Huskers Roll Past Boilermakers

Lincoln, Neb.--- Behind a streak of six consecutive victories that included three major decisions, the No. 7 Nebraska wrestling team cruised past the Purdue Boilermakers, 24-9, on Sunday at the NU Coliseum. The Huskers improved their overall record to 12-1 on the year and have a 3-1 record in Big Ten Conference matches, while Purdue dropped to 7-8 with a 2-4 mark in the conference.   

After sitting out of the Huskers' last dual against Indiana, true freshman Jake Sueflohn (141) returned to the mat with a dominant 4-0 decision over Nick Lawrence (PU) to kick the dual off. No. 6 Sueflohn and Lawrence were scoreless going into the second period, before Sueflohn was able to record an escape and a takedown to take control of the match.

For the second consecutive dual, freshmen James Green (157) and Robert Kokesh (165) recorded back-to-back major decisions to boost the Huskers. No. 9 Green used an array of takedowns to win his team-leading ninth major decision over Tommy Churchard (PU), 16-7. Green now owns a 23-3 record on the season and is 4-0 in Big Ten Conference dual matches. The true freshman now only sits four victories away from cracking the top 10 season victories chart for freshmen at Nebraska.

Seventh-ranked Kokesh was a force in the top position, amassing seven points in nearfalls to pull away from Kyle Mosier (PU), 11-1. Kokesh joined Green as the only two varsity starters to reach the 20-win mark, and is now 12-1 in duals.

At 174, No. 20 Tyler Koehn won his second match in a row by taking down Drake Stein (PU) by decision, 11-4. Following Koehn, junior Josh Ihnen (184) won the third match in his last four tries in bonus-point fashion, this time defeating No. 18 Braden Atwood (PU) for his sixth win over a ranked opponent this year. After nearly pinning the nationally ranked wrestler in the first period, Ihnen went on to win comfortably, 11-2.

Senior James Nakashima (197) found himself going to overtime for the third straight time after he was knotted-up with A.J. Kissle (PU) at the end of the regulation, 1-1. After the pair exchanged reversals in the first tiebreaker period, Nakashima was able to earn another reversal in the second tiebreaker to take a 5-3 lead. With 20 second remaining, Kissel was able to escape and earn a technical violation on Nakashima for grabbing his singlet, tying the match at 5-5 and sending it to a second sudden-death period where Nakashima took down Kissel just 14 seconds in to capture the 7-5 victory. The senior has now wrestled in overtime five times this season, including the last three matches, going 3-2 in those duals.

The Huskers' final points of the dual came at heavyweight where senior Tucker Lane bounced back from his loss against Indiana with a 2-0 win over Roger Vukobratovich (PU). No. 8 Lane tallied an escape point in the second period before holding Vukobratovich down the entire final period to collect 1:59 in riding time.

Redshirt freshman Skylar Galloway saw the first varsity action of his career on Sunday, falling to No. 15 Ivan Lopouchanski (PU), 6-2, at 149 pounds, while Shawn Nagel and Ridge Kiley fell at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively. Nagel couldn't hold onto an early 2-0 lead against Camden Eppert and fell, 5-2. No. 19 Kiley (133) was defeated by No. 9 Cashe' Quiroga (PU), 9-5, to close out the dual.

The Huskers return to action next weekend with a pair of road matches against the Michigan State Spartans and Wisconsin Badgers. The Huskers will battle the Spartans on Friday, Jan. 27 at 6 p.m., before traveling to Madison to take on the Badgers at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29. Continue to check back to Huskers.com for continued coverage of the Husker wrestling team.

NU 24 PU 9
NU Coliseum, Jan. 22, 2012
Attendance: 709

Official Results
141- #6 Jake Sueflohn (NU) by dec. over Nick Lawrence (PU), 4-0 (NU 3, PU 0)
149- #15 Ivan Lopouchanski (PU) by dec. over Skylar Galloway (NU), 6-2 (NU 3, PU 3)
157- #9 James Green (NU) by major dec. over Tommy Churchard (PU), 16-7 (NU 7,PU 3)
165- #7 Robert Kokesh (NU) by over major dec. over Kyle Mosier (PU), 11-1 (NU 11, PU 3)
174- #20 Tyler Koehn (NU) by dec. over Drake Stein (PU), 11-4 (NU 14, PU 3)
184- #7 Josh Ihnen (NU) by major dec. over Braden Atwood (PU), 11-2 (NU 18, PU 3)
197- James Nakashima (NU) by dec. over A.J. Kissel (PU), 7-5 (2OT) (NU 21, PU 3)
Hwt- #8 Tucker Lane (NU) by dec. over Roger Vukobratovich (PU), 2-0 (NU 24, PU 3)
125- Camden Eppert (PU) by dec. over Shawn Nagel (NU), 5-2 (NU 24, PU 6)
133- #9 Cashe' Quiroga (PU) by dec. over #19 Ridge Kiley (NU), 9-5 (NU 24, PU 9)