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Nebraska Second at Big Ten Wrestling Championships: Ridge Lovett, Brock Hardy Claim Titles

Two Huskers won their weight classes as Nebraska wrestling finished second at the Big Ten Championships.

Kaleb Henry

Nebraska's 149 wrestler Ridge Lovett poses with a championship belt after earning his second straight Big Ten title.
Nebraska's 149 wrestler Ridge Lovett poses with a championship belt after earning his second straight Big Ten title. / Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska wrestling had itself a weekend.

Two Huskers won their weight classes and powered Nebraska to a second-place team finish. The Huskers wrapped the two-day tournament with 137 points, the most ever recorded by Nebraska in a conference tournament.

For the third-consecutive year, Penn State finished with the league title. Iowa finished in third, followed by Minnesota and Illinois.

The runner-up Big Ten finish for the Huskers is the highest since finishing second in 2020.

Ridge Lovett (149) secured his second-straight title, the first Husker to do so since Robert Kokesh in 2014 and 2015. Brock Hardy (141) pinned his opponent in 1:59.

Lovett and Hardy’s wins made the duo the first in 11 years to bring home multiple champions for the Big Red (2014 - James Green and Kokesh). 

Besides Lovett and Hardy, Nebraska also had seven other Huskers qualify for nationals: Caleb Smith (125), Jacob Van Dee (133), Antrell Taylor (157), Christopher Minto (165), Lenny Pinto (174), Silas Allred (184), and Camden McDanel (197).

The Championships will be held in Philadelphia, Pa., at the Wells Fargo Center, March 20-22. Session I is set to begin at 11 a.m. CDT on that Thursday.

Team Results/Final Standings:

  1. Penn State (181.5 pts)
  2. Nebraska (137.0 pts)
  3. Iowa (112.0 pts)
  4. Minnesota (108.5 pts)
  5. Illinois (105.5 pts)
  6. Ohio State (95.5 pts)
  7. Michigan (71.0 pts)
  8. Maryland (54.0 pts)
  9. Rutgers (46.0 pts)
  10. Purdue (44.5 pts)
  11. Indiana (33.0 pts)
  12. Northwestern (21.5 pts)
  13. Wisconsin (19.0 pts)
  14. Michigan State (11.5 pts)

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Kaleb Henry
KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans. He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team where he discussed NCAA legislation as SIUE's representative to the Ohio Valley Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. 

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