MINNEAPOLIS – In their first of two duals against ranked Big Ten Conference opponents this weekend, the ninth-ranked Badger wrestling team lost a heartbreaker against the No. 4 Golden Gophers on Friday night.
Red-shirt senior
Tristan Moran was a star for the Badgers (7-2, 0-2 B1G) against their rivals. The ninth-ranked 141-pounder faced off against No. 2 Mitch McKee. The two wrestlers have a history, with Moran pinning McKee at home last season and the Minnesota (6-3, 1-0) wrestler getting revenge at the NCAA tournament. But Moran got the last laugh Friday night getting a close 7-6 victory over McKee.
Moran has a tough stretch ahead of him, facing No. 6 Chad Red this Sunday at the UW Field House and No. 1 Luke Pletcher of Ohio State coming in to town next Friday. Moran already knocked off No. 5 Grant Leeth from Missouri earlier this year and has proven that he can stand up to the test.
No. 1
Seth Gross ended his match early in his return to Minnesota. The 133-pounder, who has a 9-2 record against Gopher wrestlers, got the Badgers on the board with a technical fall over Minnesota's Jake Gliva.
Evan Wick celebrated his birthday in style. The 165-pounder, who is currently ranked sixth by FloWrestling after a third-place finish at Midlands, got the 6-1 decision over Bailee O'Reilly.
Drew Scharenbrock continued his stellar redshirt freshman season. Wisconsin's 157-pounder has a 17-6 record this season after his 6-0 decision over Carson Brolsma. This was his first action in the Big Ten and he proved to be worthy of wrestling in this conference.
Straight from the mat
"We let one slip away tonight. Those two overtime matches proved to be very critical, we were one takedown away from possibly winning the match. I'm proud of our effort but we have to have a short-term memory and get ready for Sunday against Nebraska. I'm really proud of
Tristan Moran for upsetting a really high ranked and great wrestler. We will be back and ready for Sunday."
Head coach, Chris Bono
"He actually wrestles me. We just go after it and get in crazy positions. Neither one of us back down and it always ends up in fireworks. He took away my dream last year of All-American so it felt good to get that win back. Hopefully this year at NCAA's it's a different story. Coming up there is some tough competition but I got to have tunnel vision and stick to the plan."
Redshirt senior, Tristan Moran
Notables
- Evan Wick is one win away from his 100th career win. He will face No. 6 Chad Red on Sunday
- The Badgers forced two overtime matches tonight but ended up losing both by a takedown
Up Next
The Badgers return home to host the No. 7 Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the UW Field House. The Badgers will honor military service men and women. Fans can purchase
discounted tickets with promo code MILITARY
Results
Wisconsin 14, Minnesota 20
125 – No. 13 Patrick McKee (UM) over
Eric Barnett (UW) by maj. dec. 9-0
133 – No. 1
Seth Gross (UW) over Jake Gliva (UM) by tech. fall 15-0
141 – No. 9
Tristan Moran (UW) over No. 2 Mitch McKee (UM) by dec. 7-6
149 – No. 4 Brayton Lee (UM) over No. 12
Cole Martin (UW) by dec. 6-4
157 –
Drew Scharenbrock (UW) over Carson Brolsma (UM) by dec. 6-0
165 – No. 6
Evan Wick (UW) over Bailee O'Reilly (UM) by dec. 6-1
174 – No. 7 Devin Skatzka (UM) over
Jared Krattiger (UW) by maj. dec. 11-3
184 – No. 17 Owen Webster (UM) over No. 13
Johnny Sebastian (UW) by SV-1 3-1
197 –
Hunter Ritter (UM) over
Taylor Watkins (UW) by SV-1 6-4
285 – No. 2 Gable Steveson (UM) over No. 5
Trent Hillger (UW) by dec. 10-5
