Huskers Host Gophers in Top-10 Showdown

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No.  5/4 <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska (7-0) vs. No. 7/7 Minnesota (2-1)

NU Coliseum?Lincoln, Neb.?Tuesday, Jan. 4-Noon

Live Streaming Video: HuskersNside

Series Record:  Minnesota leads, 42-17

Last Meeting: Minnesota won, 17-16, on Jan. 1, 2004 in Rochester, Minn.

 

Dual #9-Lone Star Duals:

No.  5/4 Nebraska (7-0) vs. No. 3/5 Michigan (2-1)

Grand Prairie High School?Grand Prairie, Texas?Saturday, Jan. 8-10 a.m.

Website: www.lonestarduals.com

Series Record:  Michigan leads, 2-1

Last Meeting: Nebraska won, 24-13, on Jan. 17, 1998, in Iowa City, Iowa

 

Dual #10-Lone Star Duals:

No.  5/4 Nebraska (7-0) vs.  No. 22/20 Navy (5-0)

Grand Prairie High School?Grand Prairie, Texas?Saturday, Jan. 8-4 p.m.

Website: www.lonestarduals.com

Series Record:  Navy leads, 2-1

Last Meeting: Navy won. 26-19, on Dec. 6, 1983, in Annapolis, Md.

 

Dual #11-Lone Star Duals:

No.  5/4 Nebraska (7-0) vs.  No. 15/15 Wisconsin (5-0)

Grand Prairie High School?Grand Prairie, Texas?Saturday, Jan. 8-8 p.m.

Website: www.lonestarduals.com

Series Record:  Wisconsin leads, 7-3-1

Last Meeting: Wisconsin won, 23-16, on Jan. 5, 2002, in Grand Prairie, Texas

 

NU Starts Tough Week with High-Noon Dual against Minnesota

    The No. 4 Nebraska wrestling team begins a tough four-dual week at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 4 at the NU Coliseum against No. 7 Minnesota.  Video from the dual will be streamed on HuskersNside, the premium site for Nebraska athletics.

    The Gophers, who narrowly defeated Nebraska, 17-16, last season, will be the first of four straight ranked opponents for the Huskers in the week.  After the dual with Minnesota, Nebraska travels to the Lone Star Duals in Grand Prairie, Texas.  There, the Huskers will take on their greatest test in the first of three duals on Saturday, Jan. 8, as they take on No. 3 Michigan.  After that, NU will face No. 22 Navy and No. 15 Wisconsin at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively.

 

Huskers Earn Pair of Shutouts at Nebraska Duals

      The No. 3 Nebraska wrestling team earned a pair of shutouts at the Nebraska Duals Saturday at the NU Coliseum. The Huskers, one of five teams competing in the event, defeated Findlay 43-0 and Wyoming 42-0. This marked the second year NU notched a pair of shutouts at the Nebraska Duals. Last year, Nebraska shut out Nebraska-Kearney 46-0 and ChadronState 43-0.

      Overall, the Huskers earned 12 bonus-point victories. Leading the way was 157-pound wrestler B.J. Wright, who won both of his matches by fall. He pinned Findlay’s Angelo Vettese at the end of the second period of their match, and defeated Dan Clum of Wyoming by fall 4:40 into their match. Travis Pascoe was the only other Husker with a pair of bonus-point wins, both by major decision. Pascoe, despite wrestling one weight class above his normal 184 pounds, defeated Clint Salisbury of Findlay, 21-8. He then dropped back down to 184 to beat Samuel Wedland of Wyoming, 18-6.  In all, six Nebraska wrestlers in all earned a pair of wins.

 

Nebraska Tough To Beat in Lincoln

      Nebraska brings an 18-dual home winning streak into the Jan. 4 battle with Minnesota.  Ironically, the Golden Gophers were the last team to beat NU in Lincoln.  Third-ranked Minnesota defeated Nebraska 27-12 on Jan. 7, 2003.  Since then, the Huskers have not been beat in Lincoln, including wins over seven ranked opponents.

 

Hot Start Has Huskers Near History

      With wins over Minnesota and Michigan, Nebraska can equal the school record for most consecutive dual wins to start the season.  The current record, nine, was set in Mark Manning’s first year as head coach at Nebraska, 2000-01.  NU finished 11-6 and eighth in the NCAA Championships that year.

