Nebraska Hosts Key Home Duals at the NU Coliseum

Nebraska (8-7) vs. #17 Missouri (6-4)
NU Coliseum (4,300) • Lincoln, Neb. • Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 • 7 p.m.
Promotions: "White Out" (first 500 fans receive free T-shirts); Parents Appreciation Night
Series History: NU leads, 38-16-3
Last Meeting: NU won, 16-15, on Jan. 31, 2009 in Columbia, Mo.
Television: NET and NET-HD (Ch. 12 in Lincoln)
Live Stats: www.huskers.com
Live Video: www.huskers.com (free)

Nebraska (8-7) vs. Northern Colorado (1-11)
NU Coliseum (4,300) • Lincoln, Neb. • Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010 • 1 p.m.
Series History: NU trails, 7-12-1
Promotions: Faculty & Staff Appreciation Day (free admission, free 24-oz Pepsi and popcorn, first 25 receive free T-shirts)
Last Meeting: NU won, 39-3, on Jan. 4, 2009 in Lincoln
Live Stats: www.huskers.com
Live Video: www.huskers.com (subscription required)

The Nebraska wrestling team (8-7) returns home for one of its most exciting weeks of the season, as the Huskers host two opponents at the NU Coliseum with Friday night's Big 12 opener against No. 17 Missouri and Sunday afternoon's non-conference finale vs. Northern Colorado.

The Big Red will wrestle in front of a statewide audience Friday evening at 7 p.m., as the dual against the Tigers will be televised on NET Television. Longtime announcer Larry Punteney will call the action, while former Nebraska wrestling All-American Brad Canoyer (1994-98) adds color commentary. In addition, the athletic department has called for a "White Out," with the first 500 fans to the NU Coliseum receiving free white Husker wrestling T-shirts. The evening will also mark "Parents Appreciation Night" for the 2009-10 Nebraska wrestling team, while Sunday's 1 p.m. match with the Bears will be "Faculity/Staff Appreciation Day." All UNL faculty and staff members will receive free admission, a voucher for a free 24 oz. Pepsi product and popcorn, and free t-shirts for the first 25 members.

Live stats and live video will be available on Huskers.com. Friday's dual against Missouri will be video streamed for free, while Sunday's match requires a Huskers NSide subscription.

Senior Craig Brester brings the Huskers into the conference season as the No. 2-ranked wrestler at 197 pounds. The Howells, Neb., native recently became the 17th Husker in school history to reach the 100-win plateau after he defeated Oregon State's Chad Hanke by a 10-2 major decision last Sunday. Brester is the first 100-win club member since Travis Pascoe hit the century mark at the end of the 2004-05 season and finished with a 101-37 career record. Senior Stephen Dwyer (174) is also nearing 100 career wins, as he currently holds a 95-33 mark as a Husker. Nebraska has not had two Huskers reach 100 wins in the same season since 2000-01 when Bryan Snyder and Brad Vering both accomplished the feat.

Scouting No. 17 Missouri
The No. 17 Missouri Tigers (6-4) have been through an up and down dual season, but look to be regaining form as they head to Lincoln this week. The Tigers have won their last four duals and five of their last six to rebound from a slow start that saw MU begin the year with a 1-3 record. After a season-opening win over No. 24 Illinois, 18-16, head coach Brian Smith's squad lost back-to-back home matches on Nov. 20 to No. 16 Cal Poly and Purdue, before finishing fourth at The Midlands Championships behind No. 1 Iowa, No. 2 Iowa State and No. 7 Central Michigan. The New Year brought better results for Missouri, despite a 1-2 record at the NWCA National Duals when the Tigers defeated Northwestern, but fell to No. 5 Minnesota and No. 6 Cornell. Since then, Missouri has hit the road to win its last four duals against Chattanooga, Hofstra, George Mason and Drexel by an average of 21 points per dual, although none of the preceding opponents are ranked. The Tigers' current road trip has MU away from Columbia from Nov. 22 to Feb. 6, when it finally returns home to face Oklahoma.

Seven of Missouri's projected starters are in the latest InterMat top 20 rankings. The Tigers are strongest up top, with each of its wrestlers from 165 to Heavyweight ranked in the top 15. Two-time All-American Max Askren is No. 3 at 184 pounds with a 10-1 record, although the senior has been out of the lineup since Jan. 16. Redshirt freshman Todd Porter has moved up to 184 pounds and wrestled to a 1-3 record in the past four duals.

Missouri's other two-time All-American is 165-pounder Nicholas Marable. The senior is ranked No. 6 with a 28-2 overall record, including 10-0 in duals. Marable's only losses this season came at the Midlands Championships to No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) and No. 5 Ryan Morningstar (Iowa).

