Midlands Championships (Evanston, Illinois)
Team Race:
After Day 1 (through the quarterfinals), the Cael Sanderson-led Iowa State Cyclones have a commanding lead in the team race with 91.5 points. Iowa State advanced six wrestlers into tomorrow's semifinals. Those wrestlers include Nick Fanthorpe, Mitch Mueller, Trent Paulson, Travis Paulson, Jake Varner, and Kurt Backes. Northwestern sits in second place with 68.5 points and four semifinalists. Central Michigan (67), Iowa (65.5), and Indiana (63) round out the top five teams after Day 1 at the Midlands.
Day 1 Highlights:
At 125, No. 2-seeded Gabe Flores of Illinois re-injured the LCL in his left knee in his 15-9 opening-round victory over Raymond Stephens of Waubonsee, which forced him to withdraw from the competition. In the quarterfinals, in a battle of freshmen, Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State upset No. 1-seeded Franklin Gomez of Michigan State, 9-7, in a controversial overtime match.
At 133, Nick Simmons of Michigan State, the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the country at 133, defeated New York high school phenom Corey Jantzen in the quarterfinals, 11-1. Jantzen is only the fourth high wrestler ever to compete at the Midlands. In the bottom bracket, both the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds failed to advance to the semifinals. Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois took out No. 2-seeded Robbie Preston of Harvard in sudden victory, 5-3. Unseeded Eric Metzler of Northwestern, a former Wisconsin two-time state champion, upset No. 3-seeded Mario Galanakis of Iowa, 3-2.
At 141, No. 3-seeded Cassio Pero of Illinois, a former All-American, was pinned by unseeded Don Fisch of Rider. Fisch, however, dropped his quarterfinal match to Mitch Mueller of Iowa State, 2-1.
At 149, No. 3-seeded David Jauregui of West Virginia and No. 4 seeded Jermain Thompson of Eastern Michigan failed to reach the quarterfinals, both losing to unseeded wrestlers. Jauregui lost to Tyler Grayson of Central Michigan, while Thompson lost to Matt Redmond of Purdue. The semifinals saw the No. 1 and No. 5 seeds fall to a pair of Purdue wrestlers. No. 1-seeded J.P. O'Connor of Harvard was upset by Jake Patacsil, 4-3, while No. 5-seeded Cyler Sanderson of Iowa State fell to Redmond, 5-4, in the tiebreaker period.
At 157, No. 2-seeded Brandon Becker of Indiana, a two-time All-American, lost by injury default to No. 7-seeded Moza Fay of Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals.
At 165, unseeded Jonathan Reader of Iowa State, a talented freshman who is redshirting this season for the Cyclones, scored a 2-1 decision over No. 4-seeded Max Dean of Indiana. However, in the quarterfinals, Reader was defeated by No. 5-seeded Roger Bergsrud of Illinois, 5-3.
At 184, No. 2-seeded Gerald Harris, a former Cleveland State standout, was upset in the Round of 16 by unseeded John Dergo of Illinois, 6-4, in the second tiebreaker.
At 197, No. 1-seeded Josh Glenn of American dominated on Day 1, recording three pins.
Looking Ahead:
At 141, Mitch Mueller of Iowa State will face Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa in the semifinals. Tsirtsis defeated Mueller, 4-1, on Dec. 3.
At 157, Trent Paulson of Iowa State and Mike Poeta of Illinois are on a collision course to meet in the finals. Both wrestlers have looked very impressive in their matches leading up to the semifinals. At least year's Midlands, Poeta defeated Trent's older brother, Travis, to advance to the finals.
At 165, No. 2-seeded Travis Paulson of Iowa State will face No. 3-seeded and defending Midlands champion Nick Baima of Northern Iowa in the semifinals. The winner will likely face No. 1-seeded Mark Perry of Iowa, a 2004 Midlands champion, in the finals.
Midlands Championships Brackets
Southern Scuffle (Greensboro, North Carolina)
Team Race:
No. 1-ranked Minnesota leads the team race at the Southern Scuffle after Day 1 with 59.5 points. The Gophers advanced seven wrestlers into tomorrow's quarterfinals. Edinboro sits in second place with 53.5 points. Cornell (52), Missouri (50.5), and Cal State Bakersfield (42.5) round out the top five teams after Day 1 at the Southern Scuffle.
Day 1 Highlights:
At 125, NCAA runner-up Troy Nickerson of Cornell made his season debut with a 33-second pin over Taylor Cumming of North Carolina State. Nickerson followed that up with a 16-6 major decision over Eric Morrill of Edinboro.
At 141, No. 2-seeded J Jaggers of Ohio State scored a second-period pin in the opening round, but suffered an injury and withdrew from the competition. No. 3-seeded Vince Ramirez was pinned at 6:32 in the Round of 16 by Alex Krom of Maryland.
At 174, Ben Askren of Missouri recorded two first-period pins … and now stands tied with former Tiger grappler Wes Roper in the Missouri career wins record book with 131. Askren is now 20-0 on the season with 18 of his victories coming by way of pin.
Looking Ahead:
The quarterfinal match-ups are now set for the Southern Scuffle … and there looks to be some very intriguing match-ups.
At 133, No. 1-seeded Matt Keller of Tennessee Chattanooga will face talented first-year starter Adam Frey of Cornell. Frey is a former Blair Academy standout who is making his season debut at the Southern Scuffle. Frey has won by scores of 15-4 and 24-12 leading up to his quarterfinal match against Keller.
At 149, it will be a battle of former Ohio high school stars when Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota, the defending NCAA champion, faces freshman Lance Palmer of Ohio State in the quarterfinals. However, the match-up that wrestling fans all across the country are talking about is the potential finals showdown between Schlatter and fellow sophomore Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro. Gillespie won his two matches on Friday by a combined score of 32-0 (two technical falls).
At 165, No. 1-seeded Deonte Penn of Edinboro, a returning All-American, will face talented true freshman Scott Glasser of Minnesota, the No. 8 seed, in the quarterfinals. Glasser, a five-time North Dakota state champion, won his opening round match by a score of 14-1 and advanced to the quarterfinals after winning by injury default.
At 184, No. 1-seeded Roger Kish of Minnesota will face freshman David Craig of Lehigh in the quarterfinals. Both are former No. 1 overall recruits. In high school, the two combined for 431 victories and eight state titles.
At 197, No. 1-seeded Max Askren of Missouri will face Brent Jones of Virginia in the quarterfinals. Askren defeated Jones over the summer to win the FILA Junior World Team Trials in Colorado Springs. Hudson Taylor of Maryland will take on Ryan Goodman of North Carolina State in what should be another exciting quarterfinal match-up.
Southern Scuffle Brackets
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