 

Scouting Minnesota

      The No. 7 Minnesota wrestling team comes to Lincoln after winning its second invitational title of the season.  The Golden Gophers took first at the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C., in their last action.  Minnesota also won the Mat Town Invitational in Lock Haven, Pa., in November.

      Four Gopher wrestlers took individual championships at the Southern Scuffle.  Second-ranked heavyweight Cole Konrad, the highest-ranked Minnesota wrestler, won all four of his matches en route to the championship.  Bobbe Lowe, the fifth-ranked 125-pound wrestler, won all five of his matches to extend his season record to 21-0.  No. 6 184 wrestler Roger Kish and 11th-ranked Matt Nagel also won their weight classes.  Minnesota is 2-1 on the season in duals.  After suffering a 28-10 defeat by OklahomaState on Dec. 10, the Golden Gophers have beaten ArizonaState 22-16 and Northern Iowa 25-20.

     

Scouting Michigan

      Inactive since a 40-9 dual win over ClevelandState on Dec. 10, the No. 3 Michigan wrestling team will return to action on Sunday, Jan. 2 with a home dual against Central Michigan in the Wolverines’ final tune-up before taking on Nebraska in both squads first action at the Lone Star Duals.

      UM won the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, defeating the second-place Huskers 148-139.5.  Four Wolverine wrestlers helped Michigan to its second team championship of the season.  The Wolverines also won the Body Bar Invitational.  Among the six ranked Michigan wrestlers, four are pegged among the top five in their respective weight classes.  The highest-ranked are 157-pound wrestler Ryan Bertin and heavyweight Greg Wagner, who both are third in their respective weight classes.  Bertin and Wagner were two of the four Wolverines who claimed individual championships in Las Vegas.  Another of the individual champions, 125-pound wrestler Mark Moos, defeated NU’s Matt Keller in the semifinals at the Las Vegas Invitational.  The fourth individual champion was fourth-ranked 165-pound wrestler Ryan Churella.

 

Scouting Navy

      No. 22 Navy finished third behind Cornell and Minnesota at the Southern Scuffle Dec. 29-30 in Greensboro, N.C.  Nate Gullosh, ninth in the nation at 141 pounds, won the individual title and ran his record to 17-1 on the year by winning all five matches in Greensboro.  Including Gullosh’s five wins at the Southern Scuffle, he is on an 11-match winning streak.

      Two other Midshipmen, 133-pound wrestler Sam Gray and heavyweight Tanner Garrett, took third place in their respective weight classes.  Beside Gullosh, Gray and Garrett, ranked 15th and 13th, respectively, are the only Navy wrestlers ranked in all three polls. In dual competition, the Middies are 5-0 on the year, including a three-win weekend in which Navy defeated Cal State-Fullerton, Cal Poly and Cal State-Bakersfield.  Former NU All-American Todd Beckerman is an assistant at Navy.

 

Scouting Wisconsin

      Wisconsin is undefeated at 5-0 and ranked 15th, and will see their first action after the holidays at the Lone Star Duals.  The Badgers have not wrestled since Dec. 11, when they won a pair of duals in Chattanooga, Tenn.  UW defeated host Tennessee-Chattanooga, 23-12, and KentState, 29-12.

      The two dual wins in Chattanooga came on the heels of a ninth-place finish at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.  No. 8 197-pound wrestler Ryan Flaherty led four Badger placewinners.  Flaherty, ranked eighth as either a 184- or 197-pound wrestler, took fifth.  No. 14 149-pounder Craig Henning, No. 14 157-pound wrestler Tyler Turner and 165-pound wrestler Jake Donar all took seventh in their respective weight classes.

 

The Last Time We Met (Part I) : Jan. 1, 2004: Minnesota 17, Nebraska 16

   Nebraska saw its eight-match winning streak snapped as Minnesota won the final three matches of the day to come from behind to post the 17-16 win in Rochester, Minn. NU jumped out to a 16-6 lead by winning five of the first seven matches before the Gophers won out. Nathan McClain pulled a 1-0 upset over sixth-ranked Cole Konrad and Travis Shufelt major decisioned Keri Stanley, 16-6.

