LINCOLN — Whether they were caused by his first match at a new weight class or just by wrestling his first match of the year, Stephen Dwyer needed to find a way to put away his nerves.

He did it by putting his opponent on his back.

Dwyer, an All-American at 165 pounds in 2008, shook off a sluggish first two periods in his first bout after moving up to 174 and pinned Wisconsin’s Brendan Ard to close out No. 7 Nebraska’s 26-17 win over No. 11 Wisconsin at the NU Coliseum Sunday.

“I’m going to keep getting better as the year goes on,” Dwyer said. “I was a little nervous. I haven’t been nervous since high school.”

The senior from Rockton, Ill., is part of a returning nucleus for the Huskers that includes four wrestlers who earned berths in the NCAA Tournament last year. Each of the four picked up wins Sunday to offset some inauspicious debuts by Nebraska’s newcomers.

The Huskers’ two other returning All-Americans easily handled their season-opening opponents. Top-ranked Jordan Burroughs, the defending national champion at 157 pounds, ran his winning streak to 38 matches by pinning Greg Burke in just 25 seconds. No. 2 Craig Brester, who was national runner-up at 197 pounds in 2008, breezed to a 14-2 major decision over Jackson Hein.

Heavyweight Tucker Lane, a 2008 NCAA qualifier, needed to work overtime to defeat Eric Bugenhagen 4-3. Lane finally earned the win after the fourth overtime period by holding an eight-second riding time advantage.

But the questions the Huskers hoped to answer in the lightweight classes after struggling there in 2008 were not cleared up. At 125 pounds, true freshman David Klingsheim lost his much-anticipated debut in a 5-2 decision to Wisconsin’s Drew Hammen. Klingsheim was one of the Huskers’ top incoming recruits after earning a pair of California state championships in high school. Fellow freshman C.J. Napier dropped a 26-10 technical fall to No. 10 Tyler Graff at 133 pounds.

“There was some good, some bad,” Nebraska coach Mark Manning said. “We’ve got a lot of room to improve. In the first match of the year, some guys aren’t going to look so sharp.”

Manning said he preached to his team to keep wrestling hard after early mistakes. One newcomer who took that to heart was junior Mike Koehnlein. The two-time junior college All-American at Cerritos College (Calif.) rallied after giving up an early takedown to start his Nebraska career with a 12-2 major decision over Trey Bertram at 141 pounds.

“I actually end up (trailing early) a lot,” Koehnlein said. “That’s something I know I need to work on.”

Koehnlein swung the match with a three-point near fall as the first period expired and added more another near fall in the second to take control.

“He made a mistake on that first takedown, but kept wrestling and that was great to see,” Manning said.

Dwyer said despite the rough start, there is no shortage of confidence in Nebraska’s younger wrestlers, who will be counted on if the Huskers look to repeat as Big 12 Conference champions in 2009.

“We know what our team is capable of doing in the practice room,” Dwyer said. “No one on our team is afraid of wrestling anyone else. We’re ready to compete.”

RESULTS

125: Drew Hammen (UW) def. David Klingsheim (NU) 5-2. 133: Tyler Graff (UW) def. David Napier (NU) by tech. fall 6:32. 141: Mike Koehnlein (NU) maj. dec. Trey Bertram (UW) 12-2. 149: Tyler Ruschell (UW) maj. dec. Ross Grande (NU) 12-3. 157: Jordan Burroughs (NU) pin Greg Burke (UW) :25. 165: Andrew Howe (UW) pin Alex Ward (NU) 6:24. 174: Stephen Dwyer (NU) pin Brendan Ard (UW) 5:25. 184: Josh Ihnen (NU) def. Jimmy Duffy (UW) 6-1. 197: Craig Brester (NU) maj. dec. Jackson Hein (UW) 14-2. HWT: Tucker Lane (NU) def. Eric Bugenhagen (UW) 4-3 OT. A—957

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