Gophers dominate Wisconsin 37-3

Zach Sanders picked up a technical fall at 125 pounds to start the Gophers’ 37-3 victory against Wisconsin on Sunday, and his teammates followed suit.

“I knew the kid wasn’t that highly ranked. I just wanted to go out there and set the tone for the rest of the team and the rest of the dual meet,” Sanders said. 

Minnesota (8-2 overall, 5-0 Big Ten) won the first four matches of the dual by technical fall, two major decisions and a pin by Dylan Ness (149 pounds).

“If we look at each individual match we can break some things down and see where our improvement is going and that’s what we want to do,” head coach J Robinson said.

No. 11 Ness pinned No. 14 Cole Schmitt with 35 seconds left in the first period.

“Once I got a reversal and had the half nelson in, I heard the crowd going crazy and it just got me going,” Ness said. “I knew I wasn’t going to let that go.”

Alec Ortiz (157) followed Ness’ pin with an entertaining 11-9 victory.

“Alec Ortiz is making some progress, he’s getting some confidence and that’s super positive,” Robinson said.

The Gophers took a 22-0 lead into the intermission — a lead that wasn’t relinquished.

Cody Yohn (165) started the second half of the dual with the Gophers’ only loss of the day. No. 11 Yohn fell to No. 14 Ben Jordan 3-5 in the final 165 pound weight class of the day that featured two ranked wrestlers.

“[Yohn’s] actually wrestling better and doing some things good, but he’s just got to keep his head in the game and not let it get to him,” Robinson said. “Just keep improving a little bit each week.”

Minnesota won the last four matches to close out the dual, including a 15-0 technical fall by freshman Logan Storley (174).

“Storley is learning what college wrestling is all about,” Robinson said. “He’s learning how to go forward and put pressure on people. When he learns that and gets a really hard shot he’s going to be really hard to beat.”

Tony Nelson (heavyweight) closed out the match with a 6-1 victory.

“Tony Nelson wrestled a good match,” Robinson said. “He shot a lot, something that we’re trying to get him to do, be more aggressive.”

Wisconsin had a rough go on the weekend, scoring only six points in two duals. The Badgers fell 41-3 to Purdue on Friday.

Minnesota returns to a two-match slate next weekend when it takes on Michigan at home and then travels to Iowa.

“The last couple teams we’ve wrestled haven’t been the toughest,” Sanders said. “I think it’s good for our confidence and setting the tone for other guys when they go out there and compete that they’re scoring more points and going after guys.”

With two top-10 opponents looming next weekend, Robinson said there is work to be done if the Gophers want to have success.

“We just have to keep working on the same things,” Robinson said. “We’re aggressive, but we still can be more aggressive. We need to ride people better. We’ve got to be more dominant when we get on top. We’ve got to keep them down and make sure we keep pressure on them.”