He’s the first heavyweight in history to win four Big Ten titles
The Minnesota Golden Gophers had three wrestlers make the Championship round of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships on Sunday but only one would go on to win a title. We all know who that one was. Gable Steveson made history yet again as he became the only heavyweight to ever win four Big Ten Championships with a 10-3 win over Penn State’s Greg Kerkvleit on Sunday. Gable has now won 66th straight matches, passing Dustin Schlatter for the second longest win streak in program history.
Steveson was not really tested in the Big Ten Championships as he cruised through his opponents. In theory the toughest one would be fellow Minnesotan and Simley High School grad Kerkvleit who is the reining NCAA Heavyweight Champ and had won 38 straight matches headed into the Big Ten final. He never had a chance. Gable picked up an early first period takedown to take a 3-0 lead. He would add takedowns in the second and third periods and took the riding time point to cruise into the victory. He becomes the obvious favorite to win his third NCAA Championship. Steveson has yet to be taken down this season and he’s now 6-0 this year against top-10 opponents and 14-0 overall. He was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Championships for his domination.
Steveson became the first heavyweight in Big Ten history to win four titles, and he became just the 19th wrestler to accomplish the feat overall. The only other Gopher to do so was Verne Gagne, who recorded wins in 1944 and 1947-49. He will not have enough matches left in his career to eclipse Vole Konrad’s 76-match winning streak, but likely will get a chance to add up to five more to his tally at the NCAA Championships.
The Gophers fell in their chances to win two additional titles. Vance VomBaur faced off agant Vance hardy of Nebraska who head lost to earlier in the season. This time Hardy took advantage of a VomBaur mistake and flipped him for a pin midway through the first period.
Redshirt freshman Max McEnelly had a very tough task taking on Penn State’s Carter Starocci at 184 pounds. Starocci has won the last four NCAA Championships and has not lost a match since 2020. That loss was to former Iowa wrestler Michael Kemmerer—who is now a current Minnesota assistant and was mat-side for the final on Sunday.
McEnelly struck first scoring the opening takedown for a 3-1 lead after one period. Starocci responded in the second with a quick escape and a takedown to take the lead. Down 5-4 going to the third, McEnelly lodged an escape of his own, sending the match to overtime, With 40 seconds left in the extra session, McEnelly went for a shot but missed and Starocci caught him on the re-attack for the 8-5 victory. But Max proved his own against the nation’s best and will hopefully get another shot at him at the NCAA Championships. He was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year after the meet concluded.
The Gophers also added fourth place finishes from Andrew Sparks at 165 and Isiah Salazar at 197. Tommy Askey took 5th at 157. Minnesota qualified nine of their ten wrestlers for the NCAA Championships based upon their results at the Big Ten Championships. Tyler Wells at 133 is the only weight not to yet qualify but still has a good chance at an at-large bid when the full list of NCAA participants are announced on Tuesday and the full brackets are released with seeding on Wednesday. The NCAA Championships will take place March 20-22 in Philadelphia.