Dec. 27, 2008
2008 Midlands Championships Info Center
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern has reeled off seven wins in its first eight dual match competitions, including two wins against ranked opponents. Now it welcomes the best wrestling competition in the nation to Welsh-Ryan Arena for the 46th annual Midlands Championships on Dec. 29-30. The Big Ten Network is set to air the tournament finals live at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Action gets underway at 9:30 a.m. on Monday. Four Northwestern grapplers—Jake Herbert (No. 1, 184), Brandon Precin (No. 2, 125), Keith Sulzer (No. 5, 141) and Jason Welch (No. 7, 157)—earned pre-tournament rankings in advance of the final seedings, which will be determined on Sunday, Dec. 28. Herbert enters his final collegiate Midlands appearance with a perfect 12-0 record and is out to claim his third championship at the event, unprecedented for a Wildcat wrestler.
Below is a weight-by-weight preview of the 2008 Midlands Championships:
125 lbs. — With two-time champion Angel Escobedo of Indiana not competing in this year's Midlands, the 125-pound division is open for the taking. Northwestern junior Brandon Precin and Iowa's Charlie Falck, who finished second and third, respectively at Midlands a year ago, figure to be the primary contenders along with Old Dominion's James Nicholson, a 2008 NCAA qualifier. Others in the hunt will be: Anthony Robles, Arizona State; Scott Sentes, Central Michigan and Tyler Clark, Iowa State.
133 lbs. — The top four finishers from the 2007 Midlands Championships are back to do battle once again. 2008 NCAA runner-up Joey Slaton of Iowa returns to defend his Midlands championship, facing challenges from Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State, who finished third at Midlands last year, and highly ranked Jim Kennedy of Illinois. Other entrants include Maryland's Steve Bell, the reigning ACC champion, 2008 NCAA qualifier Kyle Hutter of Old Dominion, Conor Beebe of Central Michigan and Steve Hromada of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
141 lbs. — Iowa's Dan LeClere and Alex Tsirtsis, who finished first and third, respectively, at Midlands in 2007, are back to vie for the championship but must go through one of the tournament's most competitive weight classes to do so. Nick Gallick of Iowa State, Harvard's Chris Drouin and Northwestern's Keith Sulzer are all in contention for a Midlands title. Also in the field are Andrae Hernandez of Indiana, Alex Krom of Maryland and Illinois' Ryan Prater, Brandon Rader of West Virginia and Wisconsin's Zach Tanelli.
149 lbs. — Iowa junior Brent Metcalf burst onto the scene in 2007-08 after transferring from Virginia Tech, winning Midlands, Big Ten and NCAA championships as well as the Dan Hodge Trophy. Metcalf will get an early look at his Big Ten competition, including conference foes Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin and Jake Patacsil of Purdue, last year's Midlands runner-up. Steve Brown of Central Michigan and Mitch Mueller of Iowa State also promise to be in the running this year.
157 lbs. — Mike Poeta of Illinois has won back-to-back Midlands titles at 157 lbs. but is back for a third as the group's No. 1-ranked wrestler in his senior season. Poeta, the NCAA runner-up in 2008, will have to contend with a host of talented wrestlers, including Harvard's J.P. O'Connor and Iowa State's Cyler Sanderson, who came in third at last year's Midlands. Northwestern freshman Jason Welch has title aspirations after placing sixth at last year's Midlands while still a senior at Las Lomas (Calif.) High School. Indiana's Kurt Kinser, Iowa's Ryan Morningstar and Clarion's Hadley Harrison also present difficult tests.
165 lbs. — Last year's Midlands runner-up Jon Reader of Iowa State looks to break through with his first title following the graduation of two-time champ Mark Perry of Iowa. Missouri's Nick Marable, who placed third in the NCAA Championships, will be aiming for the title while Moza Fry of Northern Iowa is also in the hunt after a second-place finish in 2006. Other notables in a wide-open field include: Northwestern's Dominic Marella—a fifth-place Midlands finisher in 2007—, Trevor Stewart of Central Michigan, Old Dominion's Chris Brown, Luke Manuel of Purdue and Ethan Headlee of Pitt.
174 lbs. — Following the departure of undefeated 2008 NCAA champion Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh, Iowa's Jay Borschel and Missouri's Raymond Jordan figure to be the favorites entering the Midlands. Central Michigan sophomore Mike Miller returns after a fifth-place 2007 Midlands placing while John Dergo of Illinois is back after a sixth-place finish a year ago. Other contenders include Iowa State's Duke Burk, Mike Cannon of American and Northwestern's Robert Kellogg.
184 lbs. — Northwestern senior Jake Herbert, the 2007 NCAA champion and two-time Midlands winner (2004, 2005), seeks his third Midlands title after falling in last year's finals to Iowa State's Jake Varner while wrestling unattached in his Olympic redshirt year. With Varner having moved to 197 lbs., Herbert faces tests from Iowa All-American Phil Keddy, Louis Caputo of Harvard and Rider's Doug Umbehauer. Other hopefuls are Kyle Bressler of Oregon State and A.J. Kissel of Purdue.
197 lbs. — Iowa State's Jake Varner is ranked No. 1 in the nation and looks to be the favorite but he will be tested by Maryland's Hudson Taylor, who placed third at the NCAA Championships a year ago. Dallas Herbst of Wisconsin and Max Askren of Missouri are both aiming to be in the championship mix in their first Midlands appearances while Patrick Bond of Illinois and Northern Iowa's Andrew Anderson also figure to vie for the title. Other contenders include Big Ten foes Logan Brown of Purdue and Chad Beatty of Iowa.
285 lbs. — Five of the nation's top heavyweights will compete in a wide-open field after the departure of Northwestern's national champion Dustin Fox. They are: Dave Zabriskie of Iowa State, Kyle Massey of Wisconsin—both returning All-Americans—Mark Ellis of Missouri, John Wise of Illinois and Pittsburgh's Zac Sheaffer. Other notables are Rashard Goff of Cleveland State, Indiana's Nathan Everhart, Josh Wine of VMI and Columbia's Ryan Flores.