Hawkeyes lead at Midlands, but Falck injured

Evanston, Ill. — Iowa widened its lead on the field at the Midlands wrestling tournament Monday night, but the cost of that success will not be known until today’s competition begins at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

The No. 1 Hawkeyes had 93 points, 101/2 more than No. 2 Iowa State, late in the consolation round on the first day of the 46th annual tournament. They also had No. 1 seed Charlie Falck default his quarterfinal-round match because of an ankle injury.

Northern Iowa does not have a semifinalist and was in 15th place with 27 points. The Panthers have five wrestlers in consolation matches today.

Iowa has seven semifinalists today. Competition starts at noon. Should Falck’s ankle be injured to the point that the Hawkeyes withdraw him from the tournament today, that’s a loss of bonus points.

“I hope it comes up minor, but obviously with a kid like Charlie, (defaulting) is not going to happen unless he’s seriously hurt,” said Iowa’s Alex Tsirtsis, who is in the semifinals at 141 pounds. “That did not look good, but we’ve got to stay positive and hopefully it will be something that is painful but not seriously injured.”

Iowa began the tournament without defending 133-pound Midlands champion Joe Slaton, who came down with the flu during the holiday break. He did not weigh in Monday.

“Right after Christmas I had the flu and a few other things,” said Slaton, the NCAA runner-up at 133 last season. “I’d rather be wrestling, you know, but that’s the way it goes.”

The Hawkeyes had most of their leaders do their jobs Monday. Brent Metcalf, the No. 1 seed at 149, had two pins and a major decision. Top-seeded Jay Borschel won three times at 174. There was also a big day by heavyweight Dan Erekson, who got two pins and finished his day by toppling Dom Bradley of Missouri, 5-0, after Bradley beat No. 1 seed David Zabriskie of Iowa State earlier Monday.

Iowa State has six wrestlers in the semifinals, including the opening trio of Tyler Clark at 125, Nick Fanthorpe at 133 and Dalton Jensen at 141. Also in the semifinals are No. 2 seed Cyler Sanderson at 157, No. 4 seed Jon Reader at 165 and top seed Jake Varner at 197.

Varner pinned all three of his opponents.

Clark got his second victory of the season against Anthony Robles of Arizona State, who competes with one leg. A reversal with 1 minute 44 seconds left in the final period was the decider in Clark’s 2-1 victory.

Reader said the Cyclones are trying to stay on the path they’ve stressed all season.

“We’ve had a mentality all year of 420 — 420 seconds in each match,” Reader said. “If you wrestle 420 seconds, no one is going to be able to keep up with you.”
Northern Iowa’s biggest loss was No. 1 seed Moza Fay at 165, who dropped a 14-8 decision to Andrew Howe of Wisconsin in the quarterfinals.

Earlier Monday, Fay said the Midlands was an ideal tournament for helping him be ready to earn all-America honors again in St. Louis this season.

“This isn’t nationals, but we’ve got to see where we’re at, expose those weaknesses. That’s what I’m here for,” Fay said.

By: The Des Moines Register (original article here)