Huskers Set For Nebraska Duals

Lincoln -- The third-ranked Nebraska wrestling team is set to host the first-ever Nebraska Duals, on Monday, Dec. 22 starting at 5 p.m. at the NU Coliseum. The Huskers are set to face off against Division II eighth-ranked UNK Lopers, No. 18 Chadron State and NAIA power, Dana College Vikings, who is ranked 13th.

Scouting the Opponents
Eighth-ranked Nebraska-Kearney returns eight letterwinners and four starters from last season NCAA Division II runner-ups.
The Lopers are led by second-ranked Bryce Abby at 125 pounds, who is coming off a first-place finish at the UNK Runza Loper Open. Abby is 16-1 on the season. UNK's other standout is sixth-ranked, 165-pounder Aaron Daulton. Daulton, who is 15-1 on the season, is coming off a first place showing at the UNK Runza Loper Open. UNK is coached by Marc Bauer, who is in his sixth year at the helm and owns a career mark of 36-21. The matchup with Nebraska is UNK's first dual of the season.

Chadron State returns 11 letterwinners and 10 starters from last seasons team that finished 23rd at the NCAA Division II Championships. The Eagles are led by their 197-pounder Jeff Rushers, who is currently ranked second and is 4-1 on the year. The other ranked Eagles grappler is 157-pounder Travis Peck, who is ranked fifth. Peck enters the dual with a 15-5 record.
The Eagles are coached by Dr. Scott Ritzen, who is in his 15th year at Chadron State. He owns a career record of 80-71-5.
This will be the Eagles' first dual of the season.

Dana College returns seven NAIA qualifiers and four All-Americans from last season's team that finished 11th at the NAIA Championships.  The Vikings are led by their 165-pounder in second-ranked Leister Bowling and 149-pounder in Jason Lozier, who is ranked sixth. The Vikings' other two ranked grapplers are Wynn Fangmeier (5th) at 197 pounds and heavyweight Mark Lander (7th). Dana is coached by Steve Contanzo, who is in his fifth year at Dana and owns a career record of 22-13. Dana is 0-1 on the season after dropping a 36-9 decision to Augustana on Nov. 21.

A win for NU would mean....
With a victories at the Nebraska Duals this weekend, the Huskers would....

• Improve to 8-0 and give NU its 11th straight victory dating back to last season
• Give Mark Manning his 41,42,43th career victories at NU 
• Give NU its 18th, 19th, 20th straight win over Division II or lower opponents.
• Give NU its 12th win in its last 13 matches at home

The Last Time We Met
Nebraska is 3-0 against Nebraska-Kearney, and most recently defeated the Lopers, 35-12 in Lincoln, Neb. on Dec. 28, 2002. On the day, Travis Shufelt recorded an 6-2 victory over Division II's third ranked 149 pounder Brandon Pifzenamier, 6-2. For the day, NU received two points and two technical falls. This is the first time the Huskers will be facing either Chadron State or Dana College.

Last Time Out
The Nebraska wrestling team captured its first team tournament title since the 1999 Sheridan Open by winning the 2003 Cliff Keen Invitational Dec. 6 in Las Vegas. The Huskers rolled to the team title by racking up 139.5 points, six points in front of runner-up Michigan. Missouri finished third with 114 points, while No. 1 Illinois finished fourth with 102.5 points.

Individually, No. 1 Jason Powell defeated No. 9 Mark Moos of Michigan, 4-2, to claim the 125-pound title. Powell, who is 9-0 this season, needs just eight more wins to become the 15th wrestler in NU history to reach the 100-victory plateau. Travis Shufelt added a title for the Huskers at 149 pounds by pinning Missouri’s Jeremy Spates at 5:29 in the championship match. Shufelt, who is ranked seventh nationally, had three pins in the tournament and owns five on the season. Shufelt improved to 11-0 on the year.

At 184 pounds, Travis Pascoe improved to 10-0 on the year and claimed a title of his own by posting a major decision over eighth-ranked Blake Kaplan of Ohio State.

Powell Reaches Top-10
With two victories on Nov. 29, two-time All-American Jason Powell moved into a tie with former three-time All-American Corey Olsen for top 10 career victories with 49. Powell's career dual winning percentage of .827 places him just outside of the top 10 for career dual winning percentage.

