Thorn takes third as U finishes strong

PHILADELPHIA – Beating the clock to beat an Iowa opponent is becoming a big of a trend for the Gophers wrestling team in the NCAA championships.
Last year, Jayson Ness did the trick, stunning the Hawkeyes' Daniel Dennis with a four-point move just before time expired to 133-pound title.
On Saturday, it was Mike Thorn's turn.
Though the stakes weren't as high, Thorn supplied the dramatics by taking down Iowa's Montell Marion just before the final buzzer for a 4-3 victory in the third-place match.
"I thought, 'Get him moving, get him biting and go for it,' " Thorn said of his strategy for the winning move.
Thorn's triumph, along with a fifth-place finish by Zach Sanders and seventh-place victories by Sonny Yohn and Tony Nelson, helped the Gophers move up two spots and finish seventh.
Penn State clinched its first team championship in 58 years, sealing the title in Saturday's first session. The Nittany Lions finished with 107.5 points, crowned one national champion and had two runners-up. Cornell (89.5) was second, followed , Iowa (86.5), Oklahoma State (70.5) and American (65).
"In my mind, I've been wanting to be a part of a national championship program since I started at Iowa State as a freshman in 1998," Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said.
The Gophers, who were sixth after Saturday's early session, finished seventh with 61 points after Arizona State crowned two champs and moved into sixth at 62.5.
Thorn, a senior, gave up a takedown to Marion and got two escapes, but the Iowa wrestler had earned a point of riding time for a 3-2 lead as time ticked away. Then Thorn (39-5) struck for the decisive takedown.
Thorn advanced to the third-place match by pinning Illinois' James Kennedy in 1:29.
Sanders, a junior at 125 pounds, defeated Stanford's Ryan Mango 6-2 for fifth place. Sanders (34-6) missed a chance to wrestle for third when he lost 5-4 to Northwestern's Ben Precin in the consolation semifinals.
At 197, Yohn (18-7) got revenge on Indiana's Matt Powless by scoring a 5-2 victory for seventh place. Powless had defeated Yohn 5-3 in the second round on Thursday.
Nelson, a redshirt freshman heavyweight, took seventh by pinning Arizona's State's Levi Cooper in 2:37. Nelson finished 33-8 this season.
At 184, Gophers redshirt freshman Kevin Steinhaus (34-12) finished eighth, falling 4-2 to Wisconsin's Travis Rutt.