Two Gophers lose in NCAA wrestling finals; Apple Valley's Hall wins

St. Louis - Brett Pfarr and Ethan Lizak of the Gophers both lost in title matches Saturday night at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center.

Pfarr, a senior from Le Sueur, Minn., was the second seed at 197 pounds. He face top-seeded J'Den Cox (28-0) of Missouri, who won 8-2. Cox led 2-0 after the first period, 5-1 after the second

Pfarr (31-3) placed third in the national meet last year.

Lizak, a redshirt sophomore from Schneckville, Pa., was the sixth seed at 125 and competing in his first NCAA tournament.

He took a 26-6 record into his final against Darian Cruz (30-2) of Lehigh. Cruz, seeded fourth, won 6-3.

Two other Gophers wrestled in seventh-place matches. Senior heavyweight Micheel Kroells won his match, defeating Denzel Dejournette of Appalachian State on a 17-2 technical fall.

Sophomore Tommy Thorn lost at 141, falling to Matthew Kolodzik of Princeton 3-1.

The Gophers as a team finished in seventh place with 62.5 points.

• Former Apple Valley wrestler Mark Hall, a true freshman for Penn State, beat third-seeded Bo Jackson of Ohio State 5-2 to win the 174-pound title. Hall had lost to Jackson (18-2) 6-4 in a sudden-victory period in Big Ten tournament final.

Hall. a six-time Class 3A high school state champion with a 277-4 career record, is 31-3 in his first college season.

His biggest previous victory was in Friday's semifinals when he edged top-seeded and previously unbeaten Zahid Valencia of Arizona State 4-3 on a takedown with 26 seconds left. Valencia was 35-0.

Penn State won its second consecutive NCAA championship and sixth in seven years with 146.5 points and five individual champions.

The national title came in dominant fashion, much like the others since coach Cael Sanderson arrived before the 2009-10 season.

The Nittany Lions took an early lead on the first day and kept it.

Besides Hall, Zain Retherford (149 pounds), Jason Nolf (157), Vincenzo Joseph (165), and Bo Nickal (184) also won titles for Penn State.

Five champions tied an NCAA record for the most in one tournament.