AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - It was a fitting finish to a fabulous career for Minnesota heavyweight Cole Konrad. The top-seeded Konrad body-locked No. 2 Aaron Anspach of Penn State to his back for a first-period pin at heavyweight to put the exclamation point on the third national team title for the Golden Gophers on Saturday night at the NCAA Championships. Top-ranked Minnesota recovered from a tough day Friday to overtake second-ranked Iowa State in the consolation finals on Saturday afternoon. The Gophers then clinched the team title Saturday night before a record-setting finals crowd of 17,780 fans at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Minnesota finished with 98 points while the runner-up Cyclones had 88.5. The Gophers also won NCAA team titles in 2001 and 2002. "It is like any national tournament - things go wrong, they always do," Minnesota coach J Robinson said. "The true character of the team came out. You dig a hole, you get out of it, and you win. They responded when they had to. That is what champions do." The Gophers locked up the team title before Konrad, a returning national champion, stepped on the mat for the final bout of the tournament. Iowa State's Trent Paulson won the national title at 157 pounds, but Minnesota locked up the title after Cyclones Jake Varner (184) and Kurt Backes (197) dropped back-to-back finals matches. Iowa State was seeking its first national team title since 1987. "We competed for the title - that was the goal this year," said first-year ISU coach Cael Sanderson, who was named Coach of the Year. "We lost some tough matches throughout the tournament. As a team, we gave it our best shot." Konrad, a senior, finished his career by winning his final 76 matches. A top international prospect, Konrad placed third last summer at the World University Games in freestyle. "I wasn't really paying too much attention to the other matches," Konrad said. "I was warming up thinking that I'm going to have to get a pin so that's the way I wrestled when I went out there." Konrad hopes this isn't his only big title this year. "I'm going to continue training," Konrad said. "I want to make the World Team this year - I want to be a World champ. I am working for the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 - that's my goal. I'm going to be training as hard as I can. That's my focus. It's been my focus since I was 12 years old and I'm not going to change it now." Third-ranked Missouri finished third with 80 points while No. 5 Northwestern was fourth with 71.5 points. Four-time defending champion and No. 4 Oklahoma State finished fifth with 69 points. One of the most dramatic wins of the finals came at 165 where No. 2 seed Mark Perry ended a long period of frustration by rallying to beat two-time NCAA champion and No. 1 seed Johny Hendricks of Oklahoma State 4-3 in the finals. Perry had been 0-6 in his career against Hendricks, including a loss to him in the 2005 NCAA finals. Hendricks had his 56-match winning streak snapped in the loss. Perry, a junior, dropped to his knees in an emotional moment after the win. Hendricks is coached by Perry's uncle, OSU coach John Smith. Perry then walked up into the stands to hug his parents and family. He also hugged his former coach at Iowa, Jim Zalesky, who is now the head coach at Oregon State. Perry placed second at the NCAAs as a freshman and third as a sophomore. "Everyone knows how much this means to each individual," Perry said. "It's a sigh of relief to win this after coming so close the past two years. It's huge for me. It was my biggest goal in life and I just accomplished it." Second-seeded UC Davis senior Derek Moore (141) gave up the opening takedown, but nothing else as he dominated from the top position en route to a 17-2 technical fall over No. 1 Ryan Lang of Northwestern. Moore was named Outstanding Wrestler. "It's just crazy being able to get on top of that guy and being able to turn him and turn him," Moore said. "At every point, I was just building and building. It's just insane being able to do this." Reigning Hodge Trophy winner and No. 1 seed Ben Askren of Missouri repeated as NCAA champion with a 8-2 win over No. 2 seed Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh. The 174-pound match was tied 2-2 before Askren caught Gavin on his back in a scramble for a five-point move early in the third period to gain control. Askren, a senior, finished as a two-time champion and four-time finalist after placing second as a freshman and sophomore. Askren won his last 87 collegiate matches. "I know I have a big gas tank and if I don't score big