Tanelli named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week
December 31, 2008 | Wrestling
After tearing through the 141 lbs. bracket at the 46th annual Midlands Championships, UW senior athid=5216&deptid=139"> --> Zach Tanelli was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week Wednesday. Tanelli went 6-0 at Midlands to take home the 141 lbs. title, his first invitational title in his Badger career.
Tanelli upset the top two wrestlers in the country en route to his title. He opened Midlands with two pins and registered a major decision before facing second-ranked Corey Jantzen from Harvard. Tanelli won with a 3-1 decision over the top seed to advance to the semis. Tanelli registered his fifth win of the tournament with an 8-1 win over Iowa State 's Dalton Jensen. The Millburn, N.J., native then met No. 1 ranked and No. 2 seed, Alex Tsirtis from Iowa in the finals. Tsirtis led for the first two periods and the opening minute of the third period before Tanelli scored a takedown, five backpoints and a point of riding time to take the 10-3 victory.
Aside from the tournament title, Tanelli brought home the Champion of the Champions award, which is voted on by all the individual champions at Midlands. His tournament title helped the Badgers socre 98.5 points and place fourth, which is their highest finish at Midlands since finishing runner-up in 1987.
Tanelli lost three-straight matches heading into Midlands and he improves to 13-3 overall in his final year at Wisconsin. This is Tanelli's third Wrestler of the Week honor and his first since February 2008. His first accolade came in January, 2007 during his sophomore season.
This is also the second weekly accolade for a Badger grappler this season. Senior Dallas Herbst was awarded on November 18 of this season.
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- sportid=139&storyid=16231"> --> Tanelli, Herbst upend top-ranked wrestlers for titles, Badgers place fourth
