By Craig Sesker, W.I.N.’s Div. II Editor

If the NCAA Division II national tournament is anything like the NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals, fans heading to Kearney, Neb., site the NCAA Div. Championships on March 9-10, are in for a real treat.

            A hard-fought, back-and-forth, high-intensity dual between Nebraska rivals from Kearney and Omaha ended in dramatic fashion when heavyweight Tervel Dlagnev recorded a pin to rally the No. 2 Lopers to a 20-19 win over No. 4 Nebraska-Omaha, Jan. 14, in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

            Down 19-14 entering the final bout, Nebraska-Kearney sent the best wrestler in Div. II out onto the mat in the top-ranked Dlagnev.

            Leading 4-2 late in the first period, Dlagnev shot in on the legs of UNO sophomore Tony Lewis. The Nebraska-Omaha heavyweight then tried a lateral drop, but his throw attempt backfired as Dlagnev overpowered him and caught him on his back. Dlagnev secured the pin with 13 seconds left in the period, touching off a wild celebration as the big man’s teammates mobbed him on the mat.

            Nebraska-Kearney needed a pin to win the dual because UNO held the tiebreaker by virtue of recording the only fall up to that point. UNO’s Ross Taplin won by fall at 165.

            “I was really excited for this opportunity,” said Dlagnev, the Midlands champion who is 31-1 with 14 falls. “To come through for our team was just awesome. I love being in this kind of situation where the pressure is on me to do something big. This is the kind of situation you dream about coming through in. It’s great.”

            Dlagnev said he just tried to stay patient.

            “Most of my back points come from my takedowns,” Dlagnev said. “I don’t really turn guys much after I get them on the mat. I knew I had to keep taking him down and hope eventually I would catch him on his back. I had seven minutes to do it and luckily I was able to catch him.”

              The Mavericks, the reigning three-time NCAA tournament champions, were without national champion Cody Garcia at 125. The sophomore is out with a knee injury, but is expected back next month.

            Even without Garcia, the Mav-ericks knocked off No. 1 Central Oklahoma, 20-16, in the semifinals and appeared headed to a win over Nebraska-Kearney in the finals.

            UNO scored an early upset at 141 when unranked freshman Yasiim Bribieseca scored an early takedown en route to a 3-1 win over No. 2 Jeff Rutledge. The Mavs received another big spark when the No. 2 Taplin pinned Taylor May with 40 seconds left in their match at 165. Two-time NCAA champion J.D. Naig of UNO followed by shooting in to score a takedown with one second left to earn a 9-1 major decision over Dan Hospodka at 174.

            Naig’s win gave the Mavericks a 16-11 lead. Nebraska-Kearney pulled within 16-14 when No. 6 Matt Farrell beat Nate Oviatt 6-3 at 184. But the Mavericks regained command when No. 2 Jacob Marrs rallied with a late takedown to beat No. 6 Kelsey Empting 4-3 at 197.

            The win by Marrs made it 19-14 UNO and set the stage for Dlagnev’s dramatics. Dlagnev, a two-time All-American, placed second in the nation last year.

            “Right before Tervel went out there, I looked at him and said, ‘You know what you’ve got to do’ and he just shook his head at me,” UNK coach Marc Bauer said. “It’s not easy to pin any heavyweight and Tony Lewis is one of the better heavyweights out there. What a way to finish this off. We were neck and neck the whole way.”

            Nebraska-Omaha was shooting for its third straight National Duals title.

            “That was a tough way to lose it,” UNO coach Mike Denney said. “I don’t think I prepared Tony very well for that match. I needed to tell him we were five points ahead and this is what we need to do. He’s young and hasn’t wrestled that much. He made a mistake, but he’s going to learn from it and get better. He’s a good prospect and he’ll bounce back.”

            Denney said he was pleased with his team’s effort.

            “I was real proud of my guys for how they battled and performed,” Denney said. “We were missing a national champion from our line-up, but our guys still came up with the idea they were going to win this tournament. Only three of our ten guys had ever wrestled in this event before, so I was real pleased with how they responded.”

            Bauer said the National Duals provided a glimpse of what we might see in March at the national tournament. Third-ranked Minnesota State-Mankato placed fourth in Cedar Falls, dropping close duals to Nebraska-Kearney (20-16) in the semis and to Central Oklahoma (18-15) in the third-place match. Mankato was without injured 125-pounder Nick Smith, who is ranked second. The Mavericks forfeited at 125 in both duals. Smith is expected back by the end of the January.

            “Everybody still has holes in their lineup,” Bauer said. “Minnesota State and Omaha were missing their 125-pounders, and we’ve got some guys who aren’t 100 percent right now. The top four teams are pretty even right now and this is a great indicator of what the national tournament will be like. It’s going to come down to who gets on a roll and puts it all together. It’s going to be a great national tournament, that’s for sure.”

            UNO pulled out its 20-16 semifinal win over Central Oklahoma thanks to Oviatt’s pin over No. 7 Jared Hess in 6:18. The match at 184 was tied 1-1 in the third period when Oviatt shot in on a leg attack. The two wrestlers got into a scramble before Oviatt caught Hess on his back for the pivotal fall.

            Central Oklahoma then came back to take third, edging Minnesota State when second-ranked heavyweight Josh LeadingFox of UCO beat Brady Wilson, 8-4.

            “I was disappointed that we didn’t finish some matches like we should have,” Central Oklahoma coach David James said. “We lost some tight ones late and that really hurt us, but we found out where we stand and know that we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

            (There will be an NCAA Division II Update in each issue of W.I.N. Magazine during the collegiate season. We will also release the latest team and individual coaches association rankings available at press time.)