Eric Bugenhagen dropped his opening round match to No. 1 David Zabriskie of Iowa State, 6-2, in the opening round of the heavyweight division.
After a scoreless opening period, Bugenhagen started down in the second and earned a quick escape three seconds into the stanza. Zabriskie took the lead though with a takedown with 1:32 left in the period.
Holding a 2-1 lead entering the third period, Zabriskie scored an escape 7 seconds into the period to move ahead 3-1. He used a takedown with 52 seconds left to go ahead 5-1. Bugenhagen earned one last escape with 22 seconds remaining, but riding time made the final score 6-2 in favor of Zabriskie.
No. 5 seed Trevor Brandvold used a first period pin to defeat Brent Jones of Virginia in the opening round at 197 lbs.
A takedown with 1:08 left in the first gave Brandvold a 2-0 lead, before an escape from Jones with 56 seconds left cut the lead to 2-1.
Brandvold was able to get the shoulders down though and earn a fall at 2:18 of the match to advance.
Travis Rutt has earned a matchup against No. 1 seed Kirk Smith of Boise State after taking care of Nathan Schiedel of Binghamton, 7-3, at 184 lbs.
The first period had no score, but Rutt earned an escape two seconds into the second period to take a 1-0 lead. With 1:26 left, Rutt earned his first takedown to move ahead 3-0. Leading 3-1, Rutt earned another takedown with 12 seconds left in the second to go ahead 5-1.
In the final period, Schiedel escaped with 1:36 remaining, but Rutt earned his third takedown of the match with 1:05 left. One more escape from Schiedel came with 48 seconds remaining, but it was too late as Rutt advanced with a 7-3 decision.
Sophomore Andrew Howe entered the opening match at 165 lbs., as the No. 1 seed with an undefeated 32-0 mark.
He showed why he's the top wrestler in his weight class in the opening round as he pinned Chad Porter of Liberty at 2:03.
After scoring a takedown 47 seconds into the match, Howe rode Porter until getting the pin at 2:03.
Senior Kyle Ruschell, the No. 4 seed at 149 lbs., was dominant in his 4-0 opening round win over Glenn Shober of Navy.
The opening 2:55 was scoreless, but with 5 seconds left in the first period, Ruschell scored a takedown. He then rode Shober for the entire second period to take a 2-0 lead into the third period.
Starting down, Ruschell escaped at 1:44 to move ahead 3-0. With the addition of riding time, Ruschell came away with a 4-0 win.
Redshirt freshman Cole Schmitt dropped his opening round match at 141 lbs., 6-2, to No. 10 seed Tyler Nauman of Pittsburgh.
After a scoreless first period, Naunman started down in the second period. He scored an escape at 55 seconds to take a 1-0 lead, but Schmitt scored a takedown with just 7 seconds left in the period to head into the final frame with a 2-1 lead.
With 1:35 to go, Nauman scored a takedown to move in front 3-2. Then, with 7 seconds left, he added three nearfall points to win 6-2.
Redshirt freshman and No. 8 seed Tyler Graff won his opening match at 133 lbs., 16-6, over Bryan Ortenzio of Penn.
Graff scored a takedown at the 1:50 mark of the first period to take a lead he would not give up. After an escape at 1:32 by Ortenzio, Graff got another takedown with 42 seconds left to take a 4-1 lead after the first period.
The second period saw three escapes from Ortenzio but two more takedowns by Graff, who ended the second frame with an 8-4 lead.
Graff opened the third period with an escape of his own then added three more takedowns and 1:44 of riding time to come away with the 16-6 win.
Here's what's on tap for UW wrestlers in today's opening session:
133 lbs.: (Match # 30) No. 8 Tyler Graff (UW) vs. Bryan Ortenzio (Penn)
141 lbs.: (Match # 56) Cole Schmitt (UW) vs. No. 10 Tyler Nauman (Pitt)
149 lbs.: (Match # 66) No. 4 Kyle Ruschell (UW) vs. Glenn Shober (Navy)
165 lbs.: (Match # 91) No. 1 Andrew Howe (UW) vs. Chad Porter (Liberty)
184 lbs.: (Match # 124) Travis Rutt (UW) vs. Nathan Schiedel (Binghamton)
197 lbs.: (Match # 143) No. 5 Trevor Brandvold (UW) vs. Brent Jones (Virginia)
Hwt.: (Match # 155) Eric Bugenhagen (UW) vs. No. 1 David Zabriskie (Iowa State)
Well the time has arrived; session I of the 2010 NCAA Division I Championships is about 40 minutes away. Follow all the action today here at the Wrestling Blog.
Due to NCAA restrictions, I cannot provide real-time updates which makes doing a CoverItLive Blog kind of moot since that's the advantage of using it. So I think we'll use this forum and I can provide updates after each UW match. At the end of the session, there will be a full recap on UWBadgers.com.
