Dec. 29, 2008

Team Standings

Day One Final Brackets

EVANSTON, Ill. -- A long day of elite competition on the mats at Welsh-Ryan Arena has left three Northwestern grapplers with the opportunity to vie for a Midlands title on the second day of competition. Junior All-American Brandon Precin (125), 2007 national champion Jake Herbert (184) and nationally ranked freshman Jason Welch (157) all advanced to Tuesday's semifinal round.

Once the night session began, second-seeded Precin was the first Wildcat to punch his ticket to the semis with an 8-2 victory against Ben Kiar of Utah Valley. The native of Orland Park, Ill., is making his second straight trip to the round of four after a second-place finish in 2007. Standing between Precin and a trip to finals is sixth-seeded Scott Sentes of Central Michigan.

Charlie Falck of Iowa, the top seed at 125, dropped his quarterfinal match to Jay Ivanco of Clarion after sustaining a leg injury.

Welch was next to proceed to the semis with a thrilling pin at the 4:01 mark against Emmanuel Brooks of Missouri, wrestling unattached. Welch trailed at the time of his pin but advances to take on Chris Bono, a three-time Midlands champion and the current head coach of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

At 184, Herbert was dominant in his 19-4 tech fall win (7:00) against eighth-seeded Jerome Ward of Iowa State. Herbert led from start to finish to move to 15-0 on the season on the way to what he hopes will be his third Midlands crown. Only seeded competitors remain in the 184-pound division, including Herbert's next opponent, fourth-seeded Doug Umbehauer of Rider.

Action resumes at noon on Tuesday prior to the 7 p.m. finals session, which will be broadcast live by the Big Ten Network. Complete bracket results can be found at the Midlands Info Center.

Midlands Notes

•  The 46th annual Midlands Championships at Northwestern University began with 372 wrestlers in the tournament, the second-highest total since 2003. There are two champions from last year's event remaining in the field to defend their titles--Brent Metcalf (Iowa, 149 lbs.) and Jake Varner (Iowa State, 197 lbs.).

• Chris Bono has won three Midlands titles in his career (1997, 1999, 2000). Bono is back in an attempt to claim his fourth as the No. 1 seed in the 157-pound division wrestling for the Chattanooga Takedown Club.  He is slated to take on fourth-seeded Jason Welch of Northwestern in the semifinals. 

• Sixth-year senior Jake Herbert (184 lbs.) of Northwestern is out to join the ranks of three-time Midlands winners, having taken the title in 2004 and 2005. Herbert did not compete at Midlands in 2006 and last year fell in the finals to Jake Varner while wrestling unattached. Herbert is now 15-0 after Day One of Midlands.

• In 2007, Iowa claimed the team title for the first time since 2002. After three consecutive team wins by Illinois and a 2006 victory by Iowa State, the Hawkeyes returned to the top of the table with 185.0 team points.

• Iowa and Iowa State each placed six wrestlers in the semis, tops in the tournament. Wisconsin and Missouri both landed five, while Central Michigan notched four in the semis.

• In three weight classes--133, 157 and 184--the top four seeds advanced to the semifinal round.

• The first day of Midlands was marked by a number of notable upsets. At 165, top-seeded Moza Fay of Northern Iowa fell to eighth-seeded Andrew Howe of Wisconsin, while top-seeded heavyweight Dan Zobriskie of Iowa State was toppled by Missouri's Dom Bradley, who was unseeded, in two tiebreakers. Also, Dan LeClere of Iowa, who captured a Midlands title last year, fell in his quest to repeat with a loss to Tony Dalie of Central Michigan at 141 lbs.

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