Sometimes overlooked, but certainly not overconfident, the Badger wrestling team is 2-0 so far this season, with wins in Green Bay against UW-Oshkosh and at the Pointer Open in Stevens Point.
At the Pointer Open this past Saturday, the Badgers officially had three first-place finishers; senior Lee Kraemer went 4-0 and was credited with first place in the 197 pound weight division, but actually shared first place with redshirt freshman teammate Dallas Herbst, because the two did not wrestle off in the finals.
The other two first-place finishes went to two redshirt freshmen'Zach Tanelli at 133 pounds, and Kyle Massey at heavyweight, both went undefeated.
'It shows our depth as a team to get first place finishes from seniors and freshmen, we've got great leadership up top, and great skills in our freshmen,' head coach Barry Davis said. 'It also shows the competition we have in the wrestling room, which will improve our performance as the year goes along.'
This weekend, the team heads to Pennsylvania to face Lock Haven Saturday and Penn State Sunday in a Big Ten dual meet.
'We'll see where we're at this weekend when we face Penn State, cause they're pretty tough and I think ranked a little higher than us, but it's a good way for us to gauge how high we are caliber-wise as a wrestling team,' Kraemer said.
Tanelli said he was happy with taking first last weekend, but he looks at it as just another tournament, and feels like it is still too early in the season to tell how good his team will be.
'It's hard to say where we're at as a team. Last weekend, we had some guys perform well, and some other guys not perform well,' Tanelli said. 'We'll be able to tell more about where we're at as a team after this weekend.'
It may still be early in the season, but Coach Davis' squad is taking steps in the right direction to become one of the top teams in the Big-Ten as well as in the nation.
'It is early, but we've seen some great things going on in practice and now in competition and that's good,' Davis said. 'It's a long season, but at the same time, it's short, so we have to use our time wisely and train hard.'
