No. 2 Cyclones storm into lead at NCAA Championships, No. 1 Minnesota just 3.5 points back

– Cael Sanderson never lost in this tournament as a competitor.

And he’s not planning to lose in his first year as the Iowa State head coach.

Top-ranked Minnesota was heavily favored entering the NCAA Championships, but Sanderson’s second-ranked Cyclones didn’t come to Auburn Hills to take home a silver trophy.

That was never more evident than when Cyclone freshman Jake Varner knocked off returning NCAA runner-up Roger Kish of Minnesota 4-2 in the 184-pound semifinals Friday night before 14,745 fans at The Palace. ISU teammate Kurt Backes (197) followed with a win to give the Cyclones three finalists. Senior Trent Paulson (157) also advanced to the finals.

The Cyclones now have 83.5 points while the Gophers are close behind with 80 points entering the last day of the three-day tournament. Minnesota has one finalist in returning national Cole Konrad at heavyweight. The Gophers have four wrestlers still alive to place as high as third, including sophomore national champion Dustin Schlatter (149), who was upset in the semifinals. ISU’s Travis Paulson (165) can still place as high as third.

Iowa State last won an NCAA title in 1987.

“These guys have done a great job,” Sanderson said. “We knew if our seniors stepped up, we’d be in the hunt. We lost some close matches, though. And this is the round where losing hurts the most. I am proud of this team. Our goal is to get everybody here, and to do our best wrestling here. There still is a lot of wrestling to do here.”

The Gophers have a chance to regain the lead before the finals with four wrestlers competing in the consolation finals Saturday morning, including Dustin Schlatter and All-American Roger Kish (184).

Minnesota will wrestle a total of nine matches Saturday with ISU taking the mat for five matches.

“It is pretty evident we got out of our focus,” Minnesota coach J Robinson said. “We have to get it back. We have to get it back in the wrestlebacks. We have to talk about it and find out what to do.

“Our guys have to wrestle with more emotion. Every match is a fight. You have to come back with an attitude. We have five guys left. They can score a lot of points. The game is still going. We have one in the finals, and four others who can score more points. That is about 20 points we can score.”

Minnesota suffered a stunning setback when Dustin Schlatter’s 65-match winning streak came to an end in a 3-2 semifinal loss to fifth-seeded Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro. Schlatter is now 77-2 in his career.

Gillespie shot in for an early takedown to take control. It was believed to be only the third takedown Schlatter had allowed this season.

“To his defense, there is incredible pressure on him, I imagine,” Gillespie said of Schlatter. “I had to be aware that he is capable of scoring. He has been more conservative this year. I was aware of it.

“When you take somebody down who hasn’t been taken down, you stun them a little bit. That gave me a huge confidence boost. Mentally, I had an edge there.”

The top-seeded Konrad extended his winning streak to 75 with a 2-1 semifinal win over No. 5 Ty Watterson of Oregon State. Konrad looks to repeat as national champion at heavyweight on Saturday against No. 2 seed Aaron Anspach of Penn State. Konrad pinned Anspach in the Big Ten finals.

Two-time NCAA champion and top-seeded Johny Hendricks of Oklahoma State escaped in the second tiebreaker period to edge No. 4 Travis Paulson of ISU 2-1 in the 165 semifinals. Hendricks has won 56 straight matches. He will meet No. 2 Mark Perry of Iowa in the finals. Hendricks beat Perry in the 2005 finals.

“There is a part of me that felt like I wrestled the finals tonight,” Hendricks said. “(Paulson) is a good wrestler. He made it tough for me. I’ve wrestled him every year. Tomorrow, I have Mark Perry. I look at him as a threat. He is funky, kind of like Askren. Every move you make, you have to be careful. He’ll catch you if you don’t.”

Missouri’s top-seeded Ben Askren (174) extended his winning streak to 86 with an 8-3 semifinal win over No. 5 seed Eric Luedke of Iowa. The reigning Hodge Trophy winner and NCAA champion will meet No. 2 seed Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh in the finals.

“Did he take one step forward? It was a backwards track meet,” Askren said of Luedke. “If I am a senior, if this is my last year, I would try to win. Did he try anything? That kid should have been thrown out two times. I’m frustrated. I couldn’t run fast enough to chase him down. He ran backwards. It is hard to score on that.”

“This match doesn’t bear anything on the finals. Keith Gavin – he’s a man. He will wrestle. He might get pinned, like he did two other times this year. But he will give it a swinging chance.”

Returning national champion Matt Valenti of Penn will try to cap his career with a second straight title at 133. Valenti beat Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly 4-2 in the semifinals. He will meet No. 4 Coleman Scott of Oklahoma State in the finals.

Final-round matchups

125 POUNDS
Sam Hazewinkel (#1/Oklahoma) vs. Paul Donahoe (#6/Nebraska)

133
Coleman Scott (#4/Oklahoma State) vs. Matt Valenti (#2/Penn)

141
Ryan Lang (#1/Northwestern) vs. Derek Moore (#2/UC Davis)

149
Gregor Gillespie (#5/Edinboro) vs. Josh Churella (#3/Michigan)

157
Trent Paulson (#1/Iowa State) vs. vs. Craig Henning (#7/Wisconsin)

165
Johny Hendricks (#1/Oklahoma State) vs. Mark Perry (#2/Iowa)

174
Ben Askren (#1/Missouri) vs. Keith Gavin (#2) Pittsburgh

184
Jake Herbert (#1/Northwestern) vs. Jake Varner (#6/Iowa State)

197
Kurt Backes (#9/Iowa State) vs. Josh Glenn (#2/American)

285
Cole Konrad (#1/Minnesota) vs. Aaron A

– Cael Sanderson never lost in this tournament as a competitor.

