Nebraska held its annual wrestle-offs Saturday afternoon in the wrestling room at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
While not all of Nebraska’s wrestlers took part and there are still plenty of unanswered questions, we did get a look behind the curtain at this year’s Husker squad that looks primed for another run at postseason hardware. After placing second and third the past two seasons, this team looks like it could be even better than both of those teams after the Huskers restocked via the transfer
portal, bringing in a number of highly credentialed wrestlers.
While transfers Anthony Echemendia (149 pounds), Meyer Shapiro (157) and Lucas Cochran (184) didn’t wrestle Saturday, we did get our first look at NCAA Champion Vincent Robinson in a Husker singlet. The transfer from NC State won the 125-pound bracket, but it wasn’t easy. After downing true freshman and Nebraska prep legend Zaiyahn Ornelas 17-2 by technical fall in the first period, Robinson was pushed in the final by another Nebraska prep legend.
Last year’s starter and an NCAA qualifier, Kael Lauridsen beat Abdi Unle 1-0 in the first round before dropping the final to Robinson 4-2. Lauridsen was in deep on a shot in the final ten seconds, but Robinson was able to hold on for the win, cementing his position as the team’s starter at the lightest weight.
At 133 pounds, Jacob Van Dee looks locked in — he beat incoming freshman Elijah Collick 8-0 by major decision, looking dominant in the top position along the way.
The biggest question mark on the team is who will start at 141 pounds after the loss of Brock Hardy to graduation, but that weight class was not contested on Saturday. It’s unclear who Nebraska will send out this Sunday in the season opener against Wyoming, but it will be either redshirt freshman Jake Hockaday, redshirt freshman Omar Ayoub, or true freshman Lincoln Sledzianowski. All three are very talented, so it’s a nice problem to have.
At 149 pounds, Echemendia didn’t wrestle but he was out on the mat getting work in before wrestle-offs, so I anticipate him being the team’s starter here. In the four-man bracket at 149, it was junior Scott Robertson who won the day. After downing true freshman Davis Parrow — who just won a Junior Fargo National Title this summer — via 7-0 decision, Robertson pitched another shutout over Nikade Zinkin 5-0 in the final. Zinkin beat true freshman Willmont Kai 8-3 in the first round.
At 157 pounds, the first round match was between a pair of true freshmen — Mason Petersen and Noah Bull. A three-time Nebraska state champion out of Columbus, Petersen beat Bull 12-2 by major decision in the first round before taking on NCAA Champion Antrell Taylor in the final. Taylor showed that there are serious levels to this by beating Petersen 21-6 with seven takedowns in the first period. Taylor looks as locked in as you can be before the season starts.
With returning starter LJ Araujo injured — he injured his hand at the U23 World Championships two weeks ago — Nebraska had a match between his backups Nolan Fellers and Niko Rotella. Both true freshmen, Fellers came out on top with a 5-0 decision victory. It’s unclear how long Araujo will be out, but it appears that Fellers is in pole position to fill that role until he’s back in action.
At 174 pounds, NCAA finalist Christopher Minto faced Dez Gartrell. Gartrell put up a serious fight, but Minto came away with the win via 11-1 major decision. One of the best in the country, Minto is favored to again make it to the NCAA final.
Without Penn State transfer Lucas Cochran competing, Nebraska had a trio of guys at 184 pounds. In the first match, sophomore Marco Christiansen beat true freshman Tad Forsyth 4-1. In the final, Christiansen faced junior Ethan DeLeon. After Christiansen took a 1-0 lead to the second period on a fleeing the mat call on DeLeon, DeLeon scored three takedowns in the second period before putting Christiansen on his back for the pin.
There were no matches at 197 or 285 where two-time All-American Camden McDanel and redshirt freshman Cade Ziola are set to be the starters. According to Associate Head Coach Bryan Snyder, both guys have made major improvements this offseason. As for Ziola, he has put on some serious weight — tipping the scales at around 240 or 245 pounds after hovering around 220 a year ago.
