In addition to its 28-9 dual win over #10 Wyomingon Sunday afternoon, Nebraska sent nearly all of its backups to a pair of tournaments — the Dakota Wesleyan Open on Saturday and the Daktronics Invitational on Sunday.
The results were a mixed bag, but here’s how Nebraska’s backups and freshmen faired in their first tournament action:
Dakota Wesleyan Open
Facing non-Divison I opposition in this one, Nebraska sent six wrestlers to South Dakota’s Dakota Wesleyan Open.
One of the standouts was Jake Hockaday at 141 pounds. A
contender for the 141-pound starting spot for Nebraska, Hockaday went 5-0 with all five wins coming with bonus points. After winning via technical fall in his first three matches, Hockaday won a 10-2 major decision over former Nebraska state champion from O’Neill John Alden of Northern State in the semifinal. Hockaday then won in the final via 18-3 tech fall over Dakota Wesleyan’s Ian Metz.
Throughout the tournament, Hockaday scored 23 takedowns and 10 near-fall points while giving up zero takedowns — the only scores he gave up were escapes.
A presumptive starter for the Huskers at 184 pounds, Penn State transfer Lucas Cochran also dominated here — he went 4-0 with all four wins coming with bonus points. Cochran racked up 24 near-fall points with a pin, two tech falls, and a major decision.
In the 125-pound division, former Nebraska high school star Zaiyahn Ornelas went 4-1 to place second. After recording a win via pinfall in his first career match as a Husker, Ornelas won three straight to reach the final where he dropped a 15-0 tech fall to Northern State’s Sloan Johannsen.
At 165 pounds, Omaha Skutt standout Niko Rotella went 4-1 with his only loss via pinfall in the semis to UMary’s Kaden Renner. Rotella won two matches via pinfall and another by major decision.
At 157, true freshman Noah Bull won his first three matches but fell in the semis via 15-2 major decision to Augustana’s Kaden Nicolas. In the 3rd-place match, Bull lost via second-period pinfall to UMary’s Kale Baumann.
Rounding out the Husker contingency, true freshman Tad Forsyth went 4-2 at 184 pounds. After losing his opening match in tiebreakers, Forsyth won three in a row before a 15-3 loss via major in the consolation semifinal. Forsyth then won a 4-3 decision in the 5th-place match over Fort Hays State’s Ernesto Duenez.
Daktronics Invitational
In this tournament, Nebraska faced Division I opposition from Minnesota, South Dakota State, North Dakota State and Buffalo.
The Huskers sent ten wrestlers to this tournament, led by a group of four at 149 pounds. With multiple weight classes wrestling in A and B classes with multiple pools, I’ll give you the results as best I can.
True freshman Willmont Kai was the standout here after going 4-0 in the 149B division — he won two matches via tech fall along the way. Kai recorded 11 takedowns in the tournament and gave up just one while scoring 12 near-fall points.
Junior Scott Robertson, redshirt freshman Nikade Zinkin and true freshman Davis Parrow also competed at 149 pounds. Robertson went 2-1 and placed fifth in 149A, while Zinkin went 2-1 and placed third. In 149B, Parrow went 3-1 with a pin and a major decision.
At 133 pounds, true freshman Elijah Collick went 2-2. After losing his first career match 11-10 on a late takedown, Collick won two straight before another close 12-9 decision loss.
At 157 pounds, true freshman Mason Petersen went 1-2 in his first collegiate action — Petersen pinned Buffalo’s Max Nevlin in the consolation bracket.
Also competing for Nebraska were redshirt freshman Abdi Unle (0-3 at 125 pounds), freshman Nolan Fellers (0-3 at 165), junior Dez Gartrell (0-3 at 174), and sophomore Marco Christiansen (0-3 at 184). Unle suffered a knee injury in his third match and was forced to injury default out of the match and medically forfeit out of the tournament.
