Minnesota Scene: Two Gophers win wrestling titles in Cliff Keen Invitational

Jake Short and Brett Pfarr of the Gophers won wrestling titles at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Short defeated No. 10-rated Colin Heffernan of Central Michigan 3-2 in the 157-pound final after being the runner-up last year at one weight lower.

Pfarr, ranked No. 2, overpowered No. 3 Jared Haught of Virginia Tech 14-1 at 197.

No. 5 Michael Kroells of Minnesota beat No. 4 Tanner Hall of Arizona State 3-2 for third place at heavyweight. Mitch McKee placed fourth at 133.

The Gophers finished with 100 points to place fourth as a team.

Minnesota also had a full lineup at the Northern Iowa Open in Cedar Rapids, and four of them finished in the top three.

Ethan Lizak won the title at 125 pounds and Tommy Thorn at 141 while Rylee Streifel was second at heavyweight and Brandon Krone third at 174.

The native of Saarbrucken, Germany, opened the indoor season with 6,089 points, beating his own school record of 6,070 points set in the 2015 NCAA Indoor National Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

"This is a great start to the season for Luca, and it's what we've come to expect from him," said Steve Plasencia, Gophers director of men's track and field. "It doesn't matter if it's the first meet of the season or the NCAA championships, Luca is going to push himself to be the absolute best."

• The Gophers women's team won seven titles at the Holiday Open on Friday. Three titles came in the field events: Shanique Wright, long jump (18-7¾), Cami Gilson, pole vault (11-11¾) and Safie Albrechtesen (5-5). our came on the track: Kimberly Golding, 60 hurdles (8.46), Emerald Egwin, 200 (24.75), 4x400 relay (3:50.17) and Val Larson, 600 (1:34.56).

Concordia (St. Paul) swept Southwest Minnesota State 25-23, 25-12, 25-21 in the NCAA Division II Central Region championship match at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul.

Emma Lange had 15 kills and Mariya Sampson 13 to lead the top-seeded Golden Bears (32-2), who are seven-time national champions and advance to the national quarterfinals on Thursday in Sioux Falls, S.D.