Huskers on Winning streak
Dating back to last season's NCAA Championships, top-ranked Jason Powell enters the Nebraska Duals on a 13-match winning streak. Powell who is off to a 9-0 start this season, ended last season on a four-match win streak and finishing third at the NCAA Championships.

Junior Travis Pascoe is on a 10-match winning streak which includes a first-place finish at the Cliff Keen Invitational. Sophomore Travis Shufelt is also on a double figure win streak with 11 straight victories.

Huskers Rolling Up the Points
Nebraska defeated Rutgers, 35-12, and Hofstra, 30-10, in back-to-back duals on Nov. 29, the Huskers have now scored 30 or more points in five consecutive duals on the season. Last season the Huskers recorded 30 or more points in eight straight duals.

Huskers in the Rankings
In the latest W.I.N magazine rankings, the Huskers currently are ranked third behind Big 12 rivals, Oklahoma State (No.1) and Iowa State (No. 2). Missouri follows at No. 7 with Oklahoma rounding out the Big 12 schools at No. 15

In individual rankings, senior 125-pounder Jason Powell is No.1 according to W.I.N.. Redshirt-freshman 133-pounder Matt Keller enters at No. 18, followed by junior Matt Murray, who is 13th, at 141 pounds. Junior Travis Shufelt is ranked fourth at 149 pounds.

Junior B.J. Wright is at 17th (157) while Sophomore Jacob Klein is 15th at 165 pounds, junior Travis Pascoe is third at 184 pounds, and senior heavyweight Nathan McClain is 16th. Sophomore B.J. Padden is sixth at 197 pounds.

Huskers Rank Among Nations Best
Sophomore B.J. Padden currently leads the 197-pound weight class in pins with six according to the latest fall leaders by InterMat. Padden's six pins have already bettered the mark he set last season with four. Other Huskers are currently among the national leaders in falls as junior B.J. Wright is tied for fourth at 157 pounds with three.

Travis Shufelt is tied for third with five falls at 149 pounds, one behind leaders Ryan Churella of Michigan and Zachary Jones of Boston University

Redshirt freshman Matt Keller is tied for fourth in the nations with 12 wins at 133 pounds, five behind weight class leader Josh Moore of Penn State.

Huskers Strong at Home
With a victory over Boise State on Nov. 21, NU recorded its 10th victory in its last 11 home matches. The Huskers have won seven straight at home, last losing to third-ranked Minnesota last January. During that 11 match stretch, NU has defeated four ranked opponents. The average margin of victory during this stretch is 17.9 points

McClain Continues Strong Start
Senior heavyweight Nathan McClain is off to a strong start to the season while filling in for regular starter Mitch Manstedt, who is out for an extended amount of time with a knee injury.

The Flora Vista, N.M. native is off to a 7-3 start after earning a sixth-place finish at the Cliff Keen Invitational. The senior leads NU this season in major decisions with six.

Huskers to Be Shown on CSTV
The University of Nebraska wrestling team is scheduled to have two duals televised on College Sports Television this season. Nebraska's matches against Missouri on Jan. 24 and Iowa State on Feb. 5 are slated to be seen live. Wrestling legends Dan Gable and Jeff Blatnick will call the action on selected CSTV telecasts/

Non-Varsity Schedule
The Husker non-varsity and freshmen also have a full schedule during the 2003-04 season beginning with the South Dakota State Open on November 8. Upcoming tournaments include Dana College (Jan. 3), Glen Brand Open and Denker Open (Jan. 10) and Missouri Valley Open (Jan. 31)

Heavyweight Jon May posted a 10-2 major decision over Nebraska-Kearney’s Jered Jorgensen to claim an individual title at the 2003 UNK Runza Loper Open in Kearney on Dec 13. May wrestled his way to the Huskers’ only individual title at the open tournament. Derek Pirner added a third-place finish at 141 pounds, while Jeremy Emerson contributed a fourth-place finish at 125 pounds. Jason High claimed fifth place at 174 pounds, and Trevor Hill (165) and Chad Espinoza (197) settled for sixth-place finishes.

Up Next
Following the Nebraska Duals, Nebraska will next be in action on Jan. 1, 2004, when it travels to Rochester, Minn. to take on 10th-ranked Minnesota.