Huskers Set for National Title Run

The Nebraska wrestling team will travel to St. Louis, Mo., this week for the 2004 NCAA Championships at Savvis Center. The opening round of the national championships begins at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 18, with the championship finals slated for a 5:30 p.m. start on Saturday, March 20. The finals will be aired on ESPN at 5:30 p.m. All times are Central.

Seven Huskers qualified by finishing in the top-three at their weight classes at the March 6, Big 12 Championships. Travis Pascoe received a wild card from the Big 12 coaches after placing four that 184 pounds.

Despite not winning the Big 12 Championships, senior Jason Powell received the No. 1 seed and will face off against Chris Helgeson of Northern Iowa. Redshirt-freshman Matt Keller earned a ninth-seed and will face off against Paul Gross of Stanford.

After finishing second at the Big 12 Championships, Matt Murray and his seventh seed will take on John Manarte of Hofstra. Murray defeated Manarte, 4-1 on Nov. 29. in Hempstead, N.Y.

Three-time NCAA qualifier Travis Shufelt earned the No. 3 seed and will take on Tony Hook of Oregon State. Shufelt defeated Hook, 9-4 on Nov. 15.

Eighth seed B.J. Wright will face off against Nick Baima of Northern Iowa. Unseeded Jacob Klein is set to face off against seventh-seed David Bolyard of Central Michigan

Fifth seed Travis Pascoe will face Blake Kaplan of Ohio State. At the Cliff Keen Invitation, Pascoe major decision Kaplan, 13-5 to claim first place. First time NCAA qualifier B.J. Padden will take on J.D. Bergman of Ohio State.

Most Since 1996
By qualifying eight wrestlers at the Big 12 Championships, this marks the most quailifiers that NU has since 1995-96 when they qualified nine wrestlers for the NCAA Championships and finished fifth.

Last Time Out
Despite not recording an individual Big 12 Champion for the second straight year, Nebraska earned its highest conference finish since the 1996 Big Eight Championship with a second-place finish at the Big 12 Championships in Ames, Iowa. In all, eight grapplers punched their ticket to the NCAA Championships The Huskers finished behind Oklahoma State, which captured its second straight team title and recorded 86.5 team points. Nebraska followed with 55.5, with host school Iowa State in third at 46.5, Missouri (43) in fourth, and Oklahoma rounding out the field with 37.5

The eight wrestlers that will be representing the Huskers at the NCAA Championships are Jason Powell (125), Matt Keller (133), Matt Murray (141), Travis Shufelt (149), B.J. Wright (157), Jacob Klein (165), Travis Pascoe (184) and B.J. Padden (197). Senior heavyweight Nathan McClain was chosen as the first alternate in case another conference wrestler is unable to compete.

Huskers at NCAAs
The Huskers have recorded 15 top-10 finishes with its best showing at the 1992-93 Championships, where the Huskers finished third in Ames, Iowa.

The Huskers have recorded seven individual national championships with the last in 2000, as Brad Vering defeated Zach Thompson of Iowa State, 2-1 in overtime.

The Huskers have 15 NCAA finalist along with 68 All-Americans. The last two Huskers to earn All-American honors were Jason Powell (3rd, 125) and Justin Ruiz (5th, 197) in 2003.

Powell Looking for No. 3
With another top-eight finish at this weekends NCAA Championships, Jason Powell will become the 11th wrestler in school history to earn three or more All-American honors.

Powell, earned a fifth-place finish as a sophomore and a third place finish as a junior. The last Huskers to achieve this honor was four-time All-American Bryan Snyder, who earned his third All-American award placing second in 2001. The same year that former National Champion Brad Vering won his third All-American honor.

Huskers Place Seven
The Nebraska wrestling team placed seven athletes Academic All-Big 12 team.

Nebraska’s four first-team honorees were Jeremy Baker (Community Health), Jeremy Emerson (Architectural Studies), Trevor Hill (Chemical Engineering) and Matt Murray (Mathematics). The second-team members included starters Travis Shufelt (Community Health), B.J. Wright (Accounting) and Jacob Klein (Communication Studies). Emerson earned first-team Academic All-Big 12 honors last season, while the other members are first-time honorees.

Oklahoma State and Nebraska each placed seven wrestlers on the first and second teams, tied for the most in the Big 12 .

