The 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships ended on Saturday night with a bang for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Gophers finished second in the team standings to the Penn State Nittany Lions, but heavyweight Tony Nelson took home a title in the final match of the evening.
It wasn't the prettiest match of the championships, but the Gophers' press release explained it quite well:
Nelson was down 1-0 going into the third period and had 1:10 of riding time. The sophomore scored an escape to even the score at 1-1 with 1:36 reaming in the period. Nelson would score a takedown with seven seconds remaining to go up 3-1. He would ride him out to end the match and earn an additional point for riding time and the championship, with a 4-1 win.
Redshirt freshman Dylan Ness lost 4-1 to Penn State's Frank Molinaro in the 149-pound championship. Results from the consolation bracket were written about here earlier.
Full brackets for the tournament are located here. For more on the Minnesota Golden Gophers, check out The Daily Gopher.