The victory marked Iowa State's biggest win over Minnesota since a 39-2 rout of the Gophers on Feb. 10, 1985 in Minneapolis, Minn. The last time ISU won every contested match in the series was a 41-0 shutout of Minnesota, Jan. 30, 1981. Iowa State stands at 14-3 in duals. Minnesota falls to 14-8. ISU wrestles at No. 4 Nebraska Sunday at 2 p.m. in Lincoln, Neb. in the dual season finale.
A crowd of 7,224 took in the Friday's simultaneous wrestling and gymnastics meet in a promotion dubbed "Beauty and the Beast." U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson was in attendance. The Iowa State gymnasts upheld their end of the affair, beating the Gophers 194.600-191.475.
"The thing I liked most was that we came out and fought in every match and were still strong enough to keep up the offense late in the matches," Iowa State head coach Cael Sanderson said. "Minnesota is a good team and to beat them soundly you have to be at your best."
The "Beast" portion of the event started at 125-pounds for the Cyclone wrestlers. No. 10-ranked Tyler Clark of Iowa State scored the upset, beating No. 7 ranked Zach Sanders of Minnesota, 3-2. The Bettendorf, Iowa native's decision came by way of a riding-time advantage of 1:31. Clark improves to 22-5 on his sophomore campaign. Sanders drops to 31-4.
ISU's returning All-American at 165 pounds added bonus points to the ISU team score. Sophomore Jon Reader major decisioned Minnesota's Scott Glasser by a score of 12-3. Reader tallied four takedowns in the match.
The No. 1-ranked Cyclone 197-pounder Jake Varner also got in on the bonus point action. Varner poured on the offense for a 14-4 major decision against Gordon Bierschenk of Minnesota. Varner tallied four takedowns over the match and improved his season record to 24-1. He is a perfect 16-0 in dual action this season.
After surrendering the forfeiture points at 133 pounds, the Cyclones won the final eight matches of the dual, including decisions at 141, 149 and 157 pounds. ISU's Nick Gallick edged Minnesota's Mike Thorn 7-5 at 141 pounds. Iowa City native Mitch Mueller (149) cruised to a 10-4 decision over his Gopher opponent, Joe Grygelko. Eighth-ranked Cyler Sanderson beat 18th-ranked Tyler Safratowich of Minnesota by decision, 10-6 at 157.
ISU's Duke Burk picked up a win at 174 pounds by controlling Minnesota's Matt Everson by decision, 10-6. Following Burk's win, redshirt freshman JeromeWard (184) grinded out a victory for the Cyclones against Minnesota's Sonny Yohn. Ward recorded a takedown at the 0:40 mark in the third period to secure the win.
Top-ranked ISU heavyweight David Zabriskie finished the 9-0 sweep of the Gophers by handling 17th-ranked Minnesota heavyweight Ben Berhow by a score of 11-6. Zabriskie notched four takedowns in the match and improves his season record to 27-2.
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