Huskers Set to Face Sooners on Senior Day

The second-ranked Nebraska (18-2) wrestling team will look to end the home season on a high note as it faces off against 11th-ranked Oklahoma on Friday, Feb. 20 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center track. The dual is set for 4 p.m. during the intermission of the Nebraska state high school wrestling tournament. The match between the Huskers and the Sooners can be seen on NETV (Ch. 12) on a tape delay basis beginning at 7 p.m. and will also be shown on CSTV on Feb. 29 at 7 p.m.

Scouting the Opponent
One of the youngest teams in the Big 12 Conference, Oklahoma enters the match against the Huskers following a 26-10 loss to top-ranked Oklahoma State on Sunday, Feb. 8. The dual against the Huskers will be OU's first in 12 days. Of Oklahoma’s 10 starters, six are underclassmen, including five freshmen.

Oklahoma is led by a duo of wrestlers ranked in the top five of their respective weight classes. The first OU standout is defending national champion Teyon Ware (16-2) at 141 pounds. Ware’s two losses this season have been to second-ranked Nate Gallick of Iowa State and top-ranked Scott Moore of Virginia.

The second Sooner ranked in the top-five is fifth-ranked senior heavyweight Leonce Crump. Crump enters the match with the Huskers with a 28-3 record with two of his losses to the top-two heavyweights in the country. Crump leads the Sooners in wins with 28, falls with 10 and owns a 5-2 records against ranked wrestlers.

Overall the Sooners led by Ware and Crump feature seven ranked wrestlers. Redshirt-freshman Sam Hazewinke (9th, 125 pounds), leads the Big 12’s 125-pound weight class in wins and is 5-0 against Big 12 competition. Mimi Miller (18th, 133 pounds) is coming off of an upset victory over top-ranked Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State, defeating him 7-6 on Feb. 8. Jeff Ecklof (12th, 149 pounds), enters the match with the Cornhuskers with a 5-9 record against ranked opponents. E.K. Waldhaus (14th, 174 pounds), leads the team in takedowns (46) and Justin Dyer (7th, 184 pounds), who is one of five freshmen in the Sooner starting lineup.

Oklahoma is coached by Jack Spates, who is in his 11th season and owns a record of 153-59-6. In 10 duals against the Huskers, Spates has won seven, including each of the last four.

Series vs. Oklahoma
Oklahoma leads the all-time series against the Huskers 33-11-1 and has currently won five straight duals in the series. The last NU win can in 1999 when the Huskers won 18-17 in Norman. Nebraska hasn’t won in Lincoln since a 22-12 decision in 1997.

Marquee Matches
The dual between the Huskers and the Sooners will feature six matches involving ranked wrestlers headlined by matches at 184 pounds, and heavyweight.

At 184 pounds, third-ranked Travis Pascoe will face his eighth ranked opponent of the season in seventh-ranked Justin Dyer. Pascoe is 6-1 vs. ranked foes. The other weight class featuring two top-10 wrestlers is at heavyweight where ninth-ranked Nathan McClain will take on fifth-rankedLeonce Crump. McClain is 2-4 against ranked wrestlers this season.

Other matches involving ranked wresters are at 125 pounds with top-ranked Jason Powell taking on 9th-ranked Sam Hazenwinke, at 133 pounds ninth-ranked Matt Keller will face off against OU's 18th-ranked Mimi Miller followed by NU's 12th-ranked Matt  Murray and third-ranked Teyon Ware at 141 pounds. Fourth-ranked Travis Shufelt will see his seventh ranked opponent this season in 12th-ranked Jeff Echlof at 149 pounds.

Five Seniors To Take the Mat for the Last Time
Five Huskers wrestlers will take to the home mat for the final time in their Husker career as Jason Powell (125 pounds), Joey Malia (133 pounds), Jeremy Baker (149), Jason High (174 pounds) and Nathan McClain (HWT) will be honored before the OU match.

These seniors have accomplished a five-year record of 62-31-1 and four top-15 finishes at the NCAA Championships. During their five years in the program, Nebraska has defeated 17 ranked opponents, including two top-five teams in the last two years.

Nebraska has won team championships at the 2003 Las Vegas Invitational and the 2004 Virginia Duals, while placing second at the 2002 Mat Town Invitational, 2002 Virginia Duals and the 2001 Las Vegas Invitational.

