MADISON, Wis. — Opening the Big Ten dual season at home, No. 12 Wisconsin rallied for a 19-15 victory over No. 12 Northwestern at the UW Field House on Friday.
Trailing 9-0 after three close decision losses, Wisconsin's Austin Gomez (149 pounds) broke through for the Badgers and began a team rally that saw the home team through to victory on the night. Ranked No. 11 in the nation by Intermat, Gomez earned a hard-fought 8-6 decision for the upset victory against Northwestern's fourth-ranked Yahya Thomas. Gomez improves to 8-1 overall this season with the victory, a notable mark after returning to the mat from injury and not wrestling the past few seasons.
True freshman Dean Hamiti remained undefeated this season at 165 pounds and earned his first career Big Ten victory with an impressive 13-1 major decision over the Wildcats' Erich Byelick. Hamiti improves to 12-0 overall so far this season.
Senior Andrew McNally closed the team score gap to 10-12 in the 174-pound match for Wisconsin with a key 3-1 decision for the Badgers over NU's Troy Fisher. The victory also provided the grad student tranfer with his 100th career victory.
Wisconsin's dual-meet turnaround goes to senior Chris Weiler at 184 pounds. Down 10-12 after McNally's win, Weiler shutout Northwestern's Jon Halvorsen with a 8-0 major decision to give the Badgers the lead, 14-12. Weiler clinched the victory with three takedowns, an escape and riding time to pick up the bonus point.
Freshman Braxton Amos collected the Badgers' largest win against the Wildcats, earning a decisive 20-5 tech fall victory in 3:45 over Brendan Devine. Amos notched seven takedowns and six near-fall points against his opponent.
Wisconsin's lineup kept the remaining matches to narrow decision losses to keep Northwestern at bay.
The Badgers turn around on Sunday and will wrestle No. 16 Rutgers at noon at the UW Field House. Fans can come early for an exciting youth dual meet at 10 a.m. featuring Team BonoBilt vs. Team Mobbin, all-star youth and middle school wrestlers.
RESULTS
| No. 12 Wisconsin 19, No. 12 Northwestern 15 (Madison, Wis.) |
WIS - NU |
| 125: #17 Michael DeAugustino (NW) over #4 Eric Barnett (WIS) (Dec 9-5) |
0-3 |
| 133: #9 Chris Cannon (NW) over #33 Kyle Burwick (WIS) (Dec 4-0) |
0-6 |
| 141: Frankie Tal Shahar (NW) over #24 Joseph Zargo (WIS) (Dec 5-4) |
0-9 |
| 149: #11 Austin Gomez (WIS) over #4 Yahya Thomas (NW) (Dec 8-6) |
3-9 |
| 157: #2 Ryan Deakin (NW) over #33 Garrett Model (WIS) (Dec 8-3) |
3-12 |
| 165: #8 Dean Hamiti (WIS) over Erich Byelick (NW) (MD 13-1) |
7-12 |
| 174: #17 Andrew McNally (WIS) over #28 Troy Fisher (NW) (Dec 3-1) |
10-12 |
| 184: #33 Christopher Weiler (WIS) over Jon Halvorsen (NW) (MD 8-0) |
14-12 |
| 197: #24 Braxton Amos (WIS) over Brendan Devine (NW) (TF 20-5 3:45) |
19-12 |
| 285: #14 Lucas Davison (NW) over 35 Trent Hillger (WIS) (Dec 4-3) |
19-15 |
All rankings are Intermat for Jan. 5, 2022. Wisconsin and Northwestern were tied at No. 12 in tournament rankings.
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