Fox battled with Mike Faust from Hawk WC in the 285 lb. finals. The final match took two tiebreak sessions before the All-American took the title, 5-3, on a reversal. Fox beat out Iowa State's Dave Zabriskie 4-3 in the semifinals at 285 lbs.
Sophomore Brandon Precin advanced to the final round by defeating Nick Simmons of Sunkist 1-0. Simmons was 24-1 all-time at the Midlands going into the match and had won three-consecutive championships. Precin's point came in the third period on a stall while he was riding Simmons. In the quarterfinals, Precin won with a pin at 2:30 over Akif Eren of Purdue. Precin finished with two pins on the tournament, which put him in a tie for third place for the most pins, his fasted coming in the quarters. The loss was the first of the year for the sophomore.
Fellow NU All-American Mike Tamillow followed suit reaching the final round for the second-consecutive year, but was dispatched by American University's Josh Glenn. Tamillow faced Central Michigan's third seeded Wynn Michalak in the semifinals of the 197 lb. weight class. The senior defeated him by an 8-6 decision.
At the 2006 Midlands, Fox finished second, while Tamillow took the title.
Iowa won the Midlands with a team score of 185, beating out Iowa State, Central Michigan and Illinois. Just behind Northwestern was Pittsburgh, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Indiana, Purdue and Northern Illinois rounding out the top 10.
Marty Gould took seventh place in the 149-lb. weight class after winning three matches in the wrestlebacks. Junior Dominic Marella got a medical forfeit for fifth place over Trevor Stewart in the evening session at 165 lbs. Marella fell in the semifinals to Mark Perry of Iowa in the championship round. Senior Nick Hayes also placed for the Wildcats at 174 lbs., as he fell to Lloyd Rogers of Tennessee-Chattanooga in the seventh place match, 9-8.
NU freshman Mike Benefiel made it to the round of 16 at 174 lbs. and won two matches in the wrestlebacks before falling to Mike Miller of Central Michigan on Sunday. Seventh seeded Eric Metzler overcame multiple cuts to his face and head throughout the tournament to collect two wins, reaching the round of 16 at 133 lbs. Redshirt freshman Keith Sulzer also won two matches by decision to reach the round of 16 where he lost a lengthy double-tiebreaker match to second seeeded Zach Bailey of Oklahoma in the 141-lb. weight class.
Top-ranked NU senior Ryan Lang bowed out of the tournament early in day one due to illness.
The Wildcats next matches come at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals on Jan. 12-13 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Midlands Notes:
Iowa's Mark Perry won the Ark Kraft Champion of Champions Award in the 165- lb. division on the strength of a pin in the semifinals against Marella and an 8-0 major decision over Iowa State's Jon Reader in the finals. Perry also took the Dan Gable Most Outstanding Wrestler Award, while earning 30 points for his team, which was an individual high for the tournament.
Jesse Linczmaier of Northern Illinois earned the fastest fall of the tournament with a pin in 30 seconds against James Nakashima of Lincoln College in the 165-lb. wrestlebacks.
Mark Perry earned hte most falls of the tournament with four in a total time of 8:10. His fastest came in just 42 seconds against Marella.
Nick Simmons' loss to Precin was only the second of his career at Midlands after piling up 24 wins. He was a three-time defending champion coming into the 2007 tournament.
New York Athletic Club's Jake Herbert took a loss in the finals at 184 lbs., which was his first ever Midlands loss in three years. Herbert won the title in both 2004 and in 2005.
Iowa's victory placed the Midlands trophy back in the hands of the Big Ten for the 13th time in 14 years. Iowa State won last year, which was the first non-Big Ten victory since Arizona State's in 1989. Iowa has now won the Midlands Championships eight times since 1990.
Of the 10 No. 1 seeds coming into the tournament, only four ended up living up to their seed and winning the championship. Illinois Mike Poeta (157 lbs.), Pittsburgh's Keith Gavin (174 lbs.), American's Josh Glenn (197 lbs.) and Northwestern's Dustin Fox (285 lbs.) all pulled off the feat.
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