Wisconsin in third at Midlands after first day

Photo by: TE Bates

Wisconsin in third at Midlands after first day

December 29, 2018 | Wrestling

Badgers send four wrestlers to the semifinals

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – When the dust settled after the first two sessions at the 56th Midlands Championships, the Wisconsin wrestling team sits in third-place overall in the team standings with 69 points, trailing only Iowa and Northern Iowa.

Four Badgers will compete in the semifinals on Sunday morning, and four more are one win away from the podium.

The first semifinalist is sophomore Connor Brown. Entering Midlands as the No. 6 seed at 125 pounds, Brown rattled off four wins, including a major decision in the first round, to make it to day two unscathed. He'll face No. 2 Sebastien Rivera of Northwestern.

Sophomore and top seed at 165 pounds Evan Wick had a relatively easy path to the semifinals. He earned major decisions in his first three matches. He trailed for the first time in the quarterfinals when Jacen Petersen of Arizona State got a takedown to take a 2-0 lead, but Wick turned it around to win 7-2 and to move on. He'll face No. 4 seed Bryce Steiert of Northern Iowa, who he defeated at the Cyclone Open earlier this year by a 3-2 decision.

At 174 pounds, senior Ryan Christensen cruised through his first two matches with a fall and a major decision, and then toughed out a 4-2 decision over No. 12 seed Aaron Brooks to advance to the semifinals. A rematch with top seed Zahid Valencia of Arizona State awaits. Valencia defeated Christensen by major decision at the SIUE Cougar Clash.

The most impressive semifinalist is junior Mason Reinhardt at 184 pounds. The No. 6 seed got off to a shaky start in his first match, winning in overtime, but rebounded for a major decision in the Round of 16 and then upsetting No. 3 Kevin Parker of Princeton in the quarterfinals with a 4-3 decision. Reinhardt will hope to score another upset of second seed Cash Wilcke in the semifinals.

Four more Badgers remain alive at Midlands. Freshman Trent Hillger lost his first match of the season when No. 5 Mason Parris defeated him 9-6 in the quarterfinals, sending him to the consolation bracket. Junior Tristan Moran suffered an upset in the Round of 16 when the unseeded Joey Gould of Bucknell beat the No. 3 seed Moran 9-1, but he bounced back to secure two pins in his next two matches to stay alive. No. 10 seed senior Jens Lantz followed a similar pattern, winning his first match, but then losing to an unseeded wrestler in the second round, followed by two wins in the wrestlebacks. In his first action as a Badger, , sophomore Beau Breske lost his first match while competing unattached, but responded with three straight pins to make it to the second day of the tournament.

True freshman Tyler Dow won his first two matches at 165 pounds, but dropped his next two to be eliminated. Junior Cole Martin, freshman Garrett Model and sophomore Zander Wick all went 1-2 at Midlands.

Freshman Ethan Rotondo, junior Michael Cullen, freshman Devin Bahr, freshman Anders Lantz, sophomore Patrick Spray and freshman Andrew Salemme all went 0-2 at Midlands.

Session III begins on Sunday at 12 p.m. (CT). All semifinal and consolation matches will be completed during this session.