The No. 9 Wisconsin wrestling team emerged from the 26th annual Cliff Keen Invite in Las Vegas, Nev. last weekend with a fifth place finish out of 50 teams.
Junior Dallas Herbst led the way for the nine competing Badger grapplers with a first place finish in the 197 lbs. No. 2 seed Herbst had faced top seed Max Askren from Missouri, and pinned him at 6:47 for the victory.
Herbst won all five matches to remain undefeated in the tournament, and improved his record to 13-0 on the season and 40 career falls. He is only seven away from Lee Kemp's record of 47.
Five other Wisconsin wrestlers placed in their respective weight classes. Senior Craig Henning finished in third place at 157 lbs. after defeating Pittsburgh's Matt Kocher in a 4-2 decision.
Henning had earlier lost his semi-final rematch against Big Ten Conference foe Mike Poeta from Illinois. Poeta defeated Henning at the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic Nov. 19, and history repeated itself as the Illini grappler won 6-1 Saturday.
Henning recovered with a pin of Missouri's Mike Chandler in the wrestlebacks to advance to the third place match, where he beat Kocher to finish the invite 5-1.
Junior Kyle Massey also finished third at heavyweight. Masse lost a close 3-1 decision to Tervel Dlagnev from Nebraska-Kearney, but rebounded to win three straight and advanced to the third place match where he defeated Illinois' John Wise 9-2.
Sophomore Kyle Ruschell placed fifth at 141 lbs. He lost to second-seeded Jeff Jaggers from Ohio State in the semifinals, but recovered for a win in the wrestleback round. Ruschell won a 5-3 decision against Ryan Williams from Old Dominion in the fifth place match.
Junior Zach Tanelli finished the invite seventh overall at 133 lbs. Tanelli won three straight matches, but narrowly lost his quarter final match by a close 6-5 decision to Jeff Hedges from North Carolina-Greensboro. He later defeated Navy's Joe Baker by a 5-2 score in the seventh place match.
At 184 lbs., sophomore Trevor Brandvold defeated Penn's Lior Zamir in a close 4-3 decision to finish the invite in seventh place.
Senior grappler Collin Cudd finished the invite 3-2 at 125 lbs., while senior Jake Donar finished the invite 1-2 at 165 lbs. Junior Justin Peterson also finished the invite at 3-2.
Michigan won the team title by scoring 127.5 points. Missouri finished a close second, just 2.5 points behind at 125.0. Ohio State finished third with 121.0 points. Nebraska placed fourth with 112.5 points, while the Badgers finished with 107.5 points.
The Badgers return to dual action this weekend with a match at Northern Iowa Saturday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. and then open the Big Ten season in Columbus, Ohio at 6:30 Monday, Dec. 10 against No. 16 Ohio State.
