February 17, 2005

Wrestling Ties Record

Lopers Whip Fort Hays State

            Kearney, Neb. –   The 3^rd-ranked Nebraska-Kearney wrestling team ended its dual season in style with a 29-8 victory over 13^th-ranked Fort Hays State Thursday night at the Health & Sports Center.

            UNK ends the regular season at 15-5 (7-0 RMAC) while the Tigers drop to 6-6-1 (3-3 RMAC) with its second setback to the Lopers this year.

            With the 21-point win tonight, the Lopers tie the school record for dual wins in a season. The 1977-78 Lopers went 15-3 to set the school standard.

            UNK also goes unbeaten in the RMAC for the third time in school history (1988-99 and 2002-03).

            Top-ranked Lopers' Bryce Abbey (125 lbs.) and Jeff Sylvester (197 lbs.) bounced back from rare losses to shut out their opponents.

            Sylvester (31-5) blanked Dustin Trego, 14-0, while Abbey (29-9) won over Kory Lira, 8-0.

            In his last home match, Kearney senior Adam Keiswetter (133 lbs.) recorded his 96^th career win by pinning Dustin Greenemeyer at 1:02.

            Keiswetter (16-8) is now tied with Martin Segovia ('95) and Brian Hagan ('90) for 8^th place on the UNK career wins list. Brandon Pfizenmaier ('03) is seventh on the list with 99 victories.

            Finally, redshirt freshman heavyweight Tervel Dlagnev (Arlington, Texas) picked up his team-leading 34^th win of the year with a hard fought 7-4 win over Chris Eberwein.

            Dlagnev needs four more wins to set a new UNK record for wins in a single season.

            UNK is off until the RMAC/West Region championships next Saturday at Chadron.