Nebraska Wrestling's Ridge Lovett and Brock Hardy accomplish rare feat with Big Ten Championships triumphs

Nebraska Wrestling's Ridge Lovett and Brock Hardy achieved an impressive feat after their performances at the 2025 Big 10 Championships. Hardy and Lovett won their 141 lb and 149 lb brackets, respectively, during the competition.

These victories made them the first Husker duo since James Green and Robert Kokesh to clinch two Big 10 titles together for the program in a singles edition. Green and Kokesh touched this feat 11 years ago when they won their 157 lb and 174 lb bouts.

Hardy defeated Minnesota's Vance Vombaur through fall, while Lovett clinched victory over Illinois wrestler Kannon Webster courtesy of a 1-0 decision. The Huskers program finished in the second position (137.0 points) behind Penn State (181.5).

Following this, Nebraska Wrestling took to their X (formerly Twitter) handle on Monday to share a post to address this impressive feat with the caption:

"Joining elite company"

Nebraska Cornhuskers' Caleb Smith and Lenny Pinto also advanced to the finals of the 125 lb and 174 lb, respectively, during the 2025 Big 10 event. However, they lost the contests to Penn State's Luke Lilledahl and Levi Haines.

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"This is the right place to be"- Nebraska Wrestling's Brock Hardy shares his perspective on his collegiate program

Nebraska Wrestling's Brock Hardy, during a clash against Real Woods during the 2023 NCAA Championships (Image via: Getty Images)

Brock Hardy recently opened up about the reasons he chose the Nebraska Cornhuskers program. Hardy, a Brigham City native, is currently in his fifth year in the Huskers program.

In an interview with 1890 Nebraska uploaded on March 6, Hardy said he had several choices to choose from while commuting to a collegiate program, but the Nebraska Cornhuskers program emerged as his favorite. Additionally, he also expressed his love for the coaches and environment of the program and remarked it as a 'spiritual fit' for him.

"I feel like when I was coming down to the choices, I knew that each choice was good, but that there were going to be one that set it apart. And you know, I love the coaches, I love the entertainment, I love how well Nebraska trust their athletes and I really like the state of Nebraska. I'm a very religious person and spiritually I feel like this is the right place to be," he said (0:45 onwards).

During his time at the Nebraska Wrestling program, Brock Hardy clinched a third-place finish at the 2024 NCAA Championships. He was also the runner-up of the 141 lb bracket at the 2023 Big 10 Championships, where he lost to IOWA's Real Woods.