COLLEGE WRESTLING: Lovett finishes runner-up in NCAAs
ANDY MORRISON/Detroit News via AP Cornell's Yianni Diakomihalis scores a takedown on Nebraska wrestler Ridge Lovett during their 149-pound championship match at the 2022 NCAA Championships in Detroit on Saturday. Lovett, who went 169-0 at Post Falls High, graduating in 2019 lost to Diakomihalis 11-5 to finish runner-up.
Ridge Lovett
From wire and news services
Nebraska sophomore Ridge Lovett ended his run at the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships with a runner-up finish at 149-pounds, falling to Cornell's Yianni Diakomihalis 11-5 on Saturday night in Detroit.
Lovett was the first Husker finalist since Tyler Berger in 2019.
Lovett, a 2019 graduate of Post Falls High, who went 169-0 as a Trojan, finished his sophomore year 28-4.
Diakomihalis, a junior, scored first with a takedown in the first period before Lovett responded with an escape. Diakomihalis then scored three takedowns and an escape and Lovett trailed 9-3. In the third period, Lovett tallied two escapes, but it was not enough as Diakomihalis claimed the victory.
“I'm feeling good, my feet are moving, and he didn't get in a position where he could do anything,” Diakomihalis said. “Good execution by coaches, good execution by me, so I thank them for that.”
Diakomihalis won titles at 141 pounds in 2018 and ‘19 but was out of college wrestling the past two years. He took an Olympic redshirt in 2020 and couldn't compete last year after the Ivy League shut down sports because of the pandemic.
Diakomihalis finishes 32-0.
Lovett and Diakomihalis met in the semifinals of the 2021 Cliff Keen Invitational, with Lovett falling 6-4 in overtime.
Lovett was trying to become the first NCAA champion from Nebraska since Jordan Burroughs won the 2011 title at 165 pounds.
As a team, the Huskers' fifth-place marks their first Top 5 finish since 2009 and ninth all-time.
Penn State won the national title, finishing with five individual champions.
