ISU aiming to keep Midlands title away from Big Ten powers
By TIMES-REPUBLICAN STAFF
POSTED: December 29, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. — The Big Ten’s dominance of the Midlands Wrestling Championships was done in by eventual national runner-up Iowa State last December when the Cyclones outscored Iowa and host Northwestern for a runaway title.
The top-ranked Hawkeyes look to be the team to bring that crown back across the border on Sunday.
A 20-13 dual meet win over Iowa State has Iowa ranked atop the nation and listed as the favorite to return the Midlands title to the Big Ten Conference. A team from the Big Ten had won 12 straight Midlands crowns before the Cyclones posted 154.5 points last winter and outdistanced Iowa (107) and Northwestern (102) by a comfortable margin.
Illinois had won three straight Midlands titles before last year, while Iowa and Minnesota had combined for the nine previous team championships.
The double-elimination tournament begins at 9:30 a.m. today and ends with Sunday’s 7 p.m. final round.
“Midlands is one of the best events in college wrestling,” said Northwestern head coach Tim Cysewski, an Iowa graduate. “A Midlands championship, a Big Ten championship and an NCAA championship, that’s the triple crown of college wrestling.”
Iowa has won the most team titles (18) in 44 years of Midlands history, including back-to-back crowns in 2001 and 2002. The Cyclones have the second-most titles to their credit with eight.
No. 1 Iowa, second-ranked Iowa State and No. 9 Northwestern make up three of the four top-10 ranked teams competing in the 45th annual Midlands tournament. Sixth-ranked Central Michigan returns all seven of its placewinners — more than any other squad — from last year’s fourth-place team.
Five individual champions are back to defend last year’s titles, including national 197-pound champion Josh Glenn from American University. Indiana’s Angel Escobedo has the top seed in the 125-pound bracket, Michigan State’s Nick Simmons returns at 133, Northwestern’s Ryan Lang moves up to 149 after claiming last year’s 141 crown, and Illinois’ Michael Poeta was the 157 champ.
Iowa’s Mark Perry (165) won the 2004 title and is one of eight Hawkeyes to earn early pre-seeds for the Midlands. The three-time finalist has a 10-1 record so far this season and is ranked second nationally. Northern Iowa’s Moza Fay, ranked fifth with a 9-2 record, is seeded second behind Perry.
Perry lost in last year’s 165 finals to Iowa State’s Travis Paulson, a 5-2 decision, while Fay finished third at 157.
C.J. Ettelson of Northern Iowa is off to a 3-4 start but is ranked 12th and will be seeded atop the Midlands’ 141-pound bracket after finishing fourth there a year ago.
Iowa State also has eight wrestlers with pre-seedings, including No. 2 seeds Cyler Sanderson (157) and Jake Varner (184). Sanderson, ranked fourth with an 11-0 record, was seventh at 149 last year and will be trying to knock off defending champ and top-ranked Poeta (10-0).
Varner is the top-ranked wrestler in his weight division, taking a 7-0 record into the 184-pound bracket. But he is seeded second behind former Northwestern national champion Jake Herbert, who will compete independently for the New York Wrestling club.
