Michigan to Begin Three-Match Road Swing at No. 5 Nebraska

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 9-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) will kick off a three-match road swing this Friday (Feb. 9) when it travels to Lincoln, Neb., to face No. 5 Nebraska (10-1, 5-1 Big Ten) at 6 p.m. CST at the Bob Devaney Center.

Notes

• Michigan improved to 6-3 in duals this season and is coming off its best win to date, with a 24-11 decision over No. 2 Iowa in its home finale last Friday (Feb. 2). It was the Wolverines' first win over Iowa at home since 2004 -- though U-M did defeat the Hawkeyes in Iowa City in 2018.

• Freshman Sergio Lemley swept the Big Ten and NCAA Wrestler of the Week awards after knocking off Iowa's top-ranked Real Woods, 14-2, last Friday at Crisler Center. Lemley, who was ranked 19th at 141 pounds last week, used a pair of six-point moves -- off a reversal in the second period and against with a late cradle in the third -- to earn the bonus win.

• Lemley surged to No. 10 in the latest InterMat rankings at 141 pounds. He is 13-4 on the season and boasts seven ranked wins, including in three of his last four bouts. He rallied to defeat Rutgers' 11th-ranked Mitch Moore 10-7 in overtime in his last match prior to the Iowa dual. He narrowly fell to Penn State's No. 2 -- and now No. 1 -- Beau Bartlett 7-5 on Jan. 19, rallying in the third before sacrificing a late locked-hands point and reversal.

• Graduate student Michael DeAugustino has earned three consecutive ranked wins -- and four over his last five matches. He earned his highest-ranked win this season with a 2-1 tiebreaker decision against Iowa's fifth-ranked Drake Ayala last Friday (Feb. 2). He earned a 16-1 technical fall over Ohio State's No. 24 Brendan McCrone (Jan. 26) and a 2-1 decision against Rutgers' No. 13 Dean Peterson. He is 9-2 on the season.

• Graduate student Will Lewan also earned his highest-ranked win of the season with a 2-2 tiebreaker decision against Iowa's second-ranked Jared Franek. Lewan won with :01 riding time in the tiebreaker. He avenged a 3-2 loss to Franek in their previous meeting -- in the wrestlebacks at the 2023 NCAA Championships. It was Lewan's second dramatic tiebreaker escape of his career; at the 2022 NCAAs, he escaped on a :01 restart to zero out riding time and eventually win 4-2 in the second sudden-victory frame in the first round against Missouri's Jarrett Jacques.

• Lewan is nearing the 100-win milestone with a 92-33 career record. Graduate student Lucas Davison also hit 100 wins this season with his 19-3 technical fall against Michigan State's Josh Terrill (Jan. 14) and has since improved to 102-34 -- and 64-19 over his last three seasons at heavyweight.

The most recent Michigan wrestlers to reach the milestone were Mason Parris and Matt Finesilver, who finished their collegiate careers last season with records of 124-18 and 107-35, respectively.

• Senior/junior Dylan Ragusin is 20-0 and has earned ranked wins in each of his last four matches at 133 pounds -- and five of the last six -- since coming out of redshirt prior to U-M's Maryland's dual on Jan. 12. Notably, he scored four takedowns en route to a 15-6 over Ohio State's No. 12 Nic Bouzakis and, a week earlier, was named the NCAA's Wrestler of the Week after earning a pair of top-10 wins against Penn State's No. 4 Aaron Nagao (Fall 7:28, Jan. 19) and Rutgers' No. 8 Dylan Shawver (8-5, Jan. 21). Ragusin is ranked No. 4 nationally.

• Graduate student Austin Gomez is 5-0 at 149 pounds since joining the Wolverines in December as a transfer -- and after relocating to Ann Arbor last summer as a member of the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club. He has defeated ranked opponents in three of his five bouts, including a dominant 17-6 major decision against Ohio State's No. 9 Dylan D'Emilio. Gomez owns two bonus wins, including a first-period fall (1:58) against Michigan State's Braden Stauffenberg (Jan. 14). He is ranked as high as No. 5 nationally.

• Graduate student Shane Griffith improved to 8-0 in duals with his dominant 12-1 major decision against Iowa's No. 8 Patrick Kennedy, featuring a four-point turn in the second and two third-period takedowns. Griffith owns three ranked wins this semester, also earning a 2-1 decision against Ohio State's No. 11 Rocco Welsh and a 4-1 overtime decision over South Dakota State's No. 4 Cade DeVos. Griffith is 11-2 at 174 pounds and ranked as high as No. 3 nationally.

• The Cornhuskers are 10-1 on the season and 5-1 in Big Ten duals after cruising to a 28-9 win over Illinois in their most recent outing last Sunday (Feb. 4). Nebraska's lone loss of the season came against Iowa, 22-10, on Jan. 12. The Huskers are ranked at nine weight classes, including four in the top 10, most notably No. 1 Ridge Lovett (149 pounds) and No. 3 Lenny Pinto (184). Michigan trails 9-6 in the all-time series against Nebraska dating back to 1942. The series has been similarly even of late, with Nebraska holding a narrow 4-3 edge in meetings since 2014. The Wolverines claimed the most recent meeting 20-13 two season ago in Lincoln.