Nebraska put together a solid Day 2 at the NCAA Championships but fell to third place in the team race going into Saturday’s final day.
The Huskers punched a program record five wrestlers into the semifinal round, securing All-American honors — Nebraska went on to go 2-3 in the semifinal round, sending two wrestlers to Saturday’s NCAA finals.
In the team race, Penn State is way out in front with 153 points and six finalists — no team has ever had six NCAA champions, so that’ll be something to watch if Penn State can go perfect in their finals to break that record. Oklahoma State jumped Nebraska on Day 2 and has 111.5 points, while Nebraska sits in third with 90.5. Iowa has 81 points for fourth, and Ohio State has 77.5 points and sits in fifth.
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As for finalists, ten teams are represented — Penn State has six, Oklahoma State has four, Nebraska and Ohio State each have two, and Oregon State, Arizona State, Iowa, Minnesota, Iowa State and NC State each have one national finalist.
Nebraska’s two finalists are Antrell Taylor at 157 pounds and Christopher Minto at 174. Taylor is the reigning NCAA champion, while Minto placed fourth last year as a redshirt freshman at 165.
Nebraska secured seven All-Americans on Friday and is in a good position to push the Cowboys for 2nd place on Saturday. The Huskers will need to keep their foot on the gas though with Iowa and Ohio State breathing down their necks.
In case you missed it, here’s the Day 1 Recap.
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Weight-By-Weight Recap
125 pounds
25-seed Kael Lauridsen
After going 1-1 on the first day, Lauridsen dropped his consolation match Friday morning against 7-seed Nico Provo of Stanford 16-4 by major decision.
Lauridsen’s redshirt freshman year is now over — he finished with a 17-13 record on the year and a 7th-place finish at Big Tens.
133 pounds
13-seed Jacob Van Dee
It’s got to be like deja vu for Van Dee in this tournament because he’s taken a nearly identical path to the podium twice now. Last year, Van Dee lost his opening match before winning four straight on the back side to secure All-American honors. He then lost in the consolation quarters before winning the 7th-place bout.
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This year, Van Dee lost his first match and won four consolation matches in a row before losing in the consolation quarters — he’ll be in Saturday’s 7th-place match.
After a shaky Day 1, Van Dee looked much sharper Friday, winning his first three matches to secure another podium finish.
Van Dee first beat 19-seed Gage Walker of Missouri 4-2 by decision before scoring a 12-1 major decision over 28-seed Garrett Grice of Iowa State — Grice is a former four-time Nebraska state champion for Bellevue East.
In the blood round (win and you’re an All-American, lose and you are out), Van Dee took on 8-seed Markel Baker of Northern Illinois. After a scoreless first period, Van Dee put on a hard ride in the second, nearly riding the period out, but Baker got away late. Van Dee surrendered the escape for the 1-0 deficit, but he accumulated 1:50 in riding time. In the third, Van Dee earned an escape to tie the match 1-1 and won via 2-1 decision on the riding-time point, securing the second All-American finish of his career.
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In the consolation quarters, Van Dee faced 15-seed Tyler Knox of Stanford — who he beat at NCAAs last year. After a scoreless first period, Van Dee scored first with a takedown in the second period, but Knox rolled for a reversal and ride-out. Knox tied the match with an escape in the third before scoring the go-ahead takedown.
With the 6-3 loss, Van Dee dropped to the 7th-place match where he’ll face 7-seed Lucas Byrd of Illinois who won the NCAA title last year.
141 pounds
3-seed Brock Hardy
After going 2-0 on Day 1, Hardy started his Friday with a solid 5-3 decision win over 6-seed Vince Cornella of Cornell in the quarters — Hardy used a first-period takedown to take an early lead and held on for the win, securing All-American honors for the fourth time in his career.
Moving on to the semis, Hardy faced 2-seed Sergio Vega of Oklahoma State — a true freshman who has now beaten Hardy three times this season and has yet to give up a takedown in college. After a scoreless first period, Hardy struck first with a second-period escape, but Vega scored a thrid-period takedown. Hardy was able to collect Vega’s leg for the reversal and the 3-3 tie but surrendered the escape — Vega held on for the 5-3 decision win.
