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Elite Meet to Compete at 49th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships
EVANSTON,
Ill. – Some of the top wrestlers in the country will be in Evanston
Thursday and Friday as Northwestern hosts the 49th Annual Ken Kraft
Midlands Championships. Competition runs all day inside Welsh-Ryan
Arena as more than 40 Division I, II and III teams are scheduled to
compete in the annual tournament.
The 49th edition of Midlands
continues to bring in some of the best collegiate wrestling competition
in the country with 13 ranked Division I teams and many more ranked
individuals. Additionally, seven teams that placed in the top 10 at the
2010 Midlands Championships return this year.
The complete list
of Division I programs competing at Midlands is as follows: No. 1 Iowa,
No. 7 Illinois, No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 12 Lehigh, No. 13 Maryland, No. 15
Virginia Tech, No. 17 Rutgers, No. 18 Northwestern, No. 19 Central
Michigan, No. 24 Edinboro, Cal Poly (RV), Penn (RV), Purdue (RV),
American, Bucknell, CSU Bakersfield, Clarion, Eastern Michigan,
Harvard, Iowa State, North Dakota State, Northern Illinois, Northern
Iowa, Princeton, Rider, Stanford, South Dakota State and Utah Valley.
(Rankings taken from the latest USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll)
For
fans unable to make the event, Wildcats All-Access on NUsports.com will
provide a live webstream from Thursday night’s quarterfinals and the
Big Ten Network will broadcast Friday’s finals on tape delay at 9:30
p.m. @NU_Wrestle will provide Twitter updates throughout the tournament
and fans are encouraged to utilize the #midlands49 hashtag when
tweeting about Midlands. @NU_SportsLive will provide bout-by-bout
updates from Friday’s finals.
An approximate schedule of event is listed below (all times Central):
Thursday, Dec. 29
Session I: 9:30 a.m.
Session II: 7 p.m. (Championship and consolation matches)
Friday, Dec. 30
Session III: Noon (Semifinals, consolation rounds, 7th place matches)
Session IV: 7 p.m. (1st, 3rd and 5th place matches)
Northwestern at Midlands
The
Midlands Tournament Committee released this year’s top contenders for
each weight class and five Wildcat wrestlers made the cut. Jason Welch
is out to a 4-0 start so far this season and is the No. 2 contender at
157 lbs., behind Iowa’s Derek St. John. Levi Mele also brings a perfect
13-0 record into the tournament and is preseeded at No. 4 for 125 lbs.,
while Lee Munster is listed at No. 7 for 174 lbs. Kaleb Friedley (149
lbs.) and Mike McMullan (Hwt.) are listed as other contenders for their
respective weight classes. Grant Greene (125 lbs.), Jameson Oster (133
lbs.), John Coukos (133 lbs.), Colin Shober (141 lbs.), Pat Greco (141
lbs.), David Helmer (157 lbs.), Dylan Marriott (157 lbs.), Pierce
Harger (165 lbs.), Robert Kellogg (174 lbs.), Marcus Shrewsbury (184
lbs.) and John Schoen (197 lbs.) will also wrestle at Midlands.
At
last year’s tournament, the Wildcats tied for 13th in the team race as
then-senior Brandon Precin became just the second NU wrestler in school
history to win a second Midlands title. Precin, who currently serves as
a volunteer assistant coach for Northwestern, went 4-0, defeating No. 1
seed Matt McDonough from Iowa, 3-1, in the 125 lbs. finals for the
title. He also became the first Wildcat wrestler to win the Art Kraft
Champion of Champions Award, which is voted on by all 10 Midlands
champions. Redshirt freshman Mike McMullan also placed last year,
finishing eighth at heavyweight while competing unattached.
20-in-4 Club
In
the last 48 years, only 21 wrestlers out of 9,345 total participants
are part of the 20-in-4 Club. This group of wrestlers has at least 20
wins in their first four years of competition at Midlands and includes
the following: Dan Gable (20, 1966-69), John Bowlsby (22, 1974, 76-78),
Barry Davis (20, 1980-83), Andy Schwab (20, 1982, 84, 85, 87), Cary
Kolat (21, 1989, 90, 93, 94), Joe Williams (20, 1993-96), Charlie
Branch (21, 1993-96), Mark Ironside (22, 1994-97), Wes Hand (20,
1996-99), Jody Strittmatter (20, 1997-00), Doug Schwab (20, 1997-00),
Yoshi Nakamura (22, 1997, 98, 00, 01), Mitch Clark (21, 1997, 99, 00,
01), Cael Sanderson (21, 1998-01), Jon Trenge (21, 2000-02, 04), Joe
Heskett (20, 1998, 00-02), Tommy Rowlands (20, 2000-03), Cliff Moore
(23, 2001-03, 05), Nick Simmons (21, 2002, 04-06), Nick Gallick (20,
2006-08), Jake Patacsil (20, 2006-09).
Last Time Out
Northwestern
has not competed since Dec. 16 and used five first-period pins in its
40-6 victory over North Central College. Pierce Harger, Lee Munster,
John Schoen, Mike McMullan and Kaleb Friedley each recorded pins in
less than two minutes and Jason Welch also won his bout by major
decision. Redshirt freshman John Coukos made his first career start at
133 lbs. and achieved his first career win with a 5-4 sudden victory
decision over Sean Tomac.
Up Next
Northwestern is now in the
thick of its schedule and begins Big Ten dual action by hosting No. 8
Michigan at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6 inside Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Wildcats
then hit the road and face Wisconsin that same weekend at 2 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 8 in Madison, Wis.
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