Dec. 30, 2010
Site: Evanston, Ill. (Welsh-Ryan Arena)
Team Standings: Northwestern 14th/44 (through Session III)
Next NU Event: Midlands Championships Session IV - Thursday, Dec. 30, 7 p.m. CT
Final Session III Results (brackets as of 5:15 p.m.) 
Current Team Standings (as of 5:15 p.m. CT)
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern senior 125-pounder Brandon Precin advanced to the finals of the Midlands Championships for the second time in his career Thursday in Evanston and will now face defending NCAA champion and top-ranked Matt McDonough of Iowa in tonight's title match, which will begin at approximately 7:15 p.m. CT.
Precin overcame Pittsburgh's sixth-seeded Anthony Zanetta, 6-0, in Thursday afternoon's semifinal round to set up a championship match between the nation's top two 125-pounders. Precin and McDonough are also the last two Midlands champions.
Against Zanetta, Precin picked up a first-period takedown and amassed over two minutes of riding time by period's end. He made it 3-0 with an escape and, after tacking on a final takedown and a riding time point, had secured his trip to the finals.
Senior Andrew Nadhir will wrestle for third place after splitting his outcomes during Session III, following up his 9-4 loss to Wisconsin's Cole Schmitt in the semifinals with a well-wrestled 3-2 decision over Central Michigan's Donnie Colby.
Nadhir, now 18-1 this season, will take on fourth-seeded Eric Terrazas of Illinois in the third-place bout Thursday evening.
Sophomore Jason Welch drew a difficult opponent in his Thursday wrestleback match, facing the No. 1 seed Jake Patacsil. Patacsil was able to score a takedown early in the match and cradled Welch for a pin one minute into the bout.
True freshman Mike McMullan, wrestling unattached, picked up his third win of the tournament during Session III when he knocked off a Big Ten foe in Michigan State's Joe Rizgallah by a 9-2 margin. That earned him a matchup with the nation's No. 3-ranked wrestler, D.J. Russo of Rutgers. McMullan on several occasions was in position to score on the Scarlet Knight only to have Russo counter and eventually open a 7-1 lead thanks to defensive back points. McMullan took Russo down in the third but it wasn't enough as he fell, 8-4.
The loss sent McMullan into the seventh-place match against ninth-seeded Christian Brantley of Northern Iowa. After an early McMullan lead, Brantley was able to claim a slim 5-4 lead in the third. McMullan, who was only two seconds shy of having secured riding time, could not take down Brantley in the final period to retake the lead and finished his first Midlands experience on the medal stand in eighth place.
Fellow true freshman Alex Polizzi also wrapped up his Midlands debut with a match against second-seeded Luke Lofthouse of Iowa. Polizzi wrestled hard but fell in an 11-4 decision, finishing 3-2 in the tournament while improving to 14-6 in open tournaments in his redshirt season.
Northwestern stands 14th in the team standings with 44.5 points. Missouri is first overall with 100.5 points but did place wrestlers in any of the 10 finals matches.
Session III Results
125 (semifinals):
#2 Brandon Precin (NU) dec. #6 Anthony Zanetta (PITT), 6-0
149 (semifinals):
#6 Cole Schmitt (WIS) dec. #2 Andrew Nadhir (NU), 9-4
#2 Andrew Nadhir (NU) dec. Donnie Corby (CMU), 3-2
157:
#1 Jake Patacsil (CCF) FALL #2 Jason Welch (NU), 1:00
197:
#2 Luke Lofthouse (IA) dec. Alex Polizzi (NU-Unatt.), 11-4
285:
#10 Mike McMullan (NU-Unatt.) dec. Joe Rizgallah (MSU), 9-2
#2 D.J. Russo (RUT) dec. #10 Mike McMullan (NU-Unatt.), 8-4
#9 Christian Brantley (UNI) dec. #10 Mike McMullan (NU-Unatt.), 6-4
Rankings reflect seeds at Midlands Championships
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