Huskers Open 2005-06 Season Against Broncos

Huskers Open 2005-06 Season Against Broncos<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

The 17th-ranked <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska wrestling team looks for its 11th straight season-opening dual win against BoiseState at the NU Coliseum on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.  NU will then head north to participate in the Kaufman-Brand Open in Omaha, Neb.  The Kaufman-Brand Open features some of the top teams in the nation, including three-time defending national champion Oklahoma State, Iowa State and defending Division II national champion Nebraska-Omaha.

 

NU looks to follow two of the best dual seasons in school history.  Both the 2003-04 and the 2004-05 teams won 19 duals, the second-highest total in school history.  The Huskers will combine the talents of a pair of All-Americans, B.J. Padden and Jacob Klein, with a strong class of redshirt freshmen including nationally-ranked Paul Donahoe and four-time state champion Chris Oliver.

 

Boise State enters this dual ranked 24th by the national wrestling website Intermat.  The Broncos are led by 133-pound wrestler Scott Jorgensen, who enters the season ranked eighth in the nation.  Jorgensen is the two-time Pac 10 Champion at 133 pounds, and finished last year 30-8 on the season. 

 

NU Looks to Continue Success

Despite a young roster, expectations are still high for the Nebraska wrestling team as they look to continue a 20-year tradition of success.  Over the last 20 seasons, NU has won at least 10 duals in a season 18 times and at least 15 duals eight times, including the last three seasons. 

 

The 2004-05 season capped the best three-year stretch in school history.  The Huskers are 54-12-1 since the fall of 2002, marking the first time Nebraska had won 50 duals in a three-year stretch since the wrestling program was started at Nebraska in 1910.  In fact, the last three years of Husker wrestling nearly equals Nebraska’s best four-year wrestling stretch.  The Huskers start this season within reach of the 63-21-2 record of the four seasons between 1979 and 1982 for the best four seasons in school history, and only 11 four-year runs have bettered Nebraska’s last three years in dual competition.

 

Nebraska has built its success over the last three years on success at home.  The Huskers have won 21 of their last 22 duals in Lincoln and are 25-2 at home since the fall of 2002.  Since Mark Manning’s arrival at Nebraska for the 2001-02 campaign, the Huskers are 31-9 at home. 

 

Scouting the Huskers 2005-06: NU Builds with Mix of Talent and Experience

Despite returning only five starters and three NCAA qualifiers, the Nebraska wrestling team enters the 2005-06 season with high hopes.

 

“I’m excited about this year,” said coach Mark Manning, who enters his sixth season as Nebraska’s head wrestling coach.  “We have some good young talent in the program and we have tremendous leadership from our seniors.”

 

One of the top returners is senior 197-pound wrestler B.J. Padden.  The first Nebraska Big 12 Champion since 2002, Padden finished fifth at the NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors for the first time in his career.  Padden finished the season with a flourish, winning five of his last seven matches on the year, capping a junior campaign in which he finished 28-12 overall with a 14-7 mark in dual competition.  Of his 28 wins, 10 were bonus-point wins.  He also begins the 2005-06 season in line to leave a mark on Nebraska’s career record book.  Thirteen dual wins would put Padden among the top 10 all-time in program history and 30 wins overall would make Padden the 17th member of NU’s 100 career wins club.

 

Leading the way along with Padden is fellow senior Jacob Klein.  An All-American as a sophomore at 165 pounds, Klein will move up to 174 pounds for his senior year.  Klein finished last year with a 29-6 record and 19-2 in duals, including wins in 12 of his last 13 regular-season matches before finishing third at the Big 12 Championship and 2-2 in his third career trip to the NCAA Championship.  Klein was among the team leaders with 13 bonus-point wins, including six wins by fall.  Like Padden, Klein also is in line to leave a dent on NU’s career charts.  He enters the season 30 wins away from joining the 100-win club and is 22 dual wins away from Bill Scherr’s school record of 71. 

 

Dominick Moyer also returns after qualifying for the NCAA Championships with a second-place finish at the 2005 Big 12 Championships at 133 pounds.  Like Klein, Moyer will bump up a weight class this year, as the junior from Oskaloosa, Iowa, moves up to 141 pounds to fill the hole left by 2004 national runner-up Matt Murray.  Moyer was 16-15 in the 2005-06 season, and his 12-0 major decision victory over Oklahoma’s Trey Blakely gave the Huskers the bonus point they needed to beat the eighth-ranked Sooners 16-15 in Norman on Feb. 12.

