MADISON, Wis. – Most wrestlers won't defeat three top-five opponents in an entire season. Wisconsin wrestling senior
Connor Medbery did it within one week, earning him Big Ten Conference Wrestler of the week honors for the second week in a row.
The conference announced Medbery won the award in two consecutive weeks on Tuesday, making him the first Badger to win the award in back-to-back weeks. It is also just the second time in program history that Wisconsin has had weekly Big Ten honors two weeks in a row. The first time was in 2008 when Zach Tanelli and Kyle Massey garnered the accolade.
Coming off of a win at the prestigious NWCA All-Star Classic, Medbery carried his momentum into the Journeymen Classic to take first place in the heavyweight bracket.
The second-ranked wrestler picked up a technical fall at 2:16 in his first match before taking down Minnesota's fifth-ranked Michael Kroells with a dominant 10-0 major decision. In the finals, Medbery faced yet another top-10 opponent in fourth-ranked Tanner Hall of Arizona State, but Medbery came away with the tournament crown by taking down Hall, 3-2.
He was awarded the prestigious Hammer Award at the Journeymen Classic for his dominant performance.
With the wins over No. 4 and No. 5 at the Journeymen Classic and the win over the then-No. 2 Ty Walz (Virginia Tech), Medbery has now defeated three top-five opponents in a span of one week.
Having already accumulated two Big Ten weekly honors in a single season, UW ties for second in program records for the most weekly praises in a season.