Huskers Finish Second on NWCA Academic List

The Nebraska wrestling team earned runner-up academic accolades from the National Wrestling Coaches Association when the NWCA announced its annual Division I All-Academic Top 30 Teams for the 2012-13 season on Monday.

The Huskers compiled a 3.32 grade-point average, finishing behind Harvard’s 3.42 GPA. Last season NU achieved the top honor by edging the Crimson. Stanford, Indiana and Virginia round out this year’s top five.

The team GPA was determined using a system that includes 12 student-athletes from each program. A total of 10 of these came from the wrestlers that were entries in the NCAA tournament conference qualifier.  If teams had less than 10 entries for their respective qualifier, they were allowed to fill those spots with wrestlers that competed in at least one varsity dual during the season.

On Saturday, senior Josh Ihnen was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large Team for his work in the classroom during the 2012-13 school year. Ihnen carried a 3.87 GPA in business and garnered academic all-conference honors on four occasions.

On the mat, Nebraska finished 13th at the NCAA Championships with 38 points after compiling an 11-6 dual record. Sophomore Robert Kokesh (174) led the Huskers, finishing third, while James Green (157) garnered All-America honors for the second consecutive season with a seventh-place finish.