The Wisconsin wrestling team saw its Big Ten title hopes dashed over the weekend as it fell to both Iowa and Michigan. Each duel was within reach for the Badgers, but they couldn’t find enough points when they needed them in tight matches.
The Badgers fell to No. 8 Iowa 24-9 Friday after losing a number of close matches. Iowa had a knack for scoring late-period points that proved costly to the Badgers in the end. A number of major Iowa decisions were the result of last-second surges by Hawkeye wrestlers.
“We lost some close matches we could have won,” head coach Barry Davis said. “I think we came out in the second half better than we did in the first half. We have to learn from this and move on, but I think some guys took a back seat, which I’m very disappointed in.”
The most dramatic match of the night came at 157 pounds, when Tyler Turner defeated ninth-ranked Joe Johnson of Iowa in the third sudden-victory period. Turner was able to repeatedly fight off deep takedowns by Johnson in the win. While Davis was pleased with the effort, he said Turner needed to be more aggressive and show more offense.
Wisconsin lost two more matches before 184-pounder Brady Reinke won his match against Iowa’s Paul Bradley in one sudden-victory period. Iowa gained decisions on the next two matches before the night’s second thriller at 125 pounds.
Coming into the match, Wisconsin’s 125-pounder Tom Clum had been on a hot streak, defeating the Nos. 3, 8, and 11 wrestlers in the country. Friday night Clum faced his toughest match of the year in second-ranked Luke Eustice. In a duel last year, Eustice defeated Clum 10-4, but this year’s match was significantly closer.
Clum came out on fire, scoring a quick takedown in the match’s first 20 seconds. Clum controlled the match until surrendering an escape and takedown in the final seconds of the third period. In overtime, Eustice prevailed with a takedown.
The last match of the night featured 133-pound Ed Gutnik handling Iowa’s Trent Goodale by a score of 11-5. In the process, Gutnik earned his 18th victory of the season.
While the Badgers failed to earn their first win against Iowa since the 1965-66 season, Davis said his team had continued to wrestle at a high level and was ready for its match against Michigan.
“We’re doing well this season and we’re wrestling really tough and this is a little bit of a setback,” Davis said before the Michigan match. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and make some readjustments and let the guys know we’re here with them.”
The changes appeared to have worked when the Badgers traveled to Big Ten-leading No. 5 Michigan. Wisconsin fell 24-16, but had chances to make up team points throughout the match.
Michigan took an early 15-0 lead after winning the first four weights starting at 149 pounds. At 174 pounds, Reinke continued his recent success by dominating Michigan’s Joshua Weitzel 13-4. With a pair of wins over the weekend, Reinke holds an impressive record of 4-2 in the Big Ten.
At 125 pounds, Clum again proved he belongs among the nation’s elite by defeating No. 3-ranked Mark Moos in a decisive 9-3 victory.
Two weight classes later, 141-pounder Tyler Laudon continued his success in Big Ten matches by defeating Michigan’s Clark Forward by a score of 3-2. Laudon has now won three of his last four conference matches.
The 16-6 Badgers will be back in action Friday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. against Northwestern in their final home duel of the season.
