Huskers Prepare for Season with Wrestle-Offs

Lincoln, Neb. - The Nebraska wrestling team kicked off its 2012-13 campaign with the annual wrestle-offs on Friday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Returning Huskers Robert Kokesh (174), Skylar Galloway (141) and Austin Wilson (165) as well as newcomers Tim Lambert (125) and Eric Coufal (133) posted 2-0 records on Friday night. Cody Compton (165), Donny Longendyke (HWT), Caleb Kolb (197), James Green (157), Josh Ihnen (184) and Jake Sueflohn (149) all won their lone match at the Devaney Center.

Kokesh, a sophomore, won both his matches in dominating fashion on Friday night. He opened with a pin in 2:06 over freshman McCoy Newberg before a 12-1 major decision over senior Tyler Koehn. Kokesh wrestled at 165 pounds last season, but moved up a weight class to 174 pounds for the 2012-13 campaign.

At 141 pounds, Galloway started with a 4-3 decision over Luis DeAnda, then won a 3-2 decision over Ridge Kiley. Galloway started for the Huskers at 149 pounds in 2011-12, but moved down a weight class for this season.

Six Huskers wrestled at 165 pounds on Friday night, but Austin Wilson (2-0) and Cody Compton (1-0) were the only ones without a loss. Wilson, a redshirt freshman, started his night with a 3-2 decision over Ross Grande before narrowly taking a 2-1 decision over Brandon Wilbourn. Compton's lone victory was a 2-0 decision over Michael Klinginsmith. Klinginsmith and Grande finished the night at 1-1, while Wilbourn went 0-1 and Shaun'qae McMurtry posted an 0-2 record at 165 pounds.

Lambert, a freshman at 125 pounds, won a 6-3 decision over junior Shawn Nagel to open his night. Lambert followed that up with a 4-0 decision over fellow freshman Skylar Wood. Coufal also went 2-0 at the Wrestle-Offs, recording a 4-3 decision over Nagel as well as a 5-3 sudden victory pin over Adam Joseph at 133 pounds.

The Huskers open their 2012-13 season on Sunday at the Warren Williamson/Daktronics Open in Brookings, S.D., at 9 a.m. Following a pair of road matches the following weekend at Northern Colorado (Nov. 10) and Wyoming (Nov. 11), Nebraska returns to Lincoln for its Big Ten home opener against Minnesota on Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.

A complete list of results for the NU Wrestle-Offs is shown below.

Complete Results
125 - Tim Lambert by dec. over Shawn Nagel, 6-3
133 - Skylar Wood by dec. over Adam Joseph, 3-0
141 - Ridge Kiley by major dec. over Drew Etherton, 11-3
141 - Skylar Galloway by dec. over Luis DeAnda, 4-3
165 - Cody Compton by dec. over Michael Klinginsmith, 2-0
165 - Ross Grande by dec. over Shaun'qae McMurtry, 6-3
174 - Micah Barnes by dec. over Aaron Studebaker, 5-4
174 - Robert Kokesh by pin over McCoy Newberg, 2:06
149 - Nick Babcock by dec. over Jed Fenske, 7-3
184 - TJ Dudley by dec. over Joe Zimmer, 7-1
125 - Eric Coufal by dec. over Shawn Nagel, 4-3
HWT - Donny Longendyke by dec. over Collin Jensen, 11-4
141 - Drew Etherton by inj. def. over Luis DeAnda
133 - Tim Lambert by dec. over Skylar Wood, 4-0
197 - Caleb Kolb by major dec. over Nyle Bartling, 12-1
141 - Skylar Galloway by dec. over Ridge Kiley, 3-2
165 - Austin Wilson by dec. over Ross Grande, 3-2
157 - Zeke Nistrian by dec. over Ian Ousley, 3-2
174 - Tyler Koehn by dec. over Micah Barnes, 3-2
157 - James Green by dec. over John Svoboda, 8-1
174 - Aaron Studebaker by dec. over McCoy Newberg, 5-0
165 - Michael Klinginsmith by dec. over Shaun'qae McMurtry, 9-6
184 - Josh Ihnen by inj. def. over TJ Dudley
149 - Jake Sueflohn by dec. over Nick Babcock, 11-4
149 - Jed Fenske by major dec. over Gage Anderson, 17-3
133 - Eric Coufal by sudden victory pin over Adam Joseph, 5-3
165 - Austin Wilson by dec. over Brandon Wilbourn, 2-1
174 - Robert Kokesh by major dec. over Tyler Koehn, 12-1
157 - John Svoboda by major dec. over Zeke Nistrian, 12-0