Three Gophers — Gable Steveson, Max McEnelly and Vance VomBaur — advanced to the championship matches of their weight classes at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships on Saturday in Evanston, Ill.
Three Gophers wrestlers advance to championship matches at Big Ten tournament
Gable Steveson, Max McEnelly and Vance VomBaur will complete for titles Sunday.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
March 9, 2025 at 5:25AM
The Gophers are in fourth place in the team standings with 88.5 points heading into Sunday’s finals. Penn State leads with 145 points. Nebraska is second with 118.5 and Iowa third with 98.
Steveson will face Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet, a former Simley athlete and one of six Nittany Lions to advance to championship matches, for the heavyweight title. Steveson defeated Ohio State’s Nick Feldman 15-4 in the semifinals.
In the 184-pound championship match, Max McEnelly will face Penn State’s Carte Starocci. McEnelly defeated Edmond Ruth of Illinois 11-3 and Starocci defeated Maryland’s Jaxon Smith 12-2 to reach the final.
VomBaur will face Nebraska’s Brock Hardy in the 141-pound final. VomBaur defeated top seed Beau Bartlett of Penn State 5-3 to advance.
In the 157-pound semifinals, Ohio State’s Brandon Cannon defeated Tommy Askey of the Gophers 10-3.
Gophers 197-pounder Isaiah Salazar, who won the 184-pound Big Ten title last season, lost in the quarterfinals to Zac Braunagel of Illinois 10-4.
The meet will conclude with two sessions Sunday. Consolation semifinals and seventh-place matches will begin at noon. First-, third- and fifth-place matches will start at 4:30.
Their road winning streak came to an end, but their season will continue Wednesday in Indianapolis against Northwestern.
