Husker Wrestling/Minto Tabbed Big Ten Freshman of the Week
For the second time this season, Nebraska wrestler Christopher Minto (165) has been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. Minto receives the award after taking his second-consecutive top-10 win and improving to 15-1 on the season. The Husker is the third to garner a weekly award, and puts Nebraska in the honors lineup for the fifth week this season.
Minto helped NU to two dominant Big Ten road wins, 38-6 at No. 18 Michigan and 38-3 at Michigan State, and is now ranked at No. 8 in the InterMat national rankings. In Ann Arbor, the Husker defeated last week’s Big Ten Freshman of the Week, No. 10 Beau Mantanona, with a 7-2 decision. Minto notched another win at MSU, taking down Jay Nivision 8-1. Unranked at the time, Minto is now No. 8 according to InterMat and Open Mat.
The Husker is among elite freshman company, joining Penn State’s No. 4 Josh Barr (197) and Minnesota’s No. 4 Max McEnelly (184) as repeat Freshman of the Week honorees. The Big Red have had a highly decorated season, winning five Big Ten weekly accolades, trailing only No. 1 Penn State, who has claimed seven.
Prior to this season, the last Husker to be honored twice in a season with the Big Ten weekly award was Mikey Labriola in 2021-22. The last time three Big Red wrestlers were honored in weekly awards from the conference was in the 2018-19 season. In no season on record have the Huskers received weekly honors in more than three weeks, making the 2024-25 season the first.
Minto and the Huskers continue Big Ten competition on Friday, Jan. 31, hosting Wisconsin. The dual is set to begin at 8 p.m. (CT) and will be televised on BTN. Tickets for the penultimate home matchup can be purchased at huskers.com/tickets.