 

The Last Time We Met (Part II): Jan. 17, 1998: Nebraska 24, Michigan 13

   Back-to-back wins at 177 and 190 pounds pushed the ninth-ranked Huskers to a 24-13 win over 10th-ranked Michigan at the Cliff Keen NWCA National Duals in Iowa City, Iowa.  Brad Vering defeated Joe DeGain of Michigan, 4-2, before Ryan Tobin clinched the win for the Huskers with his pin of Ryan Balcom with three seconds to go in the first period of their match at 190 pounds.  NU won five of the first seven matches in the dual, but led only 15-10 entering Vering’s match after a victory for the Wolverines by injury default at 167 pounds. 

 

The Last Time We Met (Part III): Dec. 6, 1983: Navy 26, Nebraska 19

   Navy’s 26-19 defeat of Nebraska in Annapolis, Md. on Dec. 6, 1983, was one of five dual defeats suffered by the Huskers in Bob Fehrs’ next-to-last season as head coach of Nebraska wrestling. 

 

The Last Time We Met (Part IV): Jan. 5, 2002: Wisconsin 23, Nebraska 16

   No. 23 Wisconsin won the final three matches to defeat Nebraska at the 2002 Lone Star Duals in Grand Prairie, Texas.  The Huskers led 16-12 going into the heavyweight match, but after a 2-1 overtime win by Justin Staebler over NU’s Pat Miron, Tony and Kevin Black earned major-decision victories at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively, to give the Badgers the win.  Earlier in the dual, then-No. 1 157-pound wrestler Bryan Snyder earned his third win of the Lone Star Duals with a pin of Adam Turner 4:46 into their match.  Currently an administrative assistant in the NU wrestling program, Synder was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Lone Star Duals, after his three victories including two by fall and one by technical fall.

 

Non-Varsity Notes

   Nebraska’s non-varsity also returns to action this week.  They travel to Blair, Neb., for the Dana College Open on Saturday, Jan. 8.  On Jan. 15, the non-varsity will compete in the Glen Brand Open at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.  Nebraska’s non-varsity schedule will conclude with the Great Plains Open in Lincoln on Saturday, Jan. 29.

   The non-varsity last competed in the UNK Runza Lopen Open on Dec. 11.  Five Huskers were placewinners, led by 174-pound champion Matt Farrell.  Joe Morrison finished second at 133 pounds.  At 165 pounds, Brandon Browne finished third.  Robert Sanders earned fifth at 149 pounds, while Ben Johnson took sixth.

      At the Harold Nichols Open at Fort Dodge, Iowa on Saturday, Nov. 13, Paul Donahoe and Chad Sportelli shared the championship at 125 pounds.  David Ingalls was defeated in the finals at 157 pounds by IowaState’s Trent Paulson, 3-1 in overtime, to earn second.  At heavyweight, Jon May finished fourth after losing the third-place match to Blake Gillis of Wartburg, 7-1.

      The non-varsity competed along with the varsity at the Kaufman-Brand Open in Omaha, Neb. on Nov. 20.  In the open division, Jon May took fourth at heavyweight.  Chad Sportelli finished sixth at 125 after losing 5-0 to Derrick Fleenor of OklahomaState.  In the 20-and-under division, Paul Donahoe took the 125-pound championship, defeating Hofstra’s Dave Tomasette 4-3 in the final.  Joe Morrison earned runner-up at 133 pounds, while Chris Oliver took third at 157 pounds with a 13-2 major decision over Ben Henderson of DanaCollege.  A pair of Huskers placed at 174 pounds, with Matt Farrell earning third and Cody Foust taking sixth.  Heavyweight Jon May took second as NU’s only placewinner at the UNI Open in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Dec. 4.

 

Huskers, Cowboys Set for National Television Appearance

      College Sports Television announced that it will broadcast Nebraska’s Feb. 10 home dual against defending national champion OklahomaState on CSTV live starting at 7 p.m. from the NU Coliseum.  It will be simulcast locally on NETV.  One of 12 national wrestling broadcasts by CSTV, the Feb. 10 broadcast will be the only one that features a pair of Big 12 Conference teams.  Missouri’s away dual against Lehigh on Jan. 11 is the only other national broadcast featuring a Big 12 team.

 

Up Next

      Nebraska travels to Hampton, Va. for the Virginia Duals on Jan. 14-15 to defend their team championship.  Last year, the Huskers won all four duals en route to the team title.