Wisconsin Badgers
Northern Iowa
Five Things to Know: No. 16 Northern Iowa
February 17, 2023 | Wrestling
Badgers close dual match and regular season at home against Panthers
MADISON, Wis. — Ranked No. 13 by Intermat and No. 19 by the NWCA, Wisconsin (7-8, 1-7 B1G) closes the dual match and regular season against No. 16/13 Northern Iowa (7-4, 5-3 B1G) at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18 at the UW Field House.
The dual match will be streamed live on B1G+ at https://go.wisc.edu/wrst_uni23_b1gplus. Newton Smerchek will be on the call for the match.
Quick Notes:
- Northern Iowa Roster and Match Preview
- Northern Iowa Match Notes (PDF)
- Watch B1G+ Live Stream (subscription required)
- Wisconsin Match Notes and Stats (PDF)
Wisconsin head coach Chris Bono shared a Jump Around update on Monday. Watch it here:
Here are five things to know:
1. A YEAR AGO: Wisconsin defeated UNI last season, winning 24-10 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Then No. 32 Joe Zargo earned an upset of No. 23 Cael Happel in a 9-4 decision at 141 pounds among seven Badgers to win.
2. LAST TIME OUT: Last time out, Wisconsin wrapped the Big Ten dual match season with a 19-15 loss at home to No. 23 Minnesota on Saturday, Feb. 11. Five Badgers earned victories against the Golder Gophers in the Border Battle, led by No. 7 Eric Barnett with a 5-4 decision victory over No. 6 Patrick McKee at 125 pounds. Notably the Badgers did not have No. 2 Austin Gomez in the lineup at 149 pounds as Gomez continues to recover from an injury. Aidan Medora subbed for Gomez, falling by pin to Minnesota's No. 15 Michael Blockhus. Read the recap here.
Badgers Garrett Model (157), Dean Hamiti (165), Braxton Amos (197) and Trent Hillger (285) also secured wins in the dual, but points scored were not enough to overcome the Gophers. No. 18 Model defeated Drew Roberts at 157 with a 12-9 decision, while No. 6 Hamiti collected a 7-3 decision over Cael Carlson. No. 20 Amos defeated No. 23 Michial Foy in a narrow 2-1 victory and No. 11 Hillger beat Garrett Joles 3-2. Barnett's victory at 125 gave Wisconsin a 16-15 lead on the scoreboard, but Minnesota won the final two bouts at 133 and 141 to win the dual in this season's Border Battle.
3. SCOUTING NORTHERN IOWA: Northern Iowa collected four victories against No. 3 Iowa State last week, but fell short against its Big 12 rival by a final score of 19-12. Kyle Gollhofer (125) rallied with a 3-point second period and 4-point third period for an 8-6 decision over ISU's Ethan Perryman. In an aggressive, fast paced bout, No. 8 Cael Happel (141) overcame a first period takedown against Casey Swiderski, picking up a third period takedown for a 4-3 decision win. Derek Holschlag took control of his 157 pound matchup with No. 28 Jason Kraisser with an early takedown and a pair of near fall points in the second period as part of a 4-1 decision. UNI lost at 133, 149, 165, 174, 197 and 285. Read the recap here.
No. 2 Parker Keckeisen is on an 11-match win streak and is the reigning Big 12 Wrestler of the Week for his win last week over No. 4 Marcus Coleman of Iowa State. Keckeisen has won 21 of his last 22 matches in a streak that dates back to the 2022 NCAA championships. He has just four career losses to three different opponents: Aaron Brooks of Penn State, Trent Hidlay of NC State and Bernie Truax of Cal Poly. Head coach Doug Schwab is 5-4 against Wisconsin and has never lost two consecutive duals to the Badgers. Read UNI's match preview here.
4. CELEBRATE OUR SENIORS: Wisconsin will honor its graduating seniors on Saturday prior to the match: Dominic Dentino, Tyler Dow, Trent Hillger, Taylor LaMont, Kevin Meicher, Garrett Model and Drew Scharenbrock.
5. LINEUPS:
NO. 13 WISCONSIN
125: #6 Eric Barnett (15-5)
133: Taylor LaMont (8-12)
141: #29 Joseph Zargo (9-9)
149: #2 Austin Gomez (11-2) or Aidan Medora (7-12)
157: #18 Garrett Model (14-7)
165: #6 Dean Hamiti (17-4)
174: Josh Otto (6-13) or Cale Anderson (0-0)
184: Tyler Dow (7-11)
197: #20 Braxton Amos (15-5)
285: #10 Trent Hillger (13-6) or Peter Christensen (4-1)
HC: Chris Bono
AC: Jon Reader (Assoc. HC)
AC: Seth Gross
NO. 16 NORTHERN IOWA
125: Kyle Gollhofer (8-10)
133: #14 Kyle Biscoglia (17-6)
141: #8 Cael Happel (15-4)
149: #14 Colin Realbuto (16-4) or Adam Allard (9-9) or Cael Rahnavardi (5-7)
157: #20 Derek Hoschlag (15-4)
165: #14 Austin Yant (15-3)
174: #26 Lance Runyon (3-5) or Carson Babcock (6-12)
184: #2 Parker Keckeisen (17-1)
197: Noah Glaser (8-6) or Kalob Runyon (10-6)
285: #13 Tyrell Gordon (14-6)
HC: Doug Schwab
AC: Randy Pugh
AC: Lee Roper
Players Mentioned
