No. 2 ISU Wins at No. 1 Minnesota, 18-13

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. ? They don't wrestle on paper. Second-rated Iowa State defied the national wrestling rankings, winning two major individual upsets as the Cyclones prevailed over No. 1 Minnesota, 18-13 Sunday in Williams Arena. The victory marked the first time a No. 2 ISU team beat a No. 1 squad in 21 years. ISU improves to 6-0. Minnesota is 3-1.

Minnesota won three of the first four matches to build a 10-3 team lead. The one Iowa State win, a 3-1 decision by eighth-rated Nick Fanthorpe over No. 2 Mack Reiter at 133 pounds, was key to a Cyclone squad that needed to beat more than one higher-rated wrestler to claim a historic road win. ISU then closed out the match by winning five of the last six matches, starting with 11th-rated Cyler Sanderson's 3-2 victory over fourth-rated and undefeated C.P. Schlatter at 157 pounds.

“Obviously, this is a great win,” Iowa State head wrestling coach Cael Sanderson said. “We did a good job today but we have a lot of room for improvement. Nick (Fanthorpe) and Cyler (Sanderson) both beat returning All-Americans in a hostile arena. This is the best possible preparation for the Iowa match and NCAA competition down the road. I do think that a win like this demonstrates for our wrestlers that we are teaching them the right things. We still have a long season ahead of us.”

The last win by a No. 2 Iowa State squad over a top-rated team was the Cyclones' 19-16 victory over Iowa on Feb. 23, 1986 in Hilton Coliseum.

Fanthorpe's third-period reversal of Reiter sealed a 3-1 win for the Iowa State sophomore. Reiter, a two-time All-American, escaped from Fanthorpe to open the second period to take a 1-0 advantage. Starting the final period from the down position, Fanthorpe was able to reverse his Gopher adversary and add 90 seconds of riding time. Fanthorpe improves to 10-0 this season.

“The opportunity was there to get the reversal,” Fanthorpe said. “But after I scored I wanted to make sure I kept the pressure on him.”

Cyler Sanderson, wearing a protective mask because of a broken nose, improved to 9-0 overall with his decision over Schlatter. Sanderson, who suffered his injury against Clarion two weeks ago, registered an escape at the beginning of the second period to go up 1-0 on the All-American Gopher. Schlatter evened the score at 1-1 with an escape of his own in the third period, but Sanderson scored the bout-winning takedown with 1:08 left in the match.

“This was a big win but it way too early to worry about who is ranked in what spot,” Cyler Sanderson said. “We just have to keep improving.”

In a highly-anticipated rematch from two weeks ago at the NWCA All-Star Classic, ISU 184-pounder Jake Varner, ranked first nationally, defeated two-time All-American and second-rated Roger Kish 3-0. Varner fended off a single-leg shot by Kish in the closing seconds of the first period. Varner scored first with a second-period escape. With the second period winding down, Kish took a shot on Varner, but the Cyclone All-American spun around on top and scored the deciding two points. Varner is now 3-2 against Kish and 5-0 this season.

Minnesota could have still won the match with a victory at heavyweight, but fifth-rated Cyclone David Zabriskie came through with a 7-2 decision over Ben Berhow. Zabriskie, now 8-0, responded well under the pressure.

“I'm used to being in the last match,” Zabriskie said. “It is a pretty nice win when everyone was watching. On paper, we had some upsets.”

Iowa State will play host to instate rival Iowa in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series Sunday at 2 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum. It will be the 73rd meeting between the two schools.

IOWA STATE 18, MINNESOTA 13
125 pounds ? Jayson Ness (Minn) maj. dec. Mark Kist (ISU), 10-0
133 pounds ? Nick Fanthorpe (ISU) dec. Mack Reiter (Minn), 3-1
141 pounds ? Manuel Rivera (Minn) dec. Nick Gallick (ISU), 7-3
149 pounds ? Dustin Schlatter (Minn) dec. Mitch Mueller (ISU), 8-1
157 pounds ? Cyler Sanderson (ISU) dec. C.P. Schlatter (Minn), 3-2
165 pounds ? Jon Reader (ISU) dec. Scott Glasser (Minn), 6-1
174 pounds ? Gabe Dretsch (Minn) dec. Aron Scott (ISU), 9-2
184 pounds ? Jake Varner (ISU) dec. Roger Kish (Minn), 3-0
197 pounds ? David Bertolino (ISU) dec. Justin Bronson (Minn), 4-0
HWT ? David Zabriskie (ISU) dec. Ben Berhow (Minn), 7-2

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Players Mentioned

David Bertolino

David Bertolino

Nick Fanthorpe

Nick Fanthorpe

Nick Gallick

Nick Gallick

Mark Kist

Mark Kist

Mitch Mueller

Mitch Mueller

Cyler Sanderson

Cyler Sanderson

Aron Scott

Aron Scott

Jake Varner

Jake Varner

David Zabriskie

David Zabriskie

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