College Post Season Coverage

KEARNEY, Neb. - Jared Henning seemingly had everything going against him late Friday morning in the first round of the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships.

He was a fourth-place regional finisher who was wrestling defending 133-pound national champion and top-ranked junior Brett Allgood of Nebraska-Kearney in UNK's home arena.

But Henning, unable to crack his team's starting lineup last year, pulled off a stunning upset less than 30 minutes into the event at the University of Nebraska at Kearney's Health & Sports Center.

The Central Oklahoma senior shot in on a single to score a takedown late in regulation and followed with the same move midway through the one-minute, sudden-victory overtime period to pull out a shocking 7-5 win over Allgood.

Henning's win, coupled with unranked freshman Daniel Morrison's 4-2 upset of No. 2 Tommy Clark of West Liberty State at 174, propelled No. 2 Central Oklahoma to the early lead after Friday's first session.

"That was a huge, huge win for me," Henning said. "I'm a senior and this is my last chance. I'm not going to hold anything back. I want to win and I want the team to win. Our whole team is pretty determined to win this tournament and we know every match counts."

The third-ranked Bronchos have the lead with 14 points and nine wrestlers advancing to the quarterfinals. Second-ranked Minnesota State-Mankato is second with 11 points and seven in the quarters. Quarterfinals are set for 6 p.m. Friday night with the semifinals and finals set for Saturday.

"I'm real proud of our guys for the way they performed, but that was only Round 1," said UCO coach David James, whose teams have won six NCAA Division II titles. "Overall it was a good round and we put ourselves in good position, but there obviously is a long way to go."

Top-ranked Nebraska-Kearney and three-time defending national champion Nebraska-Omaha had an up-and-down first session. UNK went 5-4 and sits in ninth place with six points. Fourth-ranked UNO is sixth with eight points and five wrestlers in the quarterfinals.

Sixth-ranked Upper Iowa is third with 10.5 points and six wrestlers in the quarterfinals. Fifth-ranked Pitt-Johnstown is sixth with eight points and six in the quarters.

Henning placed seventh at nationals in 2005. He has been ranked much of the season and brought a 28-7 record to nationals despite losing twice in the regional in placing fourth. Henning wrestled Allgood in a dual last month, catching Allgood on his back early and nearly pinning him. But Allgood fought off his back and then pinned Henning.

"Jared believed and he hung in there and he gave himself a chance," James said. "That obviously was a big win for us."

Central Oklahoma's only setback of the first round came in one of the key first-round matches. All-American Ross Taplin of Nebraska-Omaha held off regional champion Justin Wood of UCO 2-1 in the opening bout at 165.

The Bronchos are shooting for their first national title since they won back-to-back D-II crowns in 2002 and 2003.

Allgood's setback was just his second loss to a Division II wrestler. He lost last season to past Central Oklahoma All-American Earl Jones, who beat Henning out last year. Allgood can still place as high as third.

It will mark the first time in high school or college that Allgood will not win a state or national title. He was a four-time Nebraska state champion for Bennington High School and a junior-college national champion at Iowa Central before winning the D-II title for UNK last year as a sophomore.

Two-time national champion J.D. Naig of Nebraska-Omaha passed his first test at 174. The senior three-time All-American rolled to a 14-1 major decision over Chadron State's Matt Weingart.

Minnesota State-Mankato saw third-ranked Jeff Pffafinger fall 7-3 in the first round at 133 to unranked Matt Mossor of West Liberty State.

Nebraska-Omaha suffered a tough early setback when fifth-ranked Jacob Marrs was caught and pinned by unranked John Treml of Wisconsin-Parkside at 197. Marrs scored the first takedown and appeared to be in control before Tremel overpowered him and cranked him to his back for the fall.

