Full Results

ANN ARBOR, Mich.- In its first dual of the weekend, Wisconsin wrestling made a trip to Ann Arbor to face No. 8 Michigan. The Badgers struggled early on, dropping the first five matches and going down 22 to -1 at the intermission. Like last week against Northwestern, the squad was able to turn it around in the second half winning the last three of five matches in a 29-10 loss.

"We have to be able to keep our focus for the entirety of the dual," head coach Barry Davis said. "It's been two duals in a row where our back half has been able to have better results than the first five guys. We have to be able to keep the outside things out, keep our poise and stay focused on our individual matchups. We saw that with a few guys tonight, where they were faced with the momentum or odds against them and they were able to stay focused. We now need to move on as we have Michigan State in a short two days and get going bright and early tomorrow morning."

The first victory of the night came from senior Andrew Crone at 157 pounds, when he took the big 3-0 upset victory over fifth-ranked Alec Pantaleo. Crone was able to take the lead 1-0 in the second after getting an escape in the middle of the period. Pantaleo then chose neutral in the third period and was close on multiple shots, but went too deep on one and Crone was able to catch it and swing his momentum around his opponents hips to get the sealing two points.

A lot of the hype for tonights dual involved  the presumed round-three matchup of sixth-ranked Evan Wick and fifth-ranked Logan Massa at 165 pounds, but Massa was substituted for normally 157-pounder Reece Hughes. Wick was able to take advantage of this switch and tally five takedowns and two four-point near-falls for a 19-3 tech fall victory.

The last victory of the night was in another upset and rematch when Hunter Ritter took on and defeated 11th-ranked Kevin Beazley at 197 pounds. Beazley caught Ritter earlier in the season, pinning him in the finals at the Michigan State Open. This time however, Ritter was able to adjust and take the 3-2 decision victory.

"It was more mental than physical this time around," Ritter said. "I knew I was in better shape and I knew I had to wrestle my match and get to my positions. The coaches and I had a pretty good game plan going into the match and I think that really helped in turning the decision in my favor."

The Badgers have one day off before their next dual when they face the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing. Action begins at noon (CT) inside Jenison Field House and will be streamed on BTN Plus.