Midlands Mayhem: Badgers have four competing for titles

Sunday, December 29

Sears Centre, Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Wisconsin Badgers

Midlands Championships

Midlands Mayhem: Badgers have four competing for titles

December 29, 2019 | Wrestling

Gross, Moran, Wick and Hillger all up for first place at elite tournament

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – The Badgers came out red hot in their first day at the Midlands Championships. After a long day of competing, the team stands strong in third place with 68.5 team points.

No. 2 Seth Gross was unbelievable for the Badgers at 133-pounds. Gross started his day with two technical falls, wrestling for a total of 10:59 minutes. Gross beat up on Gregg Wert from Army 17-2 and Joey Heilmann of UNC 18-3 for the 100th collegiate win. In his final match of the day, to send him to the semi-finals, Gross took the major decision from Northwestern's Colin Valdiviez, winning 13-2. Tomorrow, Seth will face off against No. 3 Sebastian Rivera in the semi-finals.

Wisconsin's 141-pounder, No. 8 Tristan Moran notched his 100th career win at the tournament, pushing him into the semifinals. Moran recorded a pin against Northwestern's Justin Benjamin and then made his 100th victory a little interesting, taking the 4-3 decision from Stevens Institute's Troy Stanich. Moran moved on to the semi-finals after a second tiebreaker 5-3 victory over UNC's Zach Sherman. Moran will start his day tomorrow against No. 10 Joshua Heil from Campbell.

Congratulations to Wisconsin's Tristan Moran and Seth Gross for notching their 💯th career wins at @MidlandsChamps today #JumpAround
📸: @BadgerWrestling pic.twitter.com/BbAS70aW2y
— NCAA Wrestling (@ncaawrestling) December 30, 2019

No. 5 Trent Hillger is looking for his first Midlands Championship appearance tomorrow after tallying up three wins on Sunday. Hillger, the All-American heavyweight for the Badgers, started his day with a 6-1 decision over Penn's Joey Slackman. Hillger got some Big Ten action when he faced off against Luke Luffman out of Illinois and recorded the 4-0 decision. To advance to the semi-finals tomorrow, Hillger took the 5-1 decision from Army's Bobby Heald. The heavyweight, will face No. 8 Matt Stencel in the semi-finals tomorrow.

Wisconsin's latest Olympic Trial Qualifier, No. 3 Evan Wick, is headed to the semi-finals again. Wick appeared in the finals last year, where he lost to Iowa's Alex Marinelli. The 165-pounder's day started with a pin over Cal Poly's Bernie Truax in just 4:59. Wick then went on to beat Fresno State's Adam Kemp in a 6-1 decision. Wick's day wrapped up with an overtime win over No 19 Quentin Perez out of Campbell.

Jared Krattiger and Johnny Sebastian were phenomenal for the Badgers today, both advancing to the quarter-finals. Krattiger, Wisconsin's 174-pounder, recorded two decisions before falling to Justin Gunther of Illinois in the quarter-finals. Sebastian was great today. The 184-pounder took a 9-0 major decision over Illinois's Nikita Nepomnyashchiy and then beat Iowa's Cash Wilcke for the second time this season. Sebastian's shot at a title fell short when he lost the 7-4 decision to No. 4 Taylor Lujan out of Northern Iowa.

Wisconsin's true freshman at 125 pounds, Eric Barnett, had an eventful day. After losing a 9-4 decision to No. 7 Drew Hildebrandt out of Central Michigan, Barnett battled all the way through the consolation bracket, taking four decisions, to still have a chance at third place in his first Midland's tournament.

Notables
- Tristan and Seth notches 100^th win!
- Wisconsin hasn't had a Midlandschampion since 2010 when Tyler Graff and Travis Rutt both won titles
- Tyler Dow notched his first win over a ranked opponent this season when he beat No. 17 Kevin Parker out of Princeton
- Gross, Moran, Wick and Hillger are all still able to win the Championship tomorrow
- Barnett, Drew Scharenbrock, Sebastian and Krattiger are all still alive in the consolation bracket

Results
Wisconsin, 3rd place (68.5 points)
125
No. 7 Drew Hildebrandt (CMU) over Eric Barnett (UW) by dec. 9-4
Antonio Lorenzo (Cal Poly) over Ethan Rotondo (UW) by dec. 6-4
Eric Barnett (UW) over Vince Perez (CMU) by dec. 6-1
Eric Barnett (UW) over Ethan Rotondo (UW) by dec. 8-5
Eric Barnett (UW) over Kyle Biscoglia (UNI) by dec. 6-3
Eric Barnett (UW) over Christian Moody (OU) by dec. 11-9

