Weekly Release
Brackets

This Week
The University of Nebraska at Omaha wrestling team returns to the mat this week when they travel to Houston, Texas for the NCAA Division II National Tournament March 13-14. UNO is seeking its sixth national title and fifth under head coach Mike Denney. The Mavericks have won championships in 1970, 1991, 2004, 2005 and 2006. The NCAA is featuring a free live Webcast and  Omavs.com is offering live audio throughout the tournament.  

Records & Rankings
The Mavericks finished the dual season 13-0 and ranked No. 1 in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association poll released March 3. This is just the third time in UNO history that a team has finished the season undefeated in duals. The 1969-70 team went 14-0 and the 2005-06 squad finished 10-0. In both these years the Mavericks went on to capture the National title.

UNO has nine individual wrestlers ranked and are paced by top-ranked wrestlers Cody Garcia (133 pounds), Todd Meneely (157 pounds), Ross Taplin (174) and Brent Pankoke and second-ranked 141-pounder Mario Morgan. Other ranked Mavericks include No. 3 Esai Dominguez (149), No. 4 Tony Lewis (285) and fifth-ranked Aaron Denson (165) and Jacob Marrs (197).

The Coach
Mike Denney is in his 30th season as the Maverick head coach. The Dakota Wesleyan graduate has a 289-109-5 career mark. He has twice been named the NCAA II National Coach of the Year and led the 1991, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Mavericks to NCAA II national championships.

Last Time Out
The Mavericks came away with a first place finish at the 2009 Midwest Regional March 1 advancing all 10 wrestlers to the national tournament. Meneely was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament, while Dominguez earned Freshman of Year honors.

Garcia, Morgan, Meneely, Taplin and Pankoke each earned championships in their respective weight classes, while Dominguez, Marrs and Lewis each finished runner-up. Matt Rein and Denson also advanced to Nationals, claiming third place finishes. 

National Qualifiers
125 Matt Rein, Sophomore, 32-18
133 No. 1 Cody Garcia, Junior, 30-8
141 No. 2 Mario Morgan, Sophomore, 29-11
149 No. 3  Esai Dominguez, Redshirt Freshman, 32-10
157 No. 1 Todd Meneely, Senior, 23-0
165 No. 5  Aaron Denson, Sophomore, 28-8
174 No. 1 Ross Taplin, Senior, 38-7
184 No. 1 Brent Pankoke, Senior, 13-1
197 No. 5 Jacob Marrs, Junior, 22-8
285 No. 4 Tony Lewis, Senior, 22-9