After the release of preliminary seeds, the University of Wisconsin wrestling team turns its attention to this weekend’s Big Ten Wrestling Championships in University Park, Pa.

Three Badgers were given No. 1 seeds in their respective weight classes, including Zach Tanelli (141 lbs.), Andrew Howe (165 lbs.) and Dallas Herbst (197 lbs). Kyle Ruschell received a fourth seed in the 149 lb. division while Kyle Massey earned a No. 3 seed in the heavyweight class.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys, with like four true freshmen on there, and then some older guys as well, too. So it’s a mixture of experienced and non-experienced guys both,” head coach Barry Davis said.

Wisconsin and Iowa are tied with three No. 1 seeds each while Northwestern has two. The final seedings will be released Friday, with the tournament beginning Saturday morning.

True freshman Howe impresses

The No. 1 seed Howe received is made even more impressive considering he’s a true freshman. Howe (22-4) is currently ranked No. 2 nationally in his weight class, making him the highest-ranked freshman in the nation. All of Howe’s losses came at the hands of top-five opponents.

“We knew coming in he was good. But we were just talking about the other day, you don’t find too many guys like Andrew Howe around the country,” Davis said. “He’s exceeded expectations. He’s gotten better throughout the year all the way around.”

No stranger to success, Howe won three consecutive Indiana state titles in high school, compiling a 192-1 record. The lone loss of his high school career came in the title match during his freshman year. Fueled by his performance this season, Howe has lofty goals for the postseason.

“[Howe] got interviewed last week after the Ohio State match when he beat the number two guy,” Davis said. “[The interviewer] says, ‘Well, last year you were winning state titles — what are your expectations this year?’ [Howe] says, ‘I just want to win a national championship.’ So we’ll see what happens down the road. We’ve got to get through Big Tens first though.”

Postseason could be chance for team to shine

The Badgers’ 9-8 regular season record in dual meets may not be indicative of how they fare in their postseason tournament. UW performed well at the two regular season invite tournaments they participated in, finishing fourth out of 48 teams at the Midlands Championships and 13th out of 48 teams at the Cliff Keen Invite.

“Oh yeah, [we are] a much better tournament team,” Davis said. “You know, we’ve got a very young team, I said — four true freshmen starting.”

Last year a much more experienced Badgers squad placed sixth at the Big Ten Championships, sending eight wrestlers to the NCAA Championships. This year’s younger team could find similar success, led by its three No. 1 seeds, as well as veterans Ruschell and Massey. Davis said his team is ready to put the dual meets behind them and move on to the next phase of the season.

“[Being] a much better tournament team than dual meet team, it kind of frustrates throughout the year, because there’s no doubt you want to win some dual meets to build that confidence,” Davis said. “But we’re looking forward to tournament time coming, and Big Tens.”

Expectations will be high for UW’s highly seeded wrestlers, but if they perform well, the benefits could mean a chance to compete for some individual national titles.

“Hopefully, I think [the Big Ten Tournament] will set us up for the NCAA championships, depending on how our guys finish, because if we make our own breaks, we could even have maybe four guys in the top four, top five in the country going into NCAAs,” Davis said.