Kearney, Neb. – The 7th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney wrestling team won the 2013 NCAA Super Region 4 Championships by placing nine in the top four to score 147.50 points Saturday night in Chadron.
 
The two-day, 12-meet was hosted by Chadron State and also included the RMAC Championships. The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the NCAA Championships March 8-9 in Birmingham, Ala.
 
Placing five in the finals, UNK won going away as Adams State was second (95.0) and Grand Canyon third (77.5). Taking the Lopers, Fort Hays State and Simon Fraser (Canada) out of the team scoring Adams won the RMAC title (102.0). 
 
The Lopers crowned four champions in seniors Chase Nelson (165 lbs.) and Raufeon Stots (149 lbs.) and redshirt freshmen Romero Cotton (197 lbs.) and Daniel DeShazer (133 lbs.).  

Finishing second was junior Patrick Martinez (174 lbs.) with senior Nick Bauman (285 lbs.), junior Brock Coutu (141 lbs.) and redshirt freshman Chase White (157 lbs.) coming in third and junior Mark Fiala (184 lbs.) fourth.
 
Finally, true freshman Connor Bolling (125 lbs.) placed fifth, going 2-3 in his first collegiate postseason event.
 
A transfer from Oklahoma, Nelson (Wichita, Kans.) was more than dominant in victory, recording two falls, a tech fall and a major in the tournament.  Today, he pinned Fort Hays State's Sam Thorman at 3:18 and then majored Isaiah Jimenez of San Francisco State, 13-2, in the finals.
 
Also a top seed, Cotton (Hutchinson, Kans.) recorded a fall at 5:52 to reach the 197 lbs. finals. There, he used a takedown in the first sudden victory period to beat second-seed Sam Mangum of Western State, 3-1.
 
DeShazer (Wichita, Kans.), seeded second, had a close call in his final match as well. After needing some extra time to reach the semifinals yesterday, the former OU Sooner slipped past Lino Estrada of GCU, 3-2, in the 133 lbs. finals this evening. 
 
The defending national champ at 149 lbs., Stots (Houston, Texas) had back-to-back 3-2 decisions to win his class and improve to 30-4.
 
Martinez (Hemet, Calif.) fell for the first time as a Loper, falling to top-seed Elliott Copeland of Western State, 9-7. Copeland (32-2) grabbed the early lead and never let Martinez (14-1), a Wyoming transfer, move ahead.
 
At 141 lbs., Coutu upset second-seed C.J. Napier of Hays, 7-3, to reach the third place match. There, he punched his ticket to Alabama with a fall at 6:54.
 
Nationally-ranked at 157 lbs., White (Lincoln) rebounded from a semifinal loss to pin Derek Koehn of Hays at 6:52 and then beat John Crowley of Colorado Mesa, 4-2, to come in third.
 
Bauman (Broomfield, Colo.), advancing to the NCAA's for the first time in a long Loper career, out scored his competition by a combined 5-1 today to finish third at 285 lbs.  
 
Finally, Fiala (Seward) returns to the national meet on the strength of a 5-1 win over Igor Gomzin of New Mexico Highlands, 5-1. In the third place match, Fiala fell to Chadron's Jordan Debus, 6-2.
 
The national pairings will be released early next week.