Connor Medbery – Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics
Wisconsin wrestling senior Connor Medbery will compete for college wrestling’s heavyweight national championship on Saturday night at the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis.
Medbery will face Olympic gold medalist, three-time NCAA finalist and three-time All-American Kyle Snyder of Ohio State.
Medbery earned his spot in the finals after defeating Virginia Tech’s Ty Walz for the third time this season and sixth time in his career. Medbery clinched his first trip to the big state with a tight 4-3 decision.
Fourth-seeded Isaac Jordan (165) fell to the No. 1 seed, Isaiah Martinez 2-1 in the semifinal match.
Junior Andrew Crone (149) lost a tough match to No. 15 seed Kenny Theobold of Rutgers in the bloodround. Crone fell 7-3.
The fifth session will start at 10 a.m. Saturday morning where Jordan will face Daniel Lewis (Missouri) to fight for a spot in the third-place match. Jordan beat Lewis 5-3 in the All-Star Classic at the start of the season.
The Parade of All-Americans will start at 6:35 p.m. before the final session at 7 p.m.
Wisconsin is tied for 11th in the team race with Lehigh. The Badgers have 36 team points. Penn State leads the team race with 121 points and Ohio State is second with 89.5 points.