Wrestlers capture No. 1 ranking

Luke Plansky

MINNEAPOLIS – Video montages of the No. 1 Minnesota wrestling team’s 2007 NCAA Championship played, and the first-place banner was unveiled.

By the time the dual meet started, second-ranked Iowa State was ready to end last year’s celebration and send a message.

“We just wanted to get started,” said senior David Bertolino. “To show them, to shut them up.”

The Cyclones (6-0 overall) sent Minnesota fans home with nothing to brag about, taking the top ranking from the Golden Gophers (3-1) with an 18-13 victory.

Iowa State finished second in last year’s NCAA Tournament. This year, the team claimed decisions in five of the last six matches to win the dual.

Fifth-ranked David Zabriskie (HWT) again stepped on the mat with the dual in the balance, beating freshman Ben Berhow, 8-2, to clinch the win.

“They were No. 1 and we were No. 2 coming in, so that should change things on paper,” Zabriskie said. “We know that we’re the best team . now everyone else just knows that.”

Zabriskie ended a four-dual dual losing streak to Minnesota with the win.

Two-time Minnesota NCAA Champion Cole Konrad, the only graduating starter on last year’s championship team, beat Zabriskie to clinch last year’s December dual.

Sophomores Nick Fanthorpe (133) and Cyler Sanderson (157) both upset four-year starters to offset an early Minnesota advantage in the lower weights.

Fanthorpe (10-0), ranked eighth, topped third-ranked Mack Reiter (3-1). Fanthorpe scored a 2-point reversal 18 seconds into the third period and didn’t allow any points for the four-year starter for the rest of the match.

Sanderson (9-0), like Fanthorpe, moved up a weight class during the off-season. He won a 3-2 match versus fourth-ranked C.P. Schlatter.

Sanderson exploded through the burly Gopher’s defense with a low single-leg shot, then came out of a scramble with a winning takedown with just over a minute left in the match.

“It’s a big win,” Sanderson said. “It feels great to come in here and beat Minnesota, but we’re looking for the national championship and that’s what were training for.”

With Minnesota leading the dual 10-6, seventh-ranked freshman Jon Reader (165,10-0) followed Sanderson’s win with a 6-1 decision over 14th-ranked sophomore Scott Glasser. A Minnesota win at 174 pounds pushed the lead back to four points going into the most-anticipated bout of the night.

No. 1 ranked Cyclone Jake Varner then went to battle with second-ranked senior Roger Kish.

After an escape early in the second period, Varner (5-0) buckled Kish (5-1) after the Gopher shot in. The ISU sophomore then circled Kish for a takedown with 14 seconds left in the period to take a 3-0 lead.

Kish chose the neutral position to start the third period, but did not score.

Varner was coming off of a 2-0 win against Kish in the NWCA All-Star Tournament, and is now 3-2 in his career against Kish.

Bertolino neutralized senior Justin Bronson for more than three minutes in a 4-0 win at 197.

Coach Cael Sanderson focused on performances by his wrestlers, but not the dual win.

“Win or lose, it’s not the most important thing,” he said. “It’s that we continue to make progress and that we really learn from our wins and our losses.”

Iowa State will wrestle in Hilton Coliseum next Sunday against third-ranked Iowa.