But when the dust settled, the Tigers used a balanced scoring effort to win the overall team title with 103.5 points despite not having any wrestlers in the championship matches.
"We grew up a little this weekend," Smith said. "It's a young team (only one senior), so we have to keep improving. We had some losses in dual meets, but every time we come into practice, I see guys wanting to get better. We had a terrible second session last night, lost a lot of tight matches. I wanted to see us wrestle today, and they showed up. Everybody scored points for us. It was a total team effort."
Freshman Alan Waters avenged his only loss of the season by reversing Stanford's Ryan Mango late in the period to place third. Todd Schavrien (fifth at 141), Zach Toal (fourth at 165), Mike Larson (fourth at 184), and Brent Haynes (fourth at 197) all finished on the podium for the Tigers.
Even an ex-Tiger had a good day. In a very entertaining "super-match" exhibition (available to watch on Flo), former Missouri National Champion Ben Askren funked his way to a 12-6 decision over former Northwestern National Champ Jake Herbert.
The individual finals kicked off with a highly anticipated dual between defending Midlands and NCAA champion Matt McDonough (Iowa) and No. 2 Brandon Precin (Northwestern). It was the first time these two squared off, with Precin having redshirted last season.
On Saturday night, Precin used a throw-by to get a takedown late in the first period. Then he just stayed solid defensively, tying up McDonough and not allowing him to strike for his deadly low single. He eventually prevailed 3-0, much to the delight of the hometown crowd.
"I was excited for the opportunity to compete against him," Precin said. "I knew he was going to be a bull, so I had to fight fire with fire. He has an amazing single, so I had to make sure he didn't grab my leg."
The marquee matchup of the night, however, featured a pair of NCAA champions, No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) against No. 2 Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska). Trying to defend his Midlands crown, Howe forced the action throughout. But Burroughs stayed out of the collar ties and struck with his powerful double leg early. Howe did get a few takedowns near the edge of the mat (the first allowed by Burroughs this season). But Burroughs used his speed to counter at the right times and rode tough, eventually emerging with a 10-7 decision in a match that had Welsh-Ryan Arena buzzing.
"I just tried to score as many points as I could," Burroughs said. "I knew he was going to come hard, so I just had to pick and choose my spots."
Despite Howe's loss, Wisconsin got a repeat title from Tyler Graff at 133, as well as one from Travis Rutt at 184, to finish in second place with 95.5 points.
"Well, it's something to build off of," Wisconsin coach Barry Davis said. "Last year, we had three in the finals; this year, four. We're making progress. We'll continue to move forward and try to peak for March."
The tournament, which will be renamed the Ken Kraft Midlands Championship next year, proved to be as tough as ever.
"From an organizational standpoint, I have some of the best people in the country helping put on this event," Northwestern coach Drew Pariano said. "We'll be bringing more good matchups to you, too. We're going to keep finding the best teams and individuals in the country."
Finals Match Summaries
Numbers before wrestler's name indicate InterMat national ranking
125: No. 2 Brandon Precin (Northwestern) dec. No. 1 Matt McDonough (Iowa), 3-1
Precin defended his home turf with an early takedown and some solid defense to pull the upset, and deny McDonough his second Midlands crown.
133: No. 3 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin) dec. No. 5 B.J. Futrell (Illinois), 13-6
Graff put on a takedown clinic, notching five of them to down Big Ten rival B.J. Futrell of Illinois by a 13-6 decision, and win his second straight Midlands title.
141: No. 4 Boris Novachkov (Cal Poly) won by injury default over No. 3 Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois)
One of the most anticipated matchups never came to pass. Novachkov got his hand raised after Kennedy medically forfeited the title to him. No information about Kennedy's injury was available at press time.
149: No. 3 Kevin LeValley (Bucknell) dec. No. 18 Cole Schmitt (Wisconsin), 4-0
LeValley forced the action for most of the match. He got a takedown near the edge of the mat, then racked up huge riding time while Schmidtt looked helpless on bottom. The Bison takes the title comfortably, 4-0.
157: No. 20 (at 165) Chase Nelson (Oklahoma) dec. Kyle John (Maryland), 11-7
Not the matchup that everyone predicted, with the seven and eight seeds making the title match. But Nelson stunned Jake Patacsil, and rode the momentum to a title. Nelson got several takedowns, and was athletic enough to avoid John's low single attempts. Up 8-4 in the third, Nelson hung on for an 11-7 decision.
165: No. 2 Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska) dec. No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin), 10-7
See recap above.
174: No. 3 Jon Reader (Iowa State) dec. No. 5 Ben Bennett (Central Michigan), 9-4
Reader got a quick takedown, then rode tough the rest of the way. He looks ideal at this weight, and though Bennett battled, Reader skated to a 9-4 decision. A two-time Midlands runner-up is now a champion.
184: No. 6 Travis Rutt (Wisconsin) dec. No. 10 Josh Ihnen (Nebraska), 4-3
Rutt lost the Cliff Keen title earlier, but got a quick takedown here. Rutt forced most of the action. Lot of collar ties, but Rutt eventually hung on for a 4-3 win.
197: Matt Wilps (Pittsburgh) dec. Byron Tate (Wartburg), 5-4
Perhaps the most unexpected final, with the defending DIII champ Tate taking on the unattached Wilps. The Pitt Panther got the first takedown, rode tough and led 4-3 into the third. A second stall call tied the match at 4, but Wilps won the match on ride time advantage to hand Tate, who was 25-0, his first defeat this season.
285: No. 1 Zach Rey (Lehigh) dec. No. 8 Jarod Trice (Central Michigan), 2-1
In a match that got pretty chippy at the end, Rey traded escapes (and head slaps) with Trice, but held on for the 2-1 ride time win.
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