Although not as dominant as expected, defending national champion Mark Ellis is ranked No. 8 at Heavyweight with a 16-6 record. The senior was the preseason No. 1 pick, but lost twice to teammate Dominque Bradley in open competition while wrestling to a 7-4 start in the first month of the season. He looks to regain form following two pins the past two weeks against Matt Lettner (Chattanooga) and Adam Barnette (George Mason).

Sophomore Dorian Henderson (174) and redshirt freshman Brent Haynes (197) are each ranked No. 15 in their respective weight classes, while freshman Bradley Wisdom is No. 16 at 125 pounds and redshirt freshman Todd Schavrien is No. 19 at 141 pounds. Behind Marable, Haynes has the second-most wins on the team with a 23-8 record.

Brian Smith is in his 12th year as head coach of the Tigers and holds a 143-68-2 record. He has led Missouri to eight consecutive winning seasons and has coached two Tigers to three national championships. Smith's .680 winning percentage is the highest by a Missouri coach in school history. As a wrestler, the Michigan State alum was a three-time All-Big Ten selection for the Spartans. Smith began his collegiate coaching career at Syracuse.

Husker History versus the Tigers
Nebraska is 38-16-3 all-time against Missouri, the most wins the Huskers have against any one school. The two programs first met in the 1925-26 season as NU blanked the Tigers 29-0 in Lincoln, and it has been Nebraska ever since. Prior to this year, the last eight meetings between Nebraska and Missouri saw both teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation, including a matchup of No. 3 and 4 on Jan. 24, 2004 when the fourth-ranked Huskers defeated the third-ranked Tigers in Lincoln, 23-13. NU is 17-3 against MU since 1990.

Last year's meeting was one of the most exciting in history, with No. 4 Nebraska winning the last two bouts to claim a 16-15 victory over No. 6 Missouri in Columbia. Craig Brester was clutch in the final match of the night, posting a 6-4 decision over Max Askren to clinch the victory.

In another classic matchup between the two, Brester, ranked second at 197 pounds, used a first-period takedown to take an early lead on fourth-ranked Askren, but the Tiger was able to escape just seconds later. Askren chose down in the second and Brester accumulated the riding time advantage before Askren could escape to tie the match at two. Brester chose down in the third and Askren cut him before earning a takedown with a minute to go and taking a 4-3 lead. The Husker was able to notch a reversal with 49 seconds left and rode Askren out to take the 6-4 win.

Vince Jones began the comeback effort at 184 pounds with a 4-0 decision over Dorian Henderson. Jordan Burroughs, Robert Sanders and Matt Vacanti also won matches for NU, as each team claimed five victories.

Scouting Northern Colorado
Ben Cherrington is serving as Northern Colorado's interim head coach for the 2009-10 season after Jack Maughan ended his 22-year reign by stepping down in July of 2009. A native of Granby, Colo., Cherrington was a standout wrestler at Boise State, claiming the 2006 national championship at 157 pounds. He was 93-32 as a Bronco before moving back to his home state to begin his coaching career. Cherrington is in his third season on the UNC staff.

The Bears are starting three freshman and two sophomores this year, while wrestling to a 1-11 dual record. The lone victory came on Jan. 9 at the Stanford Duals when UNC defeated Menlo College, 35-3. The Bears have faced a load of tough opponents, including No. 5 Minnesota, No. 11 Maryland and No. 18 Oregon State. On Friday, they will welcome No. 3 Oklahoma State to Greeley.

Northern Colorado is led by 157-pounder Justin Gaethje. The junior has compiled the team's best record with a 20-10 mark and is ranked No. 19 in the NWCA Coaches Rankings. He is looking for a second-straight trip to the NCAA Championships after going 0-2 in 2009. Senior Kenny Hashimoto is aiming for a third-straight trip to the national meet and is ranked No. 20 by the coaches at 141 pounds. He is 13-4 with a team-best 6-1 dual record.

Senior Tony Mustari has qualified for the NCAA Championships all three years with the Bears. He is 12-11 overall and is ranked No. 29 at 125 pounds.

None of Northern Colorado's projected starters from 165 pounds to Heavyweight have a record above .500.

Husker History versus the Bears
The Nebraska-Nothern Colorado series dates all the way back to 1946. Unfortunately, it is not a pretty past for the Huskers. Nebraska is 7-12-1 against the Bears, but most of those meetings occurred in the 1940s and '50s as UNC held a six-dual winning streak against the Huskers at one point.

More recent run-ins have been in favor of NU, as the Huskers have put up more than 30 points on the Bears in the last four meetings. Nebraska won 33-11 in Greeley on Feb. 7, 1981, before taking the most extended break in the rivarly. NU put a 34-9 defeat on UNC in the Huskers' home opener on Dec. 9, 2006, notched a 38-6 victory over the Bears on Jan. 2, 2008 and downed UNC in the most recent run-in, 39-3.

