Throughout the season uwbadgers.com will talk with members of the Wisconsin wrestling team about how they first became involved with the sport of wrestling. This week's feature is on redshirt freshman Eric Bugenhagen.

Eric Bugenhagen is in his first year of competition with the Badgers. At Franklin High School, Bugenhagen was a WIAA state champion his senior year and a three-time conference champion. He is currently 3-2 this season while wrestling at 184 lbs. Here is how it all began for Eric Bugenhagen:

How old were you when you first started wrestling and how did you get started'

I was in seventh grade, so I must have started when I was 12 or 13 or around then. I started because my brother wrestled his freshman year of high school and I always just kind of followed in his footsteps with what he did. Since he did it, I thought I might as well start to do it too. I have one older brother and he doesn't wrestle anymore. He goes to medical school, so he doesn't have time for that anymore. There's not really any competition between us. I'll work out with him over the summer but it's not really competitive or anything.

What is one of the best memories you have from wrestling while growing up'

I guess the best memory is probably when I won state my senior year. That's by far the best memory I have of wrestling.

What's the funniest memory '

It's not really so funny for me as it is for other people but when I was at state my junior year, I had biker shorts on and back then it was illegal to have biker shorts be seen under the singlet. I have no clue why it was illegal, but the ref saw it at state. He disqualified me a point and he made me run all the way across the arena and change and I had like two minutes to do it. I ended up losing that match by a point. The year later though, it wasn't even a rule anymore. It's funny thinking back at it now because if I was in somebody else's shoes and I saw them running across an arena that would be funny.

What are some of the best things you learned from your coaches while growing up'

The best thing I have learned would be discipline. That's by far the best thing I've learned because you have to be disciplined with what you eat, with going out and what you do. That's probably the most important thing I've learned.