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Wrestling

Huskers Set to Host Nebraska Duals

The Nebraska wrestling team will officially begin the 2019-20 season when it hosts the Nebraska Duals on Nov. 7 at the Devaney Center. The four-team event is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. and will include Nebraska-Kearney, Chadron State and Hastings College in addition to the Huskers. 



"We started the Nebraska Duals for the very purpose of honoring our sport and for the number of colleges and universities in our state that have wrestling," said Nebraska Head Coach Mark Manning. "Doane [University] has started wrestling, Hastings College, York [College]... Nebraska-Kearney is a powerhouse in Division II. Chadron State is really good, they do a great job. We just want to honor our sport and come together each year and have other Nebraska colleges that have wrestling compete here [in Lincoln]."

The Nebraska Duals will mark the start of Manning's 20th season as Nebraska's Head Coach. In addition to being the winningest coach in program history, Manning is the longest-tenured active coach in the Big Ten Conference. He likes what he sees in this year's team, which welcomes back 27 letterwinners, including eight starters, from the 2018-19 team which posted a 12-5 dual record and finished 10th at the 2019 NCAA Championships, the program's fifth consecutive Top-10 NCAA finish. Among the returnees are six NCAA qualifiers (Chad Red Jr. (141), Isaiah White (165), Mikey Labriola (174), Taylor Venz (184), Eric Schultz (197) and David Jensen (HWT)) and three All-Americans (Red Jr., White and Labriola). Given the returning experience, Manning has high hopes for the 2019-20 Huskers. 

"Our expectation is to take our program up another level," said Manning. "We had four All-Americans last year; we have four All-Americans coming back [Taylor Venz was an All-American at 184 in 2017-18]. We want to up the ante, make increases overall as a program, build that mentality. We have a number of guys who we feel can be national champions, Big Ten champions. We want to build our program and help our guys be successful at the highest level."

Looking at the rest of the Nebraska Duals field, Nebraska-Kearney (UNK) is coming off a season in which the Lopers posted a 12-4 overall mark, including an unblemished 5-0 record in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association competition. UNK also posted a perfect 6-0 home dual record en route to a fifth-place finish at the 2019 Division II NCAA Championships under fourth-year Head Coach Dalton Jensen. 

Chadron State enters the 2019-20 campaign looking to build upon a 4-6 record from one season ago. Head Coach Brett Hunter, entering his ninth season at the helm, led two Eagles wrestlers to championships at the 2019 NCAA Regionals. 

Rounding out the field is Hastings College, which recorded four victories during the 2018-19 season. The two Broncos wrestlers to place at the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament (Taygen Smith (157) and Jake Abeyta (133)) both return, giving Head Coach Tyson Springer a solid foundation on which to build entering his third season as the program leader. 

Nebraska and Chadron State will wrestle one another at 6:30 p.m. while Hastings College and Nebraska-Kearney grapple simultaneously one mat away. At the conclusion of these match-ups, the Huskers will square off against the Lopers while Chadron State scraps with Hastings College. 

The event is free and open to the public. 

Nebraska's Projected Lineup 
125: Alex Thomsen
133: Jevon Parrish OR Zak Hensley
141: Chad Red Jr.
149: Collin Purinton OR Zemua Baptista
157: Peyton Robb
165: Isaiah White
174: Mikey Labriola
184: Taylor Venz
197: Eric Schultz
285: David Jensen

Back Points 

NEBRASKA TO FACE DIFFICULT DUAL SCHEDULE
Nebraska posted a 12-5 dual record in 2018-19, its ninth consecutive winning season and 30th winning season in the last 32 years. This winter, the Huskers will look to continue that streak and build off a 10th-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships. NU will face a challenging schedule that features eight of the top-25 team finishers from last year's NCAA Championships, including four teams which finished inside the top five. The home schedule is highlighted by Big Ten duals against 2019 national title winner Penn State (Jan. 24) and 2019 national runner-up Ohio State (Feb. 2). The Huskers will also play host to fifth-place finisher Michigan on Feb. 14.  Nebraska faces a challenging road schedule with notable trips to Northern Iowa (Nov. 24), Iowa (Jan. 18), and Minnesota (Feb. 21). The Panthers are coming off a 13th-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships while the Hawkeyes placed fourth. The Golden Gophers finished inside the Top-10 last season and have increased their win total in each of the past three seasons.   As for tournament action, NU opens the season with the Northeast Duals on  Nov. 10 in Troy, N.Y. The Big Red will also compete in the Daktronics Open on Sunday, Nov. 17, in Brookings, S.D. The Big Ten Championships will take place March 7-8 in Piscataway, N.J. where the Huskers will look to improve on a fifth-place finish in 2019. The NCAA Championships are set for March 19-21 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., as NU will look to make it six consecutive top-10 national finishes.