Huskers Attendance Up
Attendance at Nebraska wrestling has seen an increase this season. In eight home duals during the 2002-03 season, the Huskers had 4,490 total fans for an average of 561. This season, 6,490 fans have packed the NU Coliseum and the Bob Devaney Sports Center Track for seven duals an average of 927 fans. Against Missouri on Jan. 24, NU competed in front of 1,372 fans and in the season finale against Oklahoma in which 2,072 fans packed the Devaney Center Track.

Final Rankings
For only the second time in school history the NU wrestling team finished the regular season ranked second in the dual rankings. The only other time the Huskers finished second was in 1992-93, when the Huskers finished a school-best third at the NCAA Championships.

The second place finish also mark only the sixth time that NU has finished in the top five and the first since 1998-99.

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 8-2 decision over Grant Nakamura of Iowa State on March 6, Powell raised his career total to 104 wins placing him in sole possession of 13th place in NU history.

Huskers Defeat Seven Ranked Oppoents
For the second straight year the Huskers defeated seven ranked opponents, including one top-five foe. The seven victories over ranked opponents marks the eighth time since 1991-92 that NU has defeated five or more ranked opponents. The victory over fourth-ranked Missouri on Jan. 24 marked only the fourth time that NU has defeated a top-five opponent in back-to-back seasons.

Huskers Wrestling Up NU Charts
Senior heavyweight Nathan McClain recorded 17 dual victories which is good for 13th all-time on the season dual victories list.
Juniors Travis Shufelt and Travis Pascoe each recorded 18 dual victories, good for seventh all-time on the season dual wins list.
With two wins at the Big 12 Championships redshirt freshman Matt Keller recorded his 23rd victory of the season. His 25 victories put him in a tie for 10th all-time for wins during a freshman year with current Husker Travis Pascoe and former All-American Todd Beckerman.

Huskers Scoring Big
Nebraska’s 10 regular starters have recorded 209 victories. Of those 209 victories,102 of them have scored NU bonus points. That is a team percentage of 48.8, while four of NU’s starters have had more than 50 percent of their victories go for bonus points, including two (Travis Shufelt and Travis Pascoe) that have had more than 70 percent of their wins score NU bonus points.

Huskers Receiving Honors
Travis Pascoe, Jacob Klein and Keller 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 victories in dual wins 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 Woodley. 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.

Redshirt freshman Matt Keller became the third Husker wrestler to win the conference’s Big 12 wrestler of the week for the week of Feb. 17-23. Keller led the Huskers to their first victory over Oklahoma since 1999 as he opened the dual with his second fall of the season over 18th-ranked Mimi Miller of Oklahoma, 5:24.

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 77-49-2. At his previous stop, Manning owned a record of 23-24-2 at Northern Iowa, while at Nebraska he owns a mark of 54-25-0 and recorded his 50th coaching win at Nebraska against Wyoming on Jan. 17.

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

Huskers Just Dominating
u Nebraska averaged better than 30 points in duals this season, outscoring opponents by an average of 32.2-8.2 in duals (709-182 total points).
u Fifteen of Nebraska’s 19 dual victories this season were by 20 points or more, with six victories by 40 or more points.
u The five shutouts NU recorded is a school record, with all five of them coming at home.

Huskers Reach 19 Dual Wins
With the victory over Oklahoma on Feb., 20, the Huskers raised their season win total to 19.
u The 19 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.
u This marks the third time in four seasons that NU has reached the 10-win plateau under Manning.
u This season marks the 13th time in school history Nebraska has reached 15 or more wins.

Pascoe Leads Big 12 for Second Straight Year
For the second straight year, junior Travis Pascoe finished the dual season leading the Big 12 Conference in takedowns.
Last season Pascoe recorded 93 takedowns, 16 more than the closest competition. This season he finished the dual season with 81, nine more than teammate Travis Shufelt.

Huskers Strong at Home
With its 25-12 victory over 10th-ranked Oklahoma on Feb. 20, NU recorded its 14th straight home victory last losing at home to Minnesota on Jan. 7, 2003. During that 14-match stretch, NU has defeated six ranked opponents. The average margin of victory during this stretch is 27.2 points. The 14-match home win streak ties the longest in school history originally set in 1989-90.

During the 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 began weekly tracking of rankings.