: Putters Cons Rnd 3: No. 12 Josh Terao (American) dec Skyler Petry, 6-0
133 – Mitch McKee
Champ Rnd 1: Mitch McKee fall (3:20) Roshaun Cooley (Clarion)
Champ Rnd 2: Mitch McKee dec Rico Montoya (Northern Colorado), 9-2
Quarters: Mitch McKee fall (5:44) Corey Keener (Central Michigan)
141 – Gannon Volk
Champ Rnd 1: A.J. Jaffe (Harvard) maj dec Gannon Volk, 11-2
Cons Rnd 1: No. 17 Tyler Smith (Bucknell) med. for. Gannon Volk
149 – Fredy Stroker
Champ Rnd 1: Nick Barber (Eastern Michigan) dec Fredy Stoker, 3-2
Cons Rnd 1: Fredy Stroker dec Christian Monserrat (West Virginia), 5-4
Cons Rnd 2: Fredy Stroker maj dec Hunter Ladnier (Harvard), 9-1
Cons Rnd 3: Fredy Stroker maj dec Danny Reed (Columbia), 9-1
157 – Jake Short
Champ Rnd 1: Jake Short maj dec Dayton Garrett (West Virginia), 12-1
Champ Rnd 2: Jake Short dec Destin McCauley (Nebraska-Kearney), 9-6
Quarters: Jake Short dec Alex Mossing (Air Force), 4-2
165 – Brandon Kingsley
Champ Rnd 1: Brandon Kingsley fall (4:11) Dominic Kincaid (California Baptist)
Champ Rnd 2: No. 20 Brandon Womack (Cornell) fall (1:26) Brandon Kingsley
Cons Rnd 2: Brandon Kingsley maj dec Michael Eckhart (American), 8-0
Cons Rnd 3: Branson Ashworth (Wyoming) maj dec Brandon Kingsley, 15-6
174 – No. 14 Nick Wanzek
Champ Rnd 1: Nick Wanzek maj dec Dalton Robertson (Northern Colorado), 11-1
Champ Rnd 2: Nick Wanzek dec (SV-1) Jacob Davis (Eastern Michigan), 4-2
Quarters: No. 10 Lelund Weatherspoon (Iowa State) dec Nick Wanzek, 8-1
184 – Bobby Steveson
Champ Pigtail: No. 15 Steven Schneider (Binghampton) dec Bobby Steveson, 7-2
Cons Pigtail: Bobby Steveson maj dec Parker VonEgidy (West Virginia), 14-5
Cons Rnd 1: Bobby Steveson tech fall Zach Nevills (Stanford), 23-8
Cons Rnd 2: Nick Fiegener (California Baptist) tech fall Bobby Steveson, 16-1
197 – No. 2 Brett Pfarr
Champ Rnd 1: Brett Pfarr maj dec Christian Brunner (Purdue), 11-3
Champ Rnd 2: Brett Pfarr tech fall Dylan Reynolds (Edinboro), 23-8
Quarters: Brett Pfarr tech fall Ben Honis (Cornell), 16-1
285 – No. 8 Michael Kroells
Champ Rnd 1: Michael Kroells dec Brandon Tribble (Wyoming), 11-4
Champ Rnd 2: Michael Kroells maj dec Bretton Dempsey (American), 9-0
Quarters: Michael Kroells dec No. 10 Nathan Butler (Stanford), 3-1
View more college results