Recapping the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
March 24, 2010 | Wrestling
March 24, 2010
MADISON, Wis. -- Last weekend was a busy one for Wisconsin athletics. The men’s and women’s basketball teams were both playing in the NCAA Tournament, while men’s hockey was competing at the WCHA Final Five. Not to be lost in the shuffle, the Wisconsin wrestling team was down in Omaha, Neb., putting together one of the finest performances at the NCAA Championships in school history.
Two weeks prior, at the Big Ten Championships, six wrestlers earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. Redshirt freshman Tyler Graff (133 lbs.), senior Kyle Ruschell (149 lbs.), sophomores Andrew Howe (165 lbs.) and Travis Rutt (184 lbs.) and juniors Trevor Brandvold (197 lbs.) and Eric Bugenhagen (heavyweight) all placed high enough to earn the auto bids, while redshirt freshman Cole Schmitt was granted an at-large selection at 141 lbs.
Four Badgers were seeded when the brackets were released leading up to the event. Howe was given the No. 1 seed at 165 lbs., while Ruschell was No. 4 at 149 lbs., Brandvold was No. 5 at 197 lbs. and Graff was No. 8 at 133 lbs.
Five of seven Badgers earned victories in Session I, with the team in third place after Thursday morning. Howe opened his title run with a fall in the opening round, while Brandvold did the same in his match. Graff ended up winning his match by major decision, Ruschell shut out his opponent, and Rutt won via decision.
Thursday evening saw three wrestlers move toward their goal of an NCAA title as Graff, Howe and Brandvold each won in Session II, while all seven wrestlers sent by UW were still alive in competition. Ruschell was upset in his second round match by an unseeded wrestler, while Rutt fell to the No. 1 seed at 184 lbs. Schmitt was able to stay alive with a win in the wrestlebacks, as did Bugenhagen. The team fell one spot to fourth place with 23 points.
Session III saw the elimination of three Badgers as Schmitt, Rutt and Bugenhagen were all eliminated with their second losses at the event. Howe was then left as the lone Badger remaining in the title hunt as Ruschell, Brandvold and Graff were all dropped in the quarterfinals. As a team, UW had dropped to eighth place with 33 points.
Down but not out, Wisconsin put together one if its finest performances of the season in Session IV, going a perfect 7-0 to earn four All-Americans for the first time since five Badgers earned the distinction in 1984. In addition, Howe earned a spot in the 165 lbs., title match for the second year in a row. The impressive session also bumped UW all the way up to fourth in the standings with 62 points.
Wisconsin had three wrestlers end their season in Session V, including Ruschell, who ended his collegiate career with a 122-29 record at UW. Heplaced fourth at 149 lbs., while Graff earned fifth at 133 lbs., and Brandvold took sixth at 197 lbs. The Badgers dropped one spot in the team standings to fifth with 66.5 points.
The season then came down to Session VI on Saturday as Howe looked to cap off an undefeated season with an NCAA title. He left little doubt that he was the best wrestler at 165 lbs., defeating Penn State’s Dan Vallimont, 9-3, to become the 13th different NCAA Champion in school history and the first since current UW Associate Head Coach Donny Pritzlaff won back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001.
Howe finished his sophomore season as an All-American, as well as an NCAA and Big Ten champion. He compiled a 37-0 overall record, including four wins by pin, two by tech fall and 13 by major decision. The sophomore became just the fourth Badger to go undefeated in a single season, joining Matt Demaray (42-0 in 1990-91), Andy Rein (40-0 in 1979-80) and Lee Kemp (39-0 in 1975-76).
The strong performances over the final three sessions enabled Wisconsin to finish in fourth place with 70.5 points, tying for the best finish in school history and the best under head coach Barry Davis. Wisconsin also finished in fourth place in 1976 and 1978.
To culminate everything, after the finals were over at the NCAAs, Davis was honored by his colleagues as the NWCA National Coach of the Year.
It was a special season for Wisconsin wrestling and with just two seniors graduating, Ruschell and Drew Hammen, the groundwork has been set for even greater things in 2011.
