Kansas City, Mo. – Five Huskers earned NCAA All-American honors and will wrestle in consolation tomorrow morning, as the Nebraska wrestling team sits in 10th with 52.0 points ahead of one more day of competition at the NCAA Championships.
Nebraska’s five NCAA All-Americans marks the fifth time in seven years the program has had four or more claim the award. Since 2012, Nebraska has had at least two wrestlers receive All-American honors, and the program has earned a total of 136 combined awards from 75 wrestlers.
Cons. Quarterfinals
No. 15 Caleb Smith (125) secured a takedown in overtime to earn the 5-2 decision over SDSU’s Tanner Jordan. No. 9 Brock Hardy (141) then met NC State’s No. 4 Ryan Jack. Hardy was down early before he got the pin in Period Two to advance. Both Huskers will wrestle in tomorrow morning’s consolation semifinals as Smith will face No. 12 Anthony Noto (LH) and Hardy will meet No. 6 Lachlan McNeil (UNC).
At 157, No. 8 Peyton Robb kept the match close, but fell to Ohio’s No. 7 Peyten Kellar, 12-10. No. 8 Antrell Taylor (165) wrestled Oklahoma State’s No. 7 Izzak Olejnik. Taylor battled until the finish, but Olejnik came out on top, 2-0. Both Robb and Taylor will wrestle tomorrow morning for seventh.
Semifinals
Top-seeded Ridge Lovett faced Virginia Tech’s No. 4 Caleb Henson in the 149 semifinals. The match was scoreless after the first period until Henson secured the escape point and went on to win, 1-0. Lovett will now face Penn State’s No. 7 Tyler Kasak in the consolation semifinals.
Blood Round
Smith (125), Hardy (141), Robb (157) and Taylor (165) all secured victories in the Round of 12 and secured the NCAA All-American status.
No. 5 Lenny Pinto (184) and No. 10 Silas Allred (197) fought to the finish, but fell and were eliminated. Pinto finished the year with a 24-6 record, while Allred ended the season with a 26-8 mark.
Quarterfinals
Top-seeded Lovett (149) earned All-America honors and a spot in the semifinals, defeating No. 8 Casey Swiderski of Iowa State by major decision, 14-4.
Smith (125), Hardy (141), Robb (157), Taylor (165), Pinto (184) and Allred (197) all fell in their respective quarterfinal matches and moved on to wrestle in the Round of 12.
Consolation
At 133, No. 14 redshirt freshman Jacob Van Dee scored two escapes, but it was not enough as Minnesota’s No. 20 Tyler Wells topped Van Dee by major decision, 11-2. The redshirt freshman finished his first NCAA Tournament run 1-2 and ended the year 23-10 overall.
Medal rounds begin Saturday morning at 10 a.m. (CT) and will be televised on ESPNU with individual mat camera streams available on ESPN+.
NCAA Championships