In that match-up on Jan. 4, 2009, Nebraska won nine of 10 matches, as only Tony Mustari put the Bears on the board at 125 pounds. The Huskers ended the dual with three-straight major decisions from Brandon Browne, Vince Jones and Craig Brester, before Tucker Lane capped the victory with a pin.

Canoyer to Join NET Television Crew Friday Night
Former Nebraska All-American Brad Canoyer will join the NET Television crew as the color commentator Friday night when the Huskers take on Missouri.

Canoyer was a four-year letterwinner at NU from 1995-98, earning All-America honors with a sixth-place finish at 118 pounds at the 1995 NCAA Championships. A three-time winner of the team's Most Dedicated Wrestler award, Canoyer became a member of the 100-win club by ending his career with a 109-43 record. The 109 victories ties him for 10th on Nebraska's all-time win chart.

Nebraska-Oklahoma Dual Moved to the Devaney Center, Set for 7:30 p.m.
The NU Athletic Department has announced the Nebraska-Oklahoma wrestling dual on Feb. 4 has been moved to the Devaney Center due to scheduling conflicts at the NU Coliseum.

The Huskers and Sooners will square off at 7:30 p.m. in Nebraska's last home match of the season, while sending off its senior class of Craig Brester, Stephen Dwyer and Levi Wofford.

The dual will also mark the annual "Pepsi Pack the House" night, with general admission tickets and 24-ounce Pepsi drinks priced at $1.

Last Time Out: Brester Earns 100th Win as Huskers Fall at Oregon State
Senior Craig Brester solidified his name in the school record books as he became the 17th Husker to win 100 matches in program history, although the Nebraska wrestling team fell in the team race by a 32-7 margin at No. 18 Oregon State on Jan. 24 in Corvallis, Ore.

Brester recorded the milestone victory in style, tallying three takedowns in the first period en route to a 10-2 major decision win over Chad Hanke. After setting the tone in the opening frame, Brester went to work on Hanke to accumulate nearly four minutes of riding time through the match in a dominant effort. The former walk-on from Howells, Neb., holds a 100-18 record during his career with a 21-0 mark in his senior season.

Prior to Brester's win, redshirt freshman Josh Ihnen (184) put the Huskers on the board in the fourth match of the dual, powering over Ty Vinson in an 8-2 decision. Ihnen registered a takedown and a two-point near fall in the first period to build a 4-0 lead, before adding an escape, takedown and riding time in the final four minutes for the 8-2 win.

Oregon State had taken an early 10-0 lead with three wins to begin the dual, but the back-to-back victories from Brester and Ihnen closed the margin to 10-7. The OSU run included an upset at 174 pounds, where senior Stephen Dwyer suffered just his third loss of the season in a 2-1 decision to No. 11 Colby Covington. Neither wrestler scored on a takedown, as each had an escape before Covington gained the deciding point on an illegal hold in the third period.

Rough Weather Keeps Huskers Home
The weather was unusually kind in Arizona last week, forcing a cancelation of Nebraska's Jan. 22 dual at Arizona. The Huskers were scheduled to fly out of Omaha, but the flight was called off due to Arizona experiencing one of its worst winter storms over the past two decades.

The two schools will not make up the match this season, but may explore options for a dual in 2010-11.

Brester Shining in Senior Season
Senior Craig Brester is solidifying his spot among the best wrestlers in school history, beginning his final season with a 21-0 record. Brester's start has the 197-pounder on the brink of climbing the record books, as he currently ranks No. 6 all-time in career win-loss percentage (.847) and recently became the 17th Husker ever to reach 100 wins (currently 100-18).

This season, Brester is winning by domination, pinning nine opponents to go along with two technical falls and four major decisions. In addition to his nine pins, he also leads the Huskers in wins (21), dual points (68) and has the second-fastest fall this season, pinning North Dakota State's Drew Ross in 41 seconds on Jan. 3.

Last month, Brester was awarded for his outstanding performance as he was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week by the league office for matches Dec. 7-Dec. 13. It was the second Big 12 weekly award of his career, earning the honor after pinning Minnesota's Joe Nord (1:10) Dec. 10 in Minneapolis before defeating his fourth ranked opponent in a two-week stretch with an 8-2 decision over No. 9 Tyler Sorenson of South Dakota State on Dec. 12. The week before, Brester claimed the 2009 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational championship and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Currently ranked No. 2 in the nation at 197 pounds, Brester is a two-time All-American and was named Most Outstanding Wrestler of the 2009 Big 12 Championships.

