This weekend was one of the most positive things to happen to college wrestling in decades with the Inaugural National Duals Invitational taking place in Tulsa, Okla.
It was a major step in growing the sport of wrestling as 16 of the best teams in the country got together for an incredibly entertaining dual tournament with over $1 million in payouts.
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Unfortunately — after a solid Saturday in the early rounds — #2 Nebraska largely fell on its face on Sunday in the semifinal round and in the subsequent 3rd-place dual. On Saturday, Nebraska beat #8 Lehigh 35-7 before downing #11 Michigan 24-14 in the quarters.
In the semis, Nebraska was dominated by #4 Ohio State 33-3 winning just one match. For third place and $75k on the line — 3rd place took home $150k and 4th place earned $75k — Nebraska faced #5 Oklahoma State and was again not competitive in dropping the dual 33-6.
In all, after going 14-6 in individual matches on Saturday, the Huskers went just 3-16 on Sunday.
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With so much hype surrounding this team coming into the season after a historic runner-up finish last March at NCAAs, this weekend has certainly tempered expectations for a team that all of a sudden doesn’t seem as dangerous as it did last week.
But that’s the nature of this sport — guys take losses and teams drop duals — especially early in the season. However, it just seemed like these other top teams — eventual champions Ohio State in particular as well as Iowa and Oklahoma State — were just more prepared and ready for this weekend.
Sometimes, weekends like this early in a season can end up being the best thing for a team, but that doesn’t make this pill any easier to swallow for the Huskers. If you’ve been following this team for years like I have, you know that a performance like Sunday isn’t necessarily out of the ordinary for the Huskers — they often have a down performance early in the season and then again early in January. From what I can tell, a lot of it comes down to Nebraska’s training cycle.
Regardless, that pill is still a tough one to put down.
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Nebraska is now 3-2 on the year in duals and doesn’t have a single starter that’s still undefeated — besides #8 Chance Lamer who isn’t yet eligible to wrestle with the team. With 19 days off until their next competition, the Huskers have a lot to work on.
Here are my thoughts after this weekend:
125 pounds — Nebraska has a major hole here — there’s no two ways around it. I do expect both Kael Lauridsen and Alan Koehler to get better from their experience this weekend, but Nebraska hasn’t won a dual match yet this year at 125. Lauridsen is 0-3 with one of his matches coming at 133 this weekend, and Koehler is 0-2 in duals.
133 pounds — Nebraska’s #11 Jacob Van Dee won his only match this weekend, but he was sporting a shoulder brace and seems to be injured — otherwise he would have wrestled more this weekend. Van Dee won a 10-0 major decision against Michigan’s Gauge Botero. Omar Ayoub went 1-1 in place of Van Dee, beating Lehigh’s Mason Ziegler 11-2 by major decision before falling to Ohio State’s #8 Ben Davino 11-2 by major. In the final dual against the Cowboys, neither Van Dee or Ayoub took the mat — instead it was Lauridsen wrestling up a weight — he dropped the match 9-3 to Oklahoma State freshman Ronnie Ramirez.
141 pounds — For #2 Brock Hardy, it was the tale of two days — He went 2-0 on Saturday with a pin and a tech fall before going 0-2 on Sunday. In the semis, Hardy fell to #1 Jesse Mendez 4-1 on a late takedown before giving up four takedowns to Oklahoma State freshman Sergio Vega in a 13-2 major decision loss. I’m not concerned with the Mendez loss — Mendez is a monster and is now 4-1 against Hardy — but the loss to Vega does concern me. Vega was a top recruit for sure and is very talented, but it’s not often that you see Hardy completely outclassed on the mat.
149 pounds — Despite him going 1-3 on the weekend, true freshman Nikade Zinkin showed that he’s a serious future starter. A redshirt this year who is filling in until Lamer is eligible, Zinkin won his first match 5-1 over Lehigh’s Anthony Evanitsky, but he really showed us more in his losses — he nearly scored a takedown on #2 Lachlan McNeil of Michigan, had a cradle locked up on Ohio State’s #10 Ethan Stiles before getting pinned, and scored a takedown in a close 7-6 decision loss to #4 Casey Swiderski of Oklahoma State. The front runner right now to start at 149 next season, we saw some flashes this weekend.
157 pounds — In my opinion, #1 Antrell Taylor never really looked like himself this weekend. He went 1-2 with losses to #23 Logan Rozynski of Lehigh (9-1 major) and #9 Brandon Cannon of Ohio State (16-4 major). He gave up some big moves and back points and never was able to get to his offense aside from his 20-5 tech fall over Michigan’s #30 Cam Catrabone. Dez Gartrell got a start here and at 165 — he scored the opening takedown before falling to Oklahoma State true freshman #4 Landon Robideau 21-6 by tech.
165 pounds — The weekend started off with a bang here with #18 LJ Araujo — a redshirt freshman who came into the tournament undefeated — pinning #8 Max Brignola of Lehigh. After that, Araujo didn’t wrestle against Michigan and dropped a 10-1 major to #16 Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State. In that match, Araujo injured his hamstring — the Huskers forfeited at 165 against Oklahoma State with backup Gartrell filling in at 157.
174 pounds — Nebraska’s #4 Christopher Minto had a great Saturday — he won his first match 11-2 my major decision before beating #8 Beau Mantanona of Michigan 4-1 in sudden victory. Against the Buckeyes on Sunday, Minto gave up the first-period takedown in a 5-1 loss to #9 Carson Kharchla. In the 3rd-place dual, Minto fell to #10 Alex Facundo of Oklahoma State in controversial fashion as an official review after a late sequence led to him getting called for an illegal move — a head scissor — costing him a point and the match 2-1 by decision.
184 pounds — One of the best weekends for Nebraska was had by #6 Silas Allred in a field of top talent at the weight. Allred first beat #29 Rylan Rogers of Lehigh 4-2 before falling to #14 Brock Mantanona in a close 10-8 match. Allred then dropped an 8-1 match to Ohio State’s #7 Dylan Fishback before picking up the biggest win of his season — he beat #4 Zack Ryder of Oklahoma State 5-2 in sudden victory. It was a solid showing for the Husker senior as he looks to find the podium again among a field of really talented youngsters.
197 pounds — Nebraska had another solid weekend here with #7 Camden McDanel going 3-1. McDanel started with a 15-6 major over #20 JT Davis of Lehigh before downing Michigan’s #32 Hayden Walters 4-1 in sudden victory. On Sunday, McDanel got Nebraska’s only win against the Buckeyes when he beat Seth Shumate 8-2. Against the Cowboys, McDanel went to the wire against #9 Cody Merrill — the two were tied at 1-1 after regulation and sudden victory with McDanel eventually falling in tiebreakers 2-1.
285 pounds — Nebraska’s #1 AJ Ferrari went 3-1 on the weekend — he started with a 19-4 tech fall win over Lehigh before posting an impressive 11-3 win via major over #4 Taye Ghadiali of Michigan. Against the Buckeyes, Ferrari lost a close 5-4 decision to #6 Nick Feldman before bouncing back to beat #9 Konner Doucet of Oklahoma State 2-1. He looked solid for the most part with the Feldman loss being kind of flukey — I just wish he’d choose to focus on his offense more because when he chooses to shoot, he often finishes on top.
Lastly, if you’re a Husker fan who’s freaking out over this Sunday — Don’t.
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The season is a long one and very rarely does anyone go the entire season without some sort of setback. I have full faith in this team and this coaching staff to right the ship.
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