Five Wrestlers/Teams to Watch at the 2024 Midlands

The Midlands Championships have long been one of the premier items on the college wrestling calendar. The 60th edition of the tournament is scheduled to get underway on Sunday from Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Longtime wrestling fans love the tradition of the Midlands being technically an open tournament, so 30 years ago you might find two or three of the top wrestlers on the Olympic ladder squaring off with an NCAA champion. Postgraduate entries have dwindled over the years, so we haven’t seen much of that lately. Also, with coaches using their stars less and less in tournament competition, this (and other) tournaments aren’t as deep as they used to be. 

Getting all of the “back in the days” stuff out of the way, the 2024 Midlands is still shaping up to be a very tough tournament. Since full entries have not been released two days before the tournament, we aren’t able to do an accurate full preview. 

With that in mind, here are five individuals or teams that we’ll be paying extra attention to as the tournament progresses. 

Ben Davino (Ohio State) - 133 lbs

Billed as one of the top overall recruits in the Class of 2024 (#4), it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Ben Davino has hit the ground running during the early stages of his collegiate career. Davino is still expected to redshirt during the 2024-25 campaign, but has been used on occasion and has impressed during each of those instances. 

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