March 21, 2015
Updated Bracket
ST.LOUIS, Mo.-- Wisconsin finished the season with a 9-4 conference dual record and currently sits in 16th place with 32.5 team points heading into tonight's finals at the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships. UW boasted three All-Americans this season, the most in a single season since 2011.
The best news is that five of the seven NCAA qualifiers return for the 2015-16 season. In addition, all three of Wisconsin's All-Americans return next season.
UW's three All-Americans this year ties for the fifth-most in program history.
"We didn't finish the way we wanted to finish team-score wise," Wisconsin head coach Barry Davis said. "The thing is that everyone came down and scored. A lot of those guys are coming back like Ricky (Robertson) and Jesse (Thielke) in addition to the three All-Americans. We are going to move forward and regroup to make a game plan for next year."
Two-time All-American Isaac Jordan claimed his first Big Ten Championship at 165 lbs. and brought Wisconsin's grand total 69 Big Ten Champions in program history. Along with his Big Ten crown, the sophomore earned his second-consecutive All-America honor and finished in seventh place at the NCAA Championships.
Junior Connor Medbery had the highest placement of any Badger with a fourth-place finish at 285 lbs. The two-time NCAA qualifier claimed his first All-America honor.
Sophomore Ryan Taylor, who qualified for his second NCAA tournament, received his first All-America accolade and finished in seventh place at 133 lbs.
In an exhilarating consolation semifinal at 285 lbs., Connor Medbery defeated Iowa's Bobby Telford with a 3-1 decision in sudden victory. The two rivals have gone back and forth for years and Medbery entered the match with a 3-1 all-time record against him. The Loveland, Colorado, native was defeated by the Hawkeye twice in this season alone and Medbery was coming back with a vengeance.
After going scoreless in the first period, Medbery slid out for an escape four seconds into the second period and took a 1-0 lead. In the third period, Medbery started on top and Telford escaped. With the Hawkeye's escape, the score was tied 1-1 at the end of the bout and the two rivals were headed into sudden victory.
Medbery hit Telford with the takedown to end Telford's collegiate career and secure his spot in the third-place match.
Medbery faced Northwestern's Mike McMullan in the third-place match. Medbery saw McMullan only once this season but it turned out in Medbery's favor with a 7-6 decision at Northwestern. The two Big Ten opponents put on a show for the crowd.
After one period of wrestling, the two remained scoreless. Medbery started on bottom in the second period and escaped to get on the board first with a 1-0 lead. Northwestern challenged a no-takedown call at the end of the second period but the decision stood and Medbery led 1-0 after two periods.
McMullan tied it up with an escape at the start of the third period, 1-1. McMullan struck fast to get two points and Medbery trailed 3-1. Medbery managed one more escape but it wasn't enough as McMullan clinched the 3-2 decision for third place. Medbery finished in fourth place with a phenomenal 32-5 overall record.
Taylor wrestled Michigan's 14th-seeded Bruno for the seventh place spot. Taylor used three takedowns and 1:33 total riding time to win the match 7-3 and seal the deal for seventh place.
Isaac Jordan went head-to-head with Stanford's Wilson for seventh place. Jordan edged Wilson with a 3-2 decision and ended in seventh place overall.
18,797 fans were in attendance for the fifth session at the Scottrade Center and there was a total paid attendance of 92,841 for all three days, not including the finals session.
