Daily Staff Writer

The score was 15-13 with one match remaining, but with Cole Konrad on deck, the dual was already decided.

The top-ranked Minnesota heavyweight had his second dual-clinching win in three days Friday night in Hilton Coliseum, earning a major decision against Iowa State’s David Zabriskie and the dual for the top-ranked Golden Gophers (5-1 overall), 19-13.

The seventh-ranked Cyclones (2-2) knew to distance the score before the heavyweight match. But a last-second loss at 174 pounds and missed opportunities for bonus points meant the dual would come down beating Konrad, the defending national champion.

“It could have been a lot different,” said 197-pounder Kurt Backes, who earned a major decision to set up the final match. “I think we fought up and down the lineup, you know. If you only got a couple points here and there, it would have been close.

“But coming down to heavyweight, it’s tough to do with a returning national champ. Zabriskie gave it all he had.”

Zabriskie (9-4), a freshman, fought to avoid the fall throughout the first period after Konrad took him down three seconds into the match. Almost 50 pounds lighter than the Gopher, he faced a considerable disadvantage in size and experience.

Konrad had eight takedowns but no near-falls, winning 18-5, just two days after he beat Oklahoma State freshman Jared Roshalt last Wednesday for a dual win.

“We needed to get some upsets along the way and we needed to get some bonus points,” said coach Cael Sanderson. “They wrestled a good match, a real smart match, and they beat us. We’ve got to learn and move on.”

Cyclone Grant Turner’s (174) takedown attempt was countered by 13th-ranked Gabriel Dretsch with five seconds left in regulation, breaking a 4-4 tie an putting Turner on his back for an 8-4 decision.

Turner took the lead with 52 seconds left in the period, but was instructed to let Dretsch escape on a restart with 42 seconds left.

Turner got in on two single leg shots in the remaining time, taking the Gopher off the mat with the first. On his second shot, the senior got the crowd of 3,344 to their feet, but lost the match while trying to win it.

“I was just moving his head, got him out of position, got in on my outside single, went to try to go sit him to his butt,” Turner said of the final scramble. “And then, basically he was fighting that real hard, and he was staying up on his feet, so I decided that I wanted to knee tap him and kind of drive into him.

“When I started to drive into him, he caught me with a lateral, caught me on my back. There was only three seconds left; I couldn’t really waste any more time not trying to finish.”

Travis Paulson (165) beat Jeremy Larson, 7-0, but just missed out on earning a major decision, scoring only an escape in the third period.

He and Backes each had three-point near-falls that were nearly six points for the Cyclones.

Minnesota won six of the 10 matches. Sanderson said despite the loss, the match was good for his team.

“We always want to win, and we want to fight to win, but it’s still a positive experience for us,” Sanderson said. “But we’ll come out firing, we’ll come out a better team.”

The Cyclones compete again at 2 p.m. Sunday at Hilton Coliseum against Northern Iowa. The meet is scheduled to be televised on Iowa Public Television.