COLUMBUS, Ohio – Nahshon Garrett dominated again at the top of the lineup, Dylan Palacio earned an overtime fall and Gabe Dean won a marathon match against a top 10 opponent, but No. 1 Minnesota's depth throughout the lineup was too much. The Gophers earned a 24-15 dual meet victory over Cornell on Monday evening in the finals of the EAS Sports Nutrition/NWCA Division I National Duals.

Palacio picked the Big Red up after intermission, earning a first period and taking a 3-0 lead after an escape early in the second. His opponent, Danny Zilverberg earned a late second period takedown to cut the deficit to 3-2, then earned a reversal early in the third after choosing down to take the lead. Palacio was able to escape to send the match into sudden victory tied 4-4. A wild scramble in the sudden victory period saw Zilverberg taken down to his back and Palacio was able to finish him off for the fall. The win momentarily put Cornell back in the match at 17-9.

Garrett had a strong showing to open the dual, falling short of a major decision due to a late escape by Sam Bracale at 125 pounds, but got the Big Red of on the right foot.Minnesota would then get four straight victories, all from wrestlers ranked in the top eight nationally. Three of those four came by bonus points with two coming in swing matched between ranked wrestlers.

Eighth-ranked David Thorn gave the Gophers the lead with a major decision at 133 over Mark grey, followed by No. 5 Chris Dardanes posting a major at 141 over backup Logan David. Dylan Ness, ranked fifth nationally, earned a fall at 157 in just 1:12 over Cornell's 10th-ranked Brian Realbuto. At that point, Minnesota had a near-insurmountable 17-3 lead with three wrestlers ranked in the top eight at their weights still to come in the final five matches.

Cornell's sixth-ranked Chris Villalonga took a hard-luck 5-4 loss in sudden victory when a stalling call handed third-ranked Nick Dardanes the victory at 149 in what had been a contest that could be an eventual NCAA matchup. Villalonga had earlier in the day topped No. 2 Kendric Maple of Oklahoma to cement his status as a national title contender.

In what could also be a future NCAA matchup at 184, Gabe Dean topped No. 8 Kevin Steinhaus of Minnesota for the second time this season with a 3-2 victory in two overtimes. The two made it through sudden victory and a pair of rideout periods en route to his 21st consecutive victory.

Two more nationally-ranked Gophers were able to capture victories aftr intermission, as No. 6 Logan Storley topped Craig Eifert 8-2 at 174 and No. 4 Scott Schiller topped Jace Bennett for an 11-1 major decision at 197.

Jacob Aiken-Phillips ended the dual with a 7-6 win over Michael Kroells at heavyweight to make the final score 24-15.

The Big Red will close out dual match season on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. when it meets Hofstra at the Friedman Wrestling Center.

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#1 Minnesota 24, #4 Cornell 15
Feb. 17, 2014 * Columbus, Ohio
125 - #1 Nahshon Garrett (Cor) won by decision over Sam Brancale (Minn), 12-5
133 - #8 David Thorn (Minn) won by major decision over #15 Mark Grey (Cor), 11-3
141 –#5 Chris Dardanes (Minn) won by major decision over Logan David (Cor), 16-6
149 - #3 Nick Dardanes (Minn) won by decision over #6 Chris Villalonga (Cor), 5-4 (sv1)
157 - #5 Dylan Ness (Minn) won by fall over #10 Brian Realbuto (Cor), 1:12
165 - #14 Dylan Palacio (Cor) won by fall over Danny Zilverberg (Minn), 7:36
174 - #6 Logan Storley (Minn) won by decision over Craig Eifert (Cor), 8-2
184 - #3 Gabe Dean (Cor) won by decision over #8 Kevin Steinhaus (Minn), 3-2 (OT2)
197 - #4 Scott Schiller (Minn) won by major decision over Jace Bennett (Cor), 11-1
285 - Jacob Aiken-Phillips (Cor) won by decision over Michael Kroells (Minn), 7-6