early I can always fall back on my conditioning," Askren said. "I heard him starting to breathe really hard and I knew I was going to get him sooner or later." Top-seeded senior Trent Paulson of ISU shot in on a single to score the winning takedown with 16 seconds left to beat No. 7 Craig Henning of Wisconsin 6-5 in the 157 finals. "It's a dream come true," Paulson said. "I've been imagining this moment since I got to Iowa State and to actually feel it is unbelievable." Penn senior Matt Valenti (133) also went out in style by repeating as champion. The second-seeded Valenti surrendered an early takedown, but scored a reversal late in the first period and rode the No. 4 Scott out in the second period to seize control of the bout. "It's just as sweet as it was last year," Valenti said. "A national title is a national title. Knowing it was my last match and my last tournament, I couldn't ask for a better ending." Northwestern junior Jake Herbert (184) continued his progression by coming out aggressively early with a takedown en route to a methodical 6-1 win over Varner, an ISU freshman. The top-seeded Herbert won his first title after placing third as a freshman and second as a sophomore. Herbert finished the season 31-0. It was Northwestern's first individual national champion since 1990. "You have to believe in yourself and I envisioned this match so many times in my head before - controlling every position and not getting myself in much danger," Herbert said. "I've already pictured myself doing it millions and millions of times." Sixth-seeded Paul Donahoe of Nebraska scored a takedown with 39 seconds left in overtime to beat No. 1 seed Sam Hazewinkel of Oklahoma 3-1 in the 125 finals. Donahoe, a sophomore, was 0-3 against Hazewinkel, including a 12-3 loss two weeks ago in the Big 12 finals. Neither wrestler scored in the first period before they traded escapes in the second and third periods. The match then went to a one-minute, sudden-victory overtime where Donahoe shot in on a deep single, but the burly Hazewinkel countered with a whizzer maneuver over Donahoe's arm. But the hard-charging Donahoe kept coming and finished for a takedown. Donahoe beat No. 3 seed Tanner Gardner of Stanford in the quarterfinals and knocked off No. 2 seed Troy Nickerson of Cornell in the semifinals before downing the No. 1 Hazewinkel in the finals. "This is like a dream," said Donahoe, from nearby Davison, Mich. "I'm just so happy. I just want to thank all my coaches, all my high school teammates, my college teammates, my workout partners and my family. I'm just thankful to everyone who believed in me. This is just awesome." Another sophomore, Edinboro's fifth-seeded Gregor Gillespie, capped a marvelous tournament by outlasting No. 3 Josh Churella of Michigan 3-1 in overtime in the 149 finals. Gillespie fought off a deep shot by Churella in overtime before scrambling to spin behind Churella for the winning takedown with 15 seconds left. Gillespie upset No. 1 seed and returning national champion Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota in the semifinals. "I had quite a bit of confidence coming into the match," Gillespie said. "I came in here as an underdog behind Schlatter, but I placed in this weight class last year and came in here feeling good about my chances." American University crowned its first national champion in school history when second-seeded junior Josh Glenn shot in on a double and finished for a takedown to beat the No. 9 Backes of Iowa State 6-4 in overtime. "I knew I just had to stay aggressive and keep wrestling," Glenn said. "I stayed solid and kept attacking." Missouri's Matt Pell (165) won the award for most falls. Pell placed third and recorded four pins in the tournament. This is the first time since 1975 that no team had more than five All-Americans in the NCAA tournament. CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS 125 POUNDS Paul Donahoe (#6/Nebraska) dec. Sam Hazewinkel (#1/Oklahoma), 3-1 OT 133 Matt Valenti (#2/Penn) dec. Coleman Scott (#4/Oklahoma State), 4-2 141 Derek Moore (#2/UC Davis) won by tech. fall over Ryan Lang (#1/Northwestern), 17-2 149 Gregor Gillespie (#5/Edinboro) dec. Josh Churella (#3/Michigan), 3-1 OT 157 Trent Paulson (#1/Iowa State) dec. Craig Henning (#7/Wisconsin), 6-5 165 Mark Perry (#2/Iowa) dec. Johny Hendricks (#1/Oklahoma State), 4-3 174 Ben Askren (#1/Missouri) dec. Keith Gavin (#2) Pittsburgh, 8-2 184 Jake Herbert (#1/Northwestern) dec. Jake Varner (#6/Iowa State), 6-1 197 Josh Glenn (#2/American) dec. Kurt Backes (#9/Iowa State), 6-4 OT 285 Cole Konrad (#1/Minnesota) pinned Aaron Anspach (#2/Penn State), 1:53