A Win this weekend for NU this weekend would mean..
u the most wins during the regular season since recording a school-record 21 during the 1989-90 season
u the first time since the 1991-92 season that Nebraska finished undefeated at home
u tie the most home wins since 1993-94
u tie the most wins over ranked opponents during Mark Manning’s tenure
u the first win over Oklahoma since an 18-17 win during the 1998-99 season
u the first time NU has posted two conference victories since the 1998-99 season
u the first win over Oklahoma in the Manning tenure
u the first win over Oklahoma in the last six duals

Huskers Have Oklahoma Connection
Head Coach Mark Manning was an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1993-97. During his time at Oklahoma, Manning was part of two top-10 finishes while the Sooners compiled a dual record of 38-21-2.

He coached 14 Oklahoma All-Americans, five NCAA finalists and one NCAA champion.NU assistant coach Shawn Charles was the coach of Oklahoma’s freestyle club team in 1996.

Senior Jason Powell is a native of Midwest City, Okla. and has a 5-7 record against schools from the state of Oklahoma.

Last Time Out
Behind three pins, two forfeits and a technical fall, the Huskers defeated defending ACC Champion North Carolina, 47-0 on Saturday, Feb. 14 at the NU Coliseum in front of 625 fans. Senior Joey Malia improved to 7-1 on the season with his fifth fall over Bobby Shaw 45 seconds into their match. Sophomore Kyle Gubbels added his third fall of the year of Venroy July pinning him as time expired at the end of the second period, while junior Travis Pascoe rebounded from his first loss of the year to pin Matt Canty in 4:05.

Huskers Make Carolina Blue
In their 47-0 victory of North Carolina, the Huskers gave up only one takedown the entire match.
While the Huskers gave up just a single takedown, NU recorded 25 takedowns, lead by Jacob Klein’s 10-takedown performance against Garret Atkinson at 165 pounds.

Powell Hits Century Mark
With a 7-5 victory over Cody Stites of Oklahoma State Feb. 7, top-ranked Jason Powell became the 15th wrestler in school history to win 100 career matches. With a 10-0 major decision over Drew Forshey of North Carolina of Saturday, Feb. 14, Powell raised his career total to 101 wins placing him in a tie for 14th all-time with All-American Chris Nelson. The bonus point victory over Shaw was his ninth of the year and 49th of his career.

Huskers Wrestling Up NU Charts
With a win this weekend, juniors Travis Shufelt and Travis Pascoe each recorded their 17th dual victory of the season. The 17 dual victories currently place them in a tie for 12th all-time on the season dual victories list. Senior heavyweight Nathan McClain has recorded 18 dual victories which is good for seventh all-time on the season dual victories list. With a victory this weekend over Oklahoma, redshirt freshman Matt Keller would record his 23rd victory of the season. His 23rd victory would put him in a tie for 10th all-time for wins during a freshman year.

Huskers Scoring Big
Nebraska's 10 regular starters have recorded 166 victories. Of those 166 victories, 97 of them have scored NU bonus points. That is a team percentage of 58.4, while six of NU’s starters have more than 50 percent of their victories go for bonus points, including two (Travis Shufelt and Travis Pascoe) that have had 70 percent of their wins score NU bonus points.

Huskers Receiving Honors
Travis Pascoe and Jacob Klein each have received the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week award during the 2003-04 season.
Pascoe received the honor for his action during the month of December, when he went 9-0, including a first-place finish at the Cliff Keen Invitational. He also received the CSTV national wrestler of the week for posting two victories over Rutgers and Hofstra on Nov. 29. Klein won the honor for the week of Jan. 18-25 after leading the Huskers to a victory over Missouri on Jan. 24 as he defeated defending Big 12 champion, Tyron Woodly. The victory over Woodley was Klein’s first victory over a ranked opponent this season. He also received the CSTV national Wrestler of the Week award for his victory over Woodley.

Huskers Place Six Grapplers on Big 12 Honor Roll
The University of Nebraska wrestling team placed six wrestlers on the Fall 2003 Big 12 Commissioners Honor Roll.
Senior Jeremy Baker (Community Heath), Jeremy Emerson (Architectural Studies), Trevor Hill (Chemical Engineering), Matt Murray (Mathematics Education), Chris Nedens (Diverse Ag. Studies) and B.J Wright (Finance) were the honorees.
The honor roll includes all students-athletes who achieved a 3.0 GPA or better during the semester.

