There was victory and defeat in the Badgers’ double-header this weekend in Madison.
Wisconsin’s wrestling team ended up with a 1-1 record after Friday and Sunday’s matches against Michigan State and Iowa. On Friday night, the Badgers beat the No. 13 Spartans 21-18, but they did not fare as well yesterday, when No. 6 Iowa handed them a big defeat.
Michigan State went flying out of the blocks Friday. The Spartans picked up the first three wins of the duel, all of which were major decisions, in the 157 lbs., 165 lbs. and 174 lbs.
It was not until the 184 lb. weight class, when Wisconsin’s own 15th-ranked sophomore, Ralph DeNisco, pinned MSU’s Nathaniel Mesyn, that UW recorded a win. This fall came at the 1:54 mark of the first period.
“I knew the team score was going to be close, and once I reversed him, got on top and got the half in, I knew I could pin him,” said DeNisco. “And once I got him on his back, I wasn’t going to let him up.”
After DeNisco jump-started the Badger attack, sophomore Jareck Horton came up with a huge upset over 18th-ranked John Wecher. Going into this match, the Badgers trailed the Spartans 12-6 and were in need of another big victory. That is when Horton stepped onto the matt with one thing on his mind.
“The score didn’t really dictate what I was going to do. I had a plan when I went out there, and I stuck to the plan,” said Horton. “With 10 seconds left, I looked up and noticed that I needed to ride him the rest of the match to get that extra point, so it was crunch time.”
Down the stretch, heavyweight Justin Staebler, 133-pounder Kevin Black and 141-pounder Grant Hoerr came up with the victories to seal the win for the Badgers.
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, the outcome Sunday was not the same, as Iowa’s Hawkeyes were just too good for the Badgers. This meet began with the 125-lb. class, where Tony Black lost a tough match to Iowa’s Luke Eustice.
Tony’s brother, Kevin Black, put the Badgers on the board in an intense match that he won 4-1.
“Before this match I hadn’t really wrestled many top-ranked guys, so I needed this match to prove to myself that I can definitely compete at a high enough level,” Kevin Black said.
For the second duel in a row, DeNisco and Horton had big matches. However, the Hawkeyes got the best of them, both in tough matches that ended in close decisions.
DeNisco faced the fourth-ranked Jessman Smith. At the end of the second period, the 184-pounder only trailed Smith 4-2 on a takedown that occurred within the last 20 seconds of the period, and Iowa’s grappler took over from there.
In the 197-pound match between Horton and 13th-ranked Ryan Fulsaas, there was little action in the first two periods. However, at the beginning of the third, Horton chose to start in the down position with the score tied and a large edge in riding time. He escaped to take a 3-2 lead with time winding down, but Horton caught himself watching the clock a little too much and got taken down.
In the final 10 seconds of the match, Horton nearly escaped, which would have forced the bout into overtime, but could not free his leg in order to get the tying point.
