ST. LOUIS – Wisconsin heavyweight
Trent Hillger marched through his opening rounds at the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday in St. Louis.
Seeded 14th, the redshirt senior earned a 5-1 decision against Josh Heindselman (Oklahoma) in Round 1 before wrapping up Thursday's action with a 2-1 decision and upset victory over No. 3 seed Matt Stencel (Central Michigan). Hillger will now advance to Friday's quarterfinals against Gannon Gremmel of Iowa State.
Wisconsin teammates Eric Barnett (125 pounds) and Kyle Burwick (133 pounds) are still in the hunt for All-America honors after both Badgers finished Thursday with 1-1 records.
In his first career appearance at the NCAA Championships, Barnett defeated Jaret Lane (Lehigh) in a 6-3 decision in Round 1. He later lost a close 9-7 decision to Arizona State's Brandon Courtney (ASU). Barnett, who earned a wild-card selection for the tournament, will wrestle Jake Ferri (Kent State) on Friday in the consolation bracket.
Also making his first NCAA career appearance, Burwick opened the tournament with an exciting pin of Mosha Schwartz (Northern Colorado) in 4:38 in Round 1. He later met Penn State's Roman Bravo-Young (No. 2 seed) and lost a 12-3 major decision to his Big Ten foe. Burwick will wrestle Devan Turner (Oregon State) on Friday in the consolation bracket.
Wisconsin redshirt senior Chris Weiler suffered two losses on Thursday in his two matches. After leading throughout the match, Weiler was pinned by Navy's David Key in 5:48 in his opening round. Weiler later lost a 12-4 major decision to Iowa State's Samuel Colbray in the consolation bracket.
A full list of results is available here.
Full information and brackets are available at https://www.ncaa.com/championships/wrestling/d1.
