Sports

Trio of captains leading young Badger grapplers

This season’s University of Wisconsin wrestling team is maybe as young as it has ever been, having 20 freshmen on the squad of 30, including three starters, Collin Cudd, Jake Donar and Craig Henning. This year’s freshmen class was highly touted, even being ranked as the nation’s best by W.I.N. magazine and they have shown promise already, though only the three starters have seen significant time on the mat.

That is where the true heart and soul of the Badgers’ team comes in, as the upperclassmen are the true backbone of a very young team. Although Wisconsin does not have much experience on it’s side, especially compared with other Big Ten schools, the elder statesmen for the Badger wrestlers are not only carrying the team now, but preparing it for a bright future by showing the younger members of the squad how to compete successfully in perhaps the toughest wrestling conference in the NCAA.

This season Wisconsin has named a set of tri-captains, sophomore Tyler Turner and junior twins Ryan and Kelly Flaherty. They have been the most responsible for helping to bring the new Badgers to the point to where they can one day live up to their hype.

“Those guys, they make leaders. They know what it takes to win and they all get to that level,” head coach Barry Davis said. “They are all three ranked, they have all moved up in the rankings and they have all had big wins. They have set the standards high. I think their leadership is showing not only in competition, but in the practice room too.”

UW has seen its share of ups and downs this season as the team started out 7-0-1, unbeaten in conference play only to run into the buzz saw that is conference play. The team has since gone 0-3-1 and is now looking toward righting the ship before the conference tournament and the NCAA tournament begins.

“That is what we are getting ready for: March. None of it matters as much as then,” Ryan said.

“All this is kind of warm-ups for March,” Kelly confirmed.

Now more than ever the teams leaders are needed to step up and help the team recover. The Badgers were ranked as high as No. 12 this season and have been on the brink of moving up even higher.

“We think that we have a chance to win it all. We lost to Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska, but you can tell that if things went a little different, something could’ve happened. We are right there,” Kelly said.

Davis can tell his captains are stressing the need for improvement, not only for future seasons, but to achieve as much as possible this year.

“I’ve seen that burning desire in all three of those guys. They are pressing hard and that is good to see,” Davis said.

The Badgers’ strong recruiting class has been predominantly left off the mat in dual meet situations, but they have seen just as much time on the practice mat as all 10 starters. This is where the freshmen are looked upon to make their mark.

“On varsity you only have 10 people start, but there are 30 people on a team. We want to get the best out of everybody that wrestles. In the practice room, it is important for the freshmen to step it up. There are 20 people who are just there for practice, so we need them to step it up and help us out [in the future],” Turner said.

Davis believes that the captains, as leaders, have been accepted and looked up to by the Badger underclassmen that are looking for guidance.

“I think the guys on the team know who the captains are and who the captains should be. They realize that these guys have earned the right,” Davis said.

The Badgers will not lose many athletes in the next few years and will have a bevy of hyped athletes ready to jump into the starting line-up. However, Davis’s squad is not interested in hearing what they could do anytime other than now.

“Top five in the nation is definitely doable for us — even national champions,” Turner said.

“We think we have a chance to win [the NCAA title]. We are right up there for the running and that is what we are expecting,” Kelly said.