InterMat Staff

Stanford, Calif. -- The Cardinal wrestling team will kick off the home season this week, hosting Columbia, No. 23 Lehigh and UC Davis in the Stanford Duals at Burnham Pavilion on Friday. Stanford will meet the Lions of Columbia in the first dual at 10 a.m., followed by a contest with Lehigh at noon and a contest with UC Davis at 2 p.m. Also in Burnham tomorrow, Lehigh will face UC Davis at 10 a.m. and Columbia will face UC Davis at noon. "I am very excited to be competing at home after traveling so much," said Head Coach Kerry McCoy. "I am equally excited to have a chance to compete against three great teams. Each team brings something special to the table." The Cardinal enters the duals with a 2-2 overall record and a 1-0 record in the Pac-10. The squad is led by its two ranked wrestlers, No. 4 Tanner Gardner at 125 pounds and No. 16 Josh Zupancic at 157 pounds. Gardner boasts a 22-3 record, and captured titles at the Bison Open and the Reno Tournament of Champions earlier this season. Zupancic, 25-7, has placed in all five tournaments he has competed in. The Columbia Lions will compete in their first duals of the season on Friday, and will take on Stanford for the first time since 2002. The Lions are led by three top-20 wrestlers in No. 18 Matt DeLorenzo (133 pounds), No. 11 Matt Palmer (174 pounds) and No. 14 Justin Barent (184 pounds). Additionally, the squad returns an NCAA qualifier, sophomore Sal Tirico (141 pounds). Zupancic is the only Cardinal wrestler to have taken on a Lion this season, as the Stanford junior defeated Devin Mesanko in the seventh place match at the Las Vegas Invitational. "Columbia has improved every year since Coach Buckley took over," said McCoy. "They have a great staff and a lot of great wrestlers." Cingular No. 23 Lehigh enters the Stanford Duals with a 4-4 dual meet record, and finished 11th at the Southern Scuffle last weekend. The squad boasts three ranked wrestlers and seven returning NCAA qualifiers. Senior Matt Ciasulli currently stands at No. 20 at 141 pounds, while freshman David Craig is 19th at 184 pounds. Heavyweight Paul Weibel is currenly the top-ranked wrestler for the Mountain Hawks at No. 14. Cardinal Head Coach Kerry McCoy, who was an assistant coach at Lehigh from 2000-05, will meet his former team for the first time in his career. Gardner is the only Cardinal wrestler to have faced an opponent from Lehigh this season, having topped Matthew Fisk, 8-1, in the quarterfinals of the Southern Scuffle on Saturday. "Lehigh was my home for five years," said McCoy. "I have a lot of strong ties to that program including Greg Strobel, who was my coach for almost 10 years and is one of my mentors. Also, John Clark, one of our former assistants, is there now." Stanford will continue also Pac-10 competition against UC Davis, looking to pick up a second conference win. The Aggies are 1-1 so far in 2006-07 and are led by a pair of top-five wrestlers in No. 2 Derek Moore (141 pounds) and No. 4 Ken Cook (174 pounds). Including Moore and Cook, the Aggies return four NCAA qualifiers from 2005-06 and six Pac-10 placewinners. Cardinal and Aggie wrestlers have met in five bouts at three competitions so far this season, and Stanford has come out on top in three of those meetings. Last season, Stanford fell to UC Davis, 38-6, on the road. "UC Davis is a conference opponent, so a lot rides on each match," said McCoy. "We recruit a lot of the same student athletes as all of these programs. Right now there are a bunch of guys we recruited wrestling for them and vice versa. It's great for Stanford to have these teams come in and it's great for wrestling to have these programs compete against each other."

Augsburg won the last four matches of the night to break a 10-10 tie and claim a 31-10 win over Augustana Wednesday night at the Elmen Center. Augsburg (3-0), the top-ranked team in Division III, picked up a forfeit, 2 pins and a decision in the final four matches to knock off the Vikings (3-1), ranked No. 11 in Division II. The dual, which started at 165 pounds, was very competive for 6 matches as the teams each won three matches. Nate Buys turned in the biggest performance of the night for Augustana. Buys, ranked No. 3 in the nation at 197 pounds, scored a takedown and a pair of 2-point nearfalls in the first period to roll to a 13-0 major decision over Andy Robinson. Also victorious for Augustana were Cody Henriksen at 174 pounds and Chris Trampe at 125 pounds. Henriksen, ranked fifth in Division II, trailed 1-0 until he registered a takedown with 1 second left in the second period to take a 2-1 lead. He added an escape in the third period for a 3-1 win over Augsburg's Robbie Gotreau. Trampe also used some heroics late in the first period in his 7-6 win over Seth Flodeen. Ranked No. 8 in the nation, Trampe was trailing 2-0 in the first period. But he escaped with 26 seconds left and then got a takedown with 3 seconds on the clock to take a 3-2 lead. Late in the match, Trampe was leading 5-4, but Flodeen was guaranteed a point for riding time. Trampe scored his second reversal of the match with 23 seconds remaining to go up 7-4. Flodeen escaped with 16 seconds left, but could not get a takedown. Trampe's win knotted the score 10-10. After that it was all Augsburg. Augustana was open at 133 pounds, making the score 16-10. The Auggies then got a pin from top-ranked Quincy Osborn at 141 pounds. Osborn was leading Mike Long 14-3 before getting the pin at 6:06. After Jared Evans edged Augustana's Brandon Kruger 5-1 at 149 pounds, No. 1 ranked Jeremy Anderson pinned Augustana's Austin Scarset in 5:23. Scarset, ranked third in Division II, fell to 8-1 on the year. The dual opened with Augsburg's Marcus LeVesseur extending his winning streak to 128 matches. A three-time national champion, LeVesseur decisioned Aaron Haddorff 6-3 at 165 pounds. Haddorff trailed 2-0 after one period. He gave the crowd of 526 a jolt of excitement when he executed a chin drop on LeVesseur to start the second period, but he was unable to trap LeVesseur on his back. Augsuburg's other win came at 184 pounds, where unranked George Lynaugh knocked off sixth-ranked Tom Nesseth 10-2 for a major decision. The Vikings return to the mat on Saturday when they compete in the Dana Open.

