The No. 8 UW wrestling team hopes to pick up where they left off as they head into East Lansing, Mich. for the 2007 Big Ten Championships this weekend.
After finishing the season with a 5-3 mark in conference and a 19-3 record overall, it has been one of the more memorable seasons UW wrestling has seen in a number of years.
Considering the Badgers' success this season has come while only having one senior, Tyler Turner, on their roster, UW has relied on younger grapplers who have performed at a high level.
Going into the Big Ten Championships, UW received the third-highest number of preliminary seeds with seven Badger wrestlers seeing a number next to their name. Illinois led the Big Ten with 10 pre-seeded wrestlers followed by Minnesota with nine.
Junior Craig Henning (7-1 Big Ten, 24-2 overall), who also had a 13-match winning streak earlier in the season in the 157-pound weight class, was the highest seeded wrestler for UW coming into the championships, tied for third with Minnesota's C.P. Schlatter.
Henning already defeated Schlatter when UW and Minnesota battled almost two weeks ago. The only match Henning lost in Big Ten play was against No. 7 Brandon Becker of Indiana in the final match of the regular season.
Sophomore Zach Tanelli finds himself as the No. 4 pre-seed heading into East Lansing this weekend in the 133-pound weight class. Tanelli had a great sophomore campaign as he finished off the regular season with a 19-5 overall record, complemented by a 5-3 mark in conference.
UW freshman Kyle Ruschell received the No. 5 pre-seed in the 141-pound weight class as he finished the regular season with a 17-5 record overall and a 6-2 record in conference.
UW's lone senior Tyler Turner was also pre-seeded fifth in the 149-pound weight class. Turner only lost twice in Big Ten matches to No. 2 pre-seeded Josh Churella of Michigan and No. 4 pre-seeded Jake Patacsil, UW notched victories in each of these duels.
One of the most reliable Badger wrestlers throughout the season was sophomore Dallas Herbst of the 197-pound weight class. Herbst defeated Minnesota's Yura Malamura for one of only two Badger match victories against the Gophers. He heads into the Big Ten Championships boasting a 23-5 overall record as well as a 5-3 tally in Big Ten play.
Sophomore Kyle Massey of the heavyweight division was also pre-seeded at No. 5 in his class. Massey accumulated two of his four Big Ten victories by pinfall on his way to finishing the regular season with a mark of 14-6.
Freshman Trevor Brandvold and junior Matt Maciag rounded out the Badgers pre-seeded wrestlers in the 184 and 174-lpound weight classes, respectively. Both grapplers are seeded eighth.
The Big Ten Championships are truly anyone's for the taking as the Big Ten proves to be one of, if not the toughest conference in all of college wrestling. Ten of the 11 teams that comprise the Big Ten are ranked in the top 25 nationally, including five of the top 11 teams. Minnesota comes in as the unanimous No. 1-ranked team followed up by Illinois at No. 7, UW at No. 8, No. 10 Iowa and No. 11 Penn State.
Northwestern heads to East Lansing carrying the No. 15 ranking, Indiana is ranked No. 18, Ohio State is No. 21 and the Big Ten is rounded out by No. 22 Michigan State and No. 23 Michigan.
Minnesota could be considered the favorite as they boast four No. 1 pre-seeded wrestlers in the 125, 141, 149 and heavyweight divisions. Action starts Saturday and finishes up Sunday at the Breslin Center on Michigan State's campus.
10th in attendance
UW wrestling ranked 10th in the nation in attendance this season with an average of 1,333 people per match. This is the first time the Badgers have ever cracked the top 10 in attendance.
