After a strong first day at the Big Ten Championships, Nebraska had a tough final session, finishing in 3rd place in the team race behind Penn State and Ohio State.
Penn State scored the fifth most team points ever at Big Tens with 184 while the Buckeyes scored 148.5 to place second. Nebraska’s 116.5 points gave it 3rd place, while Iowa placed fourth with 87 points. Michigan finished fifth with 86.5 points.
As for individual conference champs, Penn State cleaned up with seven of the ten champs, a program
record for them. Ohio State had two, and Michigan had one. Nebraska had five guys in the finals but went 0-5 in those matches.
Obviously, this wasn’t an ideal finish for the Huskers, but I also don’t think it’s time to panic. Nebraska had half of its guys in the finals in the toughest wrestling conference in the country — that’s an incredible accomplishment for any school. In those five matches, Nebraska faced three guys who are top ranked nationally.
Here’s how the weekend for Nebraska went individually.
Weight-By-Weight Recap
125 pounds
11-seed Kael Lauridsen
Wrestling in his first Big Ten Championships as a redshirt freshman, Kael Lauridsen took his early lumps and bounced back to find the podium, punching his ticket to the NCAA Championships in two weeks.
In his first-round match, Lauridsen faced eventual finalist 6-seed Jore Volk of Minnesota and struggled. Lauridsen gave up two takedowns and eight near-fall points in a 16-0 technical fall loss. After that, Lauridsen went to work on the back side of the bracket though.
In the first round of consolations, Lauridsen took on 14-seed Abram Cline of Maryland — Lauridsen won a tight 1-0 decision on a third-period escape. In the next match, Lauridsen wrestled 12-seed Nick Corday of Michigan State. After a scoreless first period, Corday rode Lauridsen out for the entire second period. In the third, Corday scored an escape to go up 1-0 before the young Husker shot in late and collected the winning takedown with just four seconds left in the match. With the riding-time point going to Corday, Lauridsen earned the win 3-2 by decision, punching his ticket to the NCAA Championships.
In the third round of consolations, Lauridsen faced Iowa’s 8-seed Dean Peterson. After a scoreless first period, Lauridsen racked up over a minute of riding time in the second before surrendering the escape. Lauridsen then evened things at 1-1 with an escape to start the third period. Peterson then scored the go-ahead takedown before giving up an escape point and a late stalling point, but it wasn’t enough as Lauridsen dropped the match 4-3.
In the 7th-place match, Lauridsen faced 5-seed Ayden Smith of Rutgers. After giving up the opening takedown in the first period, Lauridsen scored six unanswered points with a takedown, reversal and escape to earn the 6-3 win.
As the 11-seed, Lauridsen really impressed me by finishing seventh with a 3-2 record on the weekend. He’s 13-11 on the season going into NCAAs, but this performance will inevitably net him a favorable seed.
133 pounds
6-seed Jacob Van Dee
Husker junior Van Dee started strong with a 9-3 opening-round win over 11-seed Caleb Weiand of Michigan State. Van Dee scored a takedown and two reversals in the match.
Moving to the quarterfinal round, Van Dee faced eventual champion 3-seed Ben Davino of Ohio State. Van Dee gave up a first-period takedown in the 5-1 decision loss, dropping him to the consolation bracket.
Van Dee then racked up five takedowns and added four back points in a 19-4 technical fall win over 12-seed Blaine Frazier of Indiana. In the next round, Van Dee faced 2-seed Lucas Byrd — last year’s Big Ten and NCAA Champion. After a scoreless first period, Byrd scored an escape in the second. In the third, Van Dee started on bottom and was knocked unconscious on a mat return, forcing him to drop the match via injury default.
Van Dee medically forfeited out of the tournament but still qualified for NCAAs with his 8th-place finish.
141 pounds
2-seed Brock Hardy
In his senior season, Hardy made it to his second consecutive Big Ten final on Sunday. After winning a conference title last season, Hardy fell short this year of repeating.
After a first-round bye, Hardy faced 10-seed Joey Olivieri of Rutgers who was undefeated coming into the tournament — he did not wrestle any Big Ten opponents during the regular season though. After a scoreless first period, Hardy scored an escape and a takedown in the second to go up 4-0. In the third, Hardy added another takedown and earned the 8-0 major decision with the riding-time point.
In the semifinal round, Hardy faced 3-seed Vance Vombaur of Minnesota. After a scoreless first period, Hardy cut the corner off a Vombaur shot and put the Gopher in a cradle for the takedown and three near-fall points to go up 7-0. He added a riding-time point and an escape for the 9-2 decision win.
In the final against a familiar foe in 1-seed Jesse Mendez, Hardy struggled again to handle the incredible pace that Mendez sets. Against the two-time NCAA Champion Buckeye, Hardy is now 1-6 in his career after dropping this match 7-2. Mendez scored takedowns in the first period and late in the third for the win, setting him up for the 1-seed at NCAAs.
Hardy may get one more shot at Mendez in two weeks before capping off his Husker career.
149 pounds
6-seed Chance Lamer
The senior transfer from Cal Poly, Lamer will need an at-large bid to NCAAs after a 10th-place finish this weekend.
Lamer started the weekend with a 9-1 major decision over 11-seed Joey Buttler of Indiana, but he dropped his next two matches to 3-seed Joe Zargo of Wisconsin (9-6 decision) and 13-seed Clayton Jones of Michigan State (pinfall), eliminating him from the tournament.
With the Big Ten allocating nine qualfying spots for NCAAs, the bottom six wrestlers were put in a bracket to determine who would get that final qualifying spot. Lamer won his first match against 10-seed Drew Roberts of Minnesota 11-3 by major before dropping an 8-7 decision to Iowa’s 8-seed Ryder Block in the final.
