Minnesota will try and win their first individual championship since Gable Steveson in 2022
The #12 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers wrestling team will head to College Park, Maryland this weekend for the Big Ten Tournament. The Gophers completed the regular season with an 11-2 record in duel meets with the only losses coming to Iowa and Nebraska, who are ranked second and third, respectively, in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll. Minnesota’s .846 win percentage is its best since posting a .933 percentage (14-1 record) in 2013-14. All ten of the Gophers wrestlers competing this weekend are seeded 10th or higher headlined by Isiah Salazar being the top seed at 184 pounds. Minnesota will look to achieve it’s first individual Big Ten Champion since Gable Steveson three-peated from 2020-2022. As for the chances at the Gp[hers 13th team title in school history…it will not be easy. Five of the 11 schools ranked ahead of the Gophers are Big Ten schools. But all it would take is a few upsets and you never know what could happen. Here is a look at the Gophers in the field and their prospects this weekend:
125 Pounds #4 seed Patrick McKee
McKee in his final season received the #4 seed heading into this weekend. In his opening bout he draws #13 Tommy Capul of Maryland. The two met in a dual in early February with McKee scoring a 16-0 (4:02) tech fall. He also earned a tech fall with a score of 18-2 over his potential quarterfinal opponent #5 seed Caleb Smith of Nebraska. He would love to get a chance at Purdue’s Matt Ramos in the semifinals to get revenge on a 4-1 loss this past season.
133: Pounds #8 seed Tyler Wells
Wells enters his fist Big Ten Championships as the #8 seed and will face off against #9 seed Nicolar Rivera of Wisconsin in the opening round. The two closed out the regular season with Wells prevailing in overtime, 4-1. The winner gets top-seeded Dylan Ragusin of Michigan.
141 Pounds #10 seed Vance VomBaur
VomBauer tied for the #9 seed in preseeding but lost the tiebreaker to Danny Fongaro of Indiana. VomBauer will face Rutgers’ #7 seed Mitch Moore. VomBaur faced Moore in the regular season with Moore recording a 4-1 decision. A win earns a spot against No. 2 Jesse Mendez of Ohio State.
149 Pounds #9 seed Drew Roberts
Roberts draw the #9 seed and will face #8 Graham Rooks of Indiana in the first meeting between the pair. Top-seeded Ridge Lovett of Nebraska, ranked #1 in the country, awaits the winner.
157 Pounds #2 seed Michael Blockhus
Blockhus earned the #2 seed and a bye into the quarterfinals where he will face the winner of #7 Will Lewan of Michigan and #10 Isaac Wilcox of Ohio State. Blockhus has not faced either in his career.
165 Pounds #10 seed Blaine Brenner
Brenner will face on #7 of Purdue Stoney Buell i the opening round. It’s a rematch from last month when Buell held on for a 10-9 decision. #2 Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State gets the winner.
174 Pounds #9 seed Andrew Sparks
Sparks draws #8 Donnell Washington of Indiana in the opening round in their first-ever meeting. The nation’s #1 wrestler Carter Starocci of Penn State gets whomever advances.
184 Pounds # 1 seed Isaiah Salazar
Minnesota best chance for an individual title comes at 184 where Salazer is the #1 seed. He earns a bye directly into the quarterfinals where he will face the winner of Northwestern’s #9 Troy Fisher or Rutgers’ #8 Brian Soldano. Salazar beat both opponents earlier this season, topping Fisher 8-3, and defeating Soldano, 3-0. He did not face the #4 seed Ryder Rogotzke of Ohio State but did defeat #2 seed Lenny Pinto of Nebraska 4-1 this season.
197 Pounds #5 seed Garrett Joles
Joles will face #12 seed Isiah Pettigrew of Illinois in the opening round. He likely will face #4 Silas Alread of Nebraska in the quarterfinals to who he narrowly dropped a 4-1 result in overtime earlier this season
Heavyweight #8 seed Bennett Tabor
Tabor is the #8 seed and will face #9 seed Josh Terrill of Michigan State in the opening round. If he advanced he will earn a bout with #1 seed and Inver Grove Heights native Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State.
The NCAA has allotted 85 entries to the NCAA Championships from the Big Ten. The allotment by weight class is below. To earn an automatic NCAA berth, a wrestler must finish in the place that corresponds with the number below or higher. Otherwise at the completion of the championships the NCAA will award 47 at large bids across all weight classes.
Weight-by-weight allocations for this weekend’s conference tournament are as follows:
125 – 9
133 – 7
141 – 11
149 – 9
157 – 9
165 – 10
174 – 8
184 – 8
197 – 7
HWT – 7
The competition schedule is below. All matches will stream on B1G+ with Big Ten Network airing some of the action.
Saturday, March 9
9:00 a.m. CT – Session I (First Round/Quarterfinals/Wrestlebacks) – BTN
4:00 p.m. CT – Session II (Consolation Matches/Wrestlebacks) – B1G+
6:00 p.m. CT – Session II (Semifinals) – BTN
Sunday, March 10
11:00 a.m. CT – Session III (Consolation Semifinals/7th Place Matches) – B1G+
3:30 p.m. CT – Session IV (1st/3rd/5th Place Matches) – BTN
Good luck to the Gophers this weekend!