LINCOLN, Neb. — The ISU wrestling team didn’t bring back its third consecutive Big 12 Championship trophy.

Fourth-ranked Nebraska rallied in the Big 12 Tournament finals to tie Iowa State for the team title on Saturday night. As the host of the tournament, Nebraska kept the original trophy. Another trophy will be engraved and sent to Ames, though at least one Cyclones said the Conference can save the hassle.

“They can keep it, I don’t care,” said assistant coach Cody Sanderson. “I imagine they’ll make another one or something. But that’s not really our focus.”

Less than two weeks before the NCAA Tournament, Iowa State was hoping for a dominant performance. Seven ISU wrestlers reached the Big 12 Tournament finals, but only Nick Fanthorpe (133) and David Zabriskie (HWT) won conference titles.

Meanwhile, four of the five Cornhusker finalists scored individual championships, erasing a large deficit and taking the outright lead going into the final match. Zabriskie literally held on to secure the team tie and his second Big 12 Championship.

Missouri’s second-ranked junior Mark Ellis shot in on Zabriskie midway through the third period, initiating a scramble that left the No. 1 ranked Cyclone upside-down and grasping desperately to Ellis’ ankle.

“He ended up catching me on a pretty quick high crotch (shot). I felt pretty confident there, just as long as I was holding onto that far ankle of his. I ended up almost scoring off of it, and I almost slipped off at the end.”

Zabriskie didn’t know what the team score was.

“I knew it was close, but I didn’t know exactly because they didn’t have it on the boards anywhere,” Zabriskie said.

Iowa State led by six going into Saturday evening final session. Two of the final three matches were between ISU and Nebraska wrestlers, and each championship would add a minimum of three points to the team score, with the possibility of bonus points.

NU senior Vince Jones (184) had pinned ISU freshman Jerome Ward in both of their regular-season meetings, but the 11th-ranked Cornhusker controlled Ward in a 3-0 decision.

Jones’ victorytied the team score and set up a rematch between No. 1-ranked Cyclone Jake Varner and Nebraska’s No. 2-ranked Craig Brester.

Varner beat Brester twice during the regular season. But, on Saturday, the Cornhusker junior countered a shot by Varner in the second period, scoring a takedown with nine seconds remaining. Varner scored a takedown with 1:15 left in the third period to tie the score, 3-3, but he allowed an escape 21 seconds later.

Varner pushed the pace of the match, but was unable to capitalize and score points.

“He went out to score points, and he got taken down off his attempt,” said assistant coach Casey Cunningham. “So we can take that, because he’s fighting and he’s trying, rather than him standing around and stealing something. And that’s what’s going to help him in his future, more than just chancing it.”

Varner

Iowa State won the Big 12 Tournament outright in 2007 and 2008, andhad never won three straight conference titles.

Head coach Cael Sanderson didn’t seem to think that a tie counts as a “three-peat.”

“I mean, it’s cool, I guess. It’s good for the University,” he said. “It’ll probably be forgotten after a few years, but you’re the co-champs, so… Two out of five teams are the co-champs here.

“But we came here to fight. We came to wrestle, and we didn’t do that 100 percent, so that’s something that I’m doing. I’ve got to make some adjustments.”

Zabriskie said the tournament felt similar to the Dec. 29-30 Midlands Championships, in which all five Cyclone finalists lost their matches and team lost a large lead to No. 1 ranked Iowa.

“You pick up one match, and it ends up different,” Zabriskie said. “It’s not a major concern. It’s just the final step prepping for NCAAs. So if guys think they didn’t perform their best, they still have time.”

Tyler Clark (125), Nick Gallick (141), Mitch M ueller (149) placed second along with Ward and Varner. Jon Reader (165) and Cyler Sanderson (157) lost frenetic matches in the semifinals and placed third and fourth, respectively.

Seventeenth-ranked Duke Burk (174) lost both of his matches and finished fifth. He is only Cyclone who hasn’t earned an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

The 52 at-large qualifiers will be announced on Wednesday. The NCAA Tournament will be held on March 19-21 in St. Louis, Mo.

“If the purpose of the committee is to get the best kids, then [Burk] should absolutely go,” Cael Sanderson said. “He lost to guys ranked ahead of him in tight matches, an overtime match … We’ll see though. This will be a good test of the process.”