Midlands

[creek chub]

Excited for the tournament. Hoping to see some great matchups.

VT transfer Miller will wrestle there for his first matches of the season. Interesting he is going 149 vs 157

[Truzzcat]

46 minutes ago, creek chub said:

Excited for the tournament. Hoping to see some great matchups.

VT transfer Miller will wrestle there for his first matches of the season. Interesting he is going 149 vs 157

are preseeds posted anywhere?

[HokieDave87]

Miller at 149? We need less 149's not more lol 

[creek chub]

22 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

are preseeds posted anywhere?

Not sure. Frayer just gave a hokie tentative line up for the midlands and the scuffle 

[creek chub]

13 minutes ago, HokieDave87 said:

Miller at 149? We need less 149's not more lol 

I know. This blew my mind. 

[MizzouFan01]

Isn’t Collin Gaj at 149? Have him and Miller wrestled off?

[creek chub]

10 minutes ago, MizzouFan01 said:

Isn’t Collin Gaj at 149? Have him and Miller wrestled off?

Yeah, Gaj has started at 149 the last few matches. Ninninger started off the season at 149 but bumped to 157 for the NC State and got a ranked win.

Nothing has been publicly posted about a wrestle off between Miller and Gaj.

 

Church is dropping to 157 for either the midlands or the scuffle.

VT has mucho talent at 149. Someone will likely challenge Church at 157 but no clue who. Gaj might be a little undersized there right now. 

[SocraTease]

I hope folks who watch it enjoy the matches, but it is sad to see how this tournament has plummeted in terms of the level of competition. Same with the Southern Scuffle.  Is the CKLV the toughest in-season tournament apart from National Duals?  Below are the ranked wrestlers at Midlands.  

Maybe some has-beens and Old Timers will jump in and field a team: Bruce Baumgartner, Dan Gable, Jim Gibbons, Tim Johnson, John Smith, The Brands Brothers, Wade Schalles ... with Askren as coach

Men’s Folkstyle Ranked Wrestlers

125 Pounds
Koda Holeman (Cal Poly) — #17
Dedrick Navarro (Northwestern) — #29
Blade West (Northern Illinois) — #28

133 Pounds
Markel Baker (Northern Illinois) — #28
Marcel Lopez (SIUE) — #32
Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) — #14
Sean Spidle (Northwestern) — #26

141 Pounds
Dylan Chappell (Bucknell) — #31
Billy Dekraker    (Northwestern) — #27
Henry Porter (Indiana) — #32
Briar Priest (Pittsburgh) — #33
Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) — #6

149 Pounds
Andy Clark (Rutgers) — #24
Collin Gaj (Virginia Tech) — #15
Michael Gioffre (Illinois) — #31
Sergio Lemley (Michigan) — 2x NQ (R12)

157 Pounds
Bryce Lowery (Indiana) — #31
Mason Shrader (Central Michigan) — #25
Cade Wirnsberger (Bucknell) — #32

165 Pounds
Ryan Burton (Virginia Tech) — #17
Tyler Lillard (Indiana) — #21
Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) — #25
Brook Woodcock (SIUE) — #33

174 Pounds
Sergio Desiante (Virginia Tech) — #31
Eddie Enright (Northwestern) — #28
Daschle Lamer (Oregon State) — #25
Lorenzo Norman (Stanford) — #18
Myles Takats (Bucknell) — #15

184 Pounds
Shane Cartegena-Walsh (Rutgers) — #18
Ceasar Garza (Cal Poly) — #28
Chris Moore (Illinois) — #22

197 Pounds
Remy Cotton (Rutgers) — #16
Cade Lautt (Illinois) — #33
Seth Shumate (Ohio State) — NQ (R12)

285 Pounds
Hunter Catka (Rutgers) — #24
Bryan Caves (Central Michigan) — #32
Devon Dawson (Northern Illinois) — #21
Lucas Lawler (Bucknell) — #27
Trevor Tinker (Cal Poly) — #23

[ionel]

Only one top 10 wrestler and only three others in top 15.  

