No. 2 Gophers Beat NU In Meet Full of Close Matches

Lincoln, Neb.--In Nebraska's final home dual meet in front of 1,369 spectators at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Sunday afternoon, the second-ranked Minnesota Gophers handed the fourth-ranked Huskers their first loss in eight contests with a 22-9 win.

The meet between two of the nation's top five teams was marked by numerous close decisions. Seven of the ten matches were decided by two points or less, including three that needed at least one overtime period to be decided. The Gophers won four of those seven contests and finished the meet with wins at seven weight classes.

The upset of the day came in the meet's final match when seventh- and eighth-ranked Husker Brad Vering handed No. 1 Brandon Eggum, who finished fifth last season at the NCAA Championships at 177 pounds, his first loss of the season in 24 matches. Vering prevailed in the second tiebreaker after Eggum tied the score at 1-1 in the third period.

"Brad had a great match," Nebraska Coach Tim Neumann said. "He wrestled with a lot of poise and earned a big win."

"I am progressing at a very good rate right now," Vering said. "I leave the practice room better and better each day. This was just another step to get me to where I'm heading."

Other winners for Nebraska included fifth-ranked Paul Gomez at 125 pounds and 11th- and 13th-ranked Jose DeAnda at 141 pounds.

Gomez downed seventh- and 11th-ranked Leroy Vega, 7-5, to extend his winning streak to nine matches. Gomez (18-2, 15-2), jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back. DeAnda earned a big 5-3 victory over 11th- and 14th-ranked Chad Erikson to earn his 24th victory of the season.

First-ranked Chad Kraft downed a pesky fifth- and seventh-ranked Bryan Snyder in overtime, 4-2. Snyder led 2-0 in the second before Kraft came back to tie the match with 1:54 left. In overtime, Kraft scored a takedown at 1:23 to earn the win. The loss was Snyder's first in 17 matches.

In other close matches, second-ranked Brock Lesner defeated seventh- and ninth-ranked J.R. Plienis in the heavyweight division, 7-5; sixth-ranked Troy Marr defeated eighth- and 12th-ranked Joe Henson, 6-2, at 149 pounds; sixth-ranked Josh Holiday beat Husker freshman Zach Dominguez, who wrestled for an injured Josh Henson, 12-7, Bart Golyer defeated 17th- and 20th-ranked Todd Beckerman and Matt Kraft handed Charles McTorry a 6-5 loss.

At 197 pounds, Minnesota's Tim Hartung, the defending national champion at 190 pounds, kept his perfect season in tact (19-0, 16-0) with a 16-2 major decision over 12th- and 13th-ranked Scott Munson.

"For the first time in a long time, we had some guys wrestling not to lose," Neumann said. "We used a lot of counter-offense and that isn't our style. (Brad) Vering kept his head and wrestled well, Joe (Henson) wrestled great, (Bryan) Snyder took it to the limit against someone a lot more experienced, but mentally we need to step it up. We'll fix that over the course of the next month." #2 MINNESOTA 22, #4 NEBRASKA 9

197-#1/#1 Tim Hartung (29-0), MN maj. dec. #12/#13 Scott Munson (22-7), NU 16-2
MN 4, NU 0

Hwt-#2/#2 Brock Lesnar (15-1), MN dec. #7/#9 J.R. Plienis (19-9), NU 7-5
MN 7, NU 0

125-#5/#5 Paul Gomez (15-2), NU dec. #11/#7 Leroy Vega (21-5), MN 7-5
MN 7, NU 3

133-Bart Golyer (21-10, MN dec. #17/#20 Todd Beckerman (16-12), NU 3-1
MN 10, NU 3

141-#13/#11 Jose DeAnda (22-4, 13-3), NU dec. #11/#14 Chad Erikson (21-9, 7-6), MN 5-3
MN 10, NU 6

149-#14/#6 Troy Marr (21-5), MN dec. #8/#12 Joe Henson (16-5), NU 6-2
MN 13, NU 6

157-#1/#1 Chad Kraft (20-1), MN dec. #7/#5 Bryan Snyder (23-2), NU 4-2
MN 16, NU 6

165-#6/#8 Josh Holiday (27-2), MN dec. Zach Dominguez (12-5), NU 12-7
MN 19, NU 6

174-Matt Kraft (6-8), MN dec. Charles McTorry (10-14), NU 6-5
MN 22, NU 6

184-#8/#7 Brad Vering (18-6), NU dec. #1/#1 Brandon Eggum (23-1), MN 1-1 (2TB)
MN 22, NU 9