And he’s not planning to lose in his first year as the Iowa State head coach.

Top-ranked Minnesota was heavily favored entering the NCAA Championships, but Sanderson’s second-ranked Cyclones didn’t come to Auburn Hills to take home a silver trophy.

That was never more evident than when Cyclone freshman Jake Varner knocked off returning NCAA runner-up Roger Kish of Minnesota 4-2 in the 184-pound semifinals Friday night before 14,745 fans at The Palace. ISU teammate Kurt Backes (197) followed with a win to give the Cyclones three finalists. Senior Trent Paulson (157) also advanced to the finals.

The Cyclones now have 83.5 points while the Gophers are close behind with 80 points entering the last day of the three-day tournament. Minnesota has one finalist in returning national Cole Konrad at heavyweight. The Gophers have four wrestlers still alive to place as high as third, including sophomore national champion Dustin Schlatter (149), who was upset in the semifinals. ISU’s Travis Paulson (165) can still place as high as third.

Iowa State last won an NCAA title in 1987.

“These guys have done a great job,” Sanderson said. “We knew if our seniors stepped up, we’d be in the hunt. We lost some close matches, though. And this is the round where losing hurts the most. I am proud of this team. Our goal is to get everybody here, and to do our best wrestling here. There still is a lot of wrestling to do here.”

The Gophers have a chance to regain the lead before the finals with four wrestlers competing in the consolation finals Saturday morning, including Dustin Schlatter and All-American Roger Kish (184).

Minnesota will wrestle a total of nine matches Saturday with ISU taking the mat for five matches.

“It is pretty evident we got out of our focus,” Minnesota coach J Robinson said. “We have to get it back. We have to get it back in the wrestlebacks. We have to talk about it and find out what to do.

“Our guys have to wrestle with more emotion. Every match is a fight. You have to come back with an attitude. We have five guys left. They can score a lot of points. The game is still going. We have one in the finals, and four others who can score more points. That is about 20 points we can score.”

Minnesota suffered a stunning setback when Dustin Schlatter’s 65-match winning streak came to an end in a 3-2 semifinal loss to fifth-seeded Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro. Schlatter is now 77-2 in his career.

Gillespie shot in for an early takedown to take control. It was believed to be only the third takedown Schlatter had allowed this season.

“To his defense, there is incredible pressure on him, I imagine,” Gillespie said of Schlatter. “I had to be aware that he is capable of scoring. He has been more conservative this year. I was aware of it.

“When you take somebody down who hasn’t been taken down, you stun them a little bit. That gave me a huge confidence boost. Mentally, I had an edge there.”

The top-seeded Konrad extended his winning streak to 75 with a 2-1 semifinal win over No. 5 Ty Watterson of Oregon State. Konrad looks to repeat as national champion at heavyweight on Saturday against No. 2 seed Aaron Anspach of Penn State. Konrad pinned Anspach in the Big Ten finals.

Two-time NCAA champion and top-seeded Johny Hendricks of Oklahoma State escaped in the second tiebreaker period to edge No. 4 Travis Paulson of ISU 2-1 in the 165 semifinals. Hendricks has won 56 straight matches. He will meet No. 2 Mark Perry of Iowa in the finals. Hendricks beat Perry in the 2005 finals.

“There is a part of me that felt like I wrestled the finals tonight,” Hendricks said. “(Paulson) is a good wrestler. He made it tough for me. I’ve wrestled him every year. Tomorrow, I have Mark Perry. I look at him as a threat. He is funky, kind of like Askren. Every move you make, you have to be careful. He’ll catch you if you don’t.”

Missouri’s top-seeded Ben Askren (174) extended his winning streak to 86 with an 8-3 semifinal win over No. 5 seed Eric Luedke of Iowa. The reigning Hodge Trophy winner and NCAA champion will meet No. 2 seed Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh in the finals.

“Did he take one step forward? It was a backwards track meet,” Askren said of Luedke. “If I am a senior, if this is my last year, I would try to win. Did he try anything? That kid should have been thrown out two times. I’m frustrated. I couldn’t run fast enough to chase him down. He ran backwards. It is hard to score on that.”

“This match doesn’t bear anything on the finals. Keith Gavin – he’s a man. He will wrestle. He might get pinned, like he did two other times this year. But he will give it a swinging chance.”

Returning national champion Matt Valenti of Penn will try to cap his career with a second straight title at 133. Valenti beat Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly 4-2 in the semifinals. He will meet No. 4 Coleman Scott of Oklahoma State in the finals.

Final-round matchups

125 POUNDS
Sam Hazewinkel (#1/Oklahoma) vs. Paul Donahoe (#6/Nebraska)

133
Coleman Scott (#4/Oklahoma State) vs. Matt Valenti (#2/Penn)

141
Ryan Lang (#1/Northwestern) vs. Derek Moore (#2/UC Davis)

149
Gregor Gillespie (#5/Edinboro) vs. Josh Churella (#3/Michigan)

157
Trent Paulson (#1/Iowa State) vs. vs. Craig Henning (#7/Wisconsin)

165
Johny Hendricks (#1/Oklahoma State) vs. Mark Perry (#2/Iowa)

174
Ben Askren (#1/Missouri) vs. Keith Gavin (#2) Pittsburgh

184
Jake Herbert (#1/Northwestern) vs. Jake Varner (#6/Iowa State)

197
Kurt Backes (#9/Iowa State) vs. Josh Glenn (#2/American)

285
Cole Konrad (#1/Minnesota) vs. Aaron A