Wisconsin Badgers
Big Ten Championships
This Week in Wrestling: March 5-6
March 01, 2016 | Wrestling
Wisconsin heads to Iowa City for Big Ten championships
UW BEGINS POSTSEASON ACTION
Wisconsin's (4-8, 3-6 Big Ten) lineup for the Big Ten Championships includes six seeded wrestlers:
- 125: No. 6 Johnny Jimenez
- 133: No. 6 Ryan Taylor (#10)
- 141: Gabriel Grahek
- 149: No. 7 Andrew Crone
- 157: TJ Ruschell
- 165: No. 1 Isaac Jordan (#2)
- 174: No. 8 Ricky Robertson
- 184: No. 8 Ryan Christensen
- 197: Eric Peissig
- 285: Brock Horwath
| Wisconsin at Big Ten Championships - Sessions 1 and 2 | |
| Date | Saturday, March 5 | All Day |
| Location | Iowa City, Iowa | Carver-Hawkeye Arena |
| Watch | BTN2Go | Watch Live |
| Follow | Live Stats | @BadgerWrestling |
| Notes | Wisconsin Get Adobe Acrobat Reader | Championship Central |
| Wisconsin at Big Ten Championships - Session 3 and Championship Rounds | |
| Date | Sunday, March 6 | All Day |
| Location | Iowa City, Iowa | Carver-Hawkeye Arena |
| Watch | BTN2Go/BTN | Watch Live |
| Follow | Live Stats | @BadgerWrestling |
| Notes | Wisconsin Get Adobe Acrobat Reader | Championship Central |
NOTES TO KNOW
1 B1G TIME: Wisconsin has had 69 total Big Ten champions with 16 of those honors coming under head coach Barry Davis. The Badgers crowned their first Big Ten Champion since assistant coach Trevor Brandvold in 2011 when Isaac Jordan brought home the 165-pound title in 2015. Jordan is expected to enter the tournament as the No. 1-seed this year for the first time in his career. He was also named to the 2015 All-Big Ten team. The Wisconsin Wrestling program finished with 74.0 team points and placed eighth overall in the 2015 Big Ten Championships. Iowa and Ohio State tied for first place with 120.0 points apiece. UW boasted seven NCAA qualifiers last season, and three went on to become 2015 All-Americans.
2 RANKINGS UPDATE: Four Wisconsin athletes appeared in the recent RPI rankings, released by the NCAA. In order to qualify, a wrestler must have a minimum of 17 Division I matches. The Badgers included were: No. 25 Johnny Jimenez (125), No. 21 Andrew Crone (149), No. 3 Isaac Jordan (165), No. 20 Ricky Robertson (174) and No. 31 Ryan Christensen (184). In addition to the RPI rankings, the NCAA also released its Division I coaches rankings. Among the 10 weight classes, six included Wisconsin wrestlers. The rankings included No. 14 Ryan Taylor (133), No. 2 Isaac Jordan (165), No. 25 Ricky Robertson (174), No. 32 Ryan Christensen (184) and No. 33 Brock Horwath (HWT). Second-ranked 165-pounder Isaac Jordan has started the season with an unscathed 21-0 record to extend a 22-match winning streak, which dates back to last season. The junior's victory at RU on Feb. 5--a 4-0 shutout over No. 8 Anthony Perrotti--gave him the longest winning streak by a UW wrestler since Andrew Howe (165) went 30-0 to begin the 2009-10 season.
3 SENIOR DAY SUCCESS: The Wisconsin wrestling team celebrated Senior Day on Sunday at the Field House before dominating Northwestern, 38-3, behind a major decision, two technical falls and a pin. Other than their 43-0 walloping of Division II UW-Whitewater on Nov. 12, the win was easily the Badgers' most lopsided. Previously, Wisconsin's biggest point differential in a victory was 13 points against Maryland on Feb. 14.
Wisconsin's second-ranked 165-pounder, Isaac Jordan, used two takedowns, a two-point near fall and a four-point near fall to get out to a comfortable 10-1 lead after one period. Taylor pinned Malone at the 5:47 mark, while Robertson shut out Sliga in a 4-0 decision. Ryan Christensen added to Wisconsin's lead with a major decision in the 184-pound grapple. The Wisconsin wrestler did not allow his competitor, Regis Durbin, to reach the scoreboard until there were only 27 seconds remaining in the match. He went for three takedowns and his first four-point near fall of the season in the 14-1 win. Andrew Crone challenged his fifth ranked opponent in the last eight matches, as he met No. 6 Jason Tsirtis in the 149-pound battle. After no scoring through two periods, Tsirtis picked up an escape, takedown and riding time point in the third compared to Crone's escape to win, 4-1. Crone now posts a 2-6 record against rated wrestlers, with three of the losses coming by three points or less. Seniors Brett Hochstaetter, Nic Veling and Brock Horwath were honored prior to the dual.
4 LOOKING AHEAD: The 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City March 17-19. A limited number of single session tickets are still available, in addition wrestling fans can buy and sell official tickets through the NCAA Ticket Exchange. This gives ticket holders who are unable to attend a session a place to safely sell their tickets. Buyers can also get their tickets knowing the tickets are authentic and guaranteed, visit http://www.ncaa.com/tickets/wrestling/d1 for more information. The Big Ten by far has the most allocations with 71 spots for NCAA qualifiers:
- 125 - 7
- 133 - 9
- 141 - 7
- 149 - 6
- 157 - 7
- 165 - 6
- 174 - 9
- 184 - 7
- 197 - 6
- 285 - 7
A full description of the entire selection process is in the 2016 Division I Wrestling Championships Pre-Championships Manual which is available at NCAA.org.
5 JUST JORDAN: Third-ranked 165-pounder Isaac Jordan has started the season with an unscathed 21-0 record to extend a 22-match winning streak, which dates back to last season. The junior's victory at RU on Feb. 5--a 4-0 shutout over No. 8 Anthony Perrotti--gave him the longest winning streak by a UW wrestler since Andrew Howe (165) went 30-0 to begin the 2009-10 season.
Players Mentioned
