Ihnen Rolls to Finals at Big Ten Championships

West Lafayette, Ind. - Junior Josh Ihnen (184) upset defending national champion and No. 2 seed Quentin Wright (PSU) in the semifinals of the 2012 Big Ten Championships to advance to the finals tomorrow afternoon in West Lafayette, Ind. Ihnen led the Huskers as they finished the first day of competition in seventh place with a total of 56.5 team points. Minnesota leads to tournament with 117 points.

Wrestling in front of a second session crowd of 3,617 at Mackey Arena, No. 3 Ihnen avenged an earlier loss this season to Wright with a 3-1 decision victory. The Sheldon, Iowa, native recorded a takedown with 56 seconds remaining in the first period to claim a 2-0 lead and held Wright off in the third after gaining an escape point to start the period.

"It's great," Ihnen said after the match. "It's just another step that I want to do. It's been a great training cycle the past couple of weeks. I had to see my offense and my ties and not let him control the tie. I had to focus on getting my attacks off and getting those pushes."

Ihnen will battle No. 1 seed Kevin Steinhaus in the finals tomorrow at 2 p.m. The two had a dramatic match in the dual meet between the two schools on Feb. 5, with Steinhaus coming out on top after scoring a takedown as time expired.

The other Husker wrestler to reach the semifinals was redshirt freshman Robert Kokesh (165), who was set to take on Iowa's Mike Evans. Kokesh fell behind early after giving up a takedown and a nearfall in the opening period and couldn't make any sort of a comeback, falling by tech fall, 17-2. Kokesh will wrestle in the consolation semifinals tomorrow morning when he will take on the No. 8 seed Pierce Harger (NW).

True freshmen Jake Sueflohn (141) and James Green (157) both responded after dropping their second round matches in overtime to stay alive in the consolation bracket. Sueflohn recorded the Huskers only pin of the day in his first consolation match, pinning Brian Gibbs (MSU) in 4:54, before defeating the No. 8 seed Bryan Pearsall by decision, 5-2. Green received a bye in his first consolation match and defeated Tommy Churchard (Purdue) by decision, 9-6, in the consolation quarterfinals to stay alive.

Sueflohn will now take on No. 2 Hunter Stieber (OSU) in the consolation semifinals, while Green will battle No. 4 Anthony Jones (MSU) for a chance to wrestle for third place.

No. 7 James Nakashima (197) and No. 4 Tucker Lane (Hwt) both went 1-1 in the second session to round out action for the Huskers. Nakashima opened with a 6-4 decision victory over Vinnie Wagner (Iowa), but was defeated by the No. 6 seed Andrew Campolattano (OSU) in the consolation quarterfinals, 10-2.

Lane took down the No. 11 seed in the bracket Pat Walker (ILL) by decision, 3-0, before falling to Adam Chalfant (IN) for the second time this season, 11-7. Both Lane and Nakashima will wrestle for seventh-place tomorrow morning. Junior Ridge Kiley will also wrestle for seventh-place tomorrow.

Session III will begin on Sunday at Noon (CT) from Mackey Arena. Session IV and the finals will begin at 2 p.m. and can be seen live on the Big Ten Network. Continue to check back to Huskers.com for more coverage of the Huskers at the Big Ten Championshpis.

Finals
184- #3 Josh Ihnen (NU) vs. #1 Kevin Steinhaus (MINN)

Consolation Semifinals
141- #5 Jake Sueflohn (NU) vs. #2 Hunter Stieber
157- #3 James Green (NU) vs. #4 Anthony Jones (MSU)
165- #3 Robert Kokesh (NU) vs. #8 Pierce Harger (NW)

Seventh-Place Matches
133- #7 Ridge Kiley (NU) vs. #8 Frank Martellotti (PSU)
197- #7 James Nakashima (NU) vs. #4 Max Huntley (Mich.)
Hwt- #4 Tucker Lane (NU) vs. #11 Cole Tobin (Wis.)

Semifinals
165- #2 Mike Evans (Iowa) by tech. fall over #3 Robert Kokesh (NU), 17-2
184- #3 Josh Ihnen (NU) by dec. over #2 Quentin Wright (PSU), 3-1

Consolation Second Round
133- #6 Zac Stevens (Mich.) by major dec. over #7 Ridge Kiley (NU), 11-2
141- #5 Jake Suelfohn (NU) by dec. over #8 Bryan Pearsall (PSU), 5-3
157- #3 James Green (NU) by dec. over #7 Tommy Churchard (Purdue), 9-6
197- #6 Andrew Campolattano (OSU) by major dec. over #7 James Nakashima (NU), 10-2
Hwt- #7 Adam Chalfant (IN) by dec. over #4 Tucker Lane (NU), 11-7

Second Round
133- #2 Tony Ramos (Iowa) by major dec. over Ridge Kiley (NU), 12-2
141- #4 Nick Dardanes (Minn.) by dec. over #5 Jake Sueflohn (NU), 8-6 (SV1)
157- #6 Derek St. John (Iowa) by dec. over #2 James Green (NU), 6-4 (SV)
165- #3 Robert Kokesh (NU) by major dec. over #6 Dan Yates (Mich.), 12-4
184- #3 Josh Ihnen (NU) by dec. over #6 Braden Atwood (Purdue), 6-0
197- #2 Matt Powless (IN) by major dec. over #7 James Nakashima (NU), 10-2
Hwt- #5 Mike McMullan (NW) by fall over #4 Tucker Lane (NU), 6:58

Consolation First Round
125- #7 Camden Eppert (Purdue) by dec. over Shawn Nagel (NU), 7-2
133- #7 Ridge Kiley (NU) by major dec. over Shane McQuade (Wis.), 14-0
141- #5 Jake Sueflohn (NU) by pin over Brian Gibbs (MSU), 4:54
149- #5 Cam Tessari (OSU) by dec. over Skylar Galloway (NU), 5-2
174- #8 Jordan Blanton (ILL) by dec. over #7 Tyler Koehn (NU), 8-2
197- #7 James Nakashima (NU) by dec. over Vinnie Wagner (Iowa), 6-4
Hwt- #4 Tucker Lane (NU) by dec. over #11 Pat Walker (ILL), 3-0

First Round
125- #1 Matt McDonough (Iowa) by fall over Shawn Nagel (NU), 1:59
133- #7 Ridge Kiley (NU) by major dec. over Joe Duca (IN), 10-0
141- #5 Jake Sueflohn (NU) by dec. over Colin Shober (NW), 9-6
149- #6 Taylor Walsh (IN) by dec. over #11 Skylar Galloway (NU), 3-2
157- #3 James Green (NU) by major dec. over Shawn Perry (UW), 15-2
174- #10 Ryan Leblanc (IN) by dec. over #7 Tyler Koehn (NU), 2-1 (TB2)

Exhibition Qualifying Matches
149- Mike Kelly (Iowa) by dec. over Skylar Galloway (NU), 2-1
174- Frank Cousins (IN) by dec. over Tyler Koehn (NU), 13-9