Nov. 15, 2009
MADISON, Wis.--The No. 12 Wisconsin wrestling team battled No. 7 Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb. Sunday afternoon in its second match of the 2009-10 season. The Badgers fell to the Huskers 26-17, but had four individual victories, including a pin, a tech fall and a major decision. Wisconsin is now 1-1 on the season.
The match began at 184 lbs., where redshirt freshman Jimmy Duffy took on redshirt freshman Josh Ihnen. Ihnen scored the first takedown with 1:20 left on the clock in the first period and added to his lead with another takedown and an escape to win the match 6-1 and giving the Huskers a 3-0 lead. Duffy registered an escape in the match.
True freshman Jackson Hein then took on his second ranked opponent of the weekend with No. 2 senior Craig Brester at 197 lbs. Brester jumped out to an early 9-2 lead in the first period, adding five more points to win by a 14-2 major decision, giving Nebraska a 7-0 lead. Hein recorded two escapes in the match.
Junior Eric Bugenhagen battled No. 9 sophomore Tucker Lane in a tough heavyweight matchup. After a scoreless first period, Lane chose down and registered the only points of the second period with an escape at 1:51. In the third period, Bugenhagen chose down and did the same, evening the score at 1-1 with an escape at 1:56. The bout then went into a first overtime, where no points were scored. In the second overtime, both Bugenhagen and Lane scored escapes to tie the bout at 3-3 and sent the match into a third overtime where Lane had just one second of riding time advantage to win the match 4-3 and stretching the Husker's lead to 10-0.
At 125 lbs., senior Drew Hammen wrestled true freshman David Klingsheim. Hammen recorded the first takedown of the match with 1:12 left on the clock in the first period. Hammen scored another takedown, an escape and riding time of 1:19 to win the match 5-2, giving the Badgers their first team points of the match as they trailed 10-3.
No. 10 Tyler Graff then faced true freshman C.J. Napier at 133 lbs. Graff jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the first period and never looked back. Graff registered 12 takedowns in the match and scored a riding time advantage of 1:26 to win the bout 26-10 by tech fall, narrowing the Huskers lead to 10-7.
Redshirt freshman Trey Bertram took on junior Mike Koehnlein at 141 lbs. Bertram scored the first points of the match with a takedown at 1:32 in the first period. He then trailed 6-2 at the end of the period after Koehlein scored a takedown and three near fall points. Koehnlein then went on to add six more points to his score, winning the match by a 12-2 major decision and extending Nebraska's lead to 14-7.
No. 2 Kyle Ruschell battled redshirt freshman Ross Grande at 149 lbs. Ruschell recorded three takedowns in the first period to lead 6-2. Ruschell went on to add two more takedowns, an escape and riding time of 3:32 to win by a 12-3 major decision, once again cutting the Huskers lead to 14-11.
Junior Greg Burke battled No. 1 senior Jordan Burroughs at 165 lbs. Burroughs struck fast with a takedown and shortly after pinned Burke at 0:25, giving the Huskers a 20-11 lead over the Badgers.
No. 3 sophomore Andrew Howe then wrestled junior Alex Ward at 165 lbs. Howe scored 10 takedowns, one reversal and two near fall points before pinning Ward at 6:24. It was Howe's first career pin, and it gave the UW six points, narrowing Nebraska's lead to 20-17.
At 174 lbs., true freshman Brendan Ard took on No. 6 senior Stephen Dwyer. After a scoreless first period, Dwyer got on the board first with a reversal. Ard responded with an escape and then took the 3-2 lead with a takedown. Dwyer evened the score with an escape at the 54-second mark in the second. All tied up at 3-3, Ard chose down to start the third and shortly after, Dwyer pinned Ard at the 5:25 mark, giving the Huskers six points and a team victory of 26-17.
Complete bout-by-bout coverage from today's match can be found here.
The Badgers hit the road again next Sunday when they will face Oregon State and No. 8 Boise State in Corvallis, Ore.
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Justin Mozer
Athletic Communications
