<b>Junior Trevor Brandvold won six straight matches to finish in fourth place at the 2009 Midlands Championship.</b>

Wrestling

Wisconsin claims two titles at Midlands Championship

Wrestling

Wisconsin claims two titles at Midlands Championship

Dec. 30, 2009

2009 Midlands Championship Results Get Acrobat Reader

 

EVANSTON, Ill.--The No. 22 Wisconsin wrestling team wrapped up two days of competition at the 47th annual Midlands Championship with two individual titles, a second and a fourth place finish. Redshirt freshman Tyler Graff and sophomore Andrew Howe both claimed the championship in their respective weight classes, while senior Kyle Ruschell took second and junior Trevor Brandvold claimed fourth place. The Badgers finished with a score of 90.5 to come in fifth place overall.

Graff took on the No. 1 seed Nick Fanthorpe in his first match of day two at 133 lbs. The two met last year where Fanthorpe claimed a 4-2 victory over Graff. Yet Wednesday, Graff defeated Fanthorpe 5-3, advancing him to the championship bout where he faced No. 3 seed Steve Bell of Maryland. Graff won the match by major decision, 18-5, marking Graff’s first individual title as a Badger.

Howe began Wednesday’s semifinal round with a 6-6 victory with riding time over No. 4 seed Nick Marable of Missouri in a second tiebreaker. In the 165 lbs. final, Howe defeated Iowa State’s No. 2 seed Jon Reader 3-1 in the second sudden victory period. Howe had previously lost to Reader 7-5 in the 2008-09 season.

Ruschell's first match of the day was against No. 5 seed Anthony D’Alie of Central Michigan at 149 lbs. Ruschell won the bout by a12-2 major decision, advancing him to the championship match. In the finals, he faced No. 1 seed and No.1 ranked Brent Metcalf of Iowa. The two met three times last year, with Metcalf winning all of the matches. The trend continued on Wednesday as Metcalf defeated Ruschell by a 9-2 decision.

Brandvold went 3-1 on the second day of competition at 197 lbs., finally dropping the third place match, 6-3, to No. 5 seed Chad Beatty of Iowa. Brandvold registered victories over No. 8 seed Matt Wilps of Pittsburgh, Lehigh’s Joe Kennedy, who knocked Brandvold out of the championship bracket on Tuesday, and No. 2 seed Hudson Taylor of Maryland on his way to the third place bout.

Unattached freshman Shawn Perry lost his only match of the day to No. 4 seed Kevin LeValley of Bucknell at 149 lbs.

The Badgers return to action next week at the NWCA National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 9.

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Justin Mozer

Athletic Communications

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