
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.