Going into the Cliff Keen Invitational, few were giving Nebraska much of a chance to win its third straight team title after losing four All-Americans from last year’s squad and sputtering to start the season with dual losses to North Dakota State and NC State.

All the Huskers did was complete the three-peat with 137.5 team points, finishing 10 points ahead of second-place North Carolina State. 

Nebraska crowned three champions in Vegas in Brock Hardy at 141 pounds, Peyton Robb at 157 and Mikey Labriola at 174. It also saw senior Liam Cronin wrestle back for third at 125 and a pair of redshirt freshmen in Lenny Pinto (184) and Silas Allred (197) make it to the semis with some impressive upset wins. At 165, Bubba Wilson established himself by finishing fourth.

“We had a big focus on CKLV in our training. We had a lot of talks about it,” Hardy said. “Our coach Tervel Dlagnev, he came to us on that Monday before CKLV and just said, ‘This is where you guys make your statement. This is where the young guys become men,’ and we saw that. Silas Allred goes and places, Lenny Pinto knocks off some guys and goes and places. You kind of see us younger guys kind of come into our own. It was a big statement win to remind everyone that we’re only getting better.”

With these three champions, Nebraska has a solid base to work with as the Huskers navigate this season and on into the postseason. After his impressive CKLV, Hardy is now ranked all the way up at #5 in a wide-open 141-pound weight class, while Robb and Labriola are both ranked #2 at their weights.

Let’s get to know these guys a little better. 

Brock Hardy

Hardy has taken an unconventional path to the starting lineup. As one of the top recruits in the country in 2018, Hardy signed with Nebraska but went to Rio De Janeiro for a two-year LDS mission after graduating high school. Essentially, he took two years off of wrestling and had to re-acclimate to the sport upon joining the program in 2020. Then, as a freshman during the free eligibility year of 2021, he was thrust into the lineup at 149 pounds for a few duals before Ridge Lovett took the spot over. Hardy did well, even picking up a couple ranked wins.

“That first year back was hell. I came in and essentially had to relearn how to essentially wrestle – relearning the timing,” Hardy said. “It was really good to compete and get those matches (in 2020) to know what I needed to work towards for the next year.”

Last season, Hardy redshirted behind three-time All-American Chad Red at 141 pounds, but this year the spot is his and he’s been impressive after a slow start. Hardy started the season 1-2 with losses to #11 Dylan Droegemueller of North Dakota State and #6 Ryan Jack of N.C. State. 

“Before this year, I’ve had a total of like 12 matches since 2018,” Hardy said. “Getting a lot of matches under my belt is really key to getting back to where I was. Being in the practice room and working on your skills is great, but competing is where you find growth. You find people that beat you, and you find your weaknesses and you can grow even more.”

Since that point, Hardy has won 13 matches in a row, including titles at the Journeyman Collegiate Classic, the Navy Classic and at CKLV. He’s accumulated six wins over ranked opponents over that time, including a 39-second pin over Michigan’s Cole Mattin, then ranked #9 and the 1-seed at CKLV. He’s pinned Arizona’s State’s Jesse Vasquez twice this year. 

“I feel really good about how this season has gone. I feel good about the fact that week in and week out, we’ve had ranked matchups,” Hardy said. “Every team I’ve come across, they’ve had a guy that’s really good at 141, so it’s been really good to push myself.”

When asked how he’d describe his wrestling style, Hardy said “different” and “foreign”. His style has shown to be unique in that he’s really good defensively once someone is in on his leg and he likes to sit back and scramble. He also likes to go out and start scoring points early.

“It’s Brock Hardy style. I don’t think there’s another way to describe it,” he said. “You kind of shape your style a little bit around a couple different people. Seth Gross is one for sure. I think our styles are just wide open. Jason Nolf, Sammy Sasso, guys like that that’s more my style – guys that are going to score points. It’s not going to be a close one, we’re out there to compete and put points on the board.”

After all, what fun is wrestling without points flying up on the board and guys getting put on their backs? Hardy leads the team with five pins and 11 total wins with bonus points.

“Scoring points is fun, so I’m going to go out there and score points and I’m going to wrestle for all seven minutes,” Hardy said. “I’m out there to score points, and if a guy scores on me it’s OK. The pins just come when you’re having fun.”

Going forward this season, Hardy’s level of confidence only seems to be growing. After showing in Vegas that he’s one of the best in the country, Hardy knows he has what it takes to stand on top of the podium in March.

