Wisconsin's 149 lber Austin Gomez (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)The Top-10 performances from the last week in the Big 10 Conference:
1. Austin Gomez, Wisconsin - A very formal welcome back to the show to you, Mr. Gomez. He knocked off both Rutgers' Mike Van Brill, a two-time NCAA qualifier, and Northwestern's Yahya Thomas, a returning All-American, this weekend. Gomez took Yahya down twice in the third period to win, 8-6, then took Van Brill feet-to-back in the third for a crucial 11-1 major decision. The Badgers won both duals, too, 19-15 over Northwestern, and 19-14 over Rutgers. Scared money don't make money.
2. Michael DeAugustino, Northwestern - Made his season debut this week, and all he did was beat a pair of All-Americans. On Friday, DeAugustino won 9-5 over Wisconsin's Eric Barnett, using a reversal and four-point turn in the second period to seize the lead. On Sunday, he took Minnesota's Patrick McKee feet-to-back in the third period to turn a 6-2 deficit into a 6-6 tie, then turned him again in the final 30 seconds for two more quick back points and won, 8-7. Another tremendous welcome back.
3. Michael Kemerer, Iowa - Tom Brands officially let the Kem Daughg out. Kemerer made his long-awaited season debut this weekend too, and very casually opened a can on both Minnesota's Bailee O'Reilly and Purdue's Gerrit Nijenhuis, beating both by a combined 26-2. He scored three takedowns in a 9-2 win over O'Reilly on Friday night, then rolled up a 17-1 technical fall on Nijenhuis on Sunday, turning a 2-1 first-period lead into a 13-1 advantage by the end of the second thanks to a cradle that netted a takedown and four back points. Pretty spry performance from an old man.
4. Drew Hildebrandt, Penn State - One more valiant return to kick off this week's list. Drew Hildebrandt, an All-American at 125 pounds last year for Central Michigan, made his Penn State debut this weekend. He won twice, including a 98-second pin in his very first match in Nittany Lion blue. His second victory was a workmanlike 6-2 win over Indiana's Jacob Moran. Penn State needs big points from this dude to win what's expected to be a hotly-contested team race in March.
5. Pat Brucki, Michigan - Took down a returning NCAA finalist in Pittsburgh's Nino Bonaccorsi - as if this weight isn't already weird enough - rallying from an early Bonaccorsi takedown to win, 6-3. Brucki went escape-takedown in the second period to lead 4-2, then added another in the third period to ice it.
6. Aaron Brooks, Penn State - AB was honored as the league's wrestler of the week for the third time this season after beating both Indiana's #8 DJ Washington (Indiana) and #12 Kyle Cochran (Maryland) this weekend. He major'd them both by a combined 32-11 - 13-4 over Washington, 19-7 over Cochran - and scored 13 takedowns between both matches while allowing just one. He's ranked #1 for a reason.
7. Gerrit Nijenhuis, Purdue - Yes, we talked about how Nijenhuis lost big to Kemerer, but did you SEE his big 6-4 win over Nebraska's Mikey Labriola on Friday night? This was a back-and-forth thriller. Nijenhuis led 2-0 in the first, then Labriola stormed to a 4-2 lead in the second, then Nijenhuis escaped, and went escape-takedown in the third to win. Combine this result with Max Lyon's upset win over Taylor Venz (more on that in a second), and that's partly how the Boilermakers beat Nebraska for the first time since 1985. Not bad, guys.
8. Drake Ayala, Iowa - Iowa's superstar true freshman rebounded from a Friday night defeat to knock off then-No. 5 Devin Schroder for his first win in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It's pronounced EYE-YALL-UH, for those who don't know, and Young Drizzy scored a pair of takedowns and clocked more than three minutes of riding time for the first of many big wins in Iowa's all-black singlet. Welcome to the show, young man. Let the good times roll.
9. Brayton Lee, Minnesota - Lee closed Minnesota's loss to Iowa on Friday night with a dramatic 4-3 win over Kaleb Young. After surrendering a takedown out of a scramble in the first period, Lee scored a takedown with less than 30 seconds left and rode Young out to win. That levels their all-time series at 2-2, and all four matches have been decided by a single point. Wild.
10. Max Lyon, Purdue - Previously mentioned Lyon's win, but he was previously 0-3 against Venz during his collegiate career, so this 7-2 win on Friday night was a nice monkey off Lyon's back. He led 4-0 after a takedown in the first period and escapes in both the second and third. Venz scored to close within 4-2, but Lyon went escape-takedown to ice another crucial win for the Boilermakers' upset win.
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