Nicholas Hucke

Class:
Junior
Hometown:
Pewaukee, Wis.
High School:
Hartland Arrowhead

2012-13: Hucke's final year as a Mizzou Tiger brought with it a record of 16-16 and a second qualification at the NCAA Championships. He started the year off with a win against No. 11 Justin LaValle (Old Dominion) before wrestling his way through the Joe Parisi Open. There Hucke beat Jake Cook by at fall at 1:32 but continued on to lose two of his three remaining matches. The Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational unfortunately only brought two more losses for Hucke. On Dec. 16 at Grapple at the Garden, Hucke won his first of two matches against No. 10 Mike Nevinger of Cornell. Jan. 1 at the Southern Scuffle brought one win before Hucke had to medically/forfeit the next two matches, thus not being able to place. A major decision (10-2) win against Brandon Brindley of SIUE brought Hucke's season record up to 9-9, just in time for the NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals. The Duals only brought him two wins; here Hucke wrestled Julian Feikert of Oklahoma State for the third (and final) time of the season, bringing his record against him on the year to 2-1. March 10th brought 3 wins and two losses for Hucke at the MAC Championships, earning Hucke the third place title and an NCAA Championship qualification. While Hucke didn't end up placing at the NCAA Championships, he did win two of his four bouts, closing out his season. His career record at Mizzou finishes at 59-50, with 7 major decisions, 8 falls, and 3 technical falls.

2011-12: After starting the season as the backup at 141 pounds, Hucke worked his way into the lineup midway through the year and punched his ticket to his first ever NCAA Championship. Hucke opened the campaign with a second place finish at the UCM Open, winning his first four matches which included a fall over Oklahoma State's Luke Silver. Hucke placed third at the Kaufman-Brand Open in December, bouncing back from a loss in the quarterfinals to win his last two matches. Hucke really started hitting his stride after that, as he took fourth at the Southern Scuffle to open the New Year, which featured a victory over No. 14 Evan Henderson of North Carolina. His performance at the Scuffle earned him a spot in the starting lineup from that point on. He claimed two victories at the SIUE Quad, highlighted by a 2-0 decision over SIUE's Dillon Pousson. Entering the Big 12 Championship as the No. 4 seed, Hucke would need at least one win to earn his spot at NCAA's. After falling in the first round to Kendric Maple (Oklahoma), ranked No. 2 nationally, Hucke came back and scored an impressive 9-0 major decision over No. 19 Luke Goettl (Iowa State) in the third place match, avenging a 9-2 loss from earlier in the season. Hucke got a tough draw at the NCAA Championship, opening with top-seeded Kellen Russell of Michigan, who scored a hard-fought 6-1 victory over the Tiger. Hucke scored a win in the wrestlebacks, defeating Duke's Tanner Hough by a 7-3 score, before being eliminated in his next match. Hucke finished the year with a 16-14 record. Honors: Second Team Academic All-Big 12

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).