Wrestling: Hardy Leads Huskers to 9th-Place Finish, Placing 3rd at 141 for Second AA Finish

The Huskers finished the 2024 NCAA Championships in 9th place as a team with five All-Americans, tying the most ever under head coach Mark Manning.

Only in 2008 and 2022 has Nebraska had so many wrestlers finish on the podium. In the last three years, Nebraska has had 14 All-Americans, by far the best three-year stint under Manning.

In case you missed how we got here, here’s a recap of Day 1 where Nebraska went 15-3, get it here. To see what happened on Day 2, you can get that here.

As for the team race, Penn State beat the previous team score record (170 by Iowa in 1997) with its 172.5 points — four champions, six finalist and eight total All-Americans. With so many on the podium, this Penn State team also really poured on the bonus points as well, led by four-time champs Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks. This was officially an all-time team.

Cornell finished second with 72.5 points — another NCAA record for Penn State was the margin of victory of 100 points. Michigan finished second with 71 points, earning the final team trophy. Nebraska scored 60.5 points for its 9th-place finish.

125 pounds

15-seed Caleb Smith

After going 4-1 and securing All-American honors on Friday, Smith dropped both his matches on Sunday.

In the consolation semis, Smith took on 12-seed Anthony Noto of Lock Haven. The match went into sudden victory tied at 1-1, but it was Noto who got the overtime takedown to down Smith 4-1.

In the 5th-place match, Smith again took on 2-seed Luke Stanich of Lehigh. After downing the true freshman 4-1 in sudden victory in the second round, Smith gave up a second-period takedown and was unable to get in on his own offense, falling via 5-1 decision.

Smith finished his third NCAA tournament with a 3-3 record and 6th-place finish, his first career podium finish. Smith put together an impressive season (25-12 record) in a tough weight class in his first season at Nebraska. Next season, he’ll be a returning All-American and will be in the title hunt as a senior.

133 pounds

14-seed Jacob Van Dee

Van Dee finished his tournament with a 1-2 record, missing out on the podium as a redshirt freshman. A major accomplishment for a freshman to just qualify for NCAAs, Van Dee won his first match 5-1 over 19-seed Julian Farber of UNI. Farber had beaten Van Dee twice this year, so that was a nice win.

Next season, Van Dee will return as a sophomore and will most certainly be an NCAA qualifier again. Will he be able to make the needed gains to get on the podium? That’s going to be fun to find out.

141 pounds

9-seed Brock Hardy

In a bit of a surprise coming into the tournament, the Huskers were led by the efforts of Hardy. After going 4-1 over the first two days, Hardy found himself in the consolation semifinal round.

Hardy advanced via medical forfeit by North Carolina’s 6-seed Lachlan McNeil. In the 3rd-place match, Hardy took on familiar foe 3-seed Real Woods of Iowa in his final college match. Hardy was 0-5 against Woods going into the match.

Hardy started the scoring with a slick ankle pick for a takedown in the first period. After nearly locking up a cradle, Hardy gave up an escape and a takedown before getting an escape of his own, going into the second period tied at 4-4.

In the second, Woods scored an escape to go up 5-4. In the third, Hardy selected neutral to avoid Woods’ top game, which turned out to be an excellent call as the Husker sophomore shot in and got a takedown with 40 seconds left to go up 7-5. Woods did get a last-second escape, but Hardy got the last laugh in this rivalry with the 7-6 decision win.

With his 3rd-place finish, Hardy finished his sophomore year with a 25-9 record. This weekend, Hardy recorded three bonus-point wins with a pin, a tech fall and a major decision. Now a two-time All-American, Hardy will bring a career 60-20 record into his junior season as he’s on pace to be a four-time All-American.

149 pounds

1-seed Ridge Lovett

After falling in a 1-0 decision in Friday’s semifinal round, Lovett fell to Saturday’s consolation semifinal where he took on Penn State’s 7-seed Tyler Kasak.

Lovett surrendered three takedowns to the true freshman Kasak in a 10-1 major decision loss. After a first-round loss, Kasak went on to win SEVEN matches in the consolation bracket to place third — he’ll be a force next year, likely down at 141 pounds though.

In the 5th-place match, Lovett took on 2-seed Kyle Parco of Arizona State, the only man with a regular-season win over Lovett.

In the first period, Lovett looked to get a late takedown, but the call was reviewed and called no takedown because the period had expired. Lovett then scored an escape in the second before giving up a last-second takedown to lose via 3-1 decision.

In the tournament, Lovett scored some bonus points with one pinfall and one major decision.

With his somewhat disappointing 6th-place finish as the 1-seed, Lovett is now a two-time All-American after finishing second in 2022. He finished the season with a 27-4 record and will go into his senior year with a 73-19 career record.

157 pounds

8-seed Peyton Robb

After going 3-2 in the first two days, Robb found himself wrestling his last college match against 10-seed Jared Franek of Iowa in the 7th-place match. Robb was 1-3 in his career against Franek going into this match, having lost the last three, including both matches this year.

