College Post Season Coverage

EAST LANGING, Mich. - Roger Kish's actions spoke volumes for the top-ranked Minnesota wrestling team.

The burly Kish wasted no time in his 184-pound semifinal match, needing just 93 seconds to launch and pin Ohio State's Mike Pucillo Saturday night at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships at Michigan State's Breslin Center.

Kish's fast-working, business-like approach provided a microcosm of another day of dominance as the Gophers placed five wrestlers in the finals as they all but clinched their second straight league title and sixth crown in the past nine seasons.

Minnesota pulled away from the pack by piling up 121 points on the first day of the two-day event. The Gophers also had four wrestlers alive in the wrestlebacks. The No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers were 40 points back in second place, one-half point ahead of No. 11 Penn State. No. 18 Indiana was fourth with 78.5 points with No. 8 Iowa fifth with 71.5.

"We came out tonight and wrestled a lot harder and with a lot more emotion," Minnesota coach J Robinson said. "We were a little flat earlier in the day, but the guys really came out with a stronger effort in this session and wrestled a lot better. We were hoping for a couple more guys in the finals, but we are happy for the five guys who are in there."

The finals are scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday in East Lansing.

The top seven finishers in the Big Ten tournament in each weight class, plus two wild cards overall, advance to the NCAA Championships on March 15-17 at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich.

A hard-fought semifinal round saw two wrestlers ranked No. 1 in the nation fall, along with a No. 1 Big Ten seed. Minnesota's Manuel Rivera (141), Illinois' Mike Poeta (157) and Penn State's Phil Davis (197) all dropped semifinal bouts.

Fifth seed Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin handed the second-ranked and top-seeded Rivera his first loss in 36 matches this season. Ruschell, a freshman, beat Rivera 7-4 to avenge a loss from two weeks ago. Ruschell will face top-ranked and second-seeded Ryan Lang of Northwestern in the finals.

"The first time I wrestled Rivera he kept snapping me down and he just wore me down," Ruschell said. "I made sure he didn't do that again. It's a great feeling to knock off the No. 1 seed. Now I have to get ready for the guy who is ranked No. 1 in the country in the finals. I will have to wrestle my best to beat Lang.

"Our team has improved by leaps and bounds from last year. Every guy in the room really pushes each other and supports each other."

Rivera's leg was heavily bandaged after he was injured late in the season.

"He hurt his knee two weeks ago in the Wisconsin dual, but he's fine now," Robinson said. "He hasn't been on the mat a whole lot and I'm sure it had something to do with what happened today. Now he's got another two weeks to get ready for nationals."

Defending Big Ten champion C.P. Schlatter of Minnesota knocked off the top-ranked Poeta 2-1 in a marathon bout at 157. It came down to the 30-second tiebreakers. Schlatter escaped in the first 30-second period and then rode Poeta out to earn the win. Poeta dropped his first match of the year.

"C.P. wrestled very aggressively," Robinson said. "He had a real good training cycle and prepared really well for this event. He's wrestling with a lot of confidence."

Davis, an NCAA runner-up in 2006, got caught on his back early and couldn't recover in a 6-4 loss to Ohio State's J.D. Bergman, a past All-American. Bergman will meet No. 2 seed Mike Tamillow of Northwestern in the 197 finals.

Gopher national champions Cole Konrad (heavyweight) and Dustin Schlatter (149) padded their lengthy winning streaks by reaching the finals. Konrad has now won 70 straight and Schlatter 61 in a row. Minnesota freshman Jayson Ness (125) also reached the finals.

Kish will face top-ranked Jake Herbert of Northwestern in the finals. Herbert, a Big Ten champion last year at 174, beat Kish in the All-Star Dual early in the season. Kish won the Big Ten at 184 last year.

Indiana sophomore Andrae Hernandez turned in arguably the best performance of the day at 133. The sixth-seeded Hernandez knocked off 2005 Big Ten champion and No. 3 seed Mack Reiter of Minnesota in the quarterfinals before downing No. 2 seed Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois 3-1 in the semifinals. Hernandez will face top seed Nick Simmons of Michigan State in the finals.

"The key for me has been to wrestle hard for the full seven minutes and not let up at all," Hernandez said. "Conditioning was a big factor. We've trained really hard. I know I'm in shape now and I just have to stay sharp mentally. We have a good young team and we really push each other and feed off each other."

Hernandez is part of a young and talented Indiana team that has been one of the surprises of the Big Ten tournament under IU coach Duane Goldman. The Hoosiers also had a finalist in junior Brandon Becker, who edged Wisconsin's Craig Henning 6-4 in a battle of All-Americans in the semifinals.

"We really battled hard and our guys are giving good efforts," Goldman said. "We still have the potential to take nine guys to nationals. Our team is young and is working very hard. We still have a long ways to go, but we're making some good progress and have a lot of talent and potential.

"This is a real close-knit group that supports each other and believes in each other. Hopefully, that will pay dividends for us."

Iowa has finalists in Charlie Falck (125) and Mark Perry (165). Perry, a junior, reached the finals for the third straight season. He finished second at 165 as a freshman and second at 174 last year. Perry will face top seed Eric Tannenbaum of Michigan in the finals. Tannenbaum beat Perry when the teams dualed this season.

Iowa is looking for its first conference champion since Cliff Moore won a Big Ten title in 2004.

Tannenbaum will be joined in the finals by Wolverine teammates Josh Churella (149) and Steve Luke (157). Penn State also has two finalists with James Yonushonis (174) and Aaron Anspach (heavyweight) reaching the gold-medal round.

Sunday afternoon's Big Ten final pairings

125
(1) Jayson Ness (Minnesota) vs. (2) Charlie Falck (Iowa)

133
(1) Nick Simmons (Michigan State) vs. (6) Andrae Hernandez (Indiana)

141
(5) Kyle Ruschell (Wisconsin) vs. (2) Ryan Lang (Northwestern)

149
(1) Dustin Schlatter (Minnesota) vs. (2) Josh Churella (Michigan)

157
(4) C.P. Schlatter (Minnesota) vs. (2) Brandon Becker (Indiana)

165
(1) Eric Tannenbaum (Michigan) vs. (2) Mark Perry (Iowa)

174
(1) James Yonushonis (Penn State) vs. (3) Steve Luke (Michigan)

184
(1) Jake Herbert (Northwestern) vs. (2) Roger Kish (Minnesota)

197
(4) J.D. Bergman (Ohio State) vs. (2) Mike Tamillow (Northwestern)

HWT
(1) Cole Konrad (Minnesota) vs. (2) Aaron Anspach (Penn State)