UNI had a nice showing going into the quarterfinal round of The 53rd Midlands Championships, advancing five wrestlers on the championship side of the brackets. Josh Alber (133), Bryce Steiert (157), Jacob Holschlag (174), Taylor Lujan (174), and Blaize Cabell (285) all wrestled on the good side of the bracket, with only Alber advancing to tomorrow afternoon’s semifinals.
Starting at 133 Alber really came out strong, dominiating the match before being nearly ridden out in the 3rd period. He won the match 10-5, and will face Rutgers’ Anthony Giraldo, whom Alber has already defeated once this season.
As for the others who had advanced to the quarterfinals, they’re championship is now third place. The Panthers sit in 9th place at the end of day one (the complete standings can be found at the bottom of the page), and they’ll definitily need those backside points to move up the standings. They’re joined by Max Thomsen who advanced on the backside of the 149 pound bracket.
Iowa sits in first place, with 96 points, after the first day. The Hawkeyes placed all but three (141, 157, and 165) in the semifinals, led as usual by Thomas Gilman and Cory Clark. The two combined for two pinfalls, one tech fall, one major decision and one decision. Brandon Sorenson also had a good day at 149, although he wasn’t quite as dominate as the two lighter weights, he did have a pinfall and a tech fall.
Alex Meyer, Sammy Brooks, Nathan Burak, and Sam Stoll all advanded to the semifinals as well. The most interesting match, at least to me, will be Brooks going up against David Taylor. The former Nittany Lion has a pinfall and a 15-0 shutout on the day, and it’ll be fun to see what Brooks can do against the mostly-freestyle wrestler.
Iowa State finished half a point ahead of UNI for 8th, with only Tanner Weatherman in the semifinals. Weatherman will match up tomorrow with the number 9 seed Adam Fierro of Cal-State Bakersfield. Fierro upset the nubmer one seed Anthony Perrotti from Rutgers in their quarterfinal match. Earl Hall and Lelund Weatherspoon both lost in the quarterfinal round to drop to the consolation side of the bracket.
You can find all the results from session II here. Consolation bracket wrestling starts tomorrow at noon. There will be a round of consolation wrestling, and then the semifinals, and then another round of consolations. There will only be four mats running, so be sure to check @iawrestle on the Twitter and Trackwrestling for mat assignments.
End of Day 1 Top Ten:
10. Oklahoma 37.5
9. UNI 38
8. Iowa State 38.5
7. Princeton 40.5
6. Oregon State 41
5. Northwestern 42.5
4. North Carolina State 49.5
3. Rutgers 62
2. Nebraska 78
1. Iowa 96