A trio of Badgers advanced to Day 2 of the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas thanks to their strong showings on the tournament’s opening day on Friday.
Isaac Jordan has pushed into the semifinal at 165 pounds, while Ricky Robertson (174) and Ryan Christensen (184) fell in the quarterfinals, but can still finish as high as fifth place.
Friday was supposed to mark the season debut of Ryan Taylor, the No.3 wrestler in the nation at 133 pounds. However, Taylor did not participate and his absence was felt.
Wisconsin currently sits in 21st place in the 39-team tournament that includes 80 ranked wrestlers and 10 ranked teams. Of the 10-ranked teams at the event, the Badgers are the only one that finds itself outside of the top-10.
UW has 28 team points, 57 points behind first-place Oklahoma and 18.5 points behind the nearest ranked team (Northern Iowa, 10th place).
While the open spot at 133 doesn’t account for the sizable deficit, it certainly adds insult to injury. As a team, the Badgers went 14-14 on a day that saw six of their nine competing wrestlers eliminated.
Jordan, who received the No.1 seed at 165, went a perfect 4-0 on the day. He pinned Joseph Grable of Northern Colorado in 1:10 in his first match of the day and went on to top Keiffer Taylor (Utah Valley) by major decision, 13-3, in the Round of 32.
The Round of 16 saw Jordan best Tyler Buckwalter of Kent State 9-3, before he went on to sneak past the No.8 seed, Michigan’s Garrett Sutton by a count of 1-0 in the quarters.
Jordan will square of with fourth-seeded George Pickett (Cornell) in the semifinals.
After receiving the seven seed at 174, Robertson opened competition with three straight victories. He blanked Zach Smith of Arizona State 8-0 in the Round of 64 and then pulled out a 2-1 win against Ross Renzi (West Virginia) in the next round.
Robertson flirted with danger again in the Round of 16, scratching out a 7-6 triumph over Hofstra’s Frank Affronti, the No.10 seed.
The quarterfinals marked the end of Robertson’s championship run as he was pinned by second-seeded Blaise Butler (Missouri) in just 54 seconds.
Roberston will face the nine seed, Zack Hernandez (Columbia), in consolation action. Robertson can still finish as high as fifth place and no lower than eighth.
After receiving a bye in the opening round, Christensen earned a 2-0 win over Anthony McLaughlin of Air Force in the Round of 32.
Christensen then knocked off the No.7 seed, Dylan Gabel (Northern Colorado), 2-1 to reach the quarters.
That’s where Christensen met his match, falling to Virginia Tech’s Zack Zavatsky, 7-1.
Christensen will go toe-to-toe with No.9 Tom Sleigh of Bucknell in the consolation quarterfinals on Saturday morning. Like Robertson, Christensen can finish as high as fifth and no worse than eighth.
Among the UW grapplers who who got bounced from the tournament on the opening day were: TJ Ruschell (157) who posted an even mark of 2-2 on the day. Johnny Jimenez (125), Rylan Lubeck (149), and Brock Horwath (285) who each went 1-2. And Luke Rowh (141) and Eric Peissig (195) who dropped both of their matches.
Wrestling resumes Saturday at 11 a.m. (CT) with consolation action. Semifinals begin at noon and championship finals getting underway at 5 p.m.
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