Tony Nelson
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MADISON, Wis. -- Despite leading after the first session of the 2014 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, the Golden Gophers finish the first day in third place with a team score of 86.0. Reigning Big Ten Champion Penn State took the lead during Session II with a team score of 122.0 followed closely behind by Iowa with a score of 121.0.

The Golden Gophers sent nine wrestlers to the semifinals while only redshirt senior heavyweight and reigning back-to-back Big Ten Champion Tony Nelson would advance to the final round. He will meet Adam Chalfant of Indiana in the championship bout on Sunday afternoon.

This is a familiar matchup for the pair as Nelson was unable to top Chalfant when the Hoosiers traveled to Minneapolis on Feb. 2. Nelson lost in regulation, 3-2, and would stand as his only regulation loss of the year as he fell three times in overtime throughout the season.

Nelson is on a quest for his third consecutive Big Ten Championship title. David Thorn(133), Chris Dardanes (141), Nick Dardanes (149), Dylan Ness (157), Danny Zilverberg (165), Logan Storley (174), Kevin Steinhaus (184) and Scott Schiller (197) all fell in the semifinals and will look to take home third place crowns during today's competition.

Redshirt freshman Sam Brancale was the only Gopher who wrestled in a consolation round and was defeated by No. 8-seeded Nick Roberts of Ohio State by fall at 1:05.

The event will kick off at 11 a.m. at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. Session III will be streamed live on Gopher All-Access and the finals round, featuring Nelson, will air live on BTN beginning at 1 p.m. CT.

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