2007 NCAA DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIPS, KEARNEY, NEB.

QUARTERFINAL MATCHUPS
125
Tyler Zukerman (Central Oklahoma) vs. Tyler Mumbulo (Upper Iowa)
John Fleming (Indianapolis) vs. Arsenia Barksdale (Adams State)
Nick Smith (MSU-Mankato) vs. Chris Neidermeier (Belmont Abbey)
Trevor Charbonneau (Nebraska-Kearney) vs. Derrek Bosso (Pitt-Johnstown)

133
Joe Kemmerer (Kutztown) vs. Craig DeGreef (Wisconsin-Parkside)
Matt Mossor (West Liberty State) vs. Shane Perkey (Indianapolis)
Jared Henning (Central Oklahoma) vs. Brandon Reasy (Pitt-Johnstown)
Andy Uhl (Findlay) vs. Nathan Naumann (Upper Iowa)

141
Steven Fittery (Shippensburg) vs. Yasiim Bribieseca (Nebraska-Omaha)
Shane Valko (Pitt-Johnstown) vs. John Gamble (Upper Iowa)
Kyle Evans (Central Oklahoma) vs. J.J. Zanetta (Mercyhurst)
Travis Elg (MSU-Mankato) vs. Doug Surra (West Liberty State)

149
Don Cummings (Mercyhurst) vs. Todd Meneely (Nebraska-Omaha)
Shea Timothy (Central Oklahoma) vs. Camille DuPont (Western State)
Jason Rhoten (MSU-Mankato) vs. Charlie Pingleton (Indianapolis)
Mark Pfeifer (Chadron State) vs. Mike Rogers (Carson-Newman)

157
Andrew Lamancusa (Mercyhurst) vs. Jason Leavitt (Central Oklahoma)
Brandon Girtz (MSU-Mankato) vs. Brad Becker (Wisconsin-Parkside)
Joe Ellenberger (Nebraska-Kearney) vs. Austin Scarset (Augustana)
Antonio Guerra (Findlay) vs. Travis Eggers (Upper Iowa)

165
Evan Copeland (Adams State) vs. Eric Lakia (Ashland)
Brett Hunter (Chadron State) vs. Nate Baker (MSU-Moorhead)
Ross Taplin (Nebraska-Omaha) vs. Zachary Lee (Western State)
Andy Pickar (MSU-Mankato) vs. Taylor May (Nebraska-Kearney)

174
Daniel Morrison (Central Oklahoma) vs. Cody Henriksen (Augustana)
Michael Jackson (Indianapolis) vs. James Reynolds (Adams State)
J.D. Naig (Nebraska-Omaha) vs. Zach Schafer (Mercyhurst)
Larry Wilbanks (Western State) vs. Eli Garshnick (Pitt-Johnstown)

184
Mark Murphy (Shippensburg) vs. Matt Farrell (Nebraska-Kearney)
Austin Boehm (Nebraska-Omaha) vs. Charlie Pipher (Western State)
Jared Deaguero (Adams State) vs. Mike Corcetti (Pitt-Johnstown)
Jared Hess (Central Oklahoma) vs. Travis Krinkie (MSU-Mankato)

197
Josh Majerus (Chadron State) vs. John Treml (Wisconsin-Parkside)
Casey Woodall (Adams State) vs. Nate Buys (Augustana)
Heath Jolley (Central Oklahoma) vs. Michael Fowler (Pitt-Johnstown)
Ryan Phillips (Upper Iowa) vs. Chris Taylor (West Liberty State)

Hwt.
Jason Groller (Shippensburg) vs. Dan Goodson (Upper Iowa)
Josh LeadingFox (Central Oklahoma) vs. Andrew Ubben (Fort Hays State)
Brady Wilson (MSU-Mankato) vs. Travis Clark (Findlay)
Tervel Dlagnev (Nebraska-Kearney) vs. Jose Navarro (Indianapolis)

REMAINING SCHEDULE
Friday, March 9
6 p.m. - Session II, Quarterfinals and wrestlebacks

Saturday, March 10
10 a.m. - Session III, Semifinals, wrestlebacks, consolation finals
7:15 p.m. - Session IV, Finals