The UW wrestling team (19-3 overall, 5-3 Big Ten) closed out its regular season this past weekend in the Field House after splitting duals with No. 1 Minnesota and No. 18 Indiana Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.
The Badgers were outmanned in the first match against Minnesota, losing 28-12. The Badgers rested three regular wrestlers in junior Collin Cudd, freshman Trevor Brandvold and sophomore Kyle Massey.
UW junior and No. 5-ranked Craig Henning won his 13th consecutive match in the 157 lb. weight class by defeating Minnesota's No. 6-ranked C.P. Schlatter. A virtually deadlocked match took a turn in the Badgers favor when the Gophers' Schlatter was called for stalling twice in the final seconds to give Henning the 5-3 victory.
Joining Henning in the win column was UW sophomore and No. 13 Dallas Herbst in the 197 lb. weight class. Herbst was relentless throughout the entire match with Minnesota's Yura Malamura as he jumped out to an early 2-0 lead he never relinquished. After an escape in the second period and two takedowns in the third, Herbst found himself with a 9-2 win.
However, those were the only three matches the Badgers were successful in as Minnesota went on to win the rest of the weight classes, including the Gophers' No. 1 Cole Konrad, who beat UW freshman heavyweight Jordan Hein to add to his 65-match winning streak. Minnesota won the other six weight classes to claim victory in the dual.
The Badgers bounced back with a 21-13 win over Indiana Sunday on senior day at the Field House.
In his final home match, senior Tyler Turner defeated Matt Coughlin in the 149 lb. weight class 8-3 to go out victorious for the last time in front of the Badger faithful.
The Badgers took an early lead as UW sophomore Zach Tanelli came from behind to defeat No. 20 Andrae Hernandez in the 133 lb. weight class to give Bucky a 6-0 lead.
No. 10 freshman Kyle Ruschell picked up where Tanelli left off and won his match 8-3 in the 141 lb. division. UW extended the lead to 12-0 before No. 7 Brandon Becker upset Henning, snapping his winning streak of 13 straight matches.
The Badgers then reeled off victories in the 165 lb., 197 lb. and heavyweight matches to get the convincing victory.
Next up for Wisconsin, whose 19 wins are the most in more than 20 years, is the Big Ten Championships.
