Ranked Matchups Highlight Weekend at The Pav

MINNEAPOLIS -- No. 7/14 Minnesota (7-3, 1-1 B1G) closes out a three-match homestand this weekend with a pair of conference duals at Maturi Pavilion. Friday night, the Gophers host No. 2/2 Ohio State (12-0, 1-0) at 6 p.m. on Big Ten Network, while on Sunday the team welcomes in No. 26 Wisconsin (10-1, 2-1) for a 1 p.m. dual on Big Ten Plus. Results will also be available on TrackWrestling.com.

Friday Promotions: Fan Appreciation Night with autographs after the duals

Sunday Promotions: Pre-Match Youth Clinic, Alumni Day and Salute to Service Day

PROBABLE LINEUPS

WEIGHT	NO. 7/14 MINNESOTA	NO. 2/2 OHIO STATE	NO. 26/NR WISCONSIN
125	#9 Jore Volk	#2 Nic Bouzakis	#16 Nicolar Rivera
133	Brandon Morvari or Chris Cannon	#2 Ben Davino	#12 Zan Fugitt
141	#9 Vance VomBaur	#1 Jesse Mendez	Carson Exferd
149	#23 Drew Roberts	#4 Ethan Stiles	#16 Joseph Zargo
157	#21 Charlie Millard	#1 Brandon Cannon	#26 Luke Mechler
165	#11 Andrew Sparks or Blaine Brenner	#18 Paddy Gallagher or e'Than Birden	#24 Cody Goebel
174	#24 Ethan Riddle or Clayton Whiting	#4 Carson Kharchla	Luke Condon
184	#4 Max McEnelly	#5 Dylan Fishback	David Malin or Cale Anderson
197	#30 Gavin Nelson or Gabe Nagel	#10 Luke Geog or Seth Shumate	#25 Wyatt Ingham
285	#10 Koy Hopke or Bennett Tabor	#3 Nick Feldman	#9 Braxton Amos

IN THE RANKINGS

As noted above, the Golden Gophers enter the weekend ranked seventh in InterMat's dual team rankings and 14th in the InterMat tournament rankings. The team also remained ninth in the NWCA Coaches Poll.

Nine Gopher wrestlers are ranked in at least two of the major polls with five appearing in all four: InterMat, Flo, Win and OpenMat. All-American Max McEnelly is the No. 4-ranked wrestler at 184 pounds in all four polls, while Jore Volk (125) appears in the top-9 of each publication, including being ranked sixth by Flo.

Redshirt freshman Koy Hopke (285) is a consensus top-10 wrestler, while redshirt senior Vance VomBaur (141) is 11th or higher. Hopke's best mark comes from OpenMat at No. 7, while WIN gives VomBaur his highest ranking at No. 5. Sixth-year senior Andrew Sparks (165) is ranked top-15 in all four polls, highlighted by a No. 11 ranking from InterMat.

Redshirt freshman Charlie Millard (157) appears in three of the four polls. Millard doesn't show up in OpenMat's polls, but he's top-21 in the other three, including 15th by WIN.

Redshirt senior Drew Roberts (149) and redshirt sophomores Ethan Riddle (174) and Gavin Nelson (197) are all ranked by both InterMat and Flo, but don't appear in rankings from WIN or OpenMat. Riddle is ranked 24th by InterMat and 23rd by Flo, while Roberts is 23rd and 26th by the same publications, respectively. Nelson is ranked 25th by Flo and 30th by InterMat.

A complete list of rankings can be found on Page 10 of the notes.

NATIONAL STAT LEADERS

Through last weekend's competition, Vance VomBaur (141), Clayton Whiting (174) and Koy Hopke (285) all had six major decision victories to tie for the third most in the country. Only Virginia's Gable Porter and Central Michigan's Luke Cochran have more with seven each.

Max McEnelly (184) is tied for fifth in the nation with seven tech fall wins this season.

Heavyweight Bennett Tabor is tied for eighth in the country with six wins by fall this year.

FACING OHIO STATE

Friday will be the 60th all-time meeting between Minnesota and Ohio State and the second of the season. The matchup will make Ohio State the eighth program that Minnesota has faced at least 60 times in a dual.

