A weekend to remember in Division I college wrestling

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Craig Sesker (TheMat.com)
02/04/2002


The biggest crowd to ever witness an NCAA wrestling dual meet saw the top-ranked Minnesota Gophers win 6 of 10 matches in a 22-15 win over No. 2 Iowa on Friday night.    The heavily-promoted match drew 15,646 to the Target Center, eclipsing the old record of 15,291 set at an Iowa State-Iowa dual at Iowa City's Carver-Hawkeye Arena in February 1992.    Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura awarded the first-ever Governor's Belt to the Golden Gophers, hoping to start a traveling trophy tradition similar to the Floyd of Rosedale bronze pig awarded annually to the winner of the Minnesota-Iowa football game.    After the meet, Ventura noted Iowa's long dominance in NCAA wrestling and declared, "The dynasty's here now.''    Iowa won six straight national titles before the Gophers broke the Hawkeyes' run of dominance by winning the title last March in Iowa City. Iowa has won 20 of the last 27 NCAA titles.    The Gophers (14-0, 3-0) grabbed a 6-0 lead when Leroy Vega won at 125 and Ryan Lewis won at 133. But Luke Moffitt squared the score for Iowa by pinning Chad Erikson at 141, in the biggest upset of the match.    Mike Zadick put Iowa ahead with a decision at 149, but Minnesota regained the lead 10-9 when Luke Becker scored a major decision at 157.    After Tyler Nixt drew the Hawkeyes (12-3, 2-1) to within 14-12 with a win at 174 pounds, Minnesota responded with a dominating performance by Damion Hahn, who scored a 13-2 major decision over Jessman Smith at 184.    "Damion came out and wrestled really well,'' Gopher coach J Robinson said.    Iowa coach Jim Zalesky said he thought the Hawkeyes might win the meet after Nixt's match. But things changed when Hahn got a takedown and three-point near fall at the end of the first period.    "I thought we had a chance, but then Hahn got that five-point move,'' Zalesky said.    Owen Elzen scored another major decision at 197 for the Gophers.    The Hawkeyes rebounded from the loss to Minnesota by beating No. 20 Wisconsin 23-9 on Sunday in Madison.    Iowa won 7 of 10 bouts. Wisconsin did win the day's featured matchup as No. 4 Kevin Black edged No. 5 Cliff Moore 4-1 at 133. Iowa's Mike Zadick (149) and Matt Anderson (157) both won by technical fall.    Oklahoma State's third-ranked Tyrone Lewis upset top-ranked Joe Heskett of Iowa State 7-5 to highlight the No. 5 Cowboys' 25-16 win over No. 4 Iowa State on Friday night in Stillwater.    Oklahoma State won six matches, avenging a loss to the Cyclones at the National Duals.    Iowa State's Mark Knauer upset Oklahoma's top-ranked heavyweight Leonce Crump, 10-9, but the fourth-ranked Cyclones fell to the No. 7 Sooners 26-16 in Howard McCasland Field House Sunday.     Iowa State falls to 13-5 while Oklahoma improves to 15-4.    Knauer, ranked 15th at heavyweight, used an eight-point third period to beat Crump 10-9. Knauer was trailing 6-2 at the end of the second period, but used an escape, takedown and near-fall points to take an 8-6 lead with one minute remaining.    Crump got an escape and a takedown of his own with 15 seconds remaining, but couldn't hold down Knauer as he escaped with one second left in the third period for the win.    Heskett bounced back from his first loss of the season to beat No. 10 Robbie Waller of Oklahoma 5-3. Heskett improved to 28-1 this season and 132-9 in his career.    ISU's Cael Sanderson, ranked No. 1 at 197, tallied his 148th career victory without a loss by pinning No. 13 Sooner Tom Grossman at the 1:23 mark. The fall is Sanderson's 59th of his career, improving his season mark to 29-0.    Oklahoma rolled to a 31-6 home win over No. 14 Northern Iowa on Friday night.    Oklahoma State dropped only two matches in a 30-6 home win over Northern Iowa on Sunday. Johnny Thompson won by fall for the Cowboys at 133 while teammates Matt Brown (125), Shane Roller (157) and Tyrone Lewis (165) won by major decision.    Third-ranked Ohio State won a pair of Big Ten matches in Indiana over the weekend, downing Indiana 34-7 on Friday and topping No. 15 Purdue 27-8 on Saturday.    Sixth-ranked Michigan won 8 of 10 bouts in a 25-6 home win over No. 13 Illinois on Friday.