Gophers Gable Steveson, Brayton Lee reach quarterfinals in NCAA wrestling

Gophers junior heavyweight Gable Steveson and sophomore Brayton Lee at 157 pounds each won twice Thursday on the first day of the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis. They will wrestle in the quarterfinals Friday.

Steveson, now 14-0 this season and seeded No. 1, got a pin in 1 minutes, 27 seconds in his first match and then beat Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force 17-2 on a technical fall with 19 seconds left in the third period. Steveson, who led 11-1 after two periods, had three near falls in the match and five takedowns. He has won 31 consecutive matches in his college career.

Lee, 12-3 and seeded sixth, edged Virginia Tech's Connor Brady 2-0 and defeated Arizona State's Jacori Teemer 4-3. Lee will next face third-seeded David Carr (19-0) of Iowa State.

"I'm putting my 100 percent all into this and it's going to pay off soon," said Steveson after his second win. "Straight business. I did not come here to play games. This whole season was about business. Take one match at a time. Just keep moving forward."

Asked how he was feeling by a media member, Steveson said, "I feel incredible. Ready to go [Friday] morning. Get right back after it."

He will face redshirt freshman Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State in the quarterfinals. Kerkvliet, a four-time Minnesota state champion at Simley High School like Steveson was at Apple Valley High, is 10-2 and seeded ninth. Kerkvliet won his two first-day matches on a technical fall and a 12-2 major decision.

Minnesota's other three first-round winners lost in the second round to undefeated opponents seeded among the top three.

As a team, the Gophers are in seventh place with 16.5 points. Iowa is first with 33.5.

Other NCAA tournament notes:

• Steveson and Kerkvliet met in a regular-season high school match on Feb. 2, 2018, at Simley. Steveson, then a senior who outweighed Kerkvliet, a junior, by about 40 pounds at the time, won 3-2 on a takedown in the third period. Afterward Steveson said, "I expected to come here and get a technical fall or a pin, but I didn't do that. It was a good match, but I'm not happy." Both were ranked No. 1 that season, Steveson at heavyweight, Kerkvliet at 220 pounds and his loss to Steveson was the only one he has in his final two seasons in high school.

Now they are two of the five Big Ten heavyweights in the NCAA quarterfinals. They did not meet in the Big Ten tournament.

"The Big Ten is a pretty crazy conference, especially at heavyweight," said Wisconsin's Trent Hillger after also advancing to the quarterfinals at that weight. Hillger (10-4), seeded 14th, upset third-seeded Matt Stencel of Central Michigan 2-1 in the second round.

• There were seven Minnesota natives in the NCAA tournament on teams other than the Gophers. They went 6-1 in the first round. Hofstra's Trey Rogers (Hastings) was the only one who lost, at 197. Three more lost in the second round: South Dakota State's Clay Carlson (Willmar) at 141; Purdue's Griffin Parriott (New Prague) at 149, and Nebraska's Peyton Robb (Owatonna) at 165. And three are in the quarterfinals: Penn State's Brady Berge (Kasson-Mantorville), seeded 12th at 157; Nebraska's Taylor Venz (Farmington), seeded eighth at 184, and Kerkvliet. Berge (12-2) will face fourth-seeded Jesse Dellarecchia (11-0) of Rider; Venz (11-3) will meet top-seeded Aaron Banks (13-0) of Penn State.

• One wrestler on a region team also is in the quarterfinals. Eighth-seeded Jared Franek (15-3) of North Dakota State will face top-seeded Ryan Deakin (10-0) of Northwestern at 157.