133
No. 9 Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) over Dom Dentino (UW) by tech. fall 15-0
No. 2 Seth Gross (UW) over Gregg Wert (Army) by tech. fall 17-2
No. 2 Seth Gross (UW) over Joey Heilmann (UNC) by tech. fall 18-3
Dom Dentino (UW) over Dillon Murphy (Harvard) by dec. 8-3
No. 2 Seth Gross (UW) over Colin Valdiviez (NU) by maj. dec. 13-2
Paul Glynn (Iowa) over Dom Dentino (UW) by fall, 3:41

141
Wil Gil (FMU) over Nick Termini (UW) by maj. dec. 11-1
No. 8 Tristan Moran (UW) over Justin Benjamin (NW) by fall, 6:01
No. 8 Tristan Moran (UW) over Troy Stanich (Stevens) by dec. 4-3
Alexander McKenna (NU) over Nick Termini (UW) by maj. dec. 10-1
No. 8 Tristan Moran (UW) over Zach Sherman (UNC) by TB-2 5-3

149
Jeren Glosser (Iowa) over No. 14 Cole Martin (UW) by fall, 3:18
No. 14 Cole Martin (UW) over Eric Yang (NU) by maj. dec. 9-1
No. 14 Cole Martin (UW) over Ricky Cabanillas (Brown) by dec. 9-4
No. 14 Cole Martin (UW) over Graham Rooks (Indiana) by maj. dec. 11-3
Kanen Storr (Mich) over No. 14 Cole Martin (UW) by dec. 6-3

157
Devin Bahr (UW) over David Berkovich (Columbia) by dec. 8-2
Garrett Model (UW) over Johnny Lovett (CMU) by dec. 9-5
Drew Scharenbrock (UW) over Hunter Ladnier (Harvard) by fall, 4:47
No. 25 Logan Parks (CMU) over Devin Bahr (UW) by dec. 10-4
Zac Carson (Ohio) over Garrett Model (UW) by dec. 11-5
No. 16 AC Headlee (UNC) over Drew Scharenbrock (UW) by dec. 8-3
Devin Bahr (UW) over Johnny Lovett (CMU) by dec. 6-4
Garrett Model (UW) over David Berkovich (Columbia) by maj. dec. 18-6
Garrett Model (UW) over Cam Connor (Penn) by dec. 11-10
Kasper McIntosh (Minn) over Devin Bahr (UW) by dec. 4-5
No. 22 Eric Barone (Illinois) over Garrett Model (UW) by dec. 4-1
Drew Scharenbrock (UW) over Jack Bokina (Brown) by dec. 12-6
Drew Scharenbrock (UW) over Paden Moore (UNI) by dec. 9-4

165
No. 2 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) over Josh Otto (UW) by fall, 1:17
No. 3 Evan Wick (UW) over Bernie Truax (Cal Poly) by fall, 4:59
No. 3 Evan Wick (UW) over Adam Kemp (FSU) by dec. 6-1
Josh Otto (UW) over Tracy Hubbard (CMU) by dec. 4-3
Emmett LiCastri (FMU) over Josh Otto (UW) by maj. dec. 12-0
No. 3 Evan Wick (UW) over No. 19 Quentin Perez (Campbell) by SV-1 4-2

174
Clay Lautt (UNC) over Tyler Dow (UW) by dec. 6-1
Jared Krattiger (UW) over Mitch Hartman (Bucknell) by dec. 7-4
Jared Krattiger (UW) over Tyler Moreland (NU) by dec. 3-2
Tyler Dow (UW) over Troy Fisher (NU) by SV 6-4
Joey Gunther (Illinois) over Jared Krattiger (UW) by dec. 3-2
Tyler Dow (UW) over No. 17 Kevin Parker (Princeton) by maj. dec. 12-3
Joshua Kim (Harvard) over Tyler Dow (UW) by tech. fall 23-6

184
Johnny Sebastian (UW) over Nikita Nepomnyashchiy (Illinois) by maj. dec. 9-0
Johnny Sebastian (UW) over Cash Wilcke (Iowa) by dec. 3-2
No. 4 Taylor Lujan (UNI) over Johnny Sebastian (UW) by dec. 7-3

197
No. 7 Tom Lane (Cal Poly) over Taylor Watkins (UW) by tech. fall 19-1
Landon Pelham (CMU) over Peter Christensen (UW) by fall, 2:02
Peter Christensen (UW) over Jake McKiernan (SIUE) by tech. fall 17-2
Taylor Watkins (UW) over Jake Kleimola (Indiana) by dec. 6-2
Zach Glazier (Iowa) over Peter Christensen (UW) by dec. 7-5
Brandon Whitman (UNC) over Taylor Watkins (UW) by dec. 8-2

285
No. 5 Trent Hillger (UW) over Joey Slackman (Penn) by dec. 6-1
No. 5 Trent Hillger (UW) over Luke Luffman (Illinois) by dec. 4-0
No. 5 Trent Hillger (UW) over Bobby Heald (Army) by dec. 5-1