Wisconsin Badgers Wrestling MAN OF THE MAT vs Northwestern

Wisconsin Badgers Wrestling MAN OF THE MAT Award

The intent of this prestigious, almost Hodge-like, award is to highlight a wrestler from the Wisconsin Badgers Wrestling team that had the most outstanding performance from the event.

Welcome to the Field House, Zan! The true freshman scored early and often in his bonus point win! Congrats on your first Big Ten dual win! Zan was asked how it felt to win his match.

“I thought I did alright, definitely areas to improve to get better, but overall blessed with the opportunity to wrestle out here in the Big Ten”.

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Head Coach Chris Bono was pleased with his true freshman.

“I see it everyday, right, that’s what he shows in the room. He shows up everyday and he competes and you go watch that match and he competed in every position. He’s good on top, he got through a turn, he scored on his feet and he got away. That’s what we see. I love the way he competes – it’s what we preach. We’re not too worried about results right now but how he competes and how much he’s getting better everyday.

We’ve been bringing him on these all these trips all year long and not wrestling him. To be able to to throw him out here, he stayed ready, he waited his turn, and that’s what I’m more impressed with. He could have sat back and not done a whole bunch, not been ready to wrestle, but when we told him we were going to give him an opportunity a day ago, he’s ready to go, he steps right in there and his training showed that tonight.”

Following that Big Ten dual debut and win – Zan Fugitt is the winner of the MAN OF THE MAT award!

Previous Winners of the MAN OF THE MAT:

Lindenwood – Felix Lettini

Michigan State Open – Luke Condon

No. 10 Iowa State – NO SELECTION

Bucknell – Max Maylor

Rider – Joseph Zargo

Drexel – Dean Hamiti

Midlands Championships – Shane Liegel

Virginia Duals – Max Maylor

No. 7 Ohio State – Eric Barnett

Michigan State – Nicolar Rivera

Loras Open – Luke Condon

No. 6 Nebraska – Dean Hamiti

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