Nebraska Communications Photo

The young Husker squad won five out of ten weight classes at the Daktronics Open, with two runner-ups.

141
Chad Red had a huge win (5-3) in the finals over returning All-American Tommy Thorn from the University of Minnesota. Red’s win came from some crafty wrestling using the new near fall rules where a wrestler can earn points by holding the opponent on their back during a scramble.

149
Colton McCrystal made a big statement by pinning Steven Bleise in overtime of their finals match. Bleise is a 2x NCAA national qualifier from Northern Illinois University and this year transferred to Minnesota. Bleise beat Collin Purinton (6-4) in overtime in the semifinals.

157
Tyler Berger beat two NCAA qualifiers on his route to winning the 157 pound championship. Berger defeated Luke Zilverberg of South Dakota State University (3-1) in the semifinals, and beat Minnesota’s Jake Short (4-2) in the finals.

174
True freshman Mikey Labriola made his presence known to the country by beating returning NCAA qualifier Chris Pfarr of Minnesota (7-4) in the semifinals, and beating SDSU’s returning NCAA qualifier, David Kocer 7-3 in the finals.

184
Taylor Venz had a dominating run to a championship, pinning cadet world medalist, Owen Webster, from the University of Minnesota in the semifinals, and winning his finals match against Brady Ayers of SDSU via tech fall.

Runner-Ups
Isaiah White lost (2-1) to Minnesota’s returning national qualifier, Nick Wanzak, in the 165 pound finals match. Eric Schultz lost the 197 pound finals match in overtime to NCAA qualifier Nate Rotert of SDSU.

By Ross Bartachek (@rossbchek)

Lead Editor of IA Wrestle

Leave a Reply