Time for Session III (aka, the semifinals) at Midlands. This is when shit gets real.
WHAT: 52nd Midlands Championship
WHEN: Tuesday, December 30 (Session III: 12 PM)
WHERE: Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, IL
RADIO: AM 800 KXIC (local), Hawkeye All-Access (non-local; $$)
TV: there are live, free online streams of tonight's rounds:
Tune it to The Midlands Championships today on BTN2GO! All mats live here: http://t.co/g9nOUWqekC
— USA Wrestling (@USAWrestling) December 29, 2014
BTN2Go schedule page
Team Bout Schedule -- this is very useful for seeing when and where an Iowa guy is wrestling
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Don't forget to check out our weight-by-weight preview here.
You can access the brackets for each weight at Trackwrestling.
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While I'll do my best to update the results in the comments here, I can't recommend enough that you also hit up IA Wrestle, too. Tony, Ross, and the rest of the crew always do great work and I know they're going to knock it out of the park with their Midlands coverage.
In terms of must-follow Twitter feeds:
@IAWrestle
@IowaWRLive
@Hawks_Wrestling
@Andy_Hamilton
@kjpilcher
@hagertony
@critterk10
@trackwrestling
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COMPLETED MATCHES
QUARTERFINALS
125: #1 Thomas Gilman DEC (11-4) UN Ethan Lizak (Minnesota - unatt)
133: #3 Cory Clark FALL (2:16) #6 Danny Sabatello (Purdue)
141: #6 Steven Rodrigues (Illinois) DEC (3-1) #3 Josh Dziewa
149: #4 Brody Grothus DEC (5-2) #5 CJ Cobb (Penn)
149: #6 Brandon Sorensen DEC (9-6) UN Seth Lange (Minnesota - unatt)
157: #5 Mike Kelly DEC (7-4) #4 Chad Walsh (Rider)
165: #2 Nick Moore DEC (4-3) #7 Adam Fierro (CSU Bakersfield)
174: #1 Mike Evans MAJ DEC (9-0) #8 Chad Welch (Purdue)
184: #3 Sammy Brooks MAJ DEC (12-3) #6 Ophir Bernstein (Brown)
197: #1 Nathan Burak DEC (3-1) #8 Jared Haught (Virginia Tech)
285: #2 Bobby Telford FALL (2:51) #10 Garrett Ryan (Columbia)
Iowa won 10 of their 11 quarterfinal matches last night, with the only defeat being posted by Dziewa. Sammy Brooks was the standout performer yet again, bulldozing The Bernstein Bear, a returning NCAA All-American, on his way to a spot in the semifinals. I really like him, you guys. Cory Clark, Bobby Telford, and Mike Evans were no slouches, either, with the former two Hawkeyes posting first period pins and the latter man rubbing his opponent into the mat on his way to a major decision. Iowa has at least one semifinalist at every weight except 141 and has half the semifinalists at 149.
CONSOLATION BRACKET
141: UN Topher Carton DEC (9-7) #11 Jeff Canfora (Penn)
174: #10 Alex Meyer DEC (6-1) UN Conner Lefever (Wabash)
197: UN Kris Klapprodt DEC (5-2) UN Thomas Petersen (North Dakota State)
285: #7 Jake Henderson (Old Dominion) DEC (5-3) #13 Sam Stoll
141: #14 Brandon Wright (Grand View) FALL (1:44) UN Topher Carton
174: #10 Alex Meyer DEC (11-6) Patrick Jennings (Edinboro)
197: #2 Alex Polizzi (Northwestern) FALL (1:39) UN Kris Klapprodt
Three more Hawkeyes joined Edwin Cooper and Seth Gross in being eliminated from the competition after Session III -- Sam Stoll, Topher Carton, and Kris Klapprodt all bit the dust in the consolation bracket last night, ending their tournaments.
TEAM SCORE
1) Iowa 109.5
2) Illinois 86.5
3) Northwestern 62
4) Edinboro 56.5
5) Virginia Tech 54
SCHEDULED MATCHES FOR SESSION III
SEMIFINALS
125: #1 Thomas Gilman vs #4 Stevan Micic (Northwestern - unatt)
133: #3 Cory Clark vs #2 Jarrod Garnett (LVAC)
149: #4 Brody Grothus vs #1 Jason Tsirtsis (Northwestern)
149: #6 Brandon Sorensen vs #2 David Habat (Edinboro)
157: #5 Mike Kelly vs #1 Isaiah Martinez (Illinois)
165: #2 Nick Moore vs #3 Pierce Harger (Northwestern)
174: #1 Mike Evans vs #4 Brock Gutches (Southern Oregon)
184: #3 Sammy Brooks vs #2 Jack Dechow (Old Dominion)
197: #1 Nathan Burak vs #12 James Fox (Harvard)
285: #2 Bobby Telford vs #3 Connor Medbery (Wisconsin)
This is when shit gets real, as we said above. Based on the seeds, Iowa is an underdog at five weights and a virtual toss-up at a few others. For many Iowa wrestlers, this will be the first significant test of the season -- it will be very interesting to see how they respond.
CONSOLATION BRACKET
141: #3 Josh Dziewa vs UN Brock Ervin (Illinois - unatt)
174: #10 Alex Meyer vs #8 Chad Welch (Purdue)
Meyer and Dziewa are the only two Hawkeyes alive in the consolation bracket (although more could join them if they lose their semifinal matches) and each has winnable matches in their first bouts this afternoon.