“In my mind, I need to be the best wrestler in the country,” he said. “Whether I am or not, that’s what the NCAA tournament is for. That’s the only way you can win is if you have that belief.”

Peyton Robb

Last season, Robb earned All-American honors for the first time with a fourth-place finish after what he and head coach Mark Manning described as a real commitment to wrestling on top.

“Really committing to wrestling on top and not giving an inch and not giving up free escapes,” Robb said. “If you have more riding time, it’s most likely you’re controlling the match, so we’ve put a big emphasis on it for my wrestling specifically. It’s been working out well.”

That’s an understatement. Robb is 12-0 on the year and has been a hammer on top. He started his season with early dual wins over top-10 guys Jared Franek of North Dakota State and Ed Scott of N.C. State. Robb beat Franek 7-4 while racking up 2 minutes, 24 seconds of riding time. Against Scott, Robb won 8-2 while amassing 3:31 on top. In Nebraska’s dual against Army, Robb rode out Nate Lukez for 4:26.

That trend continued at CKLV, outside of a match that he won 5-3 over Scott in the semis. Robb dominated current #3 Kendall Coleman of Purdue 7-3 in the finals while putting up 3:35 in riding time.

According to Robb, a big part of his leap this year has to do with his belief in himself as one of the top guys. In the past, he didn’t always feel deserving, but now he feels like he’s right there.

“Why not me? I think I can win a national title,” Robb said. “It just feels like I’m one of those top guys now. I get that feeling, especially this year. It definitely brings the confidence level up which I think can improve your wrestling.”

His coach definitely agrees and is looking for big things out of Robb this year and next.

“He’s a different animal from the standpoint that he’s not just a better wrestler, he’s a more confident wrestler,” Manning said. “That comes with maturity and belief and experiences.”

As far as in the practice room, it sounds like Robb most likes to take on associate head coach Bryan Snyder, a four-time All-American for the Huskers from 1999-2002. 

“He’s still strong as an ox,” Robb said of Snyder. “He uses old man moves a little bit more now though. He has really good leg defense, so he’s tough to score on.”

Mikey Labriola

The veteran of the Husker lineup, Labriola is in his final year and says he’s better than he’s ever been, and he proved that at CKLV when he took out NCAA champion Mekhi Lewis 3-1 in sudden victory in the finals.

Earlier in the season, Labriola remembers watching the All-Star Classic at a friend’s house and not liking the fact that he was watching Lewis and two-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci of Penn State taking the mat instead of him at 174.

“I was just pissed that I couldn’t wrestle in that, and I feel like I haven’t gotten a lot of credit as one of the top top guys to compete for a national title,” Labriola said. “I was really excited to go to Vegas and couldn’t wait to wrestle him.”

With that win comes a load of confidence for Labriola, who is 12-0 on the year now and ranked #2 in the country.

“I feel like I’ve been getting better and better as the year’s gone on. I’ve gained more confidence with the win over Mekhi,” Labriola said. “I think it’ll propel me forward into a real good year. It’s made me want to wrestle even harder and prove that I’m one of the top guys.”

As the season moves on, Labriola knows he has a tough road ahead of him that’s filled with ranked opponents before he will likely see Starocci and Lewis again. He’ll likely face Starocci at Big Tens, while he could see Lewis again at NCAAs, depending on how seeding shakes out between now and then.

“I want to be more dominant in my matches and just prove to people that I do deserve to be on that level. As the year goes on I’ll get to wrestle a lot of tough opponents, and hopefully I can continue to leave my mark and dominate guys throughout the year,” Labriola said. “At the end of the year, I’m bound to meet one of those top guys, so we’ll find out.”

There were two recurring themes in talking to Hardy, Robb and Labriola. First, they all expressed the need to always wrestle a full seven-minute match. Then there was the mental aspect of the game that they all say they’ve improved in.

“Our coaches don’t just train us physically, they train us mentally as well. I think Tervel (Dlagnev) is one of the best mental coaches ever,” Labriola said. “I talk to coach Manning and Snyder about mental stuff all the time, so we’ll be prepared mentally and just keep moving forward and take it one match at a time. When we get to the big show, we’re looking to get that team trophy. That’s the main goal.”

Manning likes what he’s seen so far out of his senior leader.

“I see a lot more confident guy from last year at the NCAA tournament to now,” Manning said. “When he took the mat in Vegas against Mekhi, he was just very loose and very confident. He knew he worked hard for that moment.”