The 2024 Midlands Championships: By the Numbers

After five seasons at Oklahoma and four trips to the NCAA tournament, Josh Heindselman has relocated to Michigan for his final year of collegiate wrestling. Prior to the Midlands, Heindselman competed at both the Cleveland State Open and the Kent State Open with impressive results. He won both tournaments with eight match victories, three falls, four technical falls, and a single decision over No. 18 Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State). 

Heindselman continued this momentum in the Midlands. He won his first three matches via technical fall before escaping with a 5-4 decision over No. 22 Jacob Bullock (Indiana) in the title match. Along the way, he averaged 3.13 points per minute and allowed only 0.87 points per minute. That leaves him with a +2.26 point differential, which was the highest across the tournament.

He defeated his first three opponents, Zach Delsanter (Penn), Peter Ming (Stanford), and Logan Shephard (Bucknell), by a combined 63 to 15 score. His point differential across those three matches was a whopping +3.18.

His 3.13 points per minute was the highest scoring rate of the tournament. He outpaced No. 19 Maxx Mayfield (Northwestern), who averaged 2.52 points per minute on his way to a second-place finish at 165 pounds. The second-best point differential of the Midlands belonged to No. 19 Reece Heller (Pittsburgh), who won the tournament at 184 pounds and finished with a +1.70 differential.

Defensively, the best points allowed per minute rate actually belonged to Sam Cartella (Northwestern). He made the quarterfinals before losing to Jaren Abas (Stanford) and then lost his subsequent match in the wrestlebacks. However, he shutout his first two opponents and allowed only seven points in the tournament. On a per-minute basis, that comes out to 0.22 points allowed per minute, which slightly edges Jude Swisher’s (Penn) 0.23 rate who finished third at 157 pounds. 

Despite only sending three wrestlers to the Midlands, Ohio State actually had the best collective point differential. Those three wrestlers combined to score 1.10 points per minute, while allowing only 0.42. The resulting +0.68 differential was the best among all the teams in the field.

Leading the way for the Buckeyes was Ben Davino who finished third at 133 pounds. The former highly-regarded recruit lost to Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) in rideouts with a shot to the finals on the line. However, he outscored the rest of his opposition 45 to nine.

Team champion Stanford, who edged Rutgers 157 to 147 in the tournament standings, finished with the third-best collective point differential. Their +0.54 differential was behind Ohio State and Pittsburgh (+0.56).

Indiana’s Tyler Lillard appeared to be a shoo-in for the Will Lewan “Most Mat Time” award. On the path to his surprising tournament title at 165 pounds, he won three straight overtime matches over Dominic Federici (Lehigh), No. 27 Anthony White (Rutgers), and No. 14 Hunter Garvin (Stanford). However, Lillard actually cost himself match opportunities by continually winning. The honor for most mat time actually goes to Princeton’s No. 26 Marc-Anthony McGowan. The former Cadet world champion made his collegiate debut at the Midlands tournament and finished seventh after losses to No. 16 Dean Peterson (Rutgers) and No. 25 Jacob Moran (Indiana). However, McGowan won his other six matches and finished with over 55 minutes of mat time across his eight matches. 

The highest-scoring match of the tournament came in the first round at heavyweight. Penn’s John Pardo defeated Jackson Mankowski (Stanford) with a 28-12 technical fall. The Stanford wrestler actually scored the first takedown of the match inside the first minute. However, Pardo was then able to take over the contest. He finished with eight takedowns, three escapes, and a penalty point, and he finished the bout with a little over a minute left in the third period.

The 40 points put on the board between Pardo and Mankowski were the most of any match in the tournament. However, 184-pound match between No. 32 Donnell Washington (Indiana) and Ian Bush (West Virginia) also deserves to be highlighted. In their second round match, the two combined for 39 points with Washington taking the 21 to 18 decision. In the first two periods, Washington scored three takedowns and a four-point near fall, and the Indiana wrestler held a 12-point edge going into the final period. Bush made a hard charge with four takedowns in the final frame, but was able to hold on and escape with the victory. 

While preparing for this article, I came across several instances of wrestlers being awarded the riding time point after winning by technical fall prior to the end of the third period. As most readers likely know, the Rule 4, Section 5, Article 13 of the NCAA wrestling rule book states, “an earned riding time point may be awarded no sooner than at the end of the third period and/or at the end of any sudden victory or any round of tiebreakers.” Obviously, in the grand scheme of things, this is not a material difference, but could you imagine a football scorekeeper giving a running back extra yards or a linebacker extra tackles? I know being a table worker is a thankless job. Trust me, I know. However, in this modern age, we should be able to consistently and correctly score college wrestling matches.