Dec. 30, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. — The University of Iowa wrestling team is tied for third place at the 2010 Midlands Championships after three sessions of competition. The Hawkeyes, who are led by 125-pound finalist Matt McDonough, have accumulated 87 team points and still have seven wrestlers competing in the two-day event. Missouri leads the team race with 100.5 points. Wisconsin is in second place with 87.5, and Lehigh is tied for the Hawkeyes for third with 87.
McDonough will wrestle in his second-straight Midlands Championships final Thursday night. The top seed and defending Midlands Champion at 125, McDonough advanced to the finals with his 10-1 major decision over #5 seed Ryan Mango of Stanford in the semifinals Thursday afternoon. The Marion, IA, native will take on #2 seed Brandon Precin of Northwestern in the finals. It will be the first collegiate career meeting for the pair of Big Ten foes. McDonough is undefeated at 11-0 and riding a 16-match winning streak. He has posted a solid performance at the tournament, recording two pins, a technical fall and a major decision en route to the finals.
Wrestling in the fifth-place matches of their respective weight classes Thursday night will be junior Tyler Clark (#11 seed at 133), redshirt freshman Tony Ramos (#3 seed at 133), sophomore Mark Ballweg (#4 seed at 141), senior Aaron Janssen (165), redshirt freshman Ethen Lofthouse (#9 seed at 174) and sophomore Grant Gambrall (#1 seed at 184). Ramos and Clark will wrestle each other for fifth place, meeting for the second time this tournament. Ramos won the first meeting, 3-1, in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Ramos and Gambrall both lost close decisions in their championship semifinal bouts to fall into the consolation bracket and pick up their first losses of the season. Clark, Ballweg, Janssen and Ethen Lofthouse each won their first two consolation matches Thursday afternoon, but the Hawkeyes went 0-6 in the consolation semifinals to send all six Hawkeyes to wrestle for fifth place.
Hawkeye senior Luke Lofthouse placed seventh at 197, beating Michigan State’s Tyler Dickenson, 10-3. Lofthouse was the tournament’s #2 seed at 197.
The championships finals and placing matches will start at 7 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Fans can listen live on AM-800 KXIC or hawkeyesports.com. Updated team standings and brackets are available at nusports.com. Portions of the Midlands Championships will be broadcast Jan. 8 at 3 p.m. (CT) and Jan. 14 at 6 p.m. (CT) on the Big Ten Network.
MIDLANDS TOP 10 TEAM STANDINGS – AFTER SESSION III
Place Team – Points
1. Missouri – 100.5
2. Wisconsin – 87.5
3. Iowa – 87.0
Lehigh – 87.0
5. Pittsburgh – 78.5
6. Oklahoma – 75.0
7. Central Michigan – 68.5
8. Illinois – 59.5
Iowa State – 59.5
10. Nebraska – 59.0
IOWA’S MIDLANDS CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL MATCH-UPS (# indicates tournament seed)
125 – #1 Matt McDonough (Iowa) vs. #2 Brandon Precin (Northwestern)
IOWA’S MIDLANDS CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINAL RESULTS (# indicates tournament seed)
125 – #1 Matt McDonough (Iowa) maj. dec. #5 Ryan Mango (Stanford), 10-1
133 – #2 B.J. Futrell (Illinois) dec. #3 Tony Ramos (Iowa), 9-6
184 – #4 Josh Ihnen (Nebraska) dec. #1 Grant Gambrall (Iowa), 4-2 TB-1
IOWA’S MIDLANDS SESSION III CONSOLATION RESULTS (# indicates tournament seed)
133 – #5 Flip Novachkov (Cal Poly) dec. #3 Tony Ramos (Iowa), 10-7
133 – #11 Tyler Clark (Iowa) dec. Ryan Jauch (Northern Iowa), 3-1
133 – #11 Tyler Clark (Iowa) dec. #7 Jordan Keller (Oklahoma), 2-1
133 – #4 Scotti Sentes (Central Michigan) dec. #11 Tyler Clark (Iowa), 2-1 TB-1
141 – #4 Mark Ballweg (Iowa) dec. #8 Jon Kohler (Maryland), 8-1
141 – #4 Mark Ballweg (Iowa) dec. Nick Dardanes (Minnesota-Unattached), 9-4
141 – #3 Tyler Nauman (Pittsburgh) dec. #4 Mark Ballweg (Iowa), 8-6
165 – Aaron Janssen (Iowa) dec. #7 Ryan DesRoches (Cal Poly), 13-8
165 – Aaron Janssen (Iowa) dec. #11 Ethan Headlee (Pittsburgh), 9-3
165 – #5 Zach Toal (Missouri) dec. Aaron Janssen (Iowa), 8-6 SV
174 – #9 Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa) dec. Mike Evans (Iowa-Unattached), 5-3
174 – #9 Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa) maj. dec. Pat Wright (Missouri), 11-2
174 – #7 Austin Meys (Lehigh) dec. #9 Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa), 5-2
184 -#10 Mike Larson (Missouri) dec. #1 Grant Gambrall (Iowa), 3-2
197 – #2 Luke Lofthouse (Iowa) dec. Alex Polizzi (Northwestern-Unattached), 11-4
197 – #1 Zac Thomusseit (Pittsburgh) dec. #2 Luke Lofthouse (Iowa), 3-1
IOWA’S MIDLANDS SEVENTH PLACE RESULTS (# indicates tournament seed)
197 – #2 Luke Lofthouse (Iowa) dec. Tyler Dickenson (Michigan State), 10-3
2010 Midlands Championships Brackets Through Session III in PDF Format
2010 Midlands Championships Team Standings Through Session III in PDF Format