Padden, Klein Earn Second Career All-America Honors

A pair of NU senior wrestlers, 197-pound wrestler B.J. Padden and 174-pounder Jacob Klein, clinched All-America honors during the night session of day two of the 2006 NCAA Championships at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Friday night.  Padden can finish as high as third while Klein will wrestle for seventh place tomorrow. 

In the team race, Nebraska is currently tied with Purdue for 16th with 33 team points.  Leading the way with 106 points is Oklahoma State.

“We had some tough losses today, but those are part of the growing process,” NU head coach Mark Manning said.  “We had the positive in our two All-Americans (Klein and Padden).”

Padden, who finished fifth last year at 197 pounds, clinched All-America honors with back-to-back wins in the night session after splitting his two matches earlier in the day.  

“I've been here a couple times and dealt with tough losses before,” Padden said.  “I have a knowledge of what's going on, and I know those tough losses aren't the end of the world, even though at the time, it feels like it.”

Padden started the night session with a 3-2 win over Casey Phelps of Boise State.  With the match tied at two entering the third period, Padden earned an escape five seconds into the final frame, then held off Phelps the rest of the way for the win.  Later in the session, Padden defeated Wynn Michalak of Central Michigan, 3-1.  Padden took the lead with a takedown with 51 seconds to go in the second period to claim a 2-1 lead.  Padden would add a point with his 1:09 riding time advantage. 

Padden will face Hofstra's Chris Weidman in tomorrow's morning session, with the winner advancing to the third-place match at 197 pounds. 

Klein claimed All-America status for the second time in his career by defeating Columbia's Matthew Palmer in the tiebreaker period, 3-1.  In the tiebreaker, Klein was the second wrestler to start down and after riding Palmer for the first half of the tiebreaker period, Klein scored a reversal with two seconds to go in the period to earn the win.  Later in the session, Klein was defeated by Lehigh's Travis Frick, 3-2, in the consolation bracket quarterfinals.  The loss sends Klein to the seventh-place match at 174 pounds, where he will take on Penn State's James Yonushonis tomorrow.

At 125 pounds, Paul Donahoe's season ended after an 8-3 loss to Oklahoma State's Coleman Scott.  Donahoe completes his first season of varsity competition with a record of 26-9 after a 2-2 debut at the NCAA Championships.  Donahoe was one of four first-year Huskers making their first appearance at nationals, and Manning was pleased with the performances of his young wrestlers.

“Donahoe wrestled a great tournament, as did Vince Jones (184-pound wrestler) and Robert Sanders (149-pounder),” Manning said.  “They wrestled tremendous tournaments for freshmen.  You couldn't ask for more effort than what they gave.”

Klein and Padden will wrestle in consolation action starting at 10 Saturday morning at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Okla.  The championship finals are slated for 6:30 p.m., with ESPN providing live television coverage.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS, Session IV
Ford Center, Oklahoma City, Okla.
March 17, 2006; Attendance-16,126
Consolation Matches-Fourth Round
125-Coleman Scott (Oklahoma State) by dec. over Paul Donahoe (NU), 8-3
174-Jacob Klein (NU) by dec. over Matthew Palmer (Columbia), 3-1
197-B.J. Padden (NU) by dec. over Casey Phelps (Boise State), 3-2

Consolation Matches-Fifth Round
174-Travis Frick (Lehigh) by dec. over Jacob Klein (NU), 3-2
197-B.J. Padden (NU) by dec. over Wynn Michalak (Central Michigan), 3-1