UW wrestling coach Barry Davis compiled his 150th career victory on the heels of a thrilling 18-15 win over No. 18 Oklahoma in Oklahoma City last weekend. The No. 13 Badgers (0-1 Big Ten, 9-2-1 overall) defeated the Sooners in six separate bouts to claim the win.
The heavyweight battle served as the tiebreaker for the overall win as both teams were tied at 15 heading into the final match of the day. UW junior Kyle Massey and Oklahoma's Nathan Fernandez entertained the crowd with an exciting battle, but it was Massey who held on to his 4-2 lead that guaranteed the Badger victory at 18-15.
It seemed the heavyweight fight would not be as important as it was when UW jumped out to an early 9-0 lead following three straight victories. The first Wisconsin win came in the 125-pounds match where UW senior and No. 18 ranked wrestler in his class Collin Cudd recorded a 7-4 win after his three takedown match.
No. 12 Badger grappler Zach Tanelli also finished his match a winner after dismantling Oklahoma's John Starzyk 10-5 in the 133-pound bout. He was followed by UW sophomore Kyle Ruschell's low-scoring 3-1 victory over the Sooner's Zack Bailey at 141 pounds.
But after the early jumpstart on their opponent, the Sooners were able to rebound and fight back. In the 149-pound. match featuring UW freshman Kendall Vogel and No. 9 ranked Oklahoma grappler Will Rowe, the Badger was thoroughly outperformed as Rowe won 19-6 to trim UW's lead to 9-4.
UW re-established their lead during the next match as No. 2 ranked senior Craig Henning defeated the Sooners' Chad Terry in a 4-0 shutout win.
Now, with the Badgers leading the match 12-4, UW senior Jake Donar matched skills with OU's Shane Vernon. While holding the slimmest of margins at 5-4 heading into the final period, Donar found himself trailing with 1:36 left in the match after suffering a two-point reversal.
However, the feisty Donar responded with a reversal of his own to re-take the lead at 7-6. A frantic match came to a conclusion in the final seconds when Vernon managed yet another reversal with just seconds remaining to win the match 8-7 for the Sooners, cutting UW's lead to 12-7.
OU managed to trim UW's lead once again in the 174-pound class when Badger junior Justin Peterson was upended 10-1 by the Sooners' Jeff James.
With Oklahoma barely trailing 12-11, No. 7 ranked Oklahoma wrestler Josh Weitzel defeated Badger sophomore Trevor Brandvold 11-2 to give the Sooners a 15-12 overall match lead with only two matches remaining.
In a must-win situation, No. 6 ranked Badger wrestler Dallas Herbst claimed victory over previously undefeated Joel Flaggert of Oklahoma following a double-overtime battle where Herbst's reversal late in the second overtime gave him a 4-2 lead that he would not relinquish, and set up the winner-take-all heavyweight match.
The Badgers will return to conference action this weekend when they travel to Bloomington to grapple with the Hoosiers.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
