Nebraska grapplers dominate in-state foe Dana College

The Cornhuskers took care of business Saturday night, defeating Dana College 40-6 while notching their fourth dual win of the season in their return to the NU Coliseum.

The Huskers took control of the night as junior Vince Jones dominated his match against Dana's Jon Wilbourne with a quick takedown and a pin in the 184-pound weight class, winning the match in 1 minute, 33 seconds. Jones' pin was one of three on the night for Nebraska.

"If I have to go get the pin in seven minutes or a minute, it doesn't matter," Jones said. "I just go hard."

NU Coach Mark Manning emphasized keeping a fast pace on the mat, especially for the younger wrestlers in the starting lineup.

"We had some guys stand around, whatever the reason, and that's not good enough," Manning said. "We work hard, we practice hard, we compete hard. They do (that) at times, but we want to do it all the time."

Manning said he likes giving all his wrestlers the opportunity to showcase their abilities and give the regular starters a rest. Patrick Aleksanyan, Rob Plambeck, Alex Ward, Andy Johnson and Austin Baier all received starts in that role.

"They're good practice partners and everything; they go hard, we go hard," Jones said. "We don't really look at them as backups; everybody's here to do their part for the team."

Jones has returned as a national title contender this year after going 2-2 at the NCAA Championships two seasons ago. The junior sat out the 2007 season.

"It's probably the hardest thing I've had to do in my life," Jones said. "Sitting out and not being able to wrestle for my team but wrestle basically just to get better."

He leads the team in pins with four and has an overall record of 7-4.

"He's getting pushed a lot by Levi Wofford and that's a good situation," Manning said. "We've got two good guys there and that's probably not settled yet."

Jones' pin was the beginning of the end for Dana College, as NU's Craig Brester defeated Ross Milam by technical fall 19-2, and Husker heavyweight Jon May recorded a win by forfeit. Junior Paul Donahoe and sophomore Austin Baier both recorded pins to end the night. Donahoe won his match in 2:06 over Kevin Gray, while Baier won in 3:56 over Matt Jacobson.

"We thought we were wrestling pretty good, but there's always room for improvement," Jones said. "We still have some things to work on going into practice."

The Huskers will head into a two and a half week break and look to continue their hard work to push through a difficult Big 12 Conference field on their way to the conference championships in early March.

"We'll see what happens over break," Manning said. "We'll have some more wrestle-offs and see who gets better over break." DAVEHOUFEK@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM