Session I Brackets | Team Results

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Through one session of the 2017 NCAA Wrestling championships, the Wisconsin wrestling team clinched three victories and will have Andrew Crone, Isaac Jordan and Connor Medbery moving on to the round of 16.

Both Medbery (HWT) and Jordan (165) recorded major decisions to advance to the next round, while Crone upset the No. 12 seed Sam Speno (North Carolina State) at 149 with an 8-5 decision.

Crone picked up the first win of the day for Wisconsin by taking down Speno in an 8-5 thriller. Speno struck first in the first period but Crone retaliated less than 20 seconds later with a reversal. Speno escaped and held a 3-2 lead headed into the second period.

Crone escaped nearly one minute into the second period and took Speno down seconds later to capture the lead. Speno escaped to tie it up at 5-5 going into the third and final period. Crone lashed at him in the final minute of the bout to finish off the 8-5 victory with the additional riding time point.

At 165, Jordan acted fast, blanking Lorenzo De La Riva (CSU Bakersfield) 6-0 after just one period. De La Riva was awarded a penalty point for stalling in the second period but Jordan maintained a 6-1 lead headed into the third. Jordan acted quickly in the third, taking down De La Riva at 1:12 mark. He took him down one final time and accumulated 5:21 of riding time to complete the 11-2 major decision.

Fellow senior and captain Medbery followed suit and notched a 14-1 major decision over Princeton's Ray O'Donnell at heavyweight. Medbery wasted no time, quickly using a takedown and four nearfall points with the first minute and a half of the match to take a 6-0 lead. He added two nearfall points in the last 15 seconds of the first period to give him an 8-0 advantage going into the second.

Medbery tacked on one more takedown at the end of the second but finished off the conquest with an early takedown, penalty point and riding time in the third. He amassed 4:17 of riding time in the 14-1 win.

Johnny Jimenez (125) dropped a tight 7-4 decision to the No. 9-seeded Joshua Rodriguez of North Dakota State.

Cole Martin (141) was blanked 6-0 by Lehigh's Randy Cruz. Hunter Ritter, Wisconsin's
184-pounder, lost a 7-1 decision to fourth-seeded Nolan Boyd of Oklahoma State.

157-pounder TJ Ruschell lost his opening match by a close 5-3 decision.

Northern Iowa's No. 13-seeded Taylor Lujan defeated Ryan Christensen with a 6-1 decision.

No. 15 Ricky Robertson was defeated by Oklahoma's Brad Johnson by a close 4-2 decision at 197 pounds.

All six UW wrestlers who lost their first match are still alive in the consolation brackets.

NOTES TO KNOW
-Wisconsin is currently in 19th place in the team race with five points. Penn State leads the team race with 16 points, followed closely behind by Oklahoma State (15 points) and Ohio State (14 points).
-Seven Big Ten teams are in the top 20 after the first session.
-This was Medbery's second major decision in an NCAA championship bout. He tallied one in his opening bout in 2013-14 with an 11-2 major decision. It was his fifth career bonus-point win in the championships.
-In all four of their NCAA championships appearances, Jordan and Medbery have opened their runs in the bracket with a win.
-All six of Wisconsin's wrestlers who lost their opening matches lost by decisions to seeded wrestlers while they were unseeded.