Edited December 28, 2025 by ionel

[Antitroll2828]

49 minutes ago, creek chub said:

Yeah, Gaj has started at 149 the last few matches. Ninninger started off the season at 149 but bumped to 157 for the NC State and got a ranked win.

Nothing has been publicly posted about a wrestle off between Miller and Gaj.

 

Church is dropping to 157 for either the midlands or the scuffle.

VT has mucho talent at 149. Someone will likely challenge Church at 157 but no clue who. Gaj might be a little undersized there right now. 

So 165 is settled on Burton? 

[creek chub]

34 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said:

So 165 is settled on Burton? 

It sounds like it. Nothing officially announced though. 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

What was crazy for me was that there were no team listings or participant listings posted anywhere until today - less than 2 days before the 1st whistle. Ticket sales and session start times were basically all that was available online since the September announcement.

It does seem like this is perhaps understaffed/underfunded.

In any case, I'm glad it's being held. And looking forward to a successful event.

Edited December 28, 2025 by GreatWhiteNorth

[ScottishSteel]

I'm curious/hopeful that w/ National Duals shifting back a month next year and likely hurting CKLV - does that give Midlands/Scuffle a bit of a boost back up?  One can hope at least; as it stands now where it lacks high end firepower it could go a long way for NCAA resume boosting for AQ spots or at large bids amongst some of the less prestigious schools if someone can rack up a handful of lower ranked wins

[bnwtwg]

11 hours ago, ionel said:

Only one top 10 wrestler and only three others in top 15.  

Putting the mid in Midlands

[MidwestMan]

Interested to see how Woodcock from SIUE does at 165.  He's a sleeper for sure with that #33 ranking.

[Caveira]

There is only one wrestler ranked in the top 10 in the whole tourney.   This event is on  life support and has not survived COVID 

Edited December 28, 2025 by Caveira

[tjhart]

Maybe I'm crazy but on the VT schedule listed on the website it shows then going to the Southern Scuffle and not attending the Midlands. Was there a change or do I just need a refresher in reading?

[11986]

36 minutes ago, tjhart said:

Maybe I'm crazy but on the VT schedule listed on the website it shows then going to the Southern Scuffle and not attending the Midlands. Was there a change or do I just need a refresher in reading?

Think if their starters were wrestling at Midlands there’d be a few more ranked guys listed above. Guessing starters at Scuffle, Miller/few others? at Midlands. 

[Spencerlee]

Tournament sucks

[HokieDave87]

2 hours ago, 11986 said:

Think if their starters were wrestling at Midlands there’d be a few more ranked guys listed above. Guessing starters at Scuffle, Miller/few others? at Midlands. 

2-3 ranked guys at Midlands, the rest at Scuffle. Some unranked guys at Midlands who would be ranked if they were starters (133, 149, 157). 

[tjhart]

4 hours ago, 11986 said:

Think if their starters were wrestling at Midlands there’d be a few more ranked guys listed above. Guessing starters at Scuffle, Miller/few others? at Midlands. 

Well then 3 of their "non-starters" are ranked 2nd, 1st and 1st. If you're right, that's a deep team.

[WrestlingRash]

Remember when someone filmed weighins? 

[TexRef]

10 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

Putting the mid in Midlands

Bob Dole

[dragit]

20 hours ago, GreatWhiteNorth said:

What was crazy for me was that there were no team listings or participant listings posted anywhere until today - less than 2 days before the 1st whistle. Ticket sales and session start times were basically all that was available online since the September announcement.

It does seem like this is perhaps understaffed/underfunded.

In any case, I'm glad it's being held. And looking forward to a successful event.

I congratulate you on your politeness and optimism while nicely explaining the problem.  With respect to "a successful event," I think that they could have one in the manner of how Sean Connery described a successful day of policing to Kevin Costner in the bridge scene in the Untouchables -- everyone going home safe is probably about the best they can hope for.  

[BarSeries]