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Nebraska wrestling sends two to the NCAA finals

by: Bobby Schneider03/21/26bschneider33

Nebraska wrestling qualified two of its 10 wrestlers for the NCAA Championships finals in Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday.

Those national champion finalists include defending champion Antrell Taylor at 157 pounds and Christopher Minto at 174 pounds. Add in Brock Hardy (141), Chance Lamer (149) and AJ Ferrari (HWT), and the Huskers sent five of their 10 NCAA qualifiers to the semifinals — the most in program history.

Blood-round winners Jacob Van Dee (133) and Camden McDanel (197) made it seven All-Americans heading into Saturday’s medal matches.

Head coach Mark Manning’s squad sits in third place with 90.5 points, trailing Oklahoma State’s 111.5 and heavy favorite Penn State’s 153.

Here is what we learned from Day 2 of the NCAA Championships…

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Taylor, Minto punch tickets to finals

Nebraska’s defending national champion Antrell Taylor is back in the 157-pound finals. The No. 2 seed took care of No. 7 Kannon Webster of Illinois by a 5-2 decision in the quarterfinals. One match away from another gold medal opportunity, Taylor powered past No. 11 Ty Watters of West Virginia.

After constant scrambling through the first six-plus minutes, the junior landed a takedown to secure the 4-2 semifinal decision. Taylor will defend his 2025 title against No. 5 Landon Robideau of Oklahoma State on Saturday night. The NU wrestler defeated the Cowboy in a 2-1 tiebreaker earlier in the season in Lincoln.

At 174 pounds, No. 3 Christopher Minto joined Taylor for a shot at gold. The sophomore two-time All-American hammered No. 11 MJ Gaitan of Iowa State by an 11-3 major decision in the quarterfinals. And in the semifinals, Minto defeated No. 7 Cam Steed of Missouri by a 5-1 decision.

Minto meets a Penn State athlete for the third time this season when he faces No. 1 Levi Haines. Haines won the first two in tight bouts that featured back-and-forth scrambling. In fact, the PSU senior has a combined margin of victory of only 10-7 over the Husker. Most recently, Haines defeated Minto 2-1 for the Big Ten title.

Hardy, Lamer & Ferrari fall short in semifinals

No. 3 Brock Hardy (141) became a four-time All-American. However, he fell just short of heading back to the finals after an agonizing 5-3 decision to No. 3 Sergio Vega of Oklahoma State.

Hardy defeated No. 6 Vince Cornella of Cornell by a 5-3 decision in the quarterfinals to secure his fourth podium finish. But with a shot to receive a gold bout opportunity, Hardy couldn’t overcome Vega, an undefeated freshman who has not surrendered a takedown all season. Vega’s third-period takedown was the deciding factor.

Moments later, Chance Lamer’s Cinderella story ended in the semifinals. Still, he secured All-American status as the No. 20 seed at 149 pounds.

In his quarterfinal match, the senior Cal Poly transfer obliterated No. 12 Carter Young of Maryland by a 12-0 major decision. But his level of competition significantly grew in the semifinals against undefeated No. 1 Shayne Van Ness of Penn State.

Van Ness’ strength greatly outweighed Lamer’s in a 22-1 tech fall loss. Considering Lamer was the only Nebraska wrestler to not auto-qualify for the tournament, he’s exceeded expectations in Cleveland.

No. 4 heavyweight AJ Ferrari came up short of the finals after dropping a 15-7 major decision to No. 1 Yonger Bastida of Iowa State in the semifinals. Bastida came out on fire. In fact, he landed a takedown within the first 10 seconds. Ferrari surrendered another first-period takedown, along with a 4-point near fall, as he trailed 10-2 after just the first.

While the Allen, Texas, native displayed better fight in the final two frames, his early collapse was too much to overcome.

In the quarterfinals, Ferrari controlled his tight 4-3 decision over No. 21 Juan Mora of Oklahoma to become a three-time All-American. On Saturday, Ferrari will first face No. 7 Konner Doucet of Oklahoma State in the heavyweight consolation semifinals.

Van Dee, McDanel bounce back for consecutive All-American seasons

After dropping his opening-round bout 5-4 to No. 20 Julian Farber of UNI on Thursday, Jacob Van Dee fought his way to become a back-to-back All-American. The No. 13 seed at 133 pounds picked up four consecutive wins in the consolation bracket to achieve the mark.

On Friday, he won his second wrestleback by a 4-2 decision over No. 19 Gage Walker of Missouri. In his third consolation bout, Van Dee major-decisioned No. 28 Garrett Grice of Iowa State 12-1, proceeding to the blood round.

Repeating as an All-American on the line, the Nebraska junior displayed significant grit in his 2-1 decision over No. 8 Markel Baker of Northern Illinois. In fact, Van Dee rode Baker for 1:50 of the second period to receive the extra point for riding time and the victory.

Van Dee fell in 6-3 in the fifth-round consolation after surrendering a late takedown to No. 15 Tyler Knox of Stanford. He will face the 2025 133-pound national champion Lucas Byrd of Illinois for seventh place.

Meanwhile, No. 11 Camden McDanel (197) joined Van Dee to mark seven Husker All-Americans. He dropped his quarterfinal match by a 4-1 heartbreaker in sudden victory to No. 3 Stephen Little of Little Rock. But the sophomore two-time All-American won his blood-round bout 4-2 over No. 18 Andrew Reall of Brown.

In his fifth-round consolation bout, McDanel took a 4-2 decision over No. 27 Gabe Arnold of Iowa. He will face No. 5 Joey Novak of Wyoming in the sixth round.

Three Huskers have their season end

***Silas Allred’s Nebraska career came to an unfortunate end after suffering a broken ankle in the quarterfinals. No. 1 Rocco Welsh of Penn State slammed him in the third period, and a loud pop followed. The No. 8 seed 184-pounder wailed in pain and was unable to continue.

***At 125, Kael Lauridsen’s season came to an end. In his second wrestleback bout, the No. 25 seed fell in a 16-4 major decision to No. 7 Nick Provo of Stanford. Lauridsen finishes his redshirt freshman season with a 17-13 record.

***No. 6 LJ Araujo’s (165) season also concluded on Friday in his 8-3 tiebreaker loss to No. 5 LaDarion Lockett of Oklahoma State. Entering the second tiebreaker, a surrendered takedown and a near fall sealed it. The NU redshirt freshman finishes his season 19-10 on the mat.

Team Standings

1 — Penn State 153

2 — Oklahoma State 111.5

3 — Nebraska 90.5

4 — Iowa 81

5 — Ohio State 77.5

6 — Stanford 58

7 — Iowa State 52

8 — Michigan 48

9 — Minnesota 39.5

10 — NC State 37

Nebraska returns to the mat for the medal matches in Cleveland at 10 a.m. CT, with the title matches slated for 5:30 p.m. CT. The 10 a.m. session may be seen on ESPNU, while the national championship bouts will air on ESPN. Additional mat coverage will be featured on ESPN+.

Live updates and premium information are available throughout the tournament for HuskerOnline subscribers on Red Sea Scrolls.

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