Gophers

Gophers heavyweight Gable Steveson advances to championship match in NCAA tournament

Steveson defeated Penn State's Greg Kerkvliet, a former Simley star, 8-3 in the semifinals.

By Star Tribune staff

March 19, 2022 at 4:59AM

Gophers wrestler Gable Steveson took control over Penn State’s Greg Kerkvleit on Friday night in Detroit. (Brad Rempel/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Gophers senior Gable Steveson, the defending champion and top-seeded heavyweight, defeated Penn State sophomore Greg Kerkvleit 8-3 on Friday night in the semifinals of the NCAA wrestling meet at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

Kerkvleit, the former Simley star, was seeded fourth and now is 21-3. They had met in the national quarterfinals last year, with Steveson winning 7-4.

This time the match was tied 2-2 after two periods. Gable got an escape to go up 3-2 and, with about 40 seconds, got a takedown and then another with 10 seconds left.

"You score, you win," said an excited Steveson, now 17-0, talking super fast in a postmatch interview on ESPN.

He will face redshirt freshman Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State in Saturday's championship match. Schultz beat Lehigh's Jordan Wood 5-3 in overtime.

Reflections on title match, college career

"I got a tough opponent," Steveson said at an NCAA news conference. "I am going out there and showcase my best skils. I know [Schultz] is going to do the same too.

"At the end of the day, like I said, if you score points, you are going to win."

Asked why he came back, Steveson said, "I knew we was going to get to this point where there were 22,000 people — fans at the NCAA finals for a big heavyweight matchup. I just wanted to go out there and let the fans see me one last time and that is tomorrow [Saturday].

"Time goes fast and so I feel like I stepped on a mat in November for my first dual and now it's my last match ever. So it's cool."

How emotional, someone asked, will it be for him Saturday? "I'll let you know after the match," he said.

Then Steveson continued later: "The feelings you get when you go out on a mat, there is nothing like it. It is one-on-one. It is do or die. You get your hand raised or you don't. I am going to miss that feelingof competing and dominating matches and having tough opponents, too."

His opponent confident

"I haven't wrestled Gable since my freshman year of high school, something like that," Schultz said at his news conference. "He is a tremendous competitor, an excellent wrestler.

"I see all the stuff on social media all the time. I know everybody thinks he is unbeatable, but that is why I am here. If things go my way, I will have my hand raised. I think I have a good chance to do that."

Schultz, as a true freshman last year, placed fourth in the NCAA meet. This year he is 22-0 and the second seed behind Steveson.

50 wins in a row, but bonus points run ends

In Friday's quarterfinals, Steveson extended one of his impressive streaks but another was ended.

Steveson beat Northwestern's Lucas Davison 10-5 for his 50th consecutive victory. His last loss was on March 22, 2019 to Anthony Cassar of Penn State in the NCAA semifinals.

But Steveson was also trying to become the first unbeaten college wrestler to win every match in one season with bonus points. He had done so in his first 15 matches, including two technical falls in the first two rounds Friday, but he beat Davison by only five points, not the minimum of eight needed for a major decision.

Senior Jake Bergeland, the other Gopher in the quarterfinals, lost 3-0 to Kizhan Clarke of North Carolina at 141 pounds. The loss dropped Bergeland to the consolation bracket.