After opening up the season with three Big Ten dual meet victories, the Wisconsin wrestling team met its match on Friday night falling, on the road, to top-ranked Penn State 36-6.
No. 11 Connor Medbery got the Badgers (6-3, 3-1) off on the right foot with a 6-3 win over No. 16 Jon Gingrich at 285 pounds.
Penn State quickly answered as No. 2 Nico Megadulis picked up a win, by technical fall, over Matt Cavallaris at 125 to put PSU on top 4-3. The Nittany Lions never looked back.
The match hit a key turning point at 133 when Jordan Conaway rallied from a 7-3, third period deficit, to upset No. 3 Tyler Graff 10-8 in overtime.
From there, PSU continued to roll. Bryan Pearsall won by pin in 1:22 in the following match to push Penn State’s advantage to 13-3.
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Cole Schmitt helped Wisconsin stop the bleeding momentarily with his 8-4 marathon win over James English that lasted several overtime periods. The victory drew the Badgers within seven, but that is as close as they would get.
The Nittany Lions won the final five matches of the evening, including a fall from Quentin Wright in the final bout of the dual at 197 pounds. The pin marked Wright’s 100th victory of his collegiate career.
The treacherous road will not get any easier for Wisconsin as it travels Columbus to take on No. 6 Ohio State, Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m.
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