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Home | Sports | Gophers

Illness, injury fail to slow Gophers in wrestling rout

Minnesota, ranked fifth in the nation, was missing four starters but dominated Cal State Bakersfield in the opener of the dual meet season.

By ROMAN AUGUSTOVIZ, Star Tribune

Last update: November 28, 2009 - 11:36 PM

Four of the 10 starters on the Gophers wrestling team were out of the lineup on Saturday. Three had minor injuries, one was ill.

Among the missing were senior Dustin Schlatter, a three-time All-America coming off a redshirt season, and freshman Jake Deitchler, a 2008 Olympian.

It didn't matter. The No. 5 Gophers still rolled over Cal State Bakersfield 31-9 at Williams Arena in their first dual meet of the season before an announced crowd of 3,019.

"Three of the four matches we didn't have starters in won," Gophers coach J Robinson said. "Any time guys can come off your bench and do what they need to do for your team that's pretty impressive."

The winning backups were redshirt sophomores Luke Mellmer and Joe Grygelko at 149 and 157 pounds and redshirt freshman Cody Yohn at 174. Yohn is off to a 10-3 start.

His older brother, Sony, a redshirt sophomore, is doing even better. He got a 15-0 technical fall at 184, improving his record to 8-0.

"Sony Yohn is gaining more and more confidence the more he wrestles," Robinson said. "Last year he had shoulder surgery and couldn't wrestle until January. He dislocated his shoulder in May, and then he had a complete repair done."

He had surgery on his left shoulder on July 1. "I honestly think it is stronger than my other shoulder," Yohn said. "I spent the whole spring and summer and this fall training my butt off basically."

He was 11-15 last season and finished seventh in the Big Ten tournament, just missing qualifying for the NCAA meet.

This season he intends to be there.

Redshirt freshman Mike Larson of the Roadrunners, his latest opponent, had no chance against the 18th-ranked Yohn. He built a 10-0 lead after the first period with the help of two near falls.

"This is the way I wanted to wrestle last year," Yohn said. "I just didn't have the conditioning under my belt. I think I am on track."

Yohn's lone regret Saturday was he couldn't watch Cody's match before his. "I was down there [on the locker-room level] warming up so I didn't get to see any of the match," Yohn said. "I'm sure my parents filmed it. They were able to make it down today."

Ken and Laureen Yohn live in Alamosa, Colo., so it was a long trip, but their sons served up dominating wins in the last two matches.

Another team highlight was senior Jayson Ness getting his fourth pin at 133 pounds in four matches. Those six points put Minnesota ahead to stay at 11-6.

Up next for the Gophers is a road match at No. 3 Oklahoma State on Friday (Dec. 4). Robinson said he expects at least three of the absent starters back for the Cowboys.

The Gophers are now 9-0 vs. the Roadrunners, but this was their first meeting since the 1997-98 season.

Cal State Bakersfield had eight starters back from a team that was 10-5 last season and took third place in the Pacific-10 championships.

This meet was the first of seven home duals.

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