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With the loss, Hardy drops to Saturday’s consolation semifinal round where he’ll face 4-seed Anthony Echemendia of Iowa State. The winner moves on to the 3rd-place match while the loser will wrestle for 5th.
Hardy reached rarefied air Friday afternoon when he secured a fourth podium finish — he’s now just the fourth Husker ever to earn All-American honors at four NCAA tournaments. He joins Husker coaches Bryan Snyder (Nebraska’s first four-time AA) and James Green in that club as well as Mikey Labriola who is an assistant coach at Rutgers right now.
149 pounds
20-seed Chance Lamer
After notching two upset wins on Thursday to punch his way to the quarterfinal round, Lamer continued his hot streak on Friday by advancing to the semifinal round.
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In the quarters, Lamer faced 12-seed Carter Young of Maryland and put it on him. Lamer scored a takedown in each period and rode Young out for the remainder of each period — Lamer racked up just over five minutes in riding time in the 12-0 win via major decision. With the win, the senior Lamer secured a spot on the podium for the first time in his career.
Advancing to the semifinal round, Lamer found himself up against 1-seed Shayne Van Ness of Penn State. Van Ness bulldozed through Lamer in this match on the way to a 22-1 win via tech fall, dropping Lamer to the consolation semifinal match where he’ll face 4-seed Collin Gaj of Virginia Tech. Lamer already beat Gaj 3-1 in the second round on Thursday night, but the Hokie freshman has wrestled back well.
157 pounds
2-seed Antrell Taylor
The home-grown talent Antrell Taylor just finds a way to win. After winning an NCAA title last year as a sophomore, Taylor finds himself in his second straight NCAA final on Saturday.
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In Friday’s quarterfinal, Taylor faced 7-seed Kannon Webster of Illinois. After a scoreless first period, Taylor built up over a minute of riding time in the second before giving up the escape. Taylor then escaped in just six seconds to start the third, keeping his riding time over a minute at 1:01.
In a wild exchange late, Taylor was called for stalling in a 1-1 match, giving Webster the 2-1 lead, but Taylor simultaneously caught Webster in his shot, lifted him and returned him to the mat for the late takedown and the 4-2 decision win. With the win, Antrell secured his third All-American finish in three trips to NCAAs.
In Friday night’s semifinal round, Taylor faced 11-seed Ty Watters of West Virginia, a guy with incredible height and length for the weight class. After a scoreless first period, Taylor struck first with a second-period escape to go up 1-0.
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In the third, Watters tied the match with an escape of his own, but Taylor hit a re-attack in the third for the deciding takedown in the 5-1 decision win for the Husker.
Taylor will face 5-seed Landon Robideau of Oklahoma State in Saturday’s final after the Cowboy freshman upset Penn State’s freshman 1-seed PJ Duke in the semifinal round. Much like with Van Dee, this is eerily similar to last season when Joey Blaze upset Penn State’s Tyler Kasak in the semis at this weight. Taylor has struggled against Kasak and Duke in his career, but neither of them have been able to make it to the NCAA final to face Taylor.
A second NCAA title would put Taylor on a level in Husker lore that’s been occupied by one name and one name only for a long time — Jordan Burroughs. He really is an incredible young man.
165 pounds
6-seed LJ Araujo
After dropping his opening match on Thursday due to a late flurry, Araujo rebounded to earn a tech in his first consolation match.
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In the second round of consolations, Araujo faced Oklahoma State’s 5-seed LaDarion Lockett who was upset in the second round. The match between the two talented freshmen went to sudden victory tied at 1-1. After a scoreless sudden victory period, the match went to tie breakers.
In the first tie breaker, Araujo chose bottom and earned an escape after 17 seconds to go up 2-1. In the second tie-breaker period, Araujo started on top and looked to put his impressive top game to good use, but Lockett was able to reverse Araujo on the edge of the mat, putting him to his back for four additional near-fall points, ending Araujo’s season via 8-3 decision.