A match that went to sudden victory, Lamer was called for a very questionable stalling call that gave Block the win. To me, it simply looked like Lamer was sprawling in the center of the mat and didn’t stall at all, but you can be the judge.
Regardless, I’m confident Lamer will earn an at-large bid to NCAAs, giving Nebraska a full 10-man squad in two weeks in Cleveland.
157 pounds
1-seed Antrell Taylor
A junior, Taylor cruised to the finals Sunday night but struggled with Penn State’s 2-seed PJ Duke.
Taylor started things with an 8-1 decision win over 8-seed Luke Mechler of Wisconsin in the quarters. After that, Taylor downed 4-seed Cam Catrabone of Michigan 7-1 in the semifinal round with a pair of takedowns.
After beating Duke in tiebreakers in the dual this year, Taylor faced the uber-talented freshman again — this time with a conference title on the line. The freshman proved to be too much this time though as he collected three takedowns in the 12-4 major over the Husker National Champion, handing Taylor just his third loss of the season.
With two weeks until nationals, Taylor has time to shore things up for another run at the top of the podium. Last season, Taylor placed fourth at Big Tens before winning his national title.
165 pounds
4-seed LJ Araujo
Nebraska’s redshirt freshman Araujo was by far Nebraska’s biggest bonus-point scorer of the weekend on his way to a 4th-place finish.
Araujo started his first Big Ten tournament with a pin over 13-seed AJ Rodrigues of Maryland before he dropped a 3-1 decision in the quarters to 5-seed Andrew Sparks of Minnesota on a late takedown while up 1-0.
Dropping down to the consolation bracket, Araujo got his second pin of the day over 14-seed Jack Conley of Michigan State. In the next consolation round, Araujo avenged a regular season loss to 8-seed Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State with a 2-0 decision win — Araujo rode Gallagher the entire second period and got a quick escape in the third.
In the consolation semis, Araujo was dominant in an 11-0 major over 7-seed Andrew Barbosa of Rutgers — Araujo collected three takedowns in the match.
Facing 2-seed Joey Blaze of Purdue in the 3rd-place match, Araujo gave up a first-period takedown late before giving up a reversal in the second. Araujo then came up limping a bit after an exchange and after getting it looked at by athletic trainer Tyler Weeda, the Husker coaches elected to call the match via injury default.
With his 4th-place finish, Araujo is looking at a favorable seed at his first NCAA tournament in two weeks.
174 pounds
2-seed Christopher Minto
After a first-round bye, Minto started his tournament with a dominant 11-1 major over 7-seed Ethan Riddle of Minnesota — Minto scored three takedowns in the match.
In the semifinal round, Minto faced 3-seed Patrick Kennedy of Iowa who beat him in the dual in tiebreakers. Minto got his revenge in this one though, downing Kennedy 5-1 by decision. Minto cut the corner in the second period off a Kennedy shot for the match’s only takedown.
In the final, Minto got his second crack at Penn State’s 1-seed Levi Haines. After a scoreless first period, Minto scored first with an escape to go up 1-0. Later in the second, Minto was called for an illegal move (leg scissor) when he was fighting off a Haines shot. The call was questionable at best, but it tied the match at 1-1. See the infraction below.
Haines then scored an escape in the third period to go up 2-1. Minto was able to get in on a couple shots but wasn’t able to finish on them, dropping the match 2-1.
Something tells me these two will be seeing each other again in a couple weeks.
184 pounds
3-seed Silas Allred
Husker senior Allred had a strange tournament. After a strong start where he won his first match 20-2 by tech and downed Ohio State’s 6-seed Dylan Fishback 4-1 in the quarters, Allred took the mat in the semis to shake hands for a loss by injury default.
Allred then medically forfeited out of the tournament to place sixth, earning him an automatic qualification at NCAAs.
I don’t know what the injury was or if Allred just forfeited out once he clinched an NCAA berth.
197 pounds
2-seed Camden McDanel
After a first-round bye, McDanel cruised into Sunday’s final with a pair of dominant wins. The Husker sophomore won his first match via 18-2 tech over 7-seed Kael Wisler of Michigan State before downing 6-seed Wyatt Ingham of Wisconsin 10-3 in the semifinal round.
In the final against 1-seed Josh Barr of Penn State, McDanel didn’t have an answer for the NCAA title favorite. McDanel gave up six takedowns in the match on the way to a 19-4 loss via tech fall.
With his runner-up finish, McDanel will be in position for a good seed in Cleveland.
285 pounds
2-seed AJ Ferrari
After a bye in the first round, Ferrari faced Iowa’s 10-seed Ben Kueter. Ferrari scored a first-period takedown before adding an escape and a riding-time point for the 5-1 decision win.
In the semifinal round, Ferrari faced Ohio State’s 3-seed Nick Feldman — the Buckeye gave Ferrari his only two regular season losses this year. This time around, Ferrari solved the Feldman puzzle for the 2-1 decision win — Ferrari used an escape and the riding-time point to earn the win, advancing to the finals against 1-seed Taye Ghadiali of Michigan.
After beating Ghadiali by major decision early this year, Ferrari dropped this match late. After a scoreless first period, Ferrari rode Ghadiali out the entire second period before scoring a quick escape in the third to go up 1-0.
With 23 seconds left in the match, Ghadiali scored a takedown and a stall call on Ferrari to go up 4-1. Ferrari then called for injury time to get his knee looked at, giving Ghadiali choice. The Wolverine chose bottom and was given an escape point, extending his lead to 5-1 with 18 seconds left.
Ferrari couldn’t get in on the tying takedown though, dropping the match 5-2 with the riding-time point.
