Gophers Wrestling Gets No Love from Officials or Iowa

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Minnesota Gophers Max McEnelly Victory

The Minnesota Gophers wrestling team was pushed for the first time in a long time by the third-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, Friday night. In fact, it was a clinic from start to damn-near finish for the 5,307 in attendance. But the way the duel was officiated might have impacted the results of multiple matches.

From the very first match it was evident the officiating crew was going to be conservative in awarding points to either wrestler. Eighth-ranked, 141-pound Vance VomBaur might have earned a technical fall if not for the officiating. Instead he earned just three team points on a 14-10 victory.

The officials were consistent from start to finish, which kept the matches close. But the officiating definitely changed the way some of the wrestlers wrestled. Gophers wrestling head coach Brandon Eggum even thought stalling should have been called on his own wrestlers.

Related: Gophers Wrestling Dominates Rutgers; Gable Steveson: ‘Sadly’ Match Cut Short

Gophers wrestling coach addresses impact of officiating

A pair of third-ranked wrestlers earned huge points to make the Gophers dig out of a deep hole. Kyle Parco (149 pounds) and Jacori Teemer (157 pounds) beat No. 29 Drew Roberts and No. 8 Tommy Askey, respectively. Iowa wrestled smart given the officiating, waiting for an A+ opportunity and scoring when it presented itself. Eggum was particularly critical of the way Tommy Askey’s match was called.

I never want to win a match based on a call, but at 157 [pounds], the kid was retreating a lot. And that, you know, makes it difficult. You lose your composure. You keep walking, and that’s what happened. We walked right into a shot, but you keep doing that for seven minutes…you know, we kept reminding him, but that’s good for Askey to kind of remember that.

Brandon Eggum, Gophers wrestling head coach

Askey lost the match 4-1 after leading 1-0 going into the third period. He scored the first points of the match with an escape to start the second period. Awarding a point to Askey for Teemer’s stalling would have given Askey a better shot at winning the match and more opportunities to earn a pin fall.

Top three teams in Big Ten wrestling might be top-3 in the country

Cooper Flynn (No. 13 125-pounder) nearly got the Gophers off to the start they needed. Down 3-0 after two, Flynn made a spirited comeback in the final seconds of regulation to force overtime against No. 26 Joey Cruz. But Cruz scored the first takedown of sudden death, and Iowa started with a 3-0 duel lead, setting the tone for the rest of the night.

Minnesotan Patrick Kennedy of Kasson-Mantorville was dominant against No. 22 Clayton Whiting of the Gophers. The 11th-ranked 174-pounder never trailed, pulling ahead 4-0, then 7-0. Whiting scored an escape and takedown to make it close in the third, but got caught attempting the takedown to tie it and got called for riding time.

Eighth-ranked Isaiah Salazar gave a really good effort against the top-ranked 197-pounder, Stephen Buchanan. He just couldn’t escape quickly enough in the third to leave himself time to overcome the sole takedown scored in the final seconds of regulation.

Gophers wrestling future star finishes first official season undefeated

Waconia’s Max McEnelly finished his first official Gophers wrestling season undefeated with an overtime win over eighth-ranked, 184-pounder Gabe Arnold. The wrestlers exchanged escapes in the second and third periods before McEnelly scored the match-winning takedown early in overtime. It gave Minnesota just its second match win of the night to pull within 14 points with two matches left on the card.

Max McEnelly is expecting some Waconians to the attend the Big Ten Championships. He added that the wrestling community there is strong and supportive despite its small size. McEnelly certainly felt the love from the sellout crowd at University of Minnesota’s Maturi Pavilion on Valentine’s Day. He received the biggest ovation of the night, even exceeding his Olympic Gold medalist teammate, Gable Steveson.

It’s awesome to come out here in front of the home crowd every single time…I don’t really think about going undefeated or whatever. I just think about going out there and, you know, wrestling every single match to the best of my abilities. Winning’s cool, but at the end of the day, it’s about how you compete. The Minnesota crowd brought it today, so it was awesome to get a big win in front of them.

Max McEnelly, the future of Gophers wrestling

Thing is, Gophers wrestling head coach Brandon Eggum thought McEnelly’s match could have been his first pin fall of the season, saying “the guy was on his back for a LONG time, and if anything else he could’ve called danger or something.”

Gable Steveson sends ’em home happy

Gable Steveson sent the crowd home happy with a first-period technical fall over redshirt freshman and 11th-ranked heavyweight Ben Kueter. Steveson finished yet another Gophers wrestling regular season undefeated and remains the top heavyweight in the country and probably the world. He spoke some words of wisdom in the ear of Kueter after the match.

The Gophers wrestling team has some time off to get healthy before the Big Ten Championships start on March 8 in Evanston, Illinois. They’ll enter as the third-best team in the conference and, perhaps, the third-best team in the nation.

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