With the loss, Araujo finished his redshirt freshman season with a 19-10 record. He faced a really challenging schedule and looked great at times (hence earning the 6-seed at NCAAs) — he’ll get a lot better this offseason and will certainly contend for All-American status again.
174 pounds
3-seed Christopher Minto
A sophomore, Minto punched his ticket on Friday night to his first NCAA final, following in the footsteps of Taylor who won NCAA gold as a sophomore.
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In Friday’s quarterfinal round, Minto took on 11-seed MJ Gaitan of Iowa State. Minto was able to absorb Gaitan’s shots multiple times, scrambling around for takedowns of his own. Minto scored three takedowns in his 11-3 win via major decision that secured All-American honors for the second time in his career.
In the semifinal, Minto faced 7-seed Cam Steed of Missouri and controlled the match from the start. Minto scored an early takedown in the first period and held on for the 5-1 decision win, advancing to Saturday’s final against 1-seed Levi Haines of Penn State. Minto has wrestled Haines really close twice this year, so this is a very highly anticipated finals matchup.
Haines is really tough and has been incredible this weekend with a pin and three techs going into the finals, but Minto has a real shot at winning an NCAA title here.
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184 pounds
8-seed Silas Allred
After going 2-0 on Thursday, Allred faced 1-seed Rocco Welsh of Penn State in the quarterfinal round. After a scoreless first period, Welsh was able to take Allred down twice in the third to go up 7-1. In the third, Allred started on bottom and looked to injure his right ankle and was not able to continue, dropping the match via injury default.
Allred had to be helped off the mat and couldn’t put any weight on his leg, a disappointing way to end an impressive career. He confirmed in an interview that he did sustain a broken ankle, and I wish him a speedy recovery.
Allred was forced to medically forfeit out of the blood round. The Husker senior finished the year 19-8 and finalized his career record at 94-32 — he won a Big Ten title as a redshirt freshman and placed 7th at NCAAs last year for All-American honors.
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A solid presence on the team for years, Allred will be missed from this lineup next season.
197 pounds
11-seed Camden McDanel
After a 2-0 run on Day 1 that included an upset win over 6-seed Justin Rademacher of Oregon State, McDanel took on 3-seed Stephen Little of Little Rock in Friday’s quarters.
After a scoreless first period, Little took the 1-0 lead with a second-period escape. In the third, McDanel chose neutral to avoid Little’s top game and was chasing him all over the mat for two full minutes. McDanel was eventually able to force a second stalling call on Little with one second left to tie the match 1-1, sending it to sudden victory. In overtime, Little shot through McDanel and drove for the winning takedown.
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With the loss, McDanel dropped to the blood round where he took on 18-seed Andrew Reall of Brown. After a scoreless first period, McDanel scored an escape and a takedown for the 4-0 lead in the second period and went on to win the match 4-2, securing All-American status again as a sophomore. As a freshman last year, McDanel placed 8th at NCAAs.
In the consolation quarters, McDanel took on Iowa’s 27-seed Gabe Arnold, a supremely talented wrestler who is out of his weight class. Arnold spent time at 174, 184 and 197 pounds this year and secured a podium finish up at 197, but McDanel used an early takedown to cruise to the 4-2 decision win in this one.
In Saturday’s consolation semifinal round, McDanel will take on 5-seed Joey Novak of Wyoming for a place in the 3rd-place match.
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285 pounds
4-seed AJ Ferrari
After his 2-0 run Thursday, Ferrari faced 21-seed Juan Mora of Oklahoma in the quarters. Ferrari earned a first-period takedown when he shot in on a single leg, elevated it and tripped Mora for the score. Ferrari added an escape in the second period and held on for the 4-3 win despite giving up two stalling points.
In Friday’s semifinal round, Ferrari faced undefeated 1-seed Yonger Bastida of Iowa State who put it on the undersized Ferrari.
Bastida used two takedowns and four back points to go up 10-1 in the first period on the way to the 15-7 win via major decision, dropping Ferrari to the consolation semis where he’ll face off against 7-seed Konner Doucet of Oklahoma State in a match that could have team race implications.
