Wrestling: Despite No World-Teamers, Huskers Looked Solid at U23 and U20 Trials

Nebraska didn’t crown any World-Teamers this weekend, but there were still plenty of things to be encouraged by.

The Huskers saw what Antrell Taylor will look like back down at 157 pounds (154 this weekend) and things look very promising there as he made it to the challenge tournament final.

As for possible starters at both 165 and 174 — Dez Gartrell and Jagger Condomitti showed flashes at 74 kg, while Bubba Wilson did the same at 79 kg.

Up just a bit in weight from 184, Pinto wrestled at 86 kg (190 pounds) and was able to muscle around most of his opponents on the way to a podium finish.

Down at 57 kg, Alan Koehler moved up from U20 to U23 for this weekend and made it all the way to the semifinal round, earning a podium finish as well.

Here’s everything that happened with the 12 future and current Huskers in competition this weekend.

U20 Division

70 kg (154 pounds)

2-seed Antrell Taylor

Antrell Taylor didn’t get it done this weekend, but he looked really impressive at times after dropping down from 165 pounds where he finished as an All-American as a freshman.

Photo by Chance Parker/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

In his first match in the quarterfinal round, Taylor made short work of 10-seed Isaias Jimenez. After a quick takedown where Taylor slammed Jimenez to the mat on his back for four points, Taylor followed it up with a trio of gut-wrench turns, ending the match in just 22 seconds.

In the semifinal round, Taylor took on 3-seed Landon Robideau, a Minnesota signee who’s ranked #2 in the country at 150 pounds. Trailing 1-0 at the break, Taylor scored a step-out and then a takedown on a go-behind to go up 3-1. He added to his lead with a duck-under takedown, lifting Robideau up and putting him down out of bounds with authority for the eventual 5-1 win.

In the challenge tournament final, Taylor took on 1-seed Kannon Webster of Minnesota. A star commit in 2023, Webster redshirted this last year at 149 pounds but is going up to 157. In a match that took well over 20 minutes because of lengthy stoppages and reviews, Taylor fell behind early 5-0. He then scored a step-out and a takedown, cutting the deficit to 5-3 at the break.

In the second period, Taylor scored a step-out point before Webster got one of his own to go up 6-4. Taylor was unable to get any points at the end of the period, dropping the match 6-4. Webster went on to lose both matches in the final series to US Open Champion PJ Duke.

It’s disappointing that Taylor won’t be on the U20 World Team, but he looks like he’ll be his best when he’s down at a more natural weight class of 157 pounds.

74 kg (163 pounds)

3-seed Kody Routledge

After making it to the final of the U20 US Open at 70 kg a couple months ago, Routledge competed this weekend at Trials at 74 kg. He’s currently ranked #7 in the country in high school at 157 pounds.

In his opening match against 6-seed Charlie Millard (#4 at 157) of the Askren Wrestling Academy, Routledge got the first takedown, but it was all Millard after that. Millard scored 11 unanswered points on the way to handing Routledge an 11-2 loss.

Dropping to the consolations, Routledge earned a 5-2 win over 7-seed Claudio Torres before a match in the consolation semis against 8-seed Cameron Steed. Routledge fell behind in that match 4-0 before Torres was injured and had to forfeit, advancing Routledge to the 3rd-place match against 4-seed Joseph Sealey, a Penn State commit.

Against Sealey, who is ranked #3 in the country at 165 pounds, Routledge was overpowered in a 10-0 loss via tech, finishing in fourth place.

79 kg (174 pounds)

13-seed Ethan DeLeon

A redshirt freshman this coming season, DeLeon fell in his first match at 79 kg, a 12-2 tech at the hands of 4-seed Nicholas Fox of UNI.

DeLeon dropped to the consolation bracket where he had one of the highest-scoring matches I’ve ever seen, a 21-21 win via criteria over 12-seed Carter Baer. After falling behind 8-4 in an early flurry, DeLeon took a 13-8 lead to the second period. In the second, he built his lead up to 21-12 before Baer scored nine unanswered points. With the score tied at 21-21, DeLeon held the lead on criteria and narrowly won the match.

In this next consolation match, DeLeon fell to 6-seed Chris Moore of Illinois via 7-4 decision, ending his tournament with a 1-2 record.

97 kg (214 pounds)

Camden McDanel

Sitting out to the best-of-three final as the US Open Champion, McDanel took on challenge tournament champion Justin Rademacher who just finished his freshman season at Oregon State.

These two have history with Rademacher handing McDanel his only career college loss this past season. While training at the Olympic Training Center, McDanel wrestled in a few open tournaments, going 7-1 on the year with his only loss an 8-5 decision in sudden victory to Rademacher at the Reno TOC.

In the first match of this final series, McDanel scored a point first when Rademacher was put on the activity clock and didn’t score in the 30 seconds. McDanel was using heavy hands and snaps throughout the first period.

In the second period, McDanel scored a push-out to go up 2-0 and Rademacher was called for a singlet pull for another McDanel point and a 3-0 lead. With just over a minute left, Rademacher got a takedown, cutting the lead to 3-2. In the final seconds, Rademacher was able to get in on a leg before scoring an exposure with one second left on the clock as the two went out of bounds, handing McDanel a 4-3 loss.

In the second match, McDanel was overcome much more easily as Rademacher scored a four-pointer and a step-out to go up 5-0 before McDanel scored his own step-out, facing a 5-1 deficit at the break.

In the second period, Rademacher scored two more takedowns, and McDanel was called for a caution and one, giving Rademacher the 11-1 win via tech, sending him to the U20 World Championships this September in Spain.

Despite missing out on repeating as a World Team member, the 2023 U20 Bronze Medalist McDanel officially joins the team this fall. He may still try to make U20 and U23 World teams over the next four years, but I’m most excited to see what he can do in the college ranks at 197 pounds in folkstyle.

U23 Division

The Huskers have had a lot of success recently at the U23 level. In 2021, both Peyton Robb and Miley Labriola made the team by winning U23 freestyle national titles. Labriola ended up pulling out due to injury while Robb went 1-1 at Worlds in Serbia.

In 2022, Robb, Ridge Lovett and Wilson all made it to the semifinal round but fell short of getting on the team. That changed last year when Brock Hardy not only won a U23 national title, earning a World Team spot, he went to Albania and won a World bronze medal.

This year, Nebraska had one semifinalist and was able to put two guys on the podium.

57 kg (125 pounds)

3-seed Alan Koehler

Making it as far as any Husker this year in the U23 division, Koehler was as close as one comes to making it to the best-of-3 final.

Making a habit on the weekend of coming back in the second period to win, Koehler fell behind 4-0 in his opening match but came roaring back for the 14-4 win via tech. In his second match in the round of 32 against 30-seed Reid Nelson, Koehler trailed 2-0 at the break but came back in the second period for the 4-2 win.

Moving on to the round of 16 against 14-seed Carson Wagner, Koehler took an early 7-0 lead in the first period, going on to win the match 11-4.

In Sunday’s quarterfinal match against 6-seed Richard Castro-Sandoval, Koehler found himself in a 6-0 hole early in the second period. Koehler responded by scoring three takedowns and a step-out point in just over two minutes to get the 7-6 win.

Advancing to the semifinal round, Koehler took on 15-seed Charlie Farmer of Army. In one of the wildest matches of the weekend, Koehler again fell behind early by giving up two first-period takedowns. Koehler did score a step-out but trailed 4-1 at the break.

In the second period, Koehler shot in on a leg but Farmer was able to catch in a chest wrap and rolled Koehler for a two-point exposure. Trailing 6-1 with 1:27 left in the match, Koehler scored a takedown quick on a throw-by from an underhook, now down 6-3. In the ensuing scramble, Farmer was given two points for exposing Koehler when he caught a leg and looked to have exposed him, giving Farmer the 8-3 lead with 36 seconds left in the match. Nebraska threw its brick to challenge the exposure call, but the call was upheld giving Farmer a point for a failed challenge.

Now down 9-3 with 36 seconds left. Koehler shot out of the blocks and collected a takedown and a gut-wrench turn, cutting the deficit to 9-7 with 24 seconds left. Koehler threw everything at Farmer, eventually getting a push-out for a point and got Farmer called for a caution and one for fleeing the mat, tying the match at 9-9 with seven seconds left. Koehler wasn’t able to score again and dropped the match 9-9 on criteria. In hindsight, that lost challenge turned out to be costly.

Koehler dropped down to the consolation semis where he faced 8-seed Greg Diakomihalis, younger brother of four-time NCAA Champion Yianni Diakomihalis. A senior-to-be at Cornell, Greg D is a freestyle specialist and showed it against Koehler. He used a chest wrap for an exposure before ducking under for a takedown before turning Koehler twice with a leg lace. Greg D then ended the match with a crotch lift for an exposure when Koehler shot in, handing the young Husker a 10-0 loss.

Koehler then fell into the 5th-place match where he took on 22-seed Trevor Anderson. Anderson was able to catch Koehler on his back for the first-period pinfall

Koehler finished his tournament with a 4-3 record to finish in 6th place.

65 kg (143 pounds)

9-seed Ismael Ayoub

Ayoub started his tournament with a 5-0 win over Trey Dillow in the round of 64. In his next match, Ayoub fell to 24-seed Jace Rhodes of Iowa 5-3.

Dropping to the consolation bracket, Ayoub beat Conner Heckman 4-3 but fell to Nathan Lucier 2-1, ending his tournament with a 2-2 record.

70 kg (154 pounds)

Scott Robertson

In his first match in the round of 64, Robertson lost to Cornell national qualifier Ethan Fernandez via 10-0 tech.

Dropping to the back side, Robertson notched a pair of wins over Noah Creque (10-0) and Dillon Roman (13-2) before falling to Jordan Craft via pinfall. Holding an 11-8 lead, Robertson was caught on his back, ending his tournament with a 2-2 record.

74 kg (163 pounds)

16-seed Jagger Condomitti

A contender to start this year for Nebraska at 165 pounds, Condomitti started off hot when he won his opening match 10-0 in just 27 seconds, taking down Max Parnis and rolling him over four times with a leg lace.

In his second match, Condomitti was tied 2-2 going into the break against 17-seed Bryce Lowery of Indiana. Condomitti then gave up three takedowns and two turns in the second period, falling 13-2 via tech.

On the back side, Condomitti beat 22-seed Fin Nadeau 7-6 before beating Nick Stampoulos 16-5 via tech. Next up for Condomitti was 7-seed Max Mayfield of Northwestern who handed Condomitti a 10-0 loss, ending his tournament with a 3-2 record.

Dez Gartrell

One of the bright spots for Nebraska this weekend was how Gartrell competed. After a tournament-opening 10-0 tech over Alex Garee, Gartrell faced Maxfield in the round of 64. Gartrell lost a 5-2 decision, dropping him to the consolations.

Gartrell went on to beat Mateo Hernandez (13-2 tech), Daniel Meeker (11-8), 29-seed Dylan Whitt (6-3) and 13-seed Reed Gullmer (10-3) in an amazing run on the back side. Gartrell’s tournament came to an end with a 7-2 loss to 11-seed Jack Thomsen.

He didn’t place, but Gartrell can be very happy with his 5-2 record on the weekend. He also solidly placed himself in the competition at 165 this year.

79 kg (174 pounds)

11-seed Bubba Wilson

A year after going 10-1 and placing third in this tournament at 74 kg, Wilson came in up a weight and was pretty impressive.

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Wilson won his first match 9-7 over Martin Larkin before falling in the round of 32 to Will Miller of Appalachian State 11-7.

Dropping down to the consolations, Wilson rattled off four straight wins over Ryan Boucher (10-0 tech), 30-seed Benjamin Haubert (pin), Tate Geiser (12-0 tech) and 19-seed Caesar Garza (12-2 tech). His tournament came to an end when he again faced Miller in the bloodround, dropping the match 16-5 by tech.

Despite not placing, Wilson finished the weekend with a 5-2 record. The fact that he came in and wrestled at 79 kg shows that Wilson will likely be staying at 174 pounds for his senior season.

17-seed Adam Thebeau

A junior-to-be, Thebeau started his weekend with a 16-14 loss to Nick South of Indiana. In the consolation bracket, Thebeau fell to Boucher via 10-0 tech, ending his tournament with an 0-2 record.

Thebeau will again compete this year at 174 pounds.

86 kg (190 pounds)

3-seed Lenny Pinto

After initially registering at 79 kg, Pinto did end up going at 86 kg.

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Pinto won his first two matches via tech in the first period — 11-1 over Mikey Squires and 12-2 over 31-seed Jack Wilt. In the round of 16, Pinto fell to Penn State’s Lucas Cochran via 16-4 tech. Normally a 197-pounder who has also wrestled at heavyweight, Cochran held a noticable size advantage over Pinto and eventually made it to the final series. He’s likely attempting to go 184 next year in an attempt to start.

In the consolations, Pinto put together three impressive wins in a row over Colt Barley (12-10), Lucas Daly (10-0 tech) and 4-seed Sam Fisher (10-0). Against Barley, Pinto overcame a 9-2 deficit. His win over Fisher of Virginia Tech was impressive as he dominated and earned the tech in just over a minute.

In the consolation round of 4, Pinto was putting it on 2-seed Brayden Thompson. He blast doubled him across the mat for four points. In the second, Pinto went up 8-0 with an exposure on the edge and looked to be in control, but Thomsen came roaring back as Pinto gassed out. Thomsen scored three takedowns, a gut-wrench roll, and a caution and one on Pinto, dropping the Husker 9-8.

In the 7th-place match, Pinto took on 6-seed Donnell Washington of Indiana who is moving up from 174 pounds and looks every bit of the 190-pound weight limit this weekend. Washington was dominant in scoring a couple takedowns before catching Pinto on his back in a chest wrap for the first-period pinfall.

With the loss, Pinto ended his tournament with a 5-3 record and an 8th-place finish.