Big 12 Wrestling Championships - Semifinals - March 3, 2012
2010-11: As a sophomore, Hucke put together a record of 17-11 while placing in the top-six of four tournaments, wrestling mostly at 149 pounds. In his first action of the year, Hucke went 5-2 at the Central Missouri Open, good for a fourth place finish. He opened with an 8-1 victory and followed that up with a 10-2 major over Eric Biehl of SIU-Edwardsville. After dropping to the consolation bracket, he rallied off three consecutive victories, including one by fall in 1:17, to move on to the third place match. In early December, Hucke registered three wins at the Northern Iowa Open to help him finish in fifth. He won his first two matches, pinning Kyle Dellamo of Ellsworth in 2:27 and defeating Upper Iowa's Blake Hilmer, 7-2, but dropped his next two contests. In the fifth place match, Hucke earned a 9-3 win over Max Mayfield of Iowa State. At the Midlands, Hucke went 1-2 with his lone win coming over Jamal Lawrence of Northern Iowa, defeating the Panther by a 7-4 decision. His best finish of the year came at the MVC Open in February, where he took second place. He scored three straight decisions to move into the finals, where he forfeited to teammate Kellen Bounous. At the National Collegiate Open two weeks later, Hucke wrestled down to 141 pounds and pulled off a fourth place finish. He won his first two matches, a 6-2 decision against Princeton's Robert Shepherd and a fall in 4:53 against Jake Freeman of Clarion, before falling to the consolation round. From there, he won 7-2 over Pitt's Mike Tully and majored Indiana's Ryan Nieman, 12-3, to stay alive and advance to the third place contest.
2009-10: Competing at 141 and 149 pounds, Hucke impressed early and often during his redshirt freshman campaign, winning 10 matches and capping off his season with a third place finish at the Big 12 Championships. Starting the year at the University of Central Missouri Open, Hucke secured a win by major decision, fall and technical fall to go 3-2 on the weekend. He picked up three more victories at the Nittany Lion Open, including a victory by fall over Brendan Keys of Lehigh. Wrestling in his only dual of the season, Hucke earned a 6-1 victory over Bennett Johnson of Chattanooga. After wrestling at 141 pounds all season, Hucke wrestled up to 149 for Big 12's. He pinned his first opponent, Dustin Payne of Nebraska, in 4:27, and after dropping his second match, bounced back and defeated Oklahoma State's Luke Silver by a 9-6 decision to take third place.
2008-09: During his redshirt season, Hucke took first at two tournaments, the Missouri Open, Nov. 23 and the Missouri Valley College Open, Feb. 6. Hucke opened and closed his season the same way, with wins, scoring six points in each match. Of the six tournaments in which Hucke competed, he finished among the top three competitors on five occasions, taking second at the University of Central Missouri Roger Denker Open, Jan. 17, in Warrensburg, Mo., and third at the Lindenwood Open, Nov. 1 and University of Northern Iowa Open, Jan. 16. Hucke closed out the year with a 22-5 record.
High School: A three-time Wisconsin state champion and first team all-state honoree, Hucke attended Arrowhead High School, the same high school as Tiger standouts Ben and Maxwell Askren. Hucke is only the second two-time state champion in school history, and only the third Arrowhead wrestler to win a state title with an undefeated record. Hucke closed out his high school career with a 162-28 record. Among Hucke's 168 victories were 91 consecutive wins that he strung together throughout his perfect junior and senior campaigns. Hucke earned All-America honors after taking third in folkstyle senior nationals and fifth in freestyle in Fargo, N.D., his junior year. Coached by John Mesenbrink at Hartland Arrowhead, Hucke was a three-time Wisconsin High School State Champion (2006, 2007, 2008) at 125, 130 and 135 pounds, respectively.
Personal: Hucke was born June 9, 1989, to Robert and Barbara Hucke in Waukesha, Wis. He has three siblings, Jim (24), Brad (21) and Lindsey (17).
