Martinez started the day with 16-5 major decision over Iowa's Mike Kelly in the semifinals. In the 157-pound championship match, Martinez faced off with South Dakota State's Cody Pack. Martinez recorded two first-period takedowns, but Pack escaped from each, holding Martinez to a 4-2 lead. Martinez started down in the second period, escaping to earn a 5-2 lead. Pack chose down in the final period and escaped, but not before Martinez racked up the riding time. Martinez won the bout, 6-3, giving him his first Midlands Championships title of his career.
Richards' day began with a 1-0 win over top-ranked A.J. Schopp of Edinboro to advance to the championship match. In the 133-pound final, Richards faced off with Iowa's Cory Clark. After a scoreless first period, Clark took a 1-0 lead with an escape in the second period. Richards matched Clark's escape with one of his own, tying the match at 1-1. Clark recorded another takedown to take a 3-1, but Richards was able to escape to make it 3-2. Richards was unable to record a takedown of his own, dropping the bout, 4-2, after Clark was awarded a point for riding time.
Brunson began the day with an 8-0 major decision over Northwestern's Johnny Sebastian in the semifinals, advancing to the 174-pound championship bout where he faced Iowa's Mike Evans. Brunson and Evans produced a scoreless first period in the final, but a Brunson escape in the second gave him a 1-0 lead heading into the final period. Brunson started on top of Evans in the last period, but Evans rolled into a reversal and rode out Brunson to earn the 2-1 win.
Morse began the day with a loss to eventually champion Taylor Walsh of Indiana in the 165-pound semifinals, falling to the consolation bracket. Morse battled back to take third, beating CSU Bakerfield's Adam Fierro and Iowa's Nick Moore in the process.
After advancing to the semifinal, Rodrigues dropped the bout to Virginia Tech's Devan Carter, 15-6, falling to the consolation bracket. Rodrigues lost in the consolation semifinals to Joseph McKenna of Lehigh Valley Athletic Club, 8-3, before dropping the fifth-place match to Old Dominion's Chris Mecate, 6-2.
Reyes wrestled all day in the consolation bracket after dropping a match in Monday's second round. After the loss, Reyes won four consecutive matches, before dropping decisions in the consolation semifinals and the fifth-place match.
Koepke began his day in the championship semifinals, dropping a 5-3 decision to Wisconsin's Timmy McCall. In the consolation semifinals, Koepke fell to Alex Polizzi of Northwestern, 4-1, before falling to Princeton's Abe Ayala in the fifth-place match, 5-3.
The Illini will return to action at the friendly confines of Huff Hall on Jan. 9 when they welcome Big Ten newcomer Rutgers to town. Action is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. CT.
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