MANNING BEGINS 20TH SEASON AS HEAD COACH
The Huskers will have a familar face at the helm this season. The 2019-20 campaign will be Mark Manning's 20th season leading the NU wrestling program. Manning is the all-time winningest coach in program history with a mark of 246-93-3. During his decorated coaching career, Manning has coached 53 of Nebraska's 112 All-Americans and four of Nebraska's 11 national champions. The Huskers have five consecutive top-10 NCAA finishes under Manning's direction and nine top-10 NCAA finishes overall during his tenure. Manning has also been instrumental in helping former Huskers Jordan Burroughs and James Green enjoy international success,  as Burroughs won the Olympic Gold in 2012 and World Championship Gold in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 while Green earned World Championship Silver in 2017.
   
VETERAN BUNCH RETURNS TO LEAD NU
Nebraska will be guided by a strong group of veteran returners in 2019-20. NU loses just two senior starters as they get set for this year's campaign. Zeke Moisey (125) went 13-12 in 2018-19 as a graduate transfer from West Virginia while Tyler Berger (157) capped off an illustrious career with a 28-4 record and earned All-America honors for a third time with a second-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships. Tanner Farmer (HWT), Brian Peska (133), Aris Shino (141), and Dustin Williams (165)  all added quality depth but saw their eligibility expire at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season. Eight Huskers qualified for the NCAA Championships in 2018-19 and all eight were seeded in the top 20 of their weight class. Six of these wrestlers return this season. At 141 pounds, redshirt junior Chad Red Jr. returns after finishing eighth at the NCAA Championships, while Isaiah White (165) placed fifth after coming in as the No. 7 seed. White will be a senior this fall. Mikey Labriola (174) returns for his sophomore season after placing sixth as a redshirt freshman. Taylor Venz (184) and Eric Schultz (197), now redshirt juniors for NU, and David Jensen (285), now a senior, all participated at the NCAA Championships as well and look to build upon their previous success.  

DUAL EXPERIENCE A PLUS FOR NU
Nebraska returns 17 wrestlers with dual experience this season, including All-Americans Chad Red Jr., Isaiah White and Mikey Labriola. Along with the three mentioned wrestlers, redshirt juniors Eric Schultz and Taylor Venz, in addition to senior David Jensen, return as NCAA qualifiers who gained significant dual experience last season. They combined to go 30-15 in duals. Red Jr., White and Labriola also won at least eight duals in 2018-19. Brian Peska (133), Zak Hensley (141), Collin Purinton (149), Johnny Blankenship (165) and David Jensen (HWT) all gained dual experience last season. As a team, NU won 10 of its 14 duals overall and five of its nine Big Ten duals.

NEBRASKA WELCOMES STRONG CROP OF NEWCOMERS
Nebraska's incoming class of newcomers features eight wrestlers. Highlighting the class are Ridge Lovett and Bubba Wilson. Lovett hails from Post Falls, Idaho, and was a four-time Class 5A state champion. Wilson, meanwhile, comes to Nebraska from Manhattan, Kan. as FloWrestling's 11thranked high school wrestler at 152 pounds. 

ROSTER NOTES
• Nebraska features a 33-wrestler roster as it begins official practice.
• Over half of the Huskers' 2019-20 roster are underclassmen, as 19 of Nebraska's 34 wrestlers are either freshmen or sophomores.
• Included in Nebraska's roster are also five seniors and nine juniors.
• 26 Huskers on this season's roster are returning letterwinners.
• This year's Huskers come from 16 states, and seven are Nebraska natives.