Michael Cullen lives in a hard-core wrestling family and started experiencing the sport in practices around the age of 4.

Cullen was competing at a high level by age 7 and not long after that, he discovered the strong wrestling tradition of Big Ten Conference schools.

“The Big Ten has always been my goal,” said Cullen, a Cary-Grove senior. “Wrestling in the Big Ten was the ultimate goal. It’s kind of crazy – it’s real now.”

Cullen committed to Wisconsin coach Barry Davis on Tuesday night, picking the Badgers over Michigan, the other school remaining on his list. Cullen will receive his National Letter of Intent by express mail Wednesday and sign it on the final day of the NCAA’s early signing period.

Cullen has three Class 3A state medals for his high school career, including fifth at 120 pounds last year.

“The education is great at Wisconsin – I really got along with the coaches and the team,” Cullen said. “They’re good guys and good people. They really care about the individual, not just in wrestling.”

Cullen had Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State and Cal-Poly as his final four schools before trimming that to Wisconsin and Michigan. Cullen is the second of Michael Sr. and Barb Cullen’s four wrestling sons. Michael Sr. was a two-time state qualifier at Palatine, so his sons have been raised as wrestlers.

Brian, the oldest, is on the team at Illinois, but Michael had a valid reason for not joining his brother in Champaign.

“I project [to wrestle] in the 125- or 133-pound weight classes,” Cullen said. “Illinois has done a really good job with those weights, and I was making my decision on where I would be able to start right away.”

Cullen’s Class 3A state tournament finish last year was an odd one. He lost by injury default in his wrestleback semifinal when he took a blow to his face. However, Marist’s Mark Duda had lost the other wrestleback semifinal by forfeit after being ejected. By IHSA rules, Duda had to miss the next match and Cullen, who would not have been able to wrestle, took fifth place by forfeit.