HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – The Badgers took fourth place in the 57^th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships after a championship victory from Seth Gross and third-palce finishes from Trent Hillger and Evan Wick.
 
133-pounder, Seth Gross was on a mission throughout the whole tournament to win his first Midlands Championship. Gross completed his revenge tour with a win over No. 1 Austin DeSanto from Iowa coming in the form of a 6-5 decision. 
 
Gross reclaims his spot at No. 1 in FloWrestling's rankings in the 133-pound weight class. He is Wisconsin's first individual Midland's Champion since Tyler Graff and Travis Rutt in 2010. Gross also brought home the honor of Dan Gable Outstanding Wrestler Award after his impressive tournament run.
 
Gross's trip to the finals came after a close match with No. 3 Sebastian Rivera from Northwestern. Wisconsin's 133-pounder took down Rivera at the last second to claim the 8-7 decision.
 
Evan Wick, the No. 3 165-pounder in the country, lost earlier in the day to No. 6 David McFadden in a down to the wire 6-5 decision. Wick battled back though, beating Philip Conigliaro 7-4 to advance to the third-place bout. There, Wick took a major decision 13-3 victory over Danny Braunagel.
 
Trent Hillger, Wisconsin's favorite heavyweight, took third at the tournament, beating his placing from last year when he finished in seventh. Hillger lost 6-1 to No. 8 Matt Stencel of Central Michigan early in the day but came back with a 7-2 decision over Josh Hokit of Fresno State. Hillger claimed third place at the tournament after a 4-0 decision over Yaraslau Slavikouski from Harvard.
 
141-pounder Tristan Moran and 184-pounder Johnny Sebastian both lost their matches in the semi-finals and medically forfeited the rest of the way. No. 8 Moran finished in sixth place in his weight class while Johnny took eighth in his.
 
Straight from the mat
"Austin is a great competitor and wrestler. Wrestling a guy like him is only gonna make me better and push me. He brings it every time from start to finish. Going into the match I was focused on getting to the things I'm good at and not giving up easy takedowns. I'm looking forward to competing with him in the future. Glory to God and Jump Around!"
    -    Redshirt Senior, Seth Gross
 
"Seth did an outstanding job in preparing for DeSanto. It was all the same except he felt a lot better going into the match. Seth was very confident in his ability and was able to pull off a win. Hats off to Desanto, what an unbelievable match. I can't wait for the next one. As for getting inducted into the Midlands Hall of Fame is such an unbeliavle honor. I am so glad to be able to share it with all of the greats that were inducted in before me. I really appreciate it."
    -    Head coach, Chris Bono

Notables
    -    Seth Gross is Wisconsin's first individual champion at Midlands since Tyler Graff and Travis Rutt won it in 2010.
    -    Head coach Chris Bono was inducted into the Midland Championships Hall of Fame after winning four titles at the tournament as a competitor and one as a head coach.
    -    The Badgers finished in fourth place with 93 points, just behind Illinois.
 
Results
Wisconsin, 4^th place (93 points)
125
Chris Cannon (NU) over Eric Barnett (UW) by dec. 4-3
 
133
No. 2 Seth Gross (UW) over No. 3 Sebastian Rivera (NU) by dec. 8-7
No. 2 Seth Gross (UW) over No. 1 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) by dec. 6-5
 
141
No. 10 Joshua Heil (Campbell) over No. 8 Tristan Moran (UW) by dec. 4-2
Dylan Duncan (Illinois) over No. 8 Tristan Moran (UW) by medical forfeit
 
157
No. 13 Justin Ruffin (SIUE) over Drew Scharenbrock (UW) by tech. fall 18-2
 
165
No. 6 David McFadden (VT) over No. 3 Evan Wick (UW) by dec. 6-5
No. 3 Evan Wick (UW) over Philip Conigliaro (Harvard) by dec. 7-4
No. 3 Evan Wick (UW) over Danny Braunagel (Illinois) by maj. dec. 13-3
 
174
Donnell Washington (Indiana) over Jared Krattiger (UW) by dec. 7-6
 
184
Johnny Sebastian (UW) over Anthony Orozco (Menlo) by maj. dec. 13-4
 
285
No. 8 Matt Stencel (CMU) over No. 5 Trent Hillger (UW) by dec. 6-1
No. 5 Trent Hillger (UW) over Josh Hokit (FSU) by dec. 7-2
No. 5 Trent Hillger (UW) over Yaraslau Slavikouski (Harvard) by dec. 4-0
 
Places
1^st place – Seth Gross
3^rd place – Trent Hillger
3^rd place – Evan Wick
6^th place – Tristan Moran
8^th place – Johnny Sebastian
 
Up Next
The Badger wrestling team will have a rare off-week before they head into a Big Ten battle at Minnesota on January 10^th at 8 p.m. The showdown with the Gophers will be broadcast live on BTN.