St. Louis, Mo. – Junior Austin Wilson (165) knocked off No. 2 seed Michael Moreno of Iowa State and five other Huskers posted wins in Session I of the NCAA Championships at the Scottrade Center on Thursday.
Wilson, making his third NCAA Championships appearance, raced out to an early 5-0 advantage over Moreno after scoring near fall points in the first period. He notched a 7-5 decision over the Cyclone to pick up his 17th win of the season.
Top-seeded Robert Kokesh (174) opened his tournament with a 9-0 major decision over Michigan’s Taylor Massa to improve to 34-0 this season. Kokesh, a two-time All-American, will face Purdue’s Chad Welch in the second round tonight.
Three-time All-American James Green (157) also picked up bonus points along with No. 9 seed Anthony Abidin (141) and 16th-seeded TJ Dudley (184). Abidin and Dudley each shut out their opponents for major decisions. Green notched a 13-4 major decision over Markus Scheidel of Columbia.
Sophomore Aaron Studebaker posted a 3-1 decision over West Virginia’s Jake Smith at 197 pounds. Tim Lambert (125), Eric Montoya (133) and Collin Jensen (HWT) also wrestled for the Huskers, but each of them fell to top-10 opponents in the opening round.
As a team, Nebraska is tied for fifth with 10 points after the first session. Ohio State leads the team competition with 13.5 points, while Penn State is second with 11.5 points.
Session II starts tonight at 6 p.m. (CT). ESPNU will televise the championship bracket matches and ESPN3 will stream all bouts.
NCAA Championships
March 19-21, 2015
Scottrade Center
St. Louis, Mo.
125 pounds
First Round: #2 Nahshon Garrett (CORN) by dec. over Tim Lambert (NEB), 10-6
133 pounds
First Round: #6 Earl Hall (ISU) by dec. over Eric Montoya (NEB), 7-4
141 pounds
First Round: #9 Anthony Abidin (NEB) by major dec. over Nick Lawrence (PUR), 8-0
157 pounds
First Round: #4 James Green (NEB) by major dec. over Markus Scheidel (COL), 13-4
165 pounds
First Round: Austin Wilson (NEB) by dec. over #2 Michael Moreno (ISU), 7-5
174 pounds
First Round: #1 Robert Kokesh (NEB) by major dec. over Taylor Massa (MICH), 9-0
184 pounds
First Round: #16 TJ Dudley (NEB) by major dec. over Ophir Bernstein (BRO), 9-0
197 pounds
First Round: #15 Aaron Studebaker (NEB) by dec. over Jake Smith (WVU), 3-1
Heavyweight
First Round: #6 Adam Coon (MICH) by pin over Collin Jensen (NEB), 4:29