Cyclones drop No. 2 Huskers
Dana Marie Ahrens
Issue date: 2/25/08 Section: Sports
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The No. 6-ranked Iowa State defeated Nebraska 22-12, ending the Huskers' Big 12 Conference regular-season play and their hope at going undefeated in league play for the first time in the 98-year history of the program.
NU Coach Mark Manning said the bottom line was ISU was much better prepared than the Huskers.
"We didn't wrestle our best, that's for sure," Manning said. "You gotta give Iowa State credit; they did a good job."
The approach some wrestlers had in their matches came as a shock and a disappointment to Manning. Mistakes made in the past came back to haunt them at the end of the meet.
"We were more on the defensive end of things," Manning said, "rather than taking the fight to them."
The dual began at the 184-pound weight class, pairing up NU's No. 13-ranked Vince Jones with ISU's No. 1-ranked and unbeaten sophomore Jake Varner. In three periods, Varner allowed only one escape point to Jones, finishing the match with a 5-1 decision.
The Huskers were not able to control the next two matches either, as the Cyclones scored two more decisions making the Huskers score down by nine points. It wasn't until NU's No. 4-ranked junior Paul Donahoe came in against No. 15 Tyler Clark that the Huskers put up points. The match ended neck-and-neck at four points, though Donahoe won with the riding time advantage of 1:29, scoring a point and earning a decision for Nebraska.
NU sophomore Stephen Dwyer, ranked No. 10 nationally, faced a former teammate of Donahoe's, No. 7 Jon Reader. The match went back and forth with reversals, but Dwyer was able to finish out the last period by gaining two more reversals to win with a 6-5 decision.
Dwyer said he had lost track of the score during the match because it had been very back-and-forth, but he still went on wrestling the match, continuing to gain as many possible points.
"When I looked up at the scoreboard, I didn't know what side I was," Dwyer said. "I didn't know if I was winning or losing."
Luckily for him, he got into a position to score in the last 30 seconds to win the match.
When Nebraska went into the dual, Dwyer said the team's expectations may have been a little different than the true outcome.
"Every dual is tough," Dwyer said. "We respect our opponents, but we still wanted to win."
NU's Jordan Burroughs and Brandon Browne went on to win to round out the Huskers' four total wins. Burroughs took down an unranked Cyclone wrestler 11-5, while Browne did the same. Browne, ranked No. 5 nationally, won a 7-3 decision.
Manning said the team now needs to become more prepared for similar levels of competition when the Big 12 Championships roll around in two weeks. Their practices this week will focus on the mistakes made Sunday.
"Winning the Big 12 doesn't happen until March 8," Manning said. "We are going to get better from this."
danaahrens@dailynebrasknan.com
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