EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Wisconsin wrestling team had another great showing this weekend, competing at the SIUE Cougar Clash against six other Division I opponents.

The Badgers (6-0, 1-0 B1G) have been lights out in dual play this season, but also demonstrated their mettle in tournament play today. Nine Badgers placed on the day, including four first-place finishes, one second-place finish, two third-place finishes, one fourth-place finish and one sixth-place finish.  

Wisconsin tied Army for second place with 127.5 points, behind first-place Arizona State who led with 136 points. The second-place finish came despite the Badgers only receiving points for nine wrestlers, as three Badgers placed at 157 pounds, but a team could only receive points from two wrestlers per weight class, and the Badgers didn't have a competitor at 125 pounds as sophomore Connor Brown remained out with an injury.

The first championship of the day was earned by junior Tristan Moran at 141 pounds, recording a tech fall and a major decision en route to his first-place finish.

Junior Cole Martin had arguably the most impressive run on the day, winning his first two matches by fall and then upsetting No. 10 (Intermat) Josh Macura of Arizona State in the finals with a 1-0 decision.

At 165 pounds, sophomore Evan Wick cruised into the finals with a tech fall and a pin, and then added a third top-10 win to his belt this season when he edged out No. 8 Josh Shields 5-4 to win the first place match, staying undefeated on the season.

Also staying undefeated on the season was freshman Trent Hillger, who went 3-0 on the day, including a tech fall in the semifinals. Hillger defeated Ben Sullivan of Army 3-1 in the first place match to take home another tourney win.

The lone second-place finish on the day came from senior Ryan Christensen, who added another ranked win in the semis over Ben Harvey of Army, but ultimately couldn't overcome No. 1 Zahid Valencia of Arizona State, losing in the finals 13-5.

Sophomore Zander Wick finished in third place at 157 pounds. Wick lost in the second round to Josh Ruffin of SIUE 8-2, but then got his revenge in the third place match by pummeling Ruffin on the way to a 14-4 major decision win.

The other third-place finish came from junior Mason Reinhardt at 184 pounds, who lost in the semis to eventual title winner Noah Stewart of Army, but came back and comfortably defeated Dominic Lampe of Chattanooga 9-2 to finish out his day.

The two final placements on the day came from freshman Garrett Model who finished fourth at 149 pounds, and freshman Devin Bahr, who finished sixth at 157 pounds.

Junior Jens Lantz, sophomore Patrick Spray, freshman Anders Lantz and freshman Andrew Salemme did not place.

Next up, Wisconsin travels to No. 2 (NWCA) Ohio State (3-0, 0-0 B1G) next Sunday for the second Big Ten dual meet of the season.

Straight from the mat
Head Coach Chris Bono

On the team's performance
"Today was great. Our guys got a ton of matches, we wrestled ranked guys, that's why we came here. Thought we did good, the best part was that we got out injury free, and I am very proud of what our guys did."

On Cole Martin
"Cole Martin had a great tournament. He upset the No. 10 wrestler in the country, he did really well and I'm proud of him. He won the hard part of the match, he rode him out for the whole second period. That's what we talk about, you win the hard parts of the match, whether there's one hard part or 30 you're guaranteed to win the match, and that's what he did today."

On the performance of non-starters
"Garret Model had a great day, beat an NCAA qualifier, very proud of him and his fight. What I like about all these guys is that they fought, and they're a team, they're picking each other up and hanging out together, and that's so important for what we're building now and for the future. I'm proud of them."

On preparation for next week
"We've got to go over a few areas, we'll go over some of our tactics, but we just have to stress to the team the opportunity they have to go into hostile territory and go fight and see what we can do now."