MADISON — As far as opening matches go, the Wisconsin wrestling team couldn’t have asked for much more.
The Badgers blanked NCAA Division III UW-Whitewater 43-0 Thursday at the UW Field House to mark the official beginning of the 2015-16 campaign.
Johnny Jimenez (125 pounds), Andrew Crone (149) and Jake Stilling (189) all earned pins for UW en route to the decisive victory.
Jimenez led off the night with fall, before Jens Lantz (133) earned a major decision.
Luke Rowh (149) earned a 4-2, overtime victory in the night’s most exciting match. Rowh went toe-to-toe with Whitewater’s Matt Adcock, who was an All-American in Division III a season ago.
Rowh held a 2-1 advantage after the opening period and deferred choice to Adcock who opted for bottom. Adcock eventually escaped to knot the match at 2-2.
“I just told myself to score some points,” Rowh said. “You just have to score. It’s a matter of who wants it more.”
Rowh hit a takedown early in the extra period to capture the victory, his first win as a varsity starter.
“I think I let the nerves get to me a little bit this first match,” Rowh said. “But now that it’s over, I can take the negatives from the match and learn from it and move on to the next one. Hopefully in the next one I’ll perform closer to where I want to be at.”
Following Rowh’s dramatics, Andrew Crone (149) cashed with a pin, the fastest of the evening, winning by fall in 4:31.
TJ Ruschell (157), Seth Liegel (165) and Ricky Robertson (174) kept things rolling for UW as they each recorded decisions.
Then came Stilling’s pin at 184 pounds. UW head coach Barry Davis pointed to Stilling’s showing as the most impressive performance of the night.
“Jake Stilling, by far. He did a really great job,”Davis said. “I was very impressed with the way he wrestled on top. He wrestled the whole time. He was very good.”
The Badgers capped the night in style with a major decision from Eric Peissig at 197 and a tech fall from Brock Horwath at heavyweight.
It was an offensive onslaught of sorts as the Badgers were on the attack from the get-go.
“We created some offense,” Davis said. “I like the way we wrestled on top, riding, turning. There are a couple things we have to work on. We were a little bit loose on the arm bars, but overall we were pretty good.”
Wisconsin scored bonus points in six of 10 matches.
“That’s something we’ve been working on,” Davis said. ” We work on that in practice every day, trying to get more back points, more pins. If you’re going to be great, going to be successful and going to be a great team, you have to have that.”
Even as the Badgers continued to rack up points, Rowh stated that maintaining the shutout remained a priority.
“We want to be as dominant as possible,” Rowh said. “We always talk about dominating in every aspect of life. It’s good to dominate every way we can and every opportunity we get.”
The Badgers return to the mat Sunday when they take part in the Michigan State Open.
On the mend
Robertson was the only one of Wisconsin’s three nationally ranked wrestlers who took the mat on Thursday. However, UW head coach Barry Davis said after the match that he expects the other two, Isaac Jordan (165) and Ryan Taylor (133) to return to the lineup soon.
“They’re not quite there yet,” Davis said. “But they’re getting there.”
Davis projected that Jordan would see his first action of the season at the Navy Classic (Nov. 21), while Taylor would be back in the lineup for the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas (Dec. 4).
Wisconsin 43, UW-Whitewater 0
125: Jimenez (WIS) wins by fall over Logan Hanselman, 4:41
133: Lantz (WIS) wins by MD over Brandon Peshek, 16-5
141: Rowh (WIS) wins by Dec. over Adcock, 4-2
149: Crone (WIS) wins by fall over Isaiah Vela, 4:31
157: Ruschell (WIS) wins by Dec. over Brandon Arteaga, 7-1
165: Liegel (WIS) wins by Dec. over Thomas Gerszewski, 10-3
174: Robertson (WIS) wins by Dec. over Connor Price, 8-3
184: Stilling (WIS) wins by fall over Christian Dischler, 4:31
197: Peissig (WIS) wins by MD over Bowen Wileman, 9-1
Hwt: Horwath (WIS) wins by TF over Jordan Festege, 16-0
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