McDonough, who is the tournament's top seed and defending Midlands champion at 125, helped the Hawkeye team score with three bonus point victories. He opened the tournament with a match-ending 18-2 technical fall in 5:58 over Triton's Jose Torres. McDonough ended the day with two pins, sticking Northern Illinois' Nick Smith in 6:04 and #8 seed Frank Lomas of Cal Bakersfield in 4:54, to remain undefeated at 10-0 this season. The Marion, IA, native will face #5 seed Ryan Mango of Stanford in the semifinals. McDonough scored a 12-4 major decision over Mango in his first match of the 2009 Midlands Championships in the pair's only collegiate career meeting.
Ramos, who is the #3 seed at 133, posted a 14-3 major decision over American's Kevin Tao in his opening bout and a 7-4 win over Nebraska's Ridge Kiley in the second round. He then beat Hawkeye teammate Tyler Clark, 3-1, in the quarterfinals, to remain undefeated at 7-0. Ramos will face #2 seed B.J. Futrell of Illinois in the semifinals in the pair's first collegiate career meeting.
Gambrall, who is seeded #1 at 184, recorded three major decisions in a solid first day of competition. The Hawkeye sophomore beat Cleveland State's Corbin Boone (16-3) in the opening match, Central Michigan's Chad Friend (9-1) in the second round and Stanford's Don Scherer (9-0) in the quarterfinals. Gambrall will face #4 seed Josh Ihnen of Nebraska in the semifinals. The Iowa City, IA, native has a 1-1 collegiate career record against Ihnen, losing a 7-4 decision at the2009 Brand Open and winning a 6-1 decision at the 2009 Grand View Open, while competing unattached at both events.
Still alive for the Hawkeyes in the consolation bracket are seniors Luke Lofthouse (#2 seed at 197) and Aaron Janssen (165), junior Tyler Clark (#11 seed at 133), sophomore Mark Ballweg (#4 seed at 141), redshirt freshman Ethen Lofthouse (#9 seed at 174) and true freshman Mike Evans (174). Evans is competing unattached.
Thursday's championship semifinals and consolation matches are set to start at noon at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Fans can listen to a live broadcast at hawkeyesports.com using the XXL All-Access subscription. Updated team standings and brackets are available throughout the tournament at www.nusports.com.
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