Columbia, Mo. -- Missouri senior defending National Champion Ben Askren was named Big 12 Wrestler of the month for December as announced today by the league office. The honor is Askren's third of his career and comes one month after younger brother Maxwell was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Month for November. Askren, ranked No. 1 in the nation at 174 pounds, closed out 2006 with individual titles at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Dec. 1-2) and Southern Scuffle (Dec. 29-30). For his work on the mat, Askren also received recognition as the Most Outstanding Wrestler at both tournaments and was named the Gorrarian Award (most pins) recipient in Las Vegas. The Most Outstanding Wrestler honor was Askren's third at each tournament. Among the co-captain's 23 wins on the season, 21 have been notched by fall with 19 recorded in the first three minutes of action. To date, Askren owns 134 career wins, setting a new Missouri record Dec. 30 in Greensboro, N.C. at the Southern Scuffle. The previous mark, 131, was set between 1978-82 by former Tiger All-American Wes Roper. During the month of December, Askren squared off with several of the nation's top wrestlers including two bouts against second-ranked Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh. In both matches, Askren pinned Gavin, the fastest recorded during the semifinals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Dec. 2 in a time of 2:16. The owner of the nation's longest active win streak, 68, Askren has tallied 80 wins by fall in his career at Missouri and has recorded 16 straight dating back to his Nov. 19 match against Jeff James of Oklahoma. Askren pinned James 3:21 at the Missouri Open. A member of the No. 1 ranked Missouri wrestling team, Askren and the Tigers will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa for the National Duals, Saturday, Jan. 13 through Sunday, Jan. 14.

The second-ranked Golden Gopher wrestling team cruised to a 44-3 win over Arizona State to improve to 7-1 on the season. Sophomore Tyler Safratowich pulled off a huge upset with a 4-3 decision over No. 2 Brian Stith in the 157-pound bout as the Gophers won nine of 10 matches on the night, including two by forfeit. With the match tied at three, Safratowich rode Stith the entire third period to score the bonus point and come away with the 4-3 decision. The victory had all of the 2,131 in attendance on their feet, while Stith humbly walked off the mat with his head down in complete disappointment. Safratowich, who has now faced the top-two ranked wrestlers in the country in Minnesota's last two duals, showed no effects of being intimidated from the opening whistle. After nearly scoring a takedown twice in the first 1:30 of the match, Safratowich finally got in on a single leg with 48 seconds remaining in the first period go ahead 2-0. He ended the period with a 2-1 lead after Stith got the escape. Safratowich started down in the second and quickly earned the escape to take a 3-1 lead. Stith tied the match with a takedown near the end of the second to set up the exciting final period. Arizona State took an early 3-0 lead in the meet when Thor Moen defeated Justin Bronson by a narrow 1-0 margin at 197 pounds. Neither wrestler was able to generate any offense, with a second-period escape proving to be the difference. The Sun Devils' lead was short-lived, however, as a forfeit at heavyweight quickly gave Minnesota a 6-3 advantage. The Gophers quickly expanded the lead with bonus points in each of the next four matches. Ninth-ranked Jason Ness earned a tech fall over ASU's John Espinoza at 125 to give Minnesota an 11-3 lead. Ness scored two takedowns and a pair of three-point near falls in the first period to jump ahead of Espinoza 10-1 in the first period. After Ness took a 16-2 lead with just over a minute left in the match, a second stall warning on Espinoza with 36 seconds remaining provided the final outcome. Mike Thorn and Manuel Rivera provided back-to-back first period pins to push Minnesota's lead to 23-3 before intermission. ASU's Shawn Jones jumped ahead of Thorn with a takedown just 21 seconds into the match. Thorn responded with a takedown with 1:12 remaining and quickly rolled Jones to earn the fall at 1:57. Rivera followed by pinning Robert Galvan in 2:31. Rivera dominated the match, scoring two early takedowns and a three-point near fall before sticking Galvan with 29 seconds remaining in the first period. With the win, Rivera pushed his record to 22-0 on the season. Top-ranked Dustin Schlatter was characteristically methodical in a 16-1 tech fall over Cameron Smith at 141 pounds. Schlatter scored a takedown just five seconds into the match and proceeded to roll Smith for four consecutive three-point near falls. After letting Smith escape with 1:11 remaining, Schlatter earned the decisive takedown with 56 seconds left in the first period. Safratowich followed with the upset of Stith, completely eliminating any ray of light for Arizona State. The Sun Devils forfeited at 165, giving Minnesota a 37-3 lead. Eighth-ranked Gabriel Dretsch added more bonus points to the Gophers' total with a shutout of Alex Pavlenko at 174 pounds. After a scoreless first period, Dretsch turned on the offense with a takedown and two near falls in the second. He added a takedown in the third and earned the bonus point for riding time to win 11-0. No. 2 Roger Kish capped off the night with a high-scoring 13-10 decision over Greg Gifford at 184 pounds. An eventful first period saw Kish score three takedowns, while Gifford countered with a takedown and near fall to trail by just a single point at the end of the first. Kish added two takedowns in the second and added a pair of escapes in the third to come away with the win. The Gophers will now be off until the National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Jan. 13-14, where they will look to re-gain the top ranking in the country.