Dwyer Nears Husker History
Senior Stephen Dywer is bidding to put his name in the Husker record books, as he is just five victories away from reaching the 100-win total in his NU career. The 174-pounder is 95-33 since joining the Huskers in 2006 and is off to a 17-3 start this season with his only losses coming to No. 1 Mack Lewnes (Cornell), No. 2 Jay Borschel (Iowa) and No. 9 Colby Covington.

Dwyer was a 2008 All-American at 165 pounds, where he wrestled his first three seasons. This year, he moved up to 174 pounds and has not skipped up a beat, rising to a No. 3 national ranking before fourth following last week's loss to Covington. Dywer is 13-2 in duals and is second on the team in dual points behind Craig Brester with 56. Dywer has pinned six opponents this season, doubling his career total entering 2009-10. He did not have any pins last season.

Howells, Neb., Boasts Two 100-Win Club Members
Although the small Nebraska community of Howells holds a population of just over 600 people, the town boasts two of Husker wrestling's 100-win club members in Brad Vering and Craig Brester.

Vering is one of Nebraska's 10 national champions, claiming the 2000 title at 197 pounds. He finished his career with an outstanding 124-26 record that included three All-America honors.

Brester is a two-time All-American and reached 100 wins following his victory over Oregon State's Chad Hanke last Sunday. His 100-18 record was built on a 34-4 mark last season, when the 197-pounder won the Big 12 title and finished second at the NCAA Championships.

The only other duo in Nebraska's 100-win club to hail from the same city is Bill and Jim Scherr (1981-84) of Mobridge, S.D.

Ihnen Ranked No. 25 in NCAA Coaches Rankings
Redshirt freshman Josh Ihnen is seeing positive signs from his first season of varsity competition, as he is ranked No. 25 at 184 pounds in the first of three NCAA coaches' panel rankings. The final rankings will be one of the criteria in the selection process for the 2010 NCAA Championship qualifiers.

Ihnen is 12-9 this season with a 9-8 dual record after he defeated Oregon State's Ty Vinson last Sunday. The Sheldon, Iowa native was Nebraska's top redshirt a year ago, producing a 24-5 record with 13 bonus-point victories.

Non-Varsity Notes
Nebraska did not compete in non-varsity action last week, most recently participating in Glen Brand Open in Omaha on Jan. 16.

On the season, freshman Caleb Kolb (174) has been the non-varsity's top performer with a 27-5 overall record that includes tournament titles at the UNK Loper Open and Quality Hotel Open.Thirteen of Colb's 27 victories have come in bonus-point fashion, including eight major decision wins.

Freshman Kyle Waldo (125) has also reached 20 wins this season, as he holds a 21-5 record with four pins and four major decisions. Waldo also claimed first at the UNK Loper Open and Quality Hotel Open.

Manning Earns Win No. 150
With Nebraska's 26-17 victory over No. 11 Wisconson on Nov. 15 at the NU Coliseum, 10th-year head coach Mark Manning picked up the 150th dual win of his collegiate coaching career. Manning spent three seasons as Northern Iowa's head coach from 1997 to 2000, turning around a Panther program that went 5-9 in his first year to 10-5-2 and an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2000. At Nebraska, Manning is 134-51-3 with a 72.0 percent winning percentage that ranks No. 1 among the 15 head coaches in school history.

Huskers Launch Twitter Page
The Nebraska Wrestling program has launched a home on Twitter at www.twitter.com/HuskerWrestling.

Follow everything surrounding the Huskers throughout the season with more news, notes and quotes on one of the world's fastest-growing social networks.

Huskers.com Features NU Wrestling Blog
Huskers.com has added the NU Wrestling Blog, another place to visit when looking to stay up-to-date and follow everything surrounding Husker wrestling. On the blog, you will find some interesting news, notes and tidbits surrounding the team as we go through the 2009-10 season.

The goal for the blog is to help fans and media stay in tune daily with what's going on with the Huskers and get inside the program. The blog will include anything that fans might find interesting, but maybe isn't newsworthy or lengthy enough for its own press release. You can expect all kinds of notes, learn about the upcoming opponents and hear what the coaches are saying throughout the season.

On match days, check out the blog for the latest updates as the Huskers get ready to take the mat.

In addition, there should be a lot of exciting news as the NCAA Championships get closer. This year's national meet takes place at Qwest Center Omaha from March 18-20 and is co-hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

E-mail bgries@huskers.com if you have any questions or suggestions about the blog.

Next Up: Huskers Host Oklahoma at the Devaney Center
Nebraska remains at home next week, hosting the Oklahoma Sooners at the Devaney Center on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. The dual was moved from the NU Coliseum due to scheduling conflicts.

The dual will be a Pepsi "Pack the House" night, with all general admission tickets and 24-ounce Pepsi products just $1. It will also mark Senior Night for the Huskers, recognizing Craig Brester, Stephen Dwyer and Levi Wofford in their final home competition.