NU Sends Seven Wrestlers to NCAA Championships

For the second straight year, the Nebraska wrestling team sends seven wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, again held at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, starting on March 17.  Of the seven national qualifiers for the fourth-ranked Huskers, three are returning All-Americans and six have competed at least one other time at nationals in their collegiate career. Only Dominick Moyer, the Big 12 runner-up at 133 pounds, is a first-time qualifier to the NCAA Championships.

The tournament will be shown on ESPN and ESPNU, starting on Friday. ESNPU (channel 609 on DirecTV) will show the quarterfinals live at 10 a.m. and will also broadcast the semifinals live at 6 p.m. The coverage of the tournament will shift to ESPN (channel 34 in Lincoln) on Saturday afternoon starting at 4 p.m. for live coverage of the finals.

Big 12 Championships Feature Best in the Nation
In a night highlighted by Nebraska’s first individual Big 12 Champion since 2002, the Nebraska wrestling team saw seven wrestlers qualify for the 2005 NCAA Championships, at the 2005 Big 12 Championships held at Qwest Center OMAHA in Omaha, Neb. The Huskers finished third with 47.5 team points, behind Oklahoma State and Iowa State. 197-pound junior wrestler B.J. Padden defeated top-ranked Jake Rosholt of Oklahoma State, 6-2, to earn the conference crown. After a scoreless first period, Padden earned an escape three seconds into the second period to take an early 1-0 lead. Padden added to his lead with a takedown with 49 seconds to go in the frame. After giving up an escape toward the end of the second period, Padden registered a third-period takedown to seal the victory.

Travis Pascoe earned his fourth career trip to the NCAA Championships with his runner-up finish at 184 pounds. Pascoe defeated Oklahoma’s Justin Dyer, 10-5, in the semifinals before losing by fall to Iowa State’s Kurt Backes in the first period of their match. Dominick Moyer clinched his first career bid to the NCAA Championships with his runner-up finish at 133 pounds. Moyer defeated Tyler McCormick of Missouri by injury default in the semifinals before losing to OSU’s Nathan Morgan by major decision, 14-6, in the finals.

Matt Keller earned his second career trip to the NCAA’s with a 6-3 victory over Iowa State’s Grant Nakamura at 125 pounds in the third-place match. The sophomore from McDonald, Tenn., rebounded from a first-round loss by fall against Oklahoma State’s Coleman Scott, beating Missouri’s Tim Kephart, 10-3, and setting up Keller’s victory over Nakamura. Also earning his way to nationals with a third-place finish was Jacob Klein at 165 pounds. He defeated Travis Paulson of Iowa State, 3-1, to earn his spot at nationals. After losing in overtime to Oklahoma State’s Johny Hendricks, Klein rebounded with a 1-0 win over Wes Roberts of Oklahoma in the consolation semifinals.

Also, returning All-Americans Matt Murray (141 pounds) and Travis Shufelt (149) were awarded wild-card bids to nationals. B.J. Wright (157 pounds) was selected as an alternate.

Scouting the Field
The field for the 2005 NCAA Championships is led by Oklahoma State, the defending national champions and consensus No. 1 team in the nation this season. The Cowboys, who narrowly defeated Nebraska 19-18 on Feb. 10, send nine wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, including undefeated heavyweight Steve Mocco, who is making his first NCAA appearance for Oklahoma State. He advanced to the national finals twice with Iowa, winning the heavyweight crown in 2003. Two other Cowboy wrestlers, Zack Esposito (149) and Chris Pendleton (174), are ranked No. 1 at their respective weight classes. Oklahoma State is one of six schools to qualify nine wrestlers for the NCAA Championships.

Among the other five schools to send nine wrestlers is NU dual opponent Minnesota. The Huskers beat the Gophers, 21-12, on Jan. 4 at the NU Coliseum. Among other Nebraska dual opponents, Michigan, Iowa State and Hofstra are sending eight wrestlers each to the NCAA Championships, while Oklahoma and Indiana join Nebraska among the five teams sending seven qualifiers each.

Last Year at NCAAs: March 18-20, 2004, Nebraska-5th
At the 2004 NCAA Championships Jason Powell became the eighth Husker to claim a national title, as he recorded a technical fall over sixth-seed Kyle Ott of Illinois in dominating fashion, 17-2. Junior Matt Murray’s bid for an individual title fell short as he lost a heartbreaking decision to Cliff Moore of Iowa, 5-2. Junior Travis Shufelt and sophomore Jacob Klein claimed their first All-American award with seventh-place finishes in their respective weight classes.

The Huskers finished in fifth place with 74.0 team points, as Big 12 rival Oklahoma State claimed its second straight and 32nd team title. The Cowboys finished 41.5 points ahead of second place Iowa with Lehigh and Ohio State tying for third.

Huskers Seek 17th Top-10 Finish
Nebraska has finished in the top-10 at the NCAA Wrestling Championships 16 times, most recently in 2004, when Nebraska finished fifth. It was Nebraska’s fourth top-10 finish in five years, including three straight eighth-place finishes in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

The fifth-place finish in 2004 was Nebraska’s first top-five finish since 1996, when the Huskers also finished fifth. That capped a four-year run in which Nebraska was in the top six three times, starting with a school-record third-place finish in 1993 in Ames, Iowa. That year, NU boasted five All- Americans, including 126-pound national champion Tony Purler and 177-pound runner-up Corey Olson. At heavyweight, future gold-medalist Rulon Gardner finished fourth. Under head coach Tim Neumann, Nebraska finished in the top 10 six times, beginning with a fifth-place finish in 1990. The Huskers followed that with a 10th-place finish in 1991 in Iowa City, Iowa.

The fifth-place finish in 1990 was Nebraska’s first top-10 finish since 1984, when NU finished fourth. In the two years before that, the Huskers finished sixth in 1982 and 1983. Before that, Nebraska had not finished above .fth since 1928, when they took fifth at Ames, Iowa.

For more information on the Nebraska wrestling team and its pursuit of a national championship, check out the Huskers' complete NCAA Championships notes and bios in PDF format.