Huskers in Third at NCAAs

St. Louis, Mo. ? The Nebraska wrestling team advanced five grapplers to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships Thursday night at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, Mo. All eight wrestlers are still alive after the first day of competition. The Huskers are in third place with 25 team points behind defending national champion Oklahoma State. The Cowboys leads all teams with 30 points, followed by Illinois with 28. Iowa and Minnesota tied for fourth with 23.5.

The five Huskers that advanced to the quarterfinals are top-seed Jason Powell, seventh-seed Matt Murray, third-seed Travis Shufelt, eighth-seed B.J. Wright and fifth-seed B.J. Padden.

Powell advanced to tomorrow’s quarterfinals with his second dominating performance of the first day, as he scored a 13-1 major decision behind three takedowns and a three point-near fall over Drew Opfer of Kent State. Powell had complete control of the match, as he had just over three minutes of riding time. Powell will face off against unseeded Rob Rebmann of Drexel

Redshirt freshman Matt Keller suffered his first loss of the championships, as he fell to eighth-seed Matt Sanchez of Cal State Bakersfield via fall 4:57 into the match. Keller started out impressively, as he jumped out to a 9-0 lead after the first period. Sanchez opened the second stanza with a reversal before scoring a two point near fall which led to the pin.

Murray scored an 8-5 decision over Doug McGraw of Penn to force a rematch of the 2004 Big 12 Championships finals against Iowa State’s Nate Gallick. Gallick defeated Murray, 2-1 in overtime to win the crown. Shufelt recorded his 12th fall of the season as he pinned Illinois’ Anton Deitzen in a time of 4:20.

"I felt I did pretty good today, though I did feel a little sluggish in the second match," Murray said. "I feel pretty confident about facing (Nate) Gallick. He’s beat me twice in close matches this season so, I’m defiantly ready for him."

Wright recorded the Huskers second pin of the night, as he defeated West Virginia’s Matt Lebe, pinning him with 16 seconds left in the first period. With the win, Wright advances to face top-seed and undefeated Alex Tirapelle of Illinois. Padden needed his second overtime win of the day to advance to the quarterfinals to face fourth-seeded Ryan Bader or Arizona State. Padden scored a takedown with eight seconds remaining in the overtime period to score a 7-5 decision. Padden and Bader have met twice this season with each wrestler winning once.

"It felt good to go out there and show that I have been working hard." Padden, a first-time NCAA qualifier said. "I still think I could have wrestled better, but as coach says a wins a win in this tournament. I just hope I can win a couple more."

In the consolation matches Jacob Klein stayed alive with an 8-3 decision over Heester Johnson of Northern Iowa. Travis Pascoe bounced back from a heartbreaking opening round loss with an 8-4 decision over Alex Clemons of Edinboro.

In the opening round, Powell dominated Chris Helgeson of Northern Iowa, 10-1. Keller needed a takedown with two seconds left to defeat Paul Gross of Stanford, 11-9. Murray used 2:20 of riding time to score a 9-0 major decision over John Manarte of Hofstra. Shufelt scored two two point-near falls to record a 13-4 major decision over Tony Hook of Oregon State.

Wright jumped out to a 7-1 lead before holding on to defeat Nick Baima of Northern Iowa, 9-7. Padden fell behind 4-0 before battling back to record an 8-6 over time victory over J.D. Bergman of Ohio State. NU suffered two losses as fifth-seed Travis Pascoe was taken down in the final seconds as he fell to Blake Kaplan of Ohio State, 3-2. Klein suffered a 4-3 loss to David Bolyard of Central Michigan.

Action continues tomorrow, Friday March 19 with consolation matches beginning at 10 a.m. at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Quarterfinals
125 1) Jason Powell (NU) vs. Rob Rebmann (DREXEL)
141 7) Matt Murray (NU) vs. 2) Nate Gallick (ISU)
149 3) Travis Shufelt (NU) vs. 6) Dustin Manotti (UC)
157 8) B.J. Wright (NU) vs. 1) Alex Tirapelle (IL)
197 5) B.J. Padden (NU) vs. 4) Ryan Bader (ASU)

Consolation Matches
165 Jacob Klein (NU) by decision over Hesston Johnson (UNI), 8-3
184 5) Travis Pascoe (NU) dec. Alex Clemons (EDINBORO), 8-4

Second Round
125 1) Jason Powell (NU) by major decision over Drew Opfer (KST), 13-1
133 8) Matt Sanchez (CSB) by fall over 9) Matt Keller (NU), 4:57
141 7) Matt Murray (NU) by decision over 10) Doug McGraw (PENN), 8-5
149 3) Travis Shufelt (NU) by fall over Anton Deitzen (ILL), 4:20
157 8) B.J. Wright (NU) by fall over 9) Matt Lebe (WVa.), 2:44
197) 5) B.J. Padden (NU) by decision over 12) Marcio Botelho (FSU), 7-5 ot

First Round
125 1) Jason Powell (NU) by major decision over Chris Helgeson (UNI), 10-1
133 9) Matt Keller (NU) by decision over Paul Gross (STAN), 11-9
141 7) Matt Murray (NU) by major decision over John Manarte (HOF), 9-0
149 3) Travis Shufelt (NU) by major decision over Tony Hook (OSU), 13-4
157 8) B.J. Wright (NU) by decision over Nick Baima (UNI), 9-7
165 David Bolyard (CMU) by decision over Jacob Klein (NU), 4-3
184 Blake Kaplan (OSU) by decision over 5) Travis Pascoe (NU), 4-3
197 5) B.J. Padden (NU) by decision over J.D. Bergman (OSU), 8-6 ot