Men's Wrestling / December 30, 2007

Five Hawkeyes Advance To Midlands Semifinals

Dec. 30, 2007

EVANSTON, IL — Five Hawkeye wrestlers advanced to Sunday’s semifinals at the 45th annual Midlands Championships in Evanston, IL, Saturday night. The Hawkeyes are in second place in the team race with 88.5 points after the first day of competition. Defending team champion Iowa State is in first place with 90.5.

Junior Mark Perry (165) and sophomores Joe Slaton (133), Dan LeClere (141), Brent Metcalf (149) and Jay Borschel (174) all advanced to the semifinals. Perry, who is the second seed, scored his third pin of the day by decking Illinois’ Roger Smith-Bergsrud in 2:39. He will face unseeded Dominic Marella of Northwestern in the semifinals. Slaton, who is the third seed, beat sixth seed Pat Castillo of Northern Illinois, 12-6, to remain undefeated at 10-0 this season. He will wrestle second-seeded Jim Kennedy of Illinois in the semifinals. LeClere and Borschel both upset higher seeds in their quarterfinal matches, with fifth-seeded LeClere beating fourth-seed Eric Kruger of Central Michigan, 6-5, and sixth-seeded Borschel scoring a 10-1 major decision over third-seed Duke Burk of Northern Illinois to remain undefeated at 11-0. LeClere will face eight seed Corey Jantzen of Harvard in the semifinals, while Borschel will meet second seed Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan. Metcalf, who is the second seed, beat seventh-seeded Josh Wagner of Missouri, 17-11. He will face third-seed Mitch Mueller of Iowa State in the semifinals. Metcalf beat Mueller by a 14-4 major decision at the Iowa-Iowa State dual earlier this month in Ames.

Still competing for Iowa in the consolation bracket are seniors Matt Fields (Hwt.) and Alex Tsirtsis (141), junior Charlie Falck (125), sophomores Ryan Morningstar (157) and Phillip Keddy (184), and freshmen Montell Marion (133) and Brodie Ambrose (197).

Sunday’s semifinals and consolation matches are set to start at noon with the finals and placing matches beginning at 7 p.m. The finals will air live on the Big Ten Network, which is available on DirecTV Channel 220 and DISH Network Channel 439. All matches will be held at Welsh-Ryan Arena on the Northwestern University campus.

MIDLANDS TOP 10 TEAM STANDINGS – AFTER DAY ONE
1. Iowa State 90.5
2. Iowa 88.5
3. Central Michigan 80
4. Illinois 70.5
5. Indiana 59
6. Northwestern 58
7. Purdue 46
8. Pittsburgh 44
9. Northern Illinois 41
10. Michigan State 36.5

IOWA’S MIDLANDS QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
125 – #6 Gabe Flores (Illinois) pinned #3 Charlie Falck (Iowa), 4:27
133 – #3 Joe Slaton (Iowa) dec. #6 Pat Castillo (N. Illinois), 12-6
141 – #8 Corey Jantzen (Harvard) dec. #1 Alex Tsirtsis (Iowa), 8-3
141 – #5 Dan LeClere (Iowa) dec. #4 Eric Kruger (C. Michigan), 6-5
149 – #2 Brent Metcalf (Iowa) dec. #7 Josh Wagner (Missouri), 17-11
157 – #4 Brian Cobb (RRWC) dec. #5 Ryan Morningstar (Iowa), 8-3
165 – #2 Mark Perry (Iowa) pinned #7 Roger Smith-Bergsrud (Illinois), 2:39
174 – #6 Jay Borschel (Iowa) maj. dec. #3 Duke Burk (N. Illinois), 10-1
184 – #3 Christian Sinnott (C. Michigan) dec. Phillip Keddy (Iowa), 3-2
Hwt. – #5 David Zabriskie (Iowa St.) dec. #4 Matt Fields (Iowa), 2-1

IOWA’S MIDLANDS CONSOLATION ">Montell Marion (Iowa) won by ">Montell Marion (Iowa) dec. Sean ">Tyler Halverson (Iowa) dec. Jacob ">Tyler Halverson (Iowa), 5-2
">Nick LeClere (Iowa), 20-5, 5:26
">Matt Ballweg (Iowa) dec. Ashtin ">Matt Ballweg (Iowa), 0:50
">Brooks Kopsa (Iowa), 13-5
">Stew Gillmor (Iowa) pinned Craig ">Stew Gillmor (Iowa), 3:17
">Jake Kerr (Iowa) dec. Rex Kendle ">Jake Kerr (Iowa), 2-0
">Aaron Janssen (Iowa) dec. Scott ">Aaron Janssen (Iowa), 0:36
">Chad Beatty (Iowa) dec. Andrew ">Chad Beatty (Iowa), 5-4
">Rick Loera (Iowa), 3:35
">Vinnie Wagner (Iowa), 14-5
">Brodie Ambrose (Iowa) dec. Dave ">Brodie Ambrose (Iowa) won by ">Brodie Ambrose (Iowa) won by ">Blake Rasing (Iowa), 10-4 RESULTS
133 – 133 – 149 – Kurt Kinser (Indiana) pinned 197 –

Day One Brackets in PDF Format