The Golden Gophers lead the all-time series 37-20-2, though the Buckeyes won earlier this season at the National Duals Invitational in Tulsa, Okla., where Ohio State prevailed 29-6.

Friday's matchup will mark the first time since 2012-13 that the Gophers will face the same Big Ten team twice in one season. That year, the Gophers lost in the regular season to Iowa before defeating the Hawkeyes in the semifinals of the NWCA National Duals.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota leads the series 13-9-0 with OSU prevailing in the last three meetings there. Minnesota is looking for its first win in the series at home since a 24-13 victory in 2012.

Minnesota has not hosted Ohio State since Feb. 11, 2022. That's currently its third-longest drought for hosting a Big Ten school. The only other longer absences are against Penn State (last in Minneapolis on Feb. 9, 2020) and Indiana (Feb. 17, 2019).

The Buckeyes enter the matchup with a perfect 12-0 record on the season and 1-0 mark in the Big Ten after the opening league action with a 45-0 win over Indiana on Jan. 11.

Ohio State has one Minnesota native in junior Ryder Rogotzke (184), who is from Lakeland and graduated from Stillwater High School. Minnesota has no Ohioans on its roster.

During the 2023 high school season, Rogotzke moved up in weight from 182 pounds to 195 in order to face Minnesota's 184-pounder Max McEnelly, then a senior at Waconia High School. McEnelly, who had already won the in-season matchup between the two, prevailed in the state championship match over Rogotzke, 3-2, thanks to a takedown with 20 seconds to go. McEnelly and Rogotzke faced off again last season in the dual in Columbus with McEnelly winning by major decision, 15-5.

RANKED MATCHUPS VS. OSU

Based on the probable starters and the latest rankings from InterMat, there is likely to be nine ranked matchups Friday night.

125: No. 9 Jore Volk and No. 2 Nic Bouzakis will likely meet for the second time this year. Bouzakis prevailed at National Duals in sudden victory, 8-5. Volk is 6-1 this year against ranked opponents; Bouzakis was unranked at the time of the match but is now second.

141: No. 9 Vance VomBaur is set to face No. 1 Jesse Mendez for the fourth time in his career. Mendez has won all three previous matchups, including earlier this season by major decision at the National Duals. VomBaur is 5-2 against ranked foes this year, including the loss to Mendez.

149: No. 23 Drew Roberts is set to face No. 4 Ethan Stiles for the first time. They have one common opponent this season in Nebraska's Nikade Zinkin. Both defeated Zinkin with Roberts winning by decision last week, and Stiles getting the pin at National Duals. Roberts is 2-1 against ranked opponents this year, while Stiles would be the highest ranked wrestler that Roberts has faced since facing No. 3 Kyle Parco of Iowa last year.

157: No. 21 Charlie Millard is set to take on top-ranked Brandon Cannon for the second time this season as Cannon won by major decision at National Duals. They have two other common opponents this year in Little Rock's Jaivon Jones and Nebraska's Antrell Taylor. Millard lost to both, while Cannon defeated both. All four of Millard's losses this year have been to ranked foes.

165: No. 11 Andrew Sparks is 2-0 lifetime against No. 18 Paddy Gallagher, including a 3-2 win in overtime earlier this season at National Duals. Sparks also won at last year's Big Ten Championships. Sparks and Gallagher have one common opponent this year in Nebraska's LJ Araujo. Sparks lost his matchup, while Gallagher won by major decision.

174: No. 24 Ethan Riddle is likely to face No. 4 Carson Kharchla for the second time this season after Kharchla won by tech fall at National Duals. They also have common opponents in Nebraska's Christopher Minto and Little Rock's Gunner Holland. Riddle split with a loss to Minto but a win over Holland, while Kharchla defeated both.

184: No. 4 Max McEnelly and No. 5 Dylan Fishback are scheduled to meet for a second time this season. At National Duals, McEnelly won in overtime, 4-1. McEnelly and Fishback also have one common foe in Nebraska's Silas Allred, both of whom defeated the Husker by decision. McEnelly is 7-1 against ranked opponents this season.