 

While Moyer and Klein climb a weight class, Marc Harwood will drop one to 165 pounds after starting most of the year at 174 pounds in the 2004-05 season for Nebraska.  Harwood was 19-12 on the season and 9-9 in duals.  His biggest dual victory was a 5-3 overtime triumph over Ryan Wilman of West Virginia early in the season to clinch the Huskers a 20-15 dual win over the 10th-ranked Mountaineers. 

 

Also returning to Nebraska’s starting lineup is heavyweight Jon May, who split time last year with Mitch Manstedt, with solid performances during both open tournaments and dual competition.  May took the Great Plains Open championship with a 4-0 performance, one of three top-four finishes during the 2004-05 season.  May also showed flashes of brillance in dual competition, with a 7-4 record including a win over eighth-ranked Pat DeGain of Indiana. 

 

At 149 pounds, David Ingalls looks to add strength for Nebraska at the middleweights.  Ingalls split time with Chris Nedens as the starter at 149 pounds while All-American Travis Shufelt recovered from an elbow injury.  Ingalls finished 12-7 overall with a 3-3 dual mark.

 

In addition to six wrestlers with significant starting experience, the Huskers also boast a talented class of redshirt freshmen, led by Paul Donahoe, Chris Oliver and Brandon Browne.  The three shared the NU Redshirt-of-the-Year award for their performances in open tournaments.

 

Donahoe, a native of Goodrich, Mich., wrestled to a 20-2 mark at 125 pounds.  He won the championship in four of the five open tournaments he entered, and closed the season on a 10-match winning streak.  Donahoe was an explosive presence for Nebraska in open tournaments, winning seven matches by pin and two each by technical fall and major decision.  Donahoe will be a strong candidate to start at 125 pounds for Nebraska after the departure of NCAA qualifier Matt Keller.

 

Browne finished the season on a 12-match winning streak, closing his first season of college wrestling at 20-5.  Browne won the last three tournaments in which he entered, and claimed top-four honors in two others.  A native of Plattsmouth, Neb., Browne won five matches by major decision, four by fall and one more by technical fall.  He will push Harwood for starting time at 165 pounds. 

 

After one of the most decorated high school wrestling careers in Nebraska history at Omaha Creighton Prep, Oliver parlayed that success into a strong 19-5 campaign at 157 pounds.  Oliver won five matches by fall and five more by major decision in a season that saw him earn four top-three finishes in the five tournaments he entered, including a championship in the Beamon Open in Blair, Neb.  Oliver is one of the top candidates to start at 157 pounds, filling the hole left by the graduation of B.J. Wright.

 

Matt Farrell will also be a candidate to rise from a redshirt to be a significant contributor at the varsity level.  Farrell was 21-6 in his first year in the wrestling program and notched four top-three finishes at 174 pounds.  He will bump up a weight class to 184 pounds and is among three candidates to fill the hole left by the graduation of 184-pound All-American Travis Pascoe.

 

Also in the running at 184 pounds is Casey Roberts.  The Lincoln East product was 7-12 in his first year of college competition, but showed  promise after a decorated high school career that saw him win 113 matches. 

 

Roberts and Farrell will be battling true freshman Vince Jones for the starting spot.  Jones is one of several newcomers who will look to make an immediate impact for Nebraska.  A three-time state medalist in New Jersey, Jones won two state championships and finished with a 137-12 career record, including 97 wins by fall. 

 

Along with Jones, a pair of transfers hope to make their mark on the Nebraska wrestling program in the 2005-06 season.  Ryan Davis, who transferred to Nebraska from OklahomaState, is among the leading candidates to start at 149 pounds.  Davis redshirted last season and posted a 10-1 mark with wins in his last seven matches. 

 

Patrick Aleksanyan will also look to make an immediate entry to Nebraska's starting lineup at 133 pounds to fill the space vacated by Moyer by his moving up a weight class.  Aleksanyan arrives at NU from Cal State Fullerton where he wrestled to a 2-2 record.  Aleksanyan enjoyed a decorated high school career including a 161-31 record with back-to-back 40-win seasons in his junior and senior years.

