There was no break this spring for the Wisconsin wrestling team, at least not in the sense that most college students think. It is true the team traveled, but there was no rest and relaxation on this vacation. It was all work, and it paid off.
This past Thursday, the men of Badger wrestling traveled to St. Louis, Mo., to compete in the NCAA Championships. Wisconsin sent five wrestlers to the Championship, including seniors Dallas Herbst, Kyle Massey and Zach Tanelli. UW junior Kyle Ruschell and true freshman Andrew Howe also competed.
Of the five, only Herbst failed to make it out of the opening session with a win. Herbst entered the championships with only three losses all season but added a fourth after going up against senior Jon Oplinger of Drexel University. Herbst fell to Oplinger in a 7-5 sudden victory decision. He was then placed in the wrestleback bracket where he pinned junior Brent Jones of Virginia first, tying Badger great Lee Kemp's all-time career pin record. He then took down Purdue sophomore Logan Brown before falling to Maryland junior Hudson Taylor.
Tanelli fell in the second session after he defeated Virginia Tech sophomore Chris Diaz in an 8-4 decision in the first round. Tanelli's defeat came after a 9-4 decision at the hands of sophomore Nick Nelson of Virginia. He moved to the wrestleback consolation bracket, where he defeated Iowa senior Alex Tsirtsis and Illinois sophomore Ryan Prater to guarantee All-American status for himself. He then moved on to defeat sophomore Chris Drouin of Arizona State before falling to redshirt freshman Nick Gallick of Iowa State in a 5-3 decision. The loss left Tanelli with a fourth-place finish at the Championships.
Ruschell started off the Championships by defeating Cornell sophomore Daniel Meagher. In the second round, he downed Lehigh sophomore Trevor Chinn. Ruschell then fell to the wrestleback bracket in a 4-0 loss to junior Lance Palmer of Ohio State. In the wrestlebacks, Ruschell defeated Central Michigan junior Steven Brown to obtain All-American status. He also downed both junior Kyle Borshoff of American and sophomore Bryce Saddoris of Navy to advance to the third place matchup with Palmer, who knocked Ruschell out earlier. This time it was Ruschell who came out on top in a 5-4 decision, capturing third place at the Championships.
Massey won in the first round against Nebraska redshirt freshman Tucker Lane, but he fell in the second round to senior John Wise of Illinois in a close 6-5 decision. In the consolation round, Massey defeated Ohio State junior Cory Morrison. However, senior Joe Fendone of Edinboro pinned him in the next round.
It was Badger true freshman Howe who advanced the furthest in the Championships. Howe entered the Championships riding a 15-match win streak. He extended that streak to 19 by defeating Oklahoma redshirt freshman Ryan Smith, Bloomsburg junior Rick Schmelyun, Bucknell junior Andrew Rendos and Iowa junior Ryan Morningstar. In downing Rendos, Howe captured All-American status. By defeating Morningstar, he advanced to the final round to face off against Edinboro senior Jarrod King for the NCAA title. However, Howe fell in a close 3-2 decision, taking second at the NCAA Championships his freshman year.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
