Nebraska wrestling sends five to Big Ten finals: What we learned from Day 1
Nebraska wrestling had itself quite the first day at the Big Ten Championships in State College, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
Five Huskers advanced to the finals for a chance at taking home gold.
The Big Red sits tied for second in the team scoring with Ohio State at 112 points entering championship Sunday. NU just trails heavy favorite Penn State as it leads with 146.5.
Here is what we learned from Day 1 of Big Tens…
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Ferrari avenges his lone two losses
AJ Ferrari is heading to the finals. He may have lost the first two bouts to Nick Feldman, but the No. 2-seeded heavyweight got the best of the Buckeye in the semifinals by a 2-1 decision. The Allen, Texas, native made his Big Ten Championships debut with a 5-1 decision over No. 10 Ben Kueter of Iowa in the quarterfinals.
Similar to his previous bouts against Feldman, it was a low-scoring dogfight. In fact, the deciding factor was Ferrari riding Feldman for the majority of the second period. It may have taken a while to adjust from the 197 style to heavyweight, but he appears as strong as ever on the mat.
The Nebraska heavyweight takes on No. 1 Taye Ghadiali of Michigan for the gold on Sunday, whom he defeated by an 11-3 major decision at the National Duals in November.
Hardy, Taylor advance to where they belong
No. 2 Brock Hardy (141) and No. 1 Antrell Taylor (157) advanced to where they belong — the championship.
Hardy, the defending Big Ten champion, shut out undefeated Joey Olivieri of Rutgers 8-0 in the quarterfinals. And in a rematch of last year’s Big Ten title against Vance Vombaur of Minnesota at 141, Hardy exploded with a takedown and a 3-point near fall off his cradle lock to take the 9-2 decision and head back to the finals.
The No. 2 seed now awaits yet another match against No. 1 Jesse Mendez. Mendez has won the last three bouts between the two. However, Hardy beat Mendez at last year’s conference semifinal. Get your popcorn ready.
Meanwhile, Taylor cruised by No. 8 Luke Mechler of Wisconsin 8-1 in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Cameron Catrabone of Michigan 7-1 in the semifinals. Taylor now faces an opportunity to achieve something he has yet to do.
Although he won the 2025 NCAA title at 157, he finished fourth at Big Tens as a sophomore. The Millard, Nebraska, native will bout with No. 2 seed PJ Duke of Penn State in the finals, whom he beat 2-1 in sudden victory during dual action.
Rising stars reach the finals
Christopher Minto joined the finalist club for Nebraska at 174. The No. 2 seed crushed Ethan Riddle of Minnesota by an 11-1 major decision in the quarterfinals.
In the sophomore All-American’s semifinal match, he faced No. 3 Patrick Kennedy of Iowa, who beat him in a 2-1 tiebreaker during the regular season. However, Minto’s aggression propelled him this time around to a 5-1 victory. He’ll take on No. 1 Levi Haines of Penn State. Haines defeated Minto 8-6 on Jan. 30.
No. 2 Camden McDanel (197) is another sophomore who keeps coming closer to the pinnacle. He dominated Kael Wisler of Michigan State by an 18-2 tech fall. In the semifinals, he commanded Wyatt Ingham of Wisconsin for a 10-3 decision.
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McDanel takes on undefeated No. 1 Josh Barr of Penn State for the gold. Barr beat the Nebraska 197-pounder by a 21-9 major decision in the regular season.
Consolation Results
***At 125, No. 11 Kael Lauridsen got crushed by No. 6 Jore Volk of Minnesota in a 17-0 tech fall loss. But Lauridsen won his next two bouts in the consolation bracket to qualify for the NCAA Championships. He lost his third-round match to No. 8 Dean Peterson of Iowa.
***No. 6 Jacob Van Dee (133) won his first-round match but fell to No. 3 Ben Davino of Ohio State 5-1. The Husker junior won his next but lost his final bout to No. 2 Lucas Byrd of Illinois by default due to concussion protocol.
***No. 6 Chance Lamer had himself a rough go-around at Big Tens. After cruising by No. 11 Joey Buttler of Indiana 9-1 in the opening round, the senior 149-pounder fell to No. 3 Joseph Zargo of Wisconsin 9-6 in the quarterfinals.
Following the tough loss, No. 13 Clayton Jones pinned Lamer only 35 seconds into the bout. Lamer will now battle for ninth place and an NCAA bid tomorrow.
***After losing a 3-1 heartbreaker to No. 5 Andrew Sparks of Minnesota in the quarterfinals, No. 4 LJ Araujo (165) bounced back with two victories to stay alive in the consolation bracket. He pinned Jack Conley of Michigan State and edged out Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State 2-0.
***No. 3 Silas Allred (184) advanced to the semifinals, but forfeited No. 2 Max McEnelly of Minnesota due to a speculated injury that occurred in his quarterfinal 4-1 sudden victory over Dylan Fishback of Ohio State.
Nebraska returns to the mat on Sunday for the Big Ten Championships in the consolation semifinals at 11 a.m. CT on B1G+. The championship matches are slated to start at 3:30 p.m. CT and will air on the Big Ten Network.