 

Nebraska's lineup will again be tested with a challenging schedule, beginning Nov. 18 at home against BoiseState.  The Huskers will then hit the road for the next month, including duals at Big Ten powers Michigan and Minnesota, Dec. 9 and 11, respectively.  NU will return home for the Nebraska Duals Dec. 17 to close the first half of the schedule.

 

The second half of Nebraska's schedule is highlighted by the Huskers' return to the National Duals, held in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Jan. 14-15.  NU last participated in the event in 2000-01, Manning's first at Nebraska. 

 

After the National Duals, Nebraska takes on American at home Jan. 21 before entering into always-tough Big 12 competition.  The Huskers open conference action with a Jan. 29 dual at home against Missouri before hitting the road to face defending national champion OklahomaState at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Feb. 3.  NU closes its home schedule with Oklahoma on Feb. 10, before wrestling its final regular-season dual of the 2005-06 campaign at IowaState on Feb. 19.

 

The Huskers will return to Ames two weeks later for the Big 12 Championship.  The season culminates with the NCAA Championships at the FordCenter in Oklahoma City, Okla., on March 16-18, marking the fourth straight year that nationals have been held in Big 12 country.  The last two NCAA Championships were in St. Louis, Mo., while the 2003 championships were in Kansas City, Mo.

 

The Last Time We Met: NU 25, BoiseState 16

The No. 3 Nebraska wrestling team moved to 5-0 on the 2004-05 season with a 25-16 victory over BoiseState Sunday at CentennialHigh School in Meridian, Idaho on Dec. 12, 2005.

 

Like the previous two duals this weekend, the Huskers took control early. NU won the first four matches of the dual, starting with a pin by 165-pound wrestler Jacob Klein of Russell Brunson 4:21 into their match, giving Klein his third bonus-point victory of the weekend. Marc Harwood followed Klein’s performance with a 5-0 win over Ben Gilliland in the 174-pound match. At 184 pounds, Travis Pascoe won his third match of the weekend, defeating Casey Phelps, 4-2. B.J. Padden was awarded the win at 197 pounds by injury default over K.C. Walsh.

 

Knocking on the Clubhouse Door

A pair of Husker wrestlers are within reach of Nebraska’s 100-Win club.  NU All-American wrestlers B.J. Padden and Jacob Klein both enter the 2005-06 with 70 career wins, just 30 away from joining the 100-Win Club at Nebraska.  Travis Pascoe was the last Husker to join the club, finishing his career with 101 wins after last year’s sixth-place finish at the 2005 NCAA Championship.

 

Padden closed the 2005-06 season with a fifth-place finish at 197 pounds and enters the 2005-06 season as one of the nation’s best at 197 pounds this season.  Padden became Nebraska’s first individual conference champion since Jason Powell in 2002 with his 6-2 victory over eventual national champion Jake Rosholt of OklahomaState at the Big 12 Championships.

 

Klein enters his senior season as NU’s starter at 174 pounds after qualifying for nationals three times at 165 pounds.  Klein was an All-American as a sophomore at 165 pounds, and reached greater heights as a junior with a 28-7 record with a 19-2 dual record.  Klein was tied with Pascoe for the team lead in dual wins and finished second on the team with 74 dual points, just one behind B.J. Wright. 

 

Non-Varsity Notes

Nebraska opened its non-varsity season Saturday, Nov. 12 at the Harold Nichols Open.  The Huskers were led by Brandon Browne, who opened his second year in the program with a 5-0 weekend and 174-pound championship.  Browne headlined a list of five Husker medalists, including four NU true freshmen who made their debut in college wrestling with a top-four performance in the Harold Nichols Open.  Mike Rowe finished second at 133 pounds, while Vince Jones and Levi Wofford finished third at 184 pounds and 197 pounds, respectively.  Freshman heavyweight Stefan Tighe finished fourth.  

 

Nebraska Fans Fill the Coliseum and Devaney for NU Wrestling

For the second straight year, the attendance for Nebraska wrestling went up.  For the first time in three years, the Huskers drew over 1,000 fans per dual.  NU averaged 1,209 fans per home wrestling dual in 2004-05, highlighted by the 3,442 fans that attended the Huskers’ dual against OklahomaState.  In 2003-04, Nebraska fell just shy of 1,000 fans per dual, averaging 927 fans per night.  That number was up from Nebraska’s average attendance of 2002-03 of 561.