Two sessions of the NCAA Wrestling Championships are complete and Wisconsin’s Tyler Graff is still in the hunt for a national championship at 133 pounds.
The third-seeded Graff (30-4) knocked off Randy Cruz of Lehigh in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals on Friday where he will meet sixth-seeded Nathan McCormick (32-4) of Missouri.
The second session wasn’t quite as kind to the other two Badgers that took care of business earlier in the day.
Redshirt freshman heavyweight Connor Medbery dropped a tough 6-4 decision to Jarod Tice of Central Michigan. Medbery (25-7) will take on Levi Cooper (23-11) of Arizona State in the second round of the consolation bracket on Friday.
Senior 197 pounder Jackson Hein entered the tournament as an underdog. He was the only UW wrestler that qualified for the tournament not to receive a seed. He managed to pick up a win in the first round, however, he fell short in a hard fought match to No. 5 Taylor Meeks of Oregon State 4-3.
Hein (21-11) will join his teammate Medbery in the second round of the consolation bracket. Hein’s tournament life will be on the line as he goes toe-to-toe with Mario Gonzalez (16-8) of Illinois.
Hein fell to Gonzalez 8-0 at the Big Ten Championships just a few weeks ago.
Wisconsin's five team points currently places them in 30th as a team.
Wrestling is set to begin at 10 a.m. CT on Friday. Coverage will alternate between ESPNU and ESPN3.
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