Robb really flipped the script here though, collecting a takedown in each period on the way to the 11-2 major decision win, putting an exclamation point on his career.

With the win, Robb finished his senior year with a 24-9 record and 7th-place finish, giving him his third All-American finish (4th in 2022, 6th in 2023). In his career, Robb is 102-35 (although 100-35 against DI opponents, with one of those wins a medical forfeit in 2020). Robb will go down as one of the best to ever take the mat for Nebraska. After what he’s gone through in his career, finishing on the podium is a tremendous accomplishment.

165 pounds

8-seed Antrell Taylor

After going 3-2 on Day 1, Taylor wrestled 9-seed Peyton Hall in a rematch of the second round match that Taylor won. Wrestling in the 7th-place match, the two wrestled a scoreless first period.

In the second, Hall struck first with a quick escape. In the third, Hall put a hard ride on Taylor, collecting a riding-time point before surrendering the escape. Taylor fell in a close 2-1 decision.

Taylor finished his redshirt freshman season impressively, securing an 8th-place finish. He’ll forever now be known as a freshman All-American. He put together an impressive 23-10 record up at 165 when he’s more naturally a 157-pounder.

Next season, Taylor will most likely take over for Robb at 157 pounds and will again be an All-American threat. That means 165 will be an open competition for Nebraska next season.

184 pounds

5-seed Lenny Pinto

Pinto finished his season in the blood round, falling to 9-seed Brady Berge of SDSU.

On the season he finished 24-6. The two-time NCAA qualifier will take a 46-17 career record into his junior year. Pinto shows a lot of promise, and I think another year in the practice room will help him jump levels next season and get on the podium. In all reality, he just needs to clean up some mental lapses and improve from the top position.

197 pounds

10-seed Silas Allred

Much like Pinto, Allred fell one win short of All-American honors, falling to 5-seed Jacob Cardenas of Cornell in the blood round.

Allred finished the year with a 26-8 record and will take an impressive 52-16 record into his junior season in a weight class that kind of clears out after this season. He was a Big Ten champion in 2023, so I expect Allred to do what needs to be done to improve next season and get on the podium.

285 pounds

29-seed Nash Hutmacher

Hutmacher went 0-2 at NCAAAs, but it was an enormous accomplishment to just qualify. He finished the year with a 7-8 record.

With Hutmacher’s senior season coming for football, next year at this time he’ll be preparing for the NFL Draft.

Next season, the Huskers will likely turn to sophomore-to-be Harley Andrews who was the starter during the first half of this season before Hutmacher took over. Andrews took his lumps but went 10-9 this year with some nice wins at the end of the year (2-0 in Big Ten duals). With another year of seasoning, he should be much improved next season in a heavyweight class where many of the top guys from this season will have graduated.

Final Assessment

With its 9th-place finish, Nebraska scored 60.5 points after finishing in 8th-place a year ago with 54 points.

Nebraska will return 53 of the 60.5 points it scored next season, making the Huskers one of the top preseason teams.

As for All-Americans, only one team had more this year than the Huskers. Penn State had eight All-Americans, while Nebraska’s five was the second most. Six teams had four All-Americans,

I think this was a good tournament from Nebraska with Hardy, Smith and Robb out-placing their seeds. It hurt Nebraska’s team hopes that Lovett fell to 6th place and that Pinto and Allred failed to place.

With nine starters returning next season, Nebraska will be a top team this next fall. I’ve been saying this, but next year is really Nebraska’s best window to win a team trophy. Lovett will be a senior, while Hardy, Pinto and Allred will all be juniors and much improved. The Huskes will also return All-American Caleb Smith and Antrell Taylor on top of past NCAA qualifiers Jacob Van Dee and Bubba Wilson.

With Taylor moving down to 157, Nebraska will again have a serious gauntlet at 141-149-157 with All-Americans Hardy, Lovett and Taylor in a row. The Huskers will have four returning All-Americans in its first five guys in the lineup.

A lot happens between now and the fall, but this team only loses Robb and Hutmacher from this team. With an impressive 2023 class coming off redshirt and a 2024 class that could produce a couple starters, Nebraska is in a great position next season.

I’ll get into it more in the future, but with Smith, Van Dee, Hardy and Lovett returning, along with Taylor moving down to 157, the first half of the lineup will be set for Nebraska next season. Pinto returns at 184 and Allred comes back at 197, as well as Andrews being the presumptive favorite to earn the 285-pound job (barring a big-time transfer). That leaves 165 and 174 to figure out. Bubba Wilson, who should have been wrestling this weekend at 174, will likely move down to compete with junior Jagger Condomitti for the open spot at 165.

That leaves 174 open where Nebraska will have a host of options, from senior-to-be Eise Brown Ton to true freshman LJ Araujo. A number of names will be in the mix there.

Regardless, with the way this coaching staff has been recruiting the past few years, things are looking up for Nebraska.

And don’t count out some transfer portal additions.