Berhow finishes sixth for Gophers

Published 12:00 am Monday, March 10, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &8212; Iowa snuck past Minnesota on Sunday to win the Big Ten Wrestling Championships.

The Hawkeyes outscored the Gophers 127 to 112.5 as all four of Minnesota&8217;s finalists lost their championship matches.

Former Albert Lea prep Ben Berhow finished sixth in the heavyweight division and qualified for the national tournament which begins in two weeks in St. Louis.

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Berhow lost his opening match to Nathan Everhart of Indiana 9-7 before rebounding with a win and a loss to get into the fifth place match. Berhow fell to John Wise of Illinois 4-1 to finish sixth.

Indiana&8217;s Angel Escobedo beat Jayson Ness 4-2 at 125 pounds; Kellen Russell of Michigan beat Manuel Rivera 3-2 at 141 pounds; Brent Metcalf of Iowa defeated Dustin Schlatter 5-3 at 149 pounds and Michigan&8217;s Steve Luke beat Gabe Dretsch 5-3 at 174 pounds.

Minnesota had led after the opening day of the tournament.

Michigan (97.5) finished third, followed by Illinois (94) and Ohio State (92.5).