OMAHA --- For the first time on the young season, the 14th-ranked Cornhuskers stayed in Nebraska to compete over the weekend.
In two competitions, the Huskers showed they should be considered threats on the national scene.
At the NU Coliseum on Friday, the team dualed Lehigh, winning 28-13 in front of 828 fans. NU won in seven of the 10 weight classes against the Mountain Hawks. Nebraska's high scores were largely because of major decisions by sophomores Jordan Burroughs and Levi Wofford and juniors Robert Sanders and Chris Oliver. NU junior Paul Donahoe clinched the dual with a pin in one minute, 29 seconds.
On Monday, Donahoe, the reigning national champion at 125 pounds, will compete in Eugene, Ore., in the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic. Ranked No. 1 in his weight class, Donahoe will compete against Jayson Ness, the fourth-ranked sophomore from Minnesota. It will be televised on CSTV beginning at 9 p.m.
The rest of the team Saturday made its way to Omaha on Saturday to compete in the annual Kaufman-Brand Open in a tournament field of more than 700 wrestlers. Nebraska's 10th-ranked junior in Brandon Browne and freshman Tucker Lane came home with first-place finishes.
Browne competed in the elite division, going 4-0, including two technical-fall wins at the 174-pound weight class.
Lane began competition with a pin in the amateur division, then finishing undefeated in all of his matches. He said the team was motivated to go into the weekend to improve against top-notch competition. One of the team's main focuses is better mat time. Lane said it is one of the techniques the team has been working on all year long.
"The big thing is just improving," Lane said. "We will just try to use this and go back to practice this week and work even harder.
"We just try to stay mentally tough."
Freshman Chris Hacker, from El Reno, Okla., competed unattached from the team in the Kaufman-Brand, finishing in second place at 149 pounds in the amateur division. He won his first four matches, including a pin in 26 seconds. His season record so far is 8-2 in open tournament competition. The four-time Cadet All-American said competition in college is a big step up from high school.
"It is more intense," Hacker said. "Everyone is good and there aren't any light matches."
He said there is no other program he would feel happier competing for than Nebraska. The team is motivated and knows its potential will take it far as the year progresses.
"We work harder at Nebraska than anyone in the nation," Hacker said. "We have a coach that believes in every one of us and that is not something you have everywhere else."
danaahrens@dailynebraskan.com
