Minnesota Wins Duals Title

Heavyweight Shelton Benjamin pinned Iowa’s Wes Hand as top-seeded Minnesota rallied to beat the second-seeded Hawkeyes in the championship match of the Cliff Keen NWCA National Duals.

Lee Fullhart, ranked No. 3 at 190 pounds, had given the third-ranked Hawkeyes a 17-12 lead going into the final bout and put Minnesota in the position of needing a pin to win.

Benjamin, ranked seventh, did just that, putting eighth-ranked Hand on his back 2 minutes, 16 seconds, into the match.

The Hawkeyes have only lost three duals since 1983, and two of the setbacks have come in the past two weeks.

Earlier, Penn State downed Michigan State 26-10 to claim third place; Nebraska, a 36-8 winner over West Virginia, was fifth, and Arizona State stopped Oklahoma 21-18 for seventh place.