Prior to the meet, Konrad vowed to give Gopher fans something a little extra special in his final match in Minneapolis, and he delivered by dominating O'Donnell. Konrad took the Spartan wrestler down just seven seconds into the match and simply overpowered him, rolling O'Donnell to his back to get the fall in 1:36.
Brothers Dustin and C.P. Schlatter also contributed bonus points for the Gophers, with Dustin earning a tech fall over Tim Hammer at 149 pounds and C.P. pinning Tony Greathouse in 2:46.
Fourth-ranked Jayson Ness continued to run like a machine as he defeated the eighth straight ranked opponent he has faced with an entertaining 8-5 decision over No. 5 Franklin Gomez. The two wrestlers battled back-and-forth throughout the first two periods, and with the match tied at five with just over a minute remaining, Ness scored the winning takedown to give Minnesota an early 3-0 advantage.
Michigan State won its only match of the night at 133 pounds, with No. 2 Nick Simmons getting a major decision over Mike Thorn, 13-0. Thorn wrestled hard throughout the match but simply lacked the experience to challenge Simmons.
It didn't matter, as the Gophers finished off the Spartans by winning the final eight bouts of the night in dominating fashion.
What appeared to be an evenly contested match early on at 141 pounds, second-ranked Manuel Rivera turned it up a notch and went after No. 4 Andy Simmons in the third period. Leading 2-0, Rivera finished Simmons off with a pair of takedowns in the final stanza and added the riding time advantage to earn a 7-2 decision. With the win, Rivera improved to 32-0 on the season and gave Minnesota the lead for good.
At 149, top-ranked Dustin Schlatter scored on a quick shot on Tim Hammer early in the first and never looked back. Schlatter scored nine takedowns, one escape and a two-point near fall in the match, adding the bonus point for over three minutes of riding time to get the tech fall, 22-7.
C.P. Schlatter followed by putting on a clinic against Tony Greathouse at 157. Schlatter used a series of takedowns and escapes to build a 12-5 lead over Greathouse before working the MSU wrestler to his back to get the fall in 2:46 and put Minnesota up 17-4 in the dual.
Sophomore Tyler Safratowich, who had defeated three straight ranked opponents entering the night, had to come from behind to defeat Michigan State's Rocky Cozart. Safratowich fell behind 7-2 after Cozart scored a takedown and three-point near fall in the first minute of the match. From there however, Safratowich proved he was the better conditioned wrestler, gradually working his way back into the match while visibly wearing Cozart down. After a Cozart takedown early in the third, Safratowich trailed 10-5, but he scored three takedowns in the final 1:10 to send the match into overtime. It was all Safratowich in the sudden victory period, as he scored the winning takedown 29 seconds in to win 14-12.
No. 13 Gabriel Dretsch followed with a 10-5 decision over Greg Goidosik at 174 to seal the match for Minnesota, and Roger Kish and Yura Malamura added wins to give Minnesota a 29-4 lead before Konrad stole the spotlight at heavyweight.
At intermission, the Gophers recognized Konrad, along with fellow seniors Danny Williams and Juan Martinez for their contributions to the wrestling program over the last five years.
Minnesota travels to Lincoln, Neb., to take on the 21st-ranked Cornhuskers on Sunday at 1 p.m. Live video of the meet will be available in the Gold Zone, courtesy of HuskersNSide.
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