Dec. 30, 2009
MADISON, Wis.--After the first day of competition at the 47th annual Midlands Championships, the Wisconsin wrestling team sits in sixth place with 49 points. Redshirt freshman Tyler Graff (133 lbs.), senior Kyle Ruschell (149 lbs.) and sophomore Andrew Howe(165 lbs.) are still in contention for the titles in their respective weight classes, while freshman Shawn Perry (149 lbs.), wrestling unattached, and junior Trevor Brandvold (197 lbs.) are still vying for third place.
Iowa is in first place after the first day of competition with 100 points, followed by Iowa State with 92.5 points and Missouri with 73.5 points.
Graff is still in the running for the title at 133 lbs. He won three straight matches and will face No. 1 seed Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State in a seminal match on Wednesday. Graff entered the tournament with the No. 4 seed and began with a pin against Nathan McCormick of Missouri at 1:42. He then advanced with another pin over Jeff Newby of Utah Valley at 2:34 and defeated No. 5 seed Kyle Hutter of Old Dominion, 5-3, to advance to the semifinals.
Ruschell went 3-0 on the first day of competition, only allowing his opponents to score six total points against him. He will face No. 6 seed Anthony D’Alie of Central Michigan in a semifinal bout Wednesday. Ruschell came in seeded No. 2 and defeated Binghamton’s Donny Vinson 8-1 and advanced with a 9-3 decision over Sam Patacsil of Purdue. Ruschell won his last match of the day, 3-2, over No. 7 seed Mitch Mueller of Iowa State to advance to the semifinals.
At 165 lbs., Howe is still in contention for the title. He entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and went 3-0 on Tuesday. Howe began the day with an 18-7 major decision over Robert Kellogg of Northwestern. He then claimed another major decision victory over Dan Stelter of Illinois 16-5. Howe then won his final match of the day against No. 9 seed Tyler Gravson of Central Michigan by a 6-2 decision to advance to the semifinal round.
Perry went 4-1 at the Midlands Championship and wrestled unattached at 149 lbs. All four of his victories came in the wrestleback bracket and were all won by decision. Wednesday, Perry will face No. 4 seed Kevin LeValley of Bucknell and fight for a chance to take third place.
Brandvold, the No. 4 seed, was upset in his first match against Joe Kennedy of Lehigh, knocking him down to the wrestleback bracket. In the wrestlebacks, Brandvold went 3-0, with a pin and two wins by decision. He will face No. 8 seed Matt Wilps of Pittsburgh as he competes for a chance at the third place title.
Senior Drew Hammen is done competing at 125 lbs., going 2-2 on the day. He opened with a 6-5 defeat at the hands of No. 7 seed Jason Lara of Orgeon State, bumping him down to the wrestleback bracket. Hammen then met Joe Roth of Central Michigan and won in a 4-0 decision. Hammen then defeated Seth Wright of New Mexico Hilands, 4-2, and ended the day with a 12-4 loss to Christopher Quiroga of Purdue.
At 141 lbs., redshirt freshman Cole Schmitt went 2-2 at the Championship. He began the day with an 11-7 loss to Northern Iowa’s Alec Hoffman, knocking him down to the wrestleback bracket. Schmitt won his first two wrestlebacks by a 6-0 decision over Nick Hucke of Missouri and a 9-1 major decision over Pat McLemore of Northern Illinois, but he lost his final bout of the day to No. 9 seed Montell Marion of Iowa, 7-4.
Junior Greg Burke and unattached freshman Kalvin York are both done competing at 157 lbs. Burke dropped his first match of the day by pin to Lehigh’s Sean Bilodeau to knock him down to the consolation bracket where he went 1-1. York also lost his first match, losing an 8-3 decision to No. 10 seed Jake Kerr of Iowa and dropped his first wrestleback bout to No. 9 Colton Salazar of Purdue.
Redshirt freshman Jimmy Duffy and unattached sophomore Ben Jordan have both been eliminated from competition at 174 lbs. Duffy won his first bout by a 3-1 decision over Mason True of Northern Illinois and then lost to No. 6 seed Dorian Henderson of Missouri, dropping him to the wrestlebacks where he went 1-1. Jordan won his first match by shutting out Cleveland State’s Marcus Effner 8-0. He then dropped his next match to No. 5 seed Duke Burke of Iowa State and lost his wrestleback to Ethan Lofthouse of Iowa.
At 184 lbs., sophomore Travis Rutt went 3-2 at the invite. He began the day with a 4-0 loss to No. 1 seed Max Askren of Missouri and won his three following wrestleback matches by major decision, decision and pin, consecutively. Rutt lost his final match of the day by a 14-5 major decision to Iowa’s Grant Gramball.
Freshman Jackson Hein is out of competition at 197 lbs. after going 1-2. He won his first match over Richard Kessler of Stanford by an 8-3 decision, but then lost his following two matches to Central Michigan’s Eric Simaz Kennedy and Pittsburgh’s AJ Hunt, respectively.
Junior Eric Bugenhagen is also is out competition at heavyweight. Bugnehagen dropped his first match on Tuesday to No. 2 seed Zak Rev of Lehigh 3-2. Bugenhagen was dropped down to the wrestleback bracket and was victorious over Alan O’Donnell of Michigan State by an 8-2 decision and Pat Walker of Illinois by a 4-0 decision. He then dropped his next match to Clayton Jack of Oregon State by a 6-2 decision, knocking him out of the tournament.
Wrestling continues tomorrow at noon inside the Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. Log onto UWBadgers.com tomorrow for final results from the 2009 Midlands Championships.
