This past Sunday, the No. 16 Wisconsin wrestling team competed in their final Big Ten dual meet of the season, hosting Ohio State in front of 1,141 fans at the UW Field House. At the end of the day, the Badgers fell short to the sixth-ranked Buckeyes, 24-18.
The first match of the afternoon went to the Buckeyes, as Ohio State's No. 17-ranked Jason Johnstone defeated UW freshman Ben Jordan with a 6-2 decision at 157 pounds.
At 165 pounds, another UW freshman, eighth-ranked Andrew Howe, continued his dominance in Big Ten matches as he scored an impressive 3-2 decision over the Buckeye's Colt Sponseller. The Ohio State sophomore had been ranked No. 2 at 165 pounds.
With the victory, Howe improved his record to 22-4 overall and a perfect 8-0 against Big Ten competition. All four of Howe's losses came against opponents ranked in the top five. That all changed on Sunday when the freshman scored the most impressive victory of his collegiate career.
The Buckeyes regained the momentum in the following two matches. At 174 pounds, Ohio State's Dave Rella scored a 5-3 decision over UW's Travis Rutt. At 184 pounds, the Buckeye's No. 2-ranked Mike Pucilo defeated Wisconsin sophomore Eric Bugenhagen with a 14-4 major decision.
Down 10-3 overall, UW senior Dallas Herbst came through for the team at 197 pounds, pinning Ohio State's Jason Cook in 2:02. The team co-captain scored his 20th win of the season against two losses. The senior also finished the Big Ten season with a perfect 8-0 record.
At 285 pounds, Wisconsin's 18-ranked Kyle Massey scored another win for the Badgers, defeating Ohio State's Corey Morrison with an 8-1 decision. The win for the senior improved his record to 22-7 overall, 6-2 in Big Ten competition.
With the victories for Herbst and Massey, the Badgers took the lead, 12-10.
At 125 pounds, OSU's Nikko Triggas pinned UW's Drew Hammen, giving the lead back to the Buckeyes. At 133 pounds, Ohio State's No. 3-ranked Reece Humphrey scored a major decision over UW freshman Tom Kelliher, 13-3.
The Buckeyes scored their third consecutive win at 141 pounds, as J Jaggers scored a major decision over Wisconsin junior Erik Senescu, 13-3. The victory for Jaggers put the Buckeyes up 24-12, an insurmountable lead with only one match to go.
Wisconsin took the final match of the day in the 149 pound weight class, as fifth-ranked Kyle Ruschell pinned OSU's Owen Schaefer in 4:29. The pin earned the Badgers six points, bringing the final tally to 24-18 in favor of the Buckeyes.
With the win, the Buckeyes improved to 17-2-0, 7-1-0 in the Big Ten. The Badgers finished the regular season at 9-8-0, 3-5-0 in the Big Ten.
Next up for UW is the Big Ten Championships, March 7 and 8 at University Park, Penn. Its season concludes with the NCAA Championships at St. Louis, from March 19-21.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