197: No. 30 Gavin Nelson could face No. 10 Luke Geog for the first time ever. They have no common opponents this year, but in their careers they've got seven, against whom Nelson is 4-5 and Geog if 5-4.

285: No. 10 Koy Hopke and No. 3 Nick Feldman met earlier this season at National Duals with Feldman winning by decision, 4-2. Hopke and Feldman have two other common opponents in Nebraska's AJ Ferrari and Wyoming's Christian Carroll. Hopke split with a win over Carroll and loss to Ferrari, while Feldman beat both.

LAST TIME VS. OHIO STATE

Minnesota fell to No. 6 Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the National Duals Invitational, 29-6, earlier this season in November in Tulsa, Okla. Ohio State, which went on to win the event, won eight of the 10 matches, including four by bonus points, to send Minnesota to the consolation bracket.

The Golden Gophers got overtime wins at both 165 and 184. Andrew Sparks knocked off No. 12 Paddy Gallagher, 3-2, thanks to a second stall call on Gallagher in sudden victory. Meanwhile, at 184, Max McEnelly got the lone takedown of the match in the extra session to defeat No. 7 Dylan Fishback, 4-1.

FACING WISCONSIN

Minnesota is 69-37-1 all-time against Wisconsin, including wins in 12 of the last 13 meetings. The 69 wins are by far the most for Minnesota against any one program with second place being 52 wins over Nebraska. Additionally, the 107 all-time meetings with the Badgers ranks second in Gopher history behind only 111 duals with Iowa.

The Golden Gophers have won seven of the past eight duals in Minneapolis against the Badgers.

In Minneapolis, the Gophers own a 40-13-0 advantage in the series. The win total is the most for Minnesota against any one program on the road, 10 more than its 30 wins over Nebraska. In addition, the 53 home matches are also the Gophers' most against another team.

Wisconsin enters the weekend with a 10-1 record overall this year and 2-1 mark in the Big Ten. The Badgers' only loss came at Iowa on Jan. 9, 23-12. They also have conference wins over Maryland (28-13) and Northwestern (28-12).

Minnesota and Wisconsin have one common opponent this season in North Dakota State. The Golden Gophers beat the Bison in Minneapolis, 26-9, on Dec. 7, while the Badgers won their matchup, 36-3, in Madison on Nov. 1.

Of the 26 wrestlers on the Gophers' roster, 21 come from either Minnesota (11) or Wisconsin (10). The Gophers have 10 Wisconsin natives on the roster: Blaine Brenner (165, Stanley, Stanley-Boyd HS), Silas Dailey (197, Cascade, Plymouth HS), Wyatt Duchateau (149, Hartland, Arrowhead HS), Jager Eisch (149, Kaukauna, Kaukauna HS), Koy Hopke (285, Amery, Amery HS), Dawson Johnson (141, Cumberland, Cumberland HS), Rhett Koenig (149, Prairie Du Chien, Prairie Du Chein HS), Charlie Millard (157, Mequon, Homestead HS), Ethan Riddle (174, Germantown, Germantown HS) and Clayton Whiting (174, Oconto Falls, Oconto Falls HS).

Wisconsin has two Minnesotans on the team in 149-pounder Simon Kruse from St. Clair (St. Clair/Mankato Loyola HS) and heavyweight Gannon Rosenfeld from North Mankato (Mankato West HS).

Hopke and Wisconsin redshirt freshman Wyatt Ingham (197) were high school teammates at Amery. In addition, Duchateau and Collin McDowell (149) were teammates at Arrowhead.

RANKED MATCHUPS VS. UW

Based on probable lineups and the latest rankings from InterMat, there is the potential for six ranked matchups on Sunday.

125: No. 9 Jore Volk and No. 16 Nicolar Rivera have never met. They have one common opponent this year in North Dakota State's Ezekial Witt. Volk won by decision, while Rivera won by major decision.

149: No. 23 Drew Roberts is set to face No. 16 Joseph Zargo for the third time in his career. Zargo has won both previous matchups, which took place last year. He won by major decision in the regular season and by decision at the Big Ten Championships. They have no common opponents this season.

