Final notes from Midlands 2010

For the first time in program history, the Missouri wrestling team has won the Midlands Championships team title, as the Tigers finished the tournament with 103.5 points to beat out Wisconsin (95.5), Lehigh (93.0) and Iowa (91.0). Missouri wins the Midlands title after finishing third in 2008 and fourth in 2009.

The Tigers entered the day in sixth place but had more wrestlers remaining than any other team in the tournament with eight. Going into the championship session tonight, Missouri had moved up to first place, holding a 13 point edge over second place Wisconsin with five grapplers still alive in the wrestlebacks.

Mizzou ended up placing six wrestlers overall, with freshman Alan Waters leading the way with a third place finish at 125 pounds. Redshirt freshman Zach Toal (165), sophomore Mike Larson (184) and sophomore Brent Haynes (197) each finished fourth. Senior Todd Schavrien took fifth at 141, while junior Patrick Wright took eighth at 174.

Vital Stats

• Brackets: bracketsFinal
  
• Bout by Bout: boutbybout
  
• Fall Report: fallreport
  
• Team Standings: teamstandings
  
• Final summary: finalssummary
  

Bucknell wrestling senior Kevin LeValley was the No. 1 overall seed in the 149-pound bracket at the Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern, and he lived up to that billing on Thursday, becoming the first Bison in recent memory to win an individual title at the prestigious event. LeValley upended sixth-seeded Cole Schmidt of Wisconsin, 4-0, in the finals to finish the two-day event with a perfect 5-0 mark.

The ninth ranked Rutgers wrestling team put forth a solid performance on the second day of the 48th Midlands Championships seeing four grapplers place led by Daryl Cocozzo (River Edge, N.J.) who finished fifth at 157 pounds. As a team, Rutgers finished 12th out of 44 schools despite only wrestling eight student-athletes due to various injuries and illnesses.

No. 2 Jimmy Kennedy and No. 5 B.J. Futrell placed second, while No. No. 12 Eric Terrazas placed third – winning eight straight bouts after dropping his opening match – at the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships to lift Illinois into tenth place in the team standings. Kennedy suffered an injury in his 4-1 semifinal win over Iowa State’s Chris Drouin, forcing him to medical forfeit the championship bout to Cal Poly’s Boris Novachkov. Futrell dropped a 13-6 decision in the title bout to Wisconsin’s top-seeded Tyler Graff and Terrazas scored a 4-1 win in tiebreaks over Northwestern’s second-seeded Andrew Nadhir.

The University of Iowa wrestling team crowned eight placewinners Thursday night at the 2010 Midlands Championships to place fourth with 91 points. Missouri won its first Midlands team title with 103.5, while Wisconsin placed second (95.5) and Lehigh placed third (93) at the 48th annual event in Evanston, IL. Portions of the event will be broadcast Jan. 8 at 3 p.m. (CT) and Jan. 14 at 6 p.m. (CT) on the Big Ten Network.

Hawkeye sophomore Matt McDonough was Iowa’s top finisher, placing second at 125 pounds. The tournament’s top seed and the defending Midlands champion at 125, McDonough lost a 3-1 decision to #2 seed Brandon Precin of Northwestern in the championship finals. Precin scored a first-period takedown and added an escape in the second period to take a 3-0 lead in the match. McDonough scored an escape in the third period, but could not get the takedown to force overtime. The loss was McDonough’s first of the season, and only the second of his career.

“I didn’t wrestle my best match,” said McDonough.” He (Precin) wrestled a really good match. Credit to him for wrestling his match, and there’s the problem right there. I gotta make it my match. I gotta stick it to him, and I’m still looking forward because it’s not the end of the season yet.”

Ben Bennett and Jarod Trice finished runner-up at 174 pounds and heavyweight, respectively, to lead Central Michigan to a seventh-place finish in a 44-team field at the 2010 Midlands Championships.

Two other Chippewas earned spots on the medal stand. Scotti Sentes finished third after having advanced to the semifinals at 133 pounds, while Donnie Corby won five straight matches in the consolation bracket and placed fifth at 149 pounds.

Cal Poly junior Boris Novachkov captured the 141-pound championship while his brother, senior Filip Novachkov, settled for fourth place at 133 pounds on the final day of competition in the 46-team Midlands Championships on Thursday night in Northwestern University’s Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Northwestern senior Brandon Precin has always felt fortunate to compete at a tournament as prestigious as the Midlands Championships on his home mats and just a few miles from his hometown of Orland Park. He made the most of his final chance Thursday, downing defending NCAA champion and top-ranked Matt McDonough of Iowa, 3-1, to win his second career Midlands crown.

After the match, Precin was announced as winner of the Art Kraft Champion of Champions award, which is voted on by all 10 Midlands champions.

Precin, now 19-0 on the year, follows former NU wrestler Jake Herbert in becoming the second Wildcat in the 48-year history of the Midlands to claim two championships. Northwestern wrestlers have now won eight tournament titles since 2004.

“It’s a great honor to win a second Midlands title, especially to come back after placing third last year,” Precin said. “(McDonough’s) singles, his grip are unbelieveable. We’ve still got duals, Big Tens and NCAAs so it could be the first of many (matches against McDonough). A lot of times when (opponents) are even strength it could just be that one guy has a little more gas in the tank. That could be the difference.”

Led by titles from redshirt sophomore Tyler Graff (133 lbs.) and junior Travis Rutt (184 lbs.) the No. 4 Wisconsin wrestling team placed second at the 48th annual Midlands Championships on Thursday. Also helping the Badgers’ to a second-place finish was redshirt sophomore Cole Schmitt (149 lbs.) and junior Andrew Howe (165 lbs.), who each took second in their respective weight classes at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Wisconsin (95.5 points) was just eight points short of the first place title, obtained by Missouri with 103.5 points. The Cardinal and White’s second-place finish at this year’s Midlands Championships is tied for best finish at the event in school history. Wisconsin also placed second in 1987 with 70.50 points behind top finisher Sunkist Kids WC (105.75 points).

Entering the championship round, the Badgers had four wrestles in the finals, the most of any team in the tournament.

The Pitt wrestling team finished fifth overall Thursday at the Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill. Six Panthers posted top-eight finishes as the team scored 82.5 points.

In addition, Matt Wilps, who wrestled unattached, claimed the 197 title.

Redshirt junior Tyler Nauman (141) and junior Zac Thomusseit (197) each claimed third place finishes.

For the second consecutive year, redshirt senior Ryan Tomei (285) and sophomore Anthony Zanetta (125) posted top-eight finishes at Midlands with finishes of fourth and sixth, respectively.

Redshirt junior Ethan Headlee (165) and redshirt sophomore Donnie Tasser (157) rounded out the six Panthers who placed. Headlee finished seventh while Tasser took eighth overall.

Wilps’ success highlighted Pitt’s performance, although his first-place finish did not count towards the Panthers team score. Wilps entered the tournament on his own as NCAA rules prohibit a wrestler from competing for a team if he wishes to redshirt the season.