The No. 15 Wisconsin wrestling team traveled to Evanston, Ill., this past weekend for a Big Ten dual meet against the No. 19 Northwestern Wildcats. At the end of a competitive meet, the Badgers fell short, 21-19. Their record now stands at 6-5-0 overall, 0-2-0 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats improve to 9-3-0, 2-0-0 in the Big Ten.
The day started out in favor of Northwestern, as No. 3-ranked Brandon Precin scored a major decision at 125 pounds., over UW's Drew Hammen. The junior improved his season record to 20-1 with the victory. At 133 pounds NU's Eric Metzler, a native of Luxemberg, Wis., scored a win over UW's Kyle Reeve, 12-6.
Wisconsin senior Zach Tanelli, at the time ranked No. 5, got the Badgers on the board by defeating No. 16-ranked Keith Sulzer in the 141-pound weight class, 3-0. With the victory, Tanelli's record this season improves to 17-3, and he jumps to the No. 2-ranked wrestler at 141 pounds.
Ranked No. 5 at 149 pounds, junior Kyle Ruschell followed up Tanelli's win with one of his own, recording an 8-4 victory over NU's Andrew Nadhir. With the win, Ruschell lifted the Badgers to within one point of Northwestern, 7-6.
At 157 pounds, UW true freshman Ben Jordan fell short against No. 17 Jordan Welch, 6-0. Fellow freshman Andrew Howe came away with a much better result, scoring a major decision victory over Northwestern's Dominic Marella, 16-5 at 165 pounds. The freshman ranks No. 13 in his weight class, and Howe looks to be a force for years to come, with a record of 16-4, with the four losses all coming to opponents ranked in the top-five. With Howe's victory, the Badgers and Wildcats were gridlocked at 10 points apiece.
Northwestern reclaimed the lead in the 174-pound match as Robert Kellogg pinned UW's Travis Rutt at 6:19. NU's Jake Herbert got another win for the Wildcats, getting a tech fall over Wisconsin's Eric Bugenhagen at 184 pounds. The Northwestern senior, who spent last year training for the Olympics in Beijing, holds the No. 1 ranking at 184 pounds. The victory gave Herbert his 20th win of the year against zero losses.
Wisconsin would go on to finish the day with two victories. No. 3-ranked senior Dallas Herbst pinned Northwestern's John Schoen in 4:42. After Herbst's impressive win, Wisconsin trailed 21-16. In the heavyweight match, UW's seventh-ranked Kyle Massey scored a 5-1 decision over Northwestern's Ben Kuhar. Massey's win propelled the Badgers to 19 points, falling painfully short to NU's 21.
The Wisconsin wrestlers will look to notch their first Big Ten victories of the season later this week when they have road dual meets against Michigan State and Penn State. They will take on the Spartans at 6 p.m. Friday, January 30, and will face the Nittany Lions at noon Sunday, Feb. 1.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