Manning Records Career Coaching Victory No. 75
With a 26-9 victory over Arizona State on Jan. 30, Mark Manning recorded his 75th career coaching victory. In his seventh season as a head coach Manning has produced a record of 76-48-2. At his previous stop, Manning owned a record of 23-24-2 at Northern Iowa, while at Nebraska he owns a mark of 53-24-0 and recorded his 50th coaching win at Nebraska against Wyoming on Jan. 17.

Huskers Rolling Up the Points
After recording 47 points on Feb. 14 against North Carolina, the Huskers have now scored 30 or more points in 16 dual this season. The 47 points recorded by NU marks the sixth time this season the NU has reached the 40-point plateau. The six 40-point outings are a school record, bettering that previous mark of three set in 1982-83 and 1985-86.

Huskers Just Dominating
*-In fact, Nebraska averages better than 30 points in duals this season, outscoring opponents by an average of 33.8-7.4 in duals (675-148 total points).
*- Fifteen of Nebraska’s 18 dual victories this season have been by 20 points or more, with six victories by 40 or more points.
*- The five shutouts NU has recorded is a school record, with all five of them coming at home.

Huskers Reach 18 Dual Wins
With the victory over North Carolina on Feb., 14, the Huskers raised their season win total to 18. 
*-The 18 wins are the most in Mark Manning’s four seasons at Nebraska. This season also marks the 12th time since 1990-91 that NU has recorded double-digit wins. This marks only the fourth time in school history NU has recorded 17 or more dual victories.
*-This marks the third time in four seasons that NU has reached the 10-win plateau under Manning.
*-This season marks the 13th time in school history Nebraska has reached 15 or more wins.

Who’s Hot Among Husker Wrestlers
Matt Keller, RFr., 133, McDonald, Tenn. -- First-year starter Matt Keller has won 11 of his last 13 matches, including six that earned the Huskers bonus points. Keller is tied for the team lead in wins with 22 and is 6-2 against ranked opponents this season. Keller came within two points of upsetting two-time national champion Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State last Saturday.

Matt Murray, Jr., 141,Colby, Kan. -- Murray enters the match against Oklahoma on a four-match winning streak. He has compiled an 18-4 overall record, including a 14-3 mark in dual. All three of his three dual losses, have come against ranked opponents, including top-ranked Scott Moore of Virginia, in which Murray lost, 5-1.

Travis Pascoe, Jr., 184, Rathdrum, Idaho -- Pascoe is 24-1, including a first-place showing at the Cliff Keen Invitational on Dec. 5-6. The team leader in takedowns with 72, Pascoe has only been taken to the mat four times. Fifteen of Pascoe’s last 18 wins have earned the Huskers bonus points. Pascoe also leads the Huskers in technical falls with six. He won his first 23 matches before a 6-3 loss to OSU’s No. 3 Jake Rosholt of Feb. 7.

Nathan McClain, Sr., HWT, Flora Vista, N.M. -- McClain has a 20-5 record and leads the team in major decisions with nine and is third on the team in takedowns with56. At the Cliff Keen Invitational, McClain earned a seventh-place finish. McClain has matched his win total from all of last season. He is currently ranked ninth according to W.I.N. Magazine.

Huskers Strong at Home
With its 47-0 over North Carolina on Feb. 14, NU recorded its 14th victory in its last 16 home matches last losing at home to Minnesota on Jan. 7, 2003

During that 13-match stretch, NU has defeated five ranked opponents. The average margin of victory during this stretch is 28.3 points. The 13-match home win streak is the second-longest in school history, one short of the mark that was set in 1989-90.
During this home winning streak the Huskers have posted four shutouts, while scoring 30 or more points nine times and 40 or more points six times.

The Huskers have also won 11 straight home matches against non-conference opponents. NU has also won 30 straight matches at home against unranked opponents since 1990-91 when the school weekly tracking.

Up Next
Following the match against the Sooners, NU will take to the road to compete the dual season as it travels to Ames, Iowa to take on the third-ranked Iowa State Cyclones on Thursday, Feb. 26. The matchup was slated scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 5, but was postponed because of inclement weather.