Powell, Murray One Win From National Title

St Louis, Mo. ? For the first time since the 1993 season and only the third time in school history, the Nebraska wrestling team advanced two wrestlers to the finals of the NCAA Championships as top-seed Jason Powell and seventh-seed Matt Murray won their respective matches Friday evening.

In the team standings, the Huskers are in fourth place three points behind third place Iowa State. Oklahoma State leads the field with 106.5 team points. NU will have at least four All-Americans, as Jacob Klein and Travis Shufelt each will take home their first All-American awards based on their finishes Friday evening. Saturday's finals will be televised live on ESPN2, beginning at 5:30 p.m. (CST).

Powell faced off against Sam Hazewinkel of Oklahoma in the semifinals. The match against Hazewinkel was a rematch of the Big 12 Championships, which Powell lost, 5-1 on March 6. After a scoreless first period, Hazewinkel jumped out to a 1-0 lead with an escape with one minute remaining in the second period. After neither wrestlers was able to score any offensive points match went into the third stanza with Powell trailing by one.

With Powell on top, he was able to score a reversal with 1:20 remaining in the third period. Leading by one, Hazewinkel countered Powell’s reversal with a reversal of his one with forty seconds left to retake the lead 3-2. As time was winding down in the third period and Powell trying by one, he regained the lead with a reversal and then added to his lead with a two-point near-fall to take the match and advance to the final, 6-3.

""This feels great," Powell said. "I am one win away from accomplishing what I have set out to do for four years."

With the win, Powell advances to face sixth-seed Kyle Ott of Illinois. Powell has won the previous two matches against Ott, defeating him 6-4 in overtime at the Cliff Keen Invitational and 5-3 at the Virginia Duals in 2003.

Murray, a first-time NCAA qualifier, has made the most of his trip to nationals, as he upset third seed Teyon Ware of Oklahoma, 5-4. Murray got onto the board first as he scored a takedown on Ware twenty eight seconds into the match. After Murray and Ware each exchange escapes the match went into the second period with Murray up by two. Up by two, in the third period Ware again cut into Murray’s lead at 5-4. Murray was then able to withstand Ware’s attempts at a takedown and win the match.

With the win, Murray will face fifth-seed Cliff Moore of Iowa, who upset top-seed and previously undefeated Scott Moore of Virginia.

"This was a really big win," Murray said. "I have dream about this opportunity ever since I was a little kid growing up watching the finals on television. I’m one win away from accomplishing my goal of becoming a national champion."

Redshirt freshman Matt Keller’s bid to become a first-time All-American fell one match short as he fell to second seed Mark Jayne of Illinois, 12-5. The loss by Keller ended an outstanding first year as he finished with a 28-12 record with nine victories going for bonus points. His 28 wins placed him in a tie for sixth place on the all-time freshman win list.

Junior B.J. Wright also fell short in his attempt to become a first time All-American, as he lost a heartbreaking decision to Travis Paulson of Iowa State, 5-3 in overtime. With Wright leading 3-2 with near the end of the third period and the riding time point he was called for his second stall warning in which Paulson was awarded one point. In the overtime frame Paulson was credited with takedown as time expired to give him the two points win and the All-American honor. In his first season, Wright ended the year with a 21-11 record with six pins.

Sophomore B.J. Padden season ended as he was disqualified in his match against Matt Greenberg of Cornell. In this first season of competition at 197 pounds, Padden finished the year with a 25-7 overall record with 13 of his wins (10 pins) scoring bonus points.

"Both Jason and Matt did a great job today." Head Coach Mark Manning said. "Jason does great in those types of situations and he is one win away from his goal. Murray had a great day defeating two tough opponents, including the defending national champion. We just need to come back tomorrow and get two titles; it’s just unfortunate about what happen with Padden’s match."

Action continues tomorrow, March 20 with consolation matches beginning 10 a.m. The finals are set for 5:30 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPN.

Final
125) 1) Jason Powell (NU) vs. 6) Kyle Ott (IL)
141) 7) Matt Murray (NU) vs. 5) Cliff Moore (IOWA)

Semi-finals
125 1) Jason Powell (NU) by decisison over Sam Hazewinkel (OU), 6-3
141 7) Matt Murray (NU) vs. 3) Teyon Ware (OU), 5-4

Quarterfinals
125 1) Jason Powell (NU) by fall over Rob Rebmann (DREXEL), 4:28
141 7) Matt Murray (NU) by decision over 2) Nate Gallick (ISU), 4-3 OT CRITE
149 6) Dustin Manotti (UC) by decision over 3) Travis Shufelt (NU), 10-7
157 1) Alex Tirapelle (IL) by decision over 8) B.J. Wright (NU) , 6-2
197 4) Ryan Bader (ASU) by decision over 5) B.J. Padden (NU) , 5-3

Consolation Mathces
133) 9) Matt Keller (NU) by decision over Rene Hernandez (PUR), 7-4
133) 9) Matt Keller (NU) by decision over David Hoffman (VT), 11-6133) 2) Kyle Ott (IL) by decision over 9) Matt Keller (NU), 12-5
149) 3) Travis Shufelt (NU) by fall over Jake Giamoni (NCST), 4:15
149) 7) Jeremy Spates (MU( by decision over 3) Travis Shufelt (NU), 4-2
157) 10) Travis Paulson (ISU) by decision over 8) B.J. Wright (NU), 5-3 ot
165) Jacob Klein (NU) by major decision over Chris Stith (VT), 9-1
165) Jacob Klein (NU) by decision over 12) J.J. Hoffman (EMU), 3-1
165) Jacob Klein (NU) by decision over 6) Ralph Everett (HOF), 3-2 ot
165) 10) John Clark (OSU) by decision over Jacob Klein (NU), 6-0
184) 5) Travis Pascoe (NU) by decision over Jerry Rinaldi (UC), 9-5
184) 7) Matt Pell (MU) by decision over 5) Travis Pascoe (NU), 11-6
197) 8) Matt Greenberg (UC) by medical injury disqualification over 5) B.J. Padden (NU)