157: No. 21 Charlie Millard is scheduled to face No. 26 Luke Mechler for the first time in their careers. They have one common opponent this year as both defeated NDSU's Gavin Drexler.

165: No. 11 Andrew Sparks could face No. 24 Cody Goebel for the first time. They have no common opponents this year, while in their careers they have seven foes in common. Sparks has gone 5-10 against them, while Goebel is 4-4 against the same group.

197: No. 30 Gavin Nelson could face No. 25 Wyatt Ingham for the first time ever. They have one similar opponent this year in Maryland's Branson John, and John beat both by decision.

285: No. 10 Koy Hopke and No. 9 Braxton Amos have not met before. They have common opponent this year in NDSU's Drew Blackburn Forst. Hopke won his contests by major decision and fall, while Amos won his matchup by fall.

LAST TIME VS. THE BADGERS

Minnesota had one of its most dominant victories in series history last season with a 39-3 rout of Wisconsin.

Winning nine of 10 matches, including six by tech fall, the Gophers posted their largest margin of victory ever in Madison, surpassing a 40-6 win in 2003. It also marked the sixth straight win at Wisconsin for Minnesota, its longest in series history. The cumulative score during the stretch is 163-59.

The point total was the fourth highest for the Gophers in 107 all-time matchups against the Badgers and the most since that 40-6 win in 2003. The three points allowed were the team's fewest in the series since 2012.

The tone was set right from the start at 197 pounds as No. 9 Isaiah Salazar tech falled Niccolo Colucci, 15-0, in just 2:11. Top-ranked heavyweight Gable Steveson made it two straight tech falls with a 21-5 triumph over Brooks Empey in 3:09.

Arguably the most exciting match of the night came at 125 pounds with No. 8 Cooper Flynn facing No. 18 Nicolar Rivera. Scoreless after the first period, Rivera rode out Flynn in the second and picked up an additional point on Flynn's second stall call. In the third, Rivera started down and escaped to lead 2-0 plus he had the riding time locked up. However, with less than 10 seconds to go, Flynn swept Rivera's right leg for a takedown and scored four nearfall points for the dramatic, 7-3, decision.

Wisconsin got its lone win of the night at 133 pounds as Minnesota's Blake Beissel stepped up a weight class and made his dual debut against No. 24 Zan Fugitt in an 8-4 loss.

Vance VomBaur got Minnesota back on track at 141 with a 22-7 tech fall of Brock Bobzien in 5:52. Bobzien actually got the first takedown of the match, but VomBaur claimed the next five. Leading 4-3 after the opening period, VomBaur blew the match open in the second and took a 15-6 lead into the final period.

Leading 18-3 coming out of intermission, No. 23 Drew Roberts got a 17-2 tech fall of Royce Nilo at the 6:16 mark at 149. After a 10-3 decision at 157 pounds over Luke Mechler for Tommy Askey, No. 11 Andrew Sparks used a tech fall in a 20-2 triumph over Cale Anderson in 6:02 at 165 pounds.

The match at 174 pounds saw No. 25 Clayton Whiting come from behind for an 8-5 overtime win over No. 33 Luke Condon. Condon led 3-2 through two periods and escaped to start the third, but a powerful takedown from Whiting gave him a brief 5-4 lead, while a second escape in the period from Condon forced overtime. In the sudden-victory session, Whiting completed the comeback by getting in on Condon's left leg and dropping him.

In the final match, fourth-ranked Max McEnelly earned the sixth tech fall in a dominant 22-6 win at the 4:25 mark over Dylan Russo.

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Players Mentioned

Tommy Askey

Blake Beissel

Blaine Brenner

Chris Cannon

Silas Dailey

Wyatt Duchateau

Jager Eisch

Cooper Flynn

Koy Hopke

Dawson Johnson

Rhett Koenig

Max McEnelly

Charlie Millard

Brandon Morvari

Gabe Nagel

Gavin Nelson

Ethan Riddle

Drew Roberts

Isaiah Salazar

Andrew Sparks

Gable Steveson

Bennett Tabor

Jore Volk

Vance VomBaur

Clayton Whiting