Huskers Head to Philadelphia for NCAA Championships

The Nebraska wrestling team travels to Philadelphia for the 2025 NCAA Championships to round out the season. The three-day tournament will consist of six sessions beginning Thursday morning at the Wells Fargo Center.

Nine Huskers represent the Big Ten runner-up team in this year’s national championship field, all earning automatic bids as a result of their finishes at the conference championships. The group includes Caleb Smith (125), Jacob Van Dee (133), Brock Hardy (141), Ridge Lovett (149), Antrell Taylor (157), Christopher Minto (165), Lenny Pinto (174), Silas Allred (184) and Camden McDanel (197).

Last season, the Huskers finished ninth with 60.5 team points. Hardy highlighted the tournament, finishing third at 141. NU had five All-Americans honored (Smith, Hardy, Lovett, Robb and Taylor).

Hardy grabs the highest pre-seed for Nebraska as the No. 1 at 141. Four additional Huskers are seeded in the top 10, including Smith (125), Lovett (149), Taylor (157), and Pinto (174). Minto and McDanel will make their NCAA Championships debuts, while Pinto and Allred seek their first podium finishes in their third-straight tournament appearances.

The championship schedule (CT) with streaming information is as follows:
Thursday, March 20
Session I - First Round (11 a.m. - ESPNU)
Session II - Second Round (6 p.m. - ESPN)

Friday, March 21
Session III - Quarterfinals (11 a.m. - ESPNU)
Session IV - Semifinals (7 p.m. - ESPN2)

Saturday, March 22
Session V - Medal Rounds (10 a.m. - ESPNU)
Session VI - Championships (6 p.m. - ESPN)

Live stats and brackets will be available on Trackwrestling.com and updates will be posted on X (@HuskerWrestling) throughout the weekend. The entire national championship tournament will be broadcast on ESPN networks and additional mat camera streams will be available on ESPN+.

FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS
125: No. 9 Caleb Smith (Nebraska, 19-5) vs. No. 24 Nick Babin (PITT, 13-9)
133: No. 17 Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska, 14-9) vs. No. 16 Ryan Miller (PENN, 22-6)
141: No. 1 Brock Hardy (Nebraska, 23-3) vs. No. 32 Nash Singleton (ORST)/No. 33 Lorenzo Frezza (COL)
149: No. 2 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska, 20-2) vs. No. 31 Sam Cartella (NW, 16-10)
157: No. 3 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska, 22-4) vs. No. 30 James Conway (MIZZ, 17-15)
165: No. 12 Christopher Minto (Nebraska, 19-5) vs. No. 21 Joseph Bianchi (UALR, 13-5)
174: No. 8 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska, 22-5) vs. No. 25 Dalton Narkins (ARMY, 19-9)
184: No. 12 Silas Allred (Nebraska, 19-6) vs. No. 21 Malachi DuVall (GMU, 19-5)
197: No. 20 Camden McDanel (Nebraska, 20-11) vs. No. 13 Trey Munoz (ORST, 9-3)

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Red brought home a Big Ten runner-up finish from Evanston, Ill. finishing in second-place as a team with 137 points. Brock Hardy (141) and Ridge Lovett (149) claimed Big Ten Champion statuses. Not only did the team score the most points in a conference tournament in program history, Hardy and Lovett became the first duo of Huskers since 2014 to win Big Ten titles. Lovett’s back-to-back championship is the first for the Big Red since Robert Kokesh in 2014-15