There's obviously still a lot of season left, but a month and a half of Division I college wrestling is in the books. In the six plus weeks of action … a good number of questions that enthusiasts entered the season with have been answered. Here are 10 notable things we've learned thus far: Ben Askren (Photo/Johnnie Johnson)1. You can't turn your head away for a second this year in a Ben Askren match. It will probably be over by the time you return your gaze to the action. After watching Jake Herbert major Roger Kish in the NWCA/All Star Classic, one had to wonder how anyone beat him last year, especially at a lower weight class. Then you watch Askren and say "Oh, that's how." Askren's incredible run of first-period pins this year is nothing short of stunning. He should also start promoting the "Ben Askren Diet," which makes you weigh anything but 174. The mass exodus of 2006 NCAA All Americans at 174 is completely justified (second place Herbert went up to 184 and third and fourth placers Mark Perry of Iowa and Ryan Patrovich of Hofstra went down to 165). His dominance is so impressive … there is no wrestling message board thread that he's inappropriate for. I know he was essentially up a weight class, but how did Tony Gansen beat him at the U.S. Nationals in freestyle last year? 2. Hofstra is the real deal as a dual meet team. They followed their shocking early-season upset over Minnesota with a dominating performance over Penn State, who appeared to match up well with them on paper. Question still unanswered: How strong a tournament team is Hofstra? They had a decent finish at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, but that was without No. 7-ranked Dave Tomassette at 125 and No. 4 Ryan Patrovich at 165, who was seeded first. At full strength, they could very well be a force at NCAA's. 3. The new Big Ten faces at 125 are delivering. Of the 11 schools in the conference, 10 have a new 125-pounder from last year's lineup. Many of these talked-about names are doing well: No. 10 Angel Escobedo takes over for Joe Dubuque at Indiana, No. 6 Franklin Gomez takes over for Nick Simmons at Michigan State, No. 8 Jayson Ness takes over for Travis Lang at Minnesota, Brandon Prestin takes over for John Velez at Northwestern, No. 13 Gabe Flores takes over to Kyle Ott at Illinois, No. 5 Mark McKnight takes over for Brad Pataky at Penn State, Mark Moos takes over for Michael Watts … well maybe not everyone is living up to expectations. 4. Going down a weight class from where you wrestled last year? The results so far this year suggest that maybe this isn't a great idea with the one-hour weigh in. Two exceptions: you were actually up a weight the previous year to help your team (Mike Poeta, Gabe Flores) or you're on the Ben Askren Diet. Cael Sanderson (Photo/Johnnie Johnson)5. It's not easy for coaches to come in and take over a program, no matter what your credentials are. Tom Ryan at Ohio State, Tom Brands at Iowa, and Cael Sanderson at Iowa State are all experiencing some sort of growing pains at their new schools. But hey, Jim Zalesky is 6-0 at Oregon State. 6. It's a long season and taking some time off to heal from being banged up is probably a good idea. Troy Nickerson and Adam Frey of Cornell make their debuts at the Southern Scuffle and both come out on top. Nickerson looks like he hasn't missed a beat and Frey lives up to his billing. Ryan Lang of Northwestern misses the Reno Tournament of Champions, but comes back strong to take Midlands. 7. The 197-pound weight class isn't as balanced as originally thought. It looked like one of those weights with a lot of tough guys who were going to beat up on each other resulting in divided opinions as to who should be No. 1. Wynn Michalak, Joel Flaggert, Josh Glenn, Kurt Backes, Phil Davis, Jerry Rinaldi, Chris Weidman, JD Bergman, etc. As November began, it seemed like Max Askren of Missouri was going to simply be another name on that list -- and it is, you just have to put it at the top. Question still unanswered: Just how good is the still-undefeated Mike Tamillow of Northwestern? 8. Certain wrestlers are doomed to inconsistency. Probably at the top of the list are Gabe Dretsch of Minnesota and Brandon Mason of Oklahoma State, but CP Schlatter of Minnesota, Matt Keller of Tennessee Chattanooga, and Kurt Backes of Iowa State also appear to be in the hunt for this un-coveted title. 9. Freshmen! In addition to the aforementioned new stars at 125, (Angel Escobedo, Franklin Gomez, Jayson Ness) you've got JP O'Connor of Harvard, Matt Coughlin of Indiana, Cyler Sanderson of Iowa State, Ryan Morningstar of Iowa, Mike Pucillo of Ohio State, Jake Varner of Iowa State, Max Askren of Missouri and Jared Rosholt of Oklahoma State to name a few. At the very least these guys are showing signs of greatness, if not surprisingly consistent "W"s. 10. It is quite clear that the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals are going to be brutal. Could the Iowa State team that just won Midlands be seeded as low at sixth? Full strength teams like Northwestern, Cornell or Central Michigan all seem very capable of an upset or two. There should be lots of nail biting 6-4 and 5-5 meets.

Minnesota returns to dual meet action by hosting Arizona State on Tuesday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m., at the Sports Pavilion. It will be the final tune-up for the Golden Gophers before the National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Jan. 13-14. For tickets, call 1-800-UGOPHER. NOTES TO KNOW The Series Minnesota holds an 11-6 advantage in the all-time series against the Sun Devils, including a 5-2 record at home. The Golden Gophers have won each of the last seven meetings between the two schools dating back to 1986, including five victories in the last four seasons. Probable Match-Ups 125 -- #9 Jayson Ness (MN) vs. John Espinoza (ASU) 133 -- Mike Thorn (MN) vs. Shawn Jones (ASU) 141 -- #5 Manuel Rivera (MN) vs. #13 Pat Payne (ASU) 149 -- #1 Dustin Schlatter (MN) vs. Chris Remsen (ASU) 157 -- Tyler Safratowich (MN) vs. #2 Brian Stith (ASU) 165 -- Jeremy Larson (MN) vs. #8 Patrick Pitsch (ASU) 174 -- No. 8 Gabriel Dretsch (MN) vs. Rick Renzi (ASU) 184 -- #2 Roger Kish (MN) vs. Greg Gifford (ASU) 197 -- Yura Malamura (MN) vs. Jason Trulson (ASU) Hwt -- #1 Cole Konrad (MN) vs. Thor Moen (ASU) The Last Time Top-ranked Cole Konrad defeated fourth-ranked Cain Velasquez in the final match as the second-ranked Golden Gopher wrestling team defeated No. 16 Arizona State, 23-19, on Jan. 3, 2006 at the Sports Pavilion. Minnesota held off a late rally to earn its seventh straight win over the Sun Devils. Southern Scuffle Recap The battle between the top two ranked teams in the country came down to the wire at the Southern Scuffle, but No. 1 Missouri narrowly edged the Golden Gophers, 179.5-176 for the team title. All four Golden Gopher wrestlers who entered the Southern Scuffle as No. 1 seeds claimed individual titles. Manuel Rivera (141), Dustin Schlatter (149), Roger Kish (184) and Cole Konrad (Hwt) each finished first in their respective weight classes. Striving 4 Perfection Four Minnesota wrestlers still hold perfect records at this juncture in the season. Manuel Rivera, ranked No. 5 nationally at 141 pounds, is 21-0 with four pins, five major decisions and one tech fall. Top-ranked Dustin Schlatter is 16-0 with two pins, one major and six tech falls at 149. Roger Kish, No. 2 at 184 pounds, is also 16-0 with seven pins, two major decisions and one tech fall. Top-ranked heavyweight Cole Konrad is 12-0 with six pins and two major decisions. In the Polls The Golden Gophers are currently No. 2 in the country according to the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA coaches' poll. Minnesota is still No. 1 in the latest W.I.N. Magazine poll. Six of Minnesota's 10 starters are ranked individually in the polls. Defending national champions Cole Konrad (Hwt) and Dustin Schlatter (149) both hold the top spot in their weight class across the board. C.P. Schlatter is also ranked but is currently out with an injury. Did You Know? Either Minnesota, Oklahoma State or Iowa have won the national title in each of the past 18 years. Arizona State was the last champion outside of the big three. The Sun Devils won the 1988 title. In the past 18 years, Iowa has won nine titles, followed by the Cowboys with seven and the Golden Gophers with two. Looking Ahead The match against Arizona State will be Minnesota's final tune-up before the National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Jan. 13-14, where they will look to defend their title from a year ago. Junior C.P. Schlatter is expected to return from a knee injury that he sustained at the Northeast Duals on Nov. 25.

In stark contrast to in-state competition, the majority of the competition relevant to national wrestling rankings takes place in the first month of the season. One of the most interesting developments during this time is how certain relatively unheralded wrestlers progress to a level that was completely unforeseeable based on their prior performances … and knock off the nation's best. Other wrestlers are well-known -- but take their game to a whole new level in this time. The following are the eight wrestlers whose stock has gone up the most in the early going. Mario Mason, New Jersey, 140 pounds Mario Mason (Photo/Tony Rotundo)Turn back the clock two years. At that time, Mario Mason was Adam Frey's unknown backup who burst onto the scene as a freshman with a win over Jordan Frishkorn at the NHSCA Final Four, where he was named Most Outstanding Wrestler. From there, he dominated the Cadet Nationals (freestyle) later that summer. Mason seemed destined for greatness. He put together an excellent sophomore season, but lopsided losses against Lance Palmer and perhaps missing what should have been a great opportunity to win Junior National Freestyle (when Palmer was inexplicably pinned) put somewhat of a down note on his sophomore campaign. Now, Mason is right back where he was as a freshman -- one of the best of his class. Mason sewed up the No. 1 national ranking at 140 pounds with wins at the Ironman and Beast -- in possibly the most loaded weights classes at both tournaments. Perhaps the best wrestler in the nation at controlling positioning and imposing his style on his opponent, Mason defeated four of the nation's best in Nick Nelson, Shawn Harris, Luke Silver, and Tommy Abbott (avenging a loss from last season) to win the Ironman and Beast. Probably the least physically imposing of these competitors, Mason capped his great run with a beautiful overtime double leg takedown of Abbott. In his weight class at both events, but failing to advance to the finals, was preseason No. 1 Zack Kemmerer. Also in his weight class at Beast of the East was Junior Nationals champion Jamal Parks of Oklahoma. Parks lost for the second time this season to Luke Silver of Bishop Lynch, whom Mason then defeated 5-2 in the semifinals. RJ Pena, Oregon, 125 pounds Pena was originally one of the top ranked freshman in the nation his freshman year in the Rev Power Rankings -- due to a track record in youth national competition that surpassed all other sophomores except Collin Palmer, David Taylor, and Riley Adamson. Even though he won an Oregon state title as a freshman, Pena fell off the radar a bit as he did not compete in Fargo last summer. In fact, he has had no national tournament competition since 2004. However, suffice it to say that Pena etched his name near the top five of Rev Power Sophomore Rankings with his performance at the Reno Tournament of Champions. A seventh-place finisher last year at Reno, Pena took out (in order) Boris Novachkov, Riley Adamson, and Justin Durham. Novachkov was fresh off a win at the Ironman in a weight class which featured nationally ranked stars Collin Palmer, Colin Johnston, Anthony Valles, and Troy Dolan, where he received the MVP award. This was Pena's only close match of the tournament as he prevailed 6-4. In the next two rounds Pena blasted youth wrestling legend Riley Adamson (who would go on to take third) by a score of 11-3 before pinning Justin Durham -- in a wild bout that would have saw him have roughly an eight point lead if not for the fall). Pena reportedly scored the fall with a "snake" maneuver from his feet. A strong case can be made that Pena deserves a ranking in the top five at this weight, and possibly among the top five sophomores nationally in all weights. Jason Welch, California, 160 pounds Jason Welch (Photo/Tony Rotundo)For much of last year, Jason Welch of California was ranked as the nation's best sophomore. His stock slipped a bit due to some disappointing losses (a major decision against Eric Medina and a later-avenged loss to Luke Manuel), followed by his failure to place at "Fargo" one year after placing fifth at the Junior Nationals in freestyle. Welch has returned with a vengeance to say the least. At the Ironman, he cruised to the finals where he faced highly-decorated Sean Nemec of Ohio in a battle for, potentially, the No. 1 ranking in the nation. While Welch is noted for his offensive prowess, in this match, it was his defensive wizardry that carried the day. Time and time again, Nemec got in on single-leg takedowns in the "crackdown" position -- and time and time again, Welch frustrated his attempts to score. The score was 1-0 late in the match (but possibly the best 1-0 match this writer has ever seen) when Welch converted a takedown to close out the match with a 3-0 win- the second win of his career versus Nemec in as many meetings. At Reno, Welch clearly cranked up his offense, scoring all technical falls up to the finals, when he dismantled the very tough Cody Yohn, 15-1. Welch is one of a handful of wrestlers for whom a case that they are the nation's top junior can be made. Hunter Collins, California, 171 Pounds One of the biggest upsets of the season took place at the Reno Tournament of Champions, where Hunter Collins scored the only two takedowns of the match in a 5-2 win over Kirk Smith. Smith is the defending Junior National Freestyle and Fila Cadet Freestyle champion and rated No. 1 in the nation (and was ranked as the No. 3 senior in the country in all weights). Collins was a highly regarded junior, but ironically, only considered (at best) the third best junior in California (behind Welch and two-time state champion Louis Bland -- the wrestler who defeated him last year at state). From a national rankings standpoint -- the jury is still out on Collins to some extent. It's difficult to rank Collins in the top five of this loaded weight given that he has yet to win a state title and placed second at Cadet Nationals last summer to a wrestler that is not in the top five (Romero Cotton). At the present time it still remains somewhat in doubt whether there will be a Bland/Collins rematch at 171 (which would be possibly the biggest state match-up of the year) or whether Bland will stay at 189 -- though it appears Bland will be at 171. Should Collins prevail in his rematch with Bland -- there will be plausible arguments that he is not only the nation's best 171, but the top recruit for 2008 as well. Garrett Goebel, Illinois, 285 Pounds Garrett Goebel (Photo/Tony Rotundo)Going into the season, the picture as to who was the nation's top heavyweight was a complete muddle. After Ironman, there is little doubt in this writer's mind -- and he is a wrestler that has yet to make a state final and was not ranked at 285 at the start of the year. Garrett Goebel slipped off the nation's radar when he placed just fifth in Illinois at 215 last year as a sophomore, after placing fourth at 215 the year before. A closer look at that performance shows that he was in one of the toughest 215-pound weight classes ever assembled. In the off-season, Goebel grew several inches (he appeared from press row to be about 6'5"), while maintaining the mobility of a much lighter wrestler. At the Ironman, after pinning his first three opponents, he was pitted against underrated Frank Becker and former two-time Cadet Nationals champion Ben Kuhar. Both of these Ohio wrestlers own several wins against Junior National runner-up Cameron Wade in the past couple of years. Goebel simply dominated in all phases against Becker, approaching a technical fall before he finally scored the fall. Against Kuhar, in the finals, it was, once again, no contest. Goebel scored easy takedown in each of the three periods for a 7-0 final score. Finally, the nation has an elite heavyweight. Luke Lanno, New Jersey, 152 Pounds The 152-pound weight class at Beast of the East just may have been the toughest weight class in the nation until Senior Nationals. There were two wrestlers who have been ranked No. 1 in the nation at some point in there career who did not make the finals -- in fact one dropped all the way to seventh place (defending Ironman and Beast Champ Eric Medina of Blair Academy). It was Luke Lanno, fourth in the state in New Jersey last season, who pulled the upset of the year in the Beast quarterfinals by defeating Medina 7-5. Just in case one thought that was a fluke, he next defeated former Cadet National Freestyle runner-up Johnny Koepp of Bishop Lynch, 9-8. That win setup a final against another former Cadet Nationals runner-up, Sean Bilodeau of Massachusetts. Bilodeau had earlier defeated two-time Pennsylvania AAA state champion (and preseason No. 1) Tim Darling by a stunning 12-7 count. In a classic battle between speed and power, the rugged Lanno outlasted and really out-hustled the slick Bilodeau, prevailing by a score of 7-5. What is really unthinkable is that Medina -- at various points in his career considered the best wrestler in the nation in his grade -- is now only the third best 152 in his own state behind Lanno and Scott Winston. Lanno will attempt to unseat defending state champion Winston, a junior who has yet to be defeated in high school competition in one of the most anticipated match-ups of the year. Fred Santaite, New Jersey, 119 Pounds It's not that Fred Santaite didn't have the credentials. He was not only state champion in New Jersey's treacherous single division tournament last year, but he was also the runner-up at both the Beast of the East and Junior National Freestyle tournaments. However, any seasoned observer knows the jump from 103 to 119 is a huge one. A wrestler literally goes from wrestling boys to wrestling men. Which is what made Fred Santaite's conquest of the Beast of the East so unlikely. History shows that most wrestlers who make this jump have a decline in productivity. However, Fred Santaite jumped from 103 (and 105 in Fargo) to 119 this season and knocked off two of the nation's elite. First, he took out Chris Sheetz of Pennsylvania. Sheetz is a former Pennsylvania AAA state champ who was fresh off a win at Ironman (where he defeated Junior National All-American Travis Coffey and No. 2-ranked Nikko Triggas). It was certainly a surprise, then, that Santaite knocked off Sheetz by a score of 5-3 in the semifinals of the Beast. Ironically, while Sergent defeated the Ironman champ, the wrestler who defeated Santaite in "Fargo", Ben Sergent, failed to place in the top eight at Ironman. Few gave the fireplug from New Jersey even a remote chance of winning in his next bout against Junior Nationals champion Connor McDonald of Delaware. Yet again, McDonald failed to read the scouting report and came out the victor over one of the nation's top seniors by a 5-4 count Tyler Nauman, Pennsylvania, 130 Pounds It was no secret that Tyler Nauman of Pennsylvania is an excellent wrestler. Nauman has placed high at many tournaments, but not really won any major tournaments yet. Last year he placed second in the state in Pennsylvania, but only eighth (albeit in a loaded weight) at Beast of the East. Tyler Nauman (Photo/Tony Rotundo)By contrast, Kellen Russell came in, simply put, as champion of pretty much all he has entered. Cadet and Junior National Freestyle champion. Defending Beast champion. (in the same weight in which Nauman took eighth). National Prep champion. And most recently, Ironman champion -- in a performance marked by complete domination. So, despite a couple of nice wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals over Shane Smith and Bobby Ward, few thought that Nauman stood more than a marginal chance in the finals against Russell. However, like Santaite, Nauman reminded the fans of why the matches are "still wrestled on the mat." In a battle of two of the toughest wrestlers to take down in the nation, Nauman converted and early slide-by to a takedown and made it hold up -- as he stunned Russell, 3-2. Other wrestlers whose stock rose greatly in the preseason include: Skip Crooks, Colin Johnston, David Taylor, the Lakewood St. Edward trio of Jamie Clark, Chris Honeycutt, and Shawn Harris, Alex Meade, Eric Olanowski, Sean Bilodeau, Jamelle Jones, and Chris Villalonga.

Sophomore Jake Patacsil led the Purdue University wrestling team to a 12th place finish at the 2006 Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern University on Saturday, finishing in second place at 149-pounds. Patacsil was one of four Boilermakers to place at the event joined by freshmen Matt Redmond (sixth at 149 pounds) and Nick Bertucci (eighth at 141 pounds), and senior Nathan Moore (eighth at 197 pounds). The No. 8 seed, Patacsil advanced to the finals with five straight victories, including a 4-3 quarterfinal victory over top-seeded and seventh-ranked J.P. O'Connor of Harvard. In the finals, he fell at the hands of sixth-seeded Mike Grimes of Northern Illinois, 5-4, surrendering an escape and a takedown in the final 30 seconds for his first loss in his last 18 matches. He moves to 23-4 on the season and earned his third tournament placing of the season after finishing third at the University of Northern Iowa Open and taking home the crown at the Reno Tournament of Champions. Patacsil's 24 back points in the tournament moves his season total to 129, already good for fifth in single-season Purdue history, and his career total to 223, fourth all-time at Purdue. His two pinfalls in the tournament placed him in a tie for 18th place on the Purdue single-season record list with eight, while his career total reached 10. Redmond was a Cinderella story for Purdue, toppling a pair of seeded and ranked opponents on his way to the medalist round. He bested fourth-seeded and 15th-ranked Jermain Thompson of Eastern Michigan University in the second round, 6-5, and followed up with a 5-4 win over fifth-seeded and 12th-ranked Cyler Sanderson of Iowa State University in the quarterfinals. After bowing to Patacsil in the semifinals, Redmond's final two losses came to seeded and ranked opponents as he dropped a 13-3 loss to seventh-seeded and 20th-ranked Troy Tirapelle of Illinois in the consolation semifinals, suffered a narrow 3-0 defeat to second-seeded and fifth-ranked Matt Coughlin of Indiana. Redmond's 4-3 tournament record moves him to 11-7 on the year. Senior Nathan Moore finished eighth at 197 pounds, but more importantly became just the 12th wrestler in Purdue history to eclipse the 100-career victory mark. His 11-6 win over Montana State Northern's Brian Fritchmann secured the accomplishment and also guaranteed him a place on the championship podium for the second straight year. Bertucci's eighth-place showing at 141 pounds was his first collegiate tournament placing as he rebounded from a second-round loss to eventual Midlands runner-up Alex Tsirtsis, and won three straight to reach the consolation quarterfinals. Former Purdue standout Ben Wissel climbed the Midland's podium for the second straight year as well, this time ascending to the top spot at 184 pounds with a 7-4 victory over No. 7 seed Joe Williams of Michigan State University. The No. 1 seed in the tournament, Wissel went 5-0 over the two days with a pair of technical falls and a major decision. Iowa State ran away with the overall team title, securing the top spot before the start of the final session. Full results are not yet available, but will be posted when available on the Northwestern University Athletics website (www.nusports.com). The finals of the 2006 Midlands Championships will be replayed on Comcast SportsNet on Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m. and again on Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 3 p.m.

EVANSTON, Ill. -– Northern Illinois placed two top-five finishers on the final day of competition at the 44th Midlands Championship on the campus of Northwestern University. Headlining the day's action for the Huskies was Mike Grimes, who captured the 149-pound championship with a pair of Saturday victories. Grimes, seeded sixth in his weight class, won a pair of matches on Friday and picked up where he left off. In the semifinal, Grimes defeated second-seeded Matt Couglin of Indiana, 3-1, to advance to the final. In the championship bout, Grimes bested Jake Patacsil of Purdue to take first place. Pat Castillo, seeded seventh at 125, advanced to the semis with three wins on Friday. In his first Saturday match, Castillo dropped a 3-1 decision to third-seeded Angel Escobedo of Indiana. In the wrestleback, Castillo rebounded with a victory in the fifth-place match over Illinois' John Weinert. Entering the final round of competition, the Huskies had 56.0 points as a team, placing them 10th in the 56-team field. NIU returns to the mat on January 14 with a MAC dual meet at Buffalo.

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. –- The Lock Haven University wrestling team picked up one individual championship as they finished 15th with 55 points at the Southern Scuffle hosted by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The University of Missouri took home the championship topping the University of Minnesota 179.5-175 in a battle of the No. 2 and No. 1 teams in the country, respectively. The story for the Bald Eagles was No. 12 Seth Martin (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove) who took home the individual crown at 157 pounds beating No. 6 Matt Hill of Edinboro University. Martin topped Hill, who was the No. 1 seed in the tournament 4-1 in the championship match. Martin was also able to avenge an earlier loss to Hill. Hill beat Martin 6-1 in the Dec. 10 dual where Edinboro shutout the Haven 45-0. Martin's road to the finals was in easy one as he started things off with a 3-1 win, followed by a pin and two more solid wins topping his opponents 7-0 and 13-4. No. 6 Obenson Blanc (Naples, Fla./Lely) finished in sixth at 125 to help pace the Bald Eagles. Blanc won his first two matches before falling to Javier Maldonada of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga 10-6. Blanc came back and picked up two more wins before Maldonada again defeated him. Freshman Danny Lopes (Oakhurst, N.J./Oxford Academy) won his first two matches of the tournament at 133 before falling to Evan Sola of the University of North Carolina who finished in second place. Lopes finished 2-2 in the tournament. Fellow classmate Tom Kocher (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) went 4-2 at 184 pounds. The Bald Eagles are back in action on Jan. 12, at 7:30 when they host Millersville University.

The Augustana wrestling team was well-represented at the Inaugural Collegiate All-Star Challenge as Austin Scarset, Cody Henriksen and Nate Buys all collected wins Saturday night at the Long Lines Center in Sioux City, Iowa. Scarset, a returning All-American who is ranked third in Division II at 157 pounds, earned a 9-6 decision over Hayden Harrison of Embry-Riddle. Harrison is ranked No. 1 in the NAIA national rankings. Henriksen, a 2006 All-American at 165 pounds, is ranked seventh at 174 pounds in the latest national rankings gained a measure of revenge as he scored a 9-1 major decision against Enoch Francois of Northwestern, Iowa. Francois, who is ranked seventh in NAIA, defeated Henriksen 10-4 when Augustana met Northwestern in a dual on November 29. Buys, a returning All-American who is ranked third at 197 pounds, was also impressive as he won a major decision with a 10-0 shutout of Jesse Laber of the University of Mary. Laber won the 2005 NAIA national title at 197 pounds. Since Mary is a provisional Division II school, he is not nationally ranked.

EDINBORO, PA -– Make it three straight years with a fourth place finish at the Southern Scuffle for the Edinboro University wrestling team. With seven wrestlers placing, including a first place showing by Deonte Penn, the Fighting Scots finished fourth while competing against some of the top teams and individuals in the country. North Carolina-Greensboro University hosted the event at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. Missouri, ranked number in the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA Division I Top 25, finishing first, unseating two-time defending champion Minnesota, who is ranked second. The Tigers finished with 179.5 points, with the Golden Gophers totaling 176 points. Cornell, ranked 13th, came in third with 134.5 points, while Edinboro finished with 129.5 points. Navy (92.5 points) rounded out the top five. Penn came in as the number one seed at 165 lbs., and he won all six of his matches, two by fall. After edging fourth-seeded Chris Vondruska of Ohio State, 4-3, in the semifinals, the senior won by fall over second-seeded Steve Anceravage of Cornell in the finals. The pin was the 41st of his career, leaving him one shy of the school record held by Jason Robison and Tom Herr. Penn, who is ranked eighth by InterMat, also boosted his season record to 18-2, and his career mark to 95-41. Anceravage is ranked 11th and Vondruska 18th. Matt Hill was the other Edinboro grappler to reach the finals, but the senior was unable to come up with his second win in the month of December over EWL rival Seth Martin of Lock Haven. Martin, the second seed at 157 lbs. and ranked 15th nationally, avenged a 6-1 loss to Hill in the dual meet earlier this month with a 4-1 decision in the finals. Hill, ranked seventh, tasted defeat for the first time this season, and is now 18-1 and 91-36 for his career. He reached the championship with a 15-6 major decision against Stanford's Josh Zupancic, the fourth seed who was ranked 17th. Hill was 4-1 in the tourney. Gregor Gillespie and Alex Clemsen garnered third place finishes at 149 and 184 lbs., respectively. Gillespie, ranked third, had hoped to meet top-ranked Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota in the final. However, he suffered his first lost of the season in the semifinals, a 9-4 decision to Jordan Leen of Cornell, the third seed and ranked sixth by InterMat. Gillespie had reached the semifinals with a 12-0 major decision against 14th-ranked Scott Ervin of Appalachian State. He would reach the consolation finals with a win over another ranked grappler, 13th-ranked Aaron Martin of Chattanooga, 8-3. In the third place match, Gillespie finished a 5-1 tournament with a 17-11 decision over Missouri's Josh Wagner. The sophomore is now 19-1. One day after picking up his 100th career victory, Clemsen won three more matches to capture third place at 184 lbs. and bring his career ledger to 103-33. The senior, who is ranked 11th, is now tied for 16th in career wins with Nate Yetzer. Clemsen, the third seed, reached the semifinals with an 8-3 win over Stanford's Zack Giesen, but then suffered a 5-3 loss to Missouri's Raymond Jordan, the second seed who is ranked sixth. In the consolation semifinals, he posted a 9-1 major decision over 15th-ranked Rocco Caponi of Virginia, the fourth seed. He won by default over Jesse Strawn of Old Dominion in the third place match. Clemsen is 19-2 on the season. Ricky Deubel captured sixth place at 133 lbs., going 4-3. However, all three losses came to nationally-ranked wrestlers, a common theme for the sophomore, who is 13-8 this year, with seven losses to ranked wrestlers. Deubel, who is ranked 14th, lost to 12thth-ranked Joe Baker of Navy, 10-6, in the quarterfinals. After picking up a win in his first wrestelback match, he faced second-ranked Matt Keller of Chattanooga. In the biggest win of his young career, Deubel came away with an 8-6 decision. He suffered a 6-1 loss to 13th-ranked Eric Albright of Virginia in the consolation semifinals, then lost by fall at 2:32 to Drew Headlee of Pittsburgh, who is ranked eighth. Joel Webster and Pat Bradshaw, a pair of backups for the Fighting Scots, completed the list of medal winners with eighth place finishes at 141 and 197 lbs., respectively. Webster, a redshirt freshman who came in with a 4-5 record, won five straight matches after losing his first match to 14th-ranked Charlie Pinto of Maryland. He ended at 5-3 in the tourney after a 6-1 loss to 20th-ranked Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh in the seventh place bout. Bradshaw, also a redshirt freshman, went 3-3, losing to Virginia's Brent Jones, 10-5, in the seventh place match. Two other Edinboro wrestlers reached the quarterfinals after the first day of action, but failed to place. Phil Moricone finished 2-2 at 174 lbs., winning his first two matches before losing twice, including an 11-4 loss to 16th-ranked Mike Letts of Maryland in the quarterfinals. Moricone is now 14-5. Joe Fendone came in ranked 11th at heavyweight and was the number four seed. Heopened with three straight wins, but the sophomore then suffered a narrow 6-5 decision to 12th-ranked Paul Weibel of Lehigh, in the quarterfinals. He had defeated Weibel, 13-8, earlier in the year. He was then eliminated via a 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh's Zach Schaeffer. Fendone is now 15-4.

Greensboro, N.C. -- After two days of wrestling, the Big Red wrestling team finished in third place with 134.5 points at the Southern Scuffle hosted by the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Cornell finished behind Missouri (179.5) and Minnesota (176). Troy Nickerson (125) and Adam Frey (133) captured individual titles in their respective weight classes. Jordan Leen (149) and Steve Anceravage (165) both lost in their championship matches to take second place, and Joey Hooker took fifth place at 174. Nickerson defeated John Olanwoski (Missouri), 9-2 in his quarterfinal bout, and he won an 8-2 decision over Jayson Ness (Minnesota) in the semifinals. In the championships, Nickerson face No. 2 seeded Tanner Gardner (Standford) and shut him out, 3-0 to take the title. Despite never wrestling in a collegiate match, Frey never swayed from his winning ways. In the quarterfinals, he faced the No. 1 seed, Matt Keller of Chattanooga and won a 10-9 decision. Frey picked up another 10-9 win to advance over the No. 4 seed Joe Baker (Navy) in the semifinals. To take the championship title at 133, Frey picked up a 4-2 win over North Carolina's Evan Sola, 4-2. The senior was the No. 2 seed at the Scuffle in his weight class. Leen faced Joey Ecklof of Pittsburgh in his quarterfinal bout and wrestled his way to a 8-0 major decision to advance to the semis where he would meet the No. 2 seed Gregor Gillespie (Edinboro). Leen overtook Gillespie by a 9-4 decision. In the finals, Leen squared off against Minnesota's Schlatter. The No. 1 seed won a 7-1 decision over Leen to take the title. Schlatter is the reigning National Champion at 149 and is undefeated this season and has only suffered one loss in his career. At 157, Charlie Agozzino advanced to the quarterfinals yesterday to meet Lock Haven's Seth Martin. The No. 2 seed took a 7-0 decision over Agozzino. In the consolation rounds, he faced Minnesota's Tyler Safratowich where he lost a 4-0 decision. Anceravage wrestled Daniel Atondo (Cal St. Bakersfield) in the 165 quarterfinals, winning a 14-8 bout. He would then encounter the No. 3 seed North Carolina's Keegan Mueller. Anceravage picked up a 3-1 sudden victory win to make his way to the finals. In the championship match he fell to Edinboro's Deonte Penn in 5:59. Anceravage was winning the match by six points when Penn rolled him through catching the Big Red wrestler to make the pin. The Big Red had two wrestlers still alive in the 174 bracket heading into day two of the Scuffle. Luke Hogle faced the No. 1 seed Gabe Dretch (Minnesota) in the quarterfinals losing an 8-1 decision. In the consolation bracket, Hogle wrestled Chattanooga's Lloyd Rogers losing 13-3. After losing his opening bout, Hooker worked his way through the wrestlebacks finding success. He picked up an 8-4 decision over UNC Greensboro's Joe Lowe and won a 19-4 tech fall at 5:32 over Kent State's Aaron Miller. Hooker then faced Rogers for the second time after losing the opening round to him. Hooker came out the winner by a 7-5 decision and went on to face Maryland's Mike Letts. Letts came out the victor picking up an 8-1 decision over the Big Red wrestler. Hooker was still alive though, and took fifth place after overtaking Neal Martin (Appalachian State) by a close 7-6 decision. At 184, freshman Nate Holley advanced to day two in the wrestlebacks after advancing over teammate Josh Arnone who withdrew due to medical reasons. Holley faced Lock Haven's Tom Kocher in his opening bout of the day. Kocher pinned Holley in 5:52. At 197, Jerry Rinaldi won his quarterfinal bout against Brandon Halsey (Cal St. Bakersfield), 3-2. Advancing to the semi finals, the senior was to face J.D. Bergman of Ohio State, but Rinaldi had to forfeit for medical reasons. Moving to the consolations brackets, he had two more medical forfeits but ended the Scuffle in sixth place for his prior efforts. Zach Hammond also picked up a victory in his opening match of the day against John Buck (Citadel), 2-0. Andy Patrick (Boise State) proved to be too much for Hammond, losing a 3-0 decision. The Big Red will return home to meet Penn State Jan 7 at 1 p.m. in its first dual match of the new year. The match will be held in Bartels Hall and will mark the second event in the Big Red's Community Care Challenge.

Evanston, Ill. -- Mike Poeta upset top-seeded and top-ranked Trent Paulson of Iowa St., 9-8, in the finals of the Midlands Championship to win the 157-pound title and remain undefeated on the season. Jimmy Kennedy placed second at 133 pounds, Troy Tirapelle fourth at 149 and John Dergo sixth at 184. As a team, Illinois finished in sixth place in a field of 56 teams. The final score may have been close, but Poeta (Highwood, Ill.) was in control of the match the entire time. When the fourth-ranked sophomore planted Iowa State's senior with a series two explosive takedowns in the first two periods, the hometown crowd went into a frenzy. In the third period, Paulson scored a takedown to cut Poeta's lead 8-7. After a Poeta escape, a point was given to Paulson on stall call to make it 9-8. As a result of Poeta's performance, he earned the Dan Gable Most Outstanding Wrestler Award. The award is a result of a vote cast by select media in attendance. Poeta received the award from legendary coach Dan Gable himself. "I felt unbeatable all tournament," Poeta said. "However, it's one of those matches where you get your hand raised but your head is down. I wasn't happy with the way I finished and I know that there's a lot more I need to work on to get better." Kennedy (Ingleside, Ill.) settled for second place in the 133-pound championship bout. The freshman dropped his only match of the tournament when he was pinned by top-ranked and No. 1 seed senior Nick Simmons of Michigan State. "Now that I've experienced this, I know what to expect the next time." Kennedy said. "I learned a lot about my competition and I'm going to use it later in the season." Tirapelle (Clovis, Calif.) dropped a close 3-2 decision to JP O'Connor (Harvard) to finish in fourth place at 149. Dergo (Morris, Ill.) was edged by Louis Caputo (Harvard), 3-1, to place sixth at 184. Head coach Mark Johnson said, "We knew that winning this was going to be a struggle for us this year because we're rebuilding. But, with two true freshmen out there placing second and fourth, it shows people how good we're going to be." The Fighting Illini are back in action on Jan. 13 when they travel to College Park, Md. for duals against Maryland and North Carolina. Notes: Comcast SportsNet will air the Midlands finals on two tape-delayed broadcasts - Tuesday, Jan. 30th at 7 p.m. and Wednesday, Jan. 31st at 3 p.m.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Led by No. 12 Angel Escobedo, the Indiana wrestling team finished fifth with 96.0 points at the 44th Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern University, while four other Hoosier grapplers earned places at the event. No. 7 Iowa State won the Championships with 154.5 points, while No. 5 Iowa finished second with 107 and No. 8 Northwestern took third at 102. The 16th-ranked Hoosiers finished just a half-point behind No. 10 Central Michigan, which finished fourth. Along with Escobedo's victory at 125, junior Max Dean took fourth place at 165. Sophomore Andrae Hernandez (133 pounds) and redshirt freshman Matt Coughlin (149) each garnered fifth-place finishes in their weight classes, while junior Marc Bennett (184) was seventh at 184. Escobedo won his first three matches at 125 pounds, including a pair of falls and a major decision. Escobedo, the highest-ranked wrestler remaining in the tourney, then topped seventh seed Pat Castillo of Northern Illinois with a 3-1 decision to face Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State in the finals. The redshirt freshman won the championship match with a 3-1 decision. The Griffith, Ind., native improved to 23-2 on the year with a team-leading 10 pins. No. 12 Max Dean won his first match in the 165-pound bracket by a 5-1 decision, but was bested 2-1 in the second round. Dean rebounded with a pair of decisions in the wrestleback, the first in sudden victory, to remain alive in the wrestleback. The junior then won his next three matches to earn a match against No. 6 Nick Baima of Northern Iowa in the third-place bout, where Baima took a 10-3 decision. Hernandez opened his tournament 3-0, with a technical fall and a major in his first three decisions. Hernandez then faced the country's top wrestler, Nick Simmons of Michigan State, in the semifinals, with Simmons earning a 2-0 decision. In the wrestleback, the Griffith, Ind., native went head-to-head with second seed Robbie Preston, but Preston emerged with a 6-0 triumph. In the fifth-place match, Hernandez bested Northwestern's Eric Metzler 3-0. No. 5 Matt Coughlin advanced to the semifinals at 149 with a pair of major decisions to improve his record to 21-2 on the year. Coughlin was bested by sixth-seed Mike Grimes of Northern Illinois in the semifinals, with Grimes taking a 3-1 decision in the first sudden victory period. In the first match of the wrestleback, No. 7 J.P. O'Connor topped Coughlin for the second time this season, 3-0, but the Evansville, Ind., native rebounded with a 3-0 victory of his own over Purdue's Matt Redmond in the fifth-place match. At 184, No. 9 Marc Bennett won his opening two matches to move to the quarterfinals, but was topped in his bid for a spot in the semifinals with a major decision at the hands of No. 4 Jake Varner of Iowa State. Bennett topped Sacred Heart's Andrew Silber with a 14-6 major decision in Saturday's opening match, but Illinois' John Dergo took a 6-3 decision over Bennett in the junior's next bout. The Martinsville, Ind., native finished his tourney with a victory over second seed Gerald Harris to take seventh. Three others - No. 3 Brandon Becker, Nathan Everhart and Josh Buuck - came up just one victory shy of placing at the Championships. Becker advanced to the quarterfinals at 157 pounds with a pair of victories, but suffered an injury in his third match of the weekend. Becker took an injury default, and was unable to participate in Session 3, taking a medical forfeit in his next bout. Everhart drew a tall task in his opening bout at 197, falling to No. 8 Wynn Michalak of Central Michigan in a 17-5 major decision. But Everhart rebounded in the wrestleback with three consecutive victories - including a pin and a technical fall - to move on to the third session. Everhart came up one match shy of placing at the event though, as he was eliminated by No. 18 T.J. Morrison of Rider in a 9-5 decision. Buuck made his season debut for the Hoosiers with a matchup against No. 4 Matt Fields of Iowa, with Fields taking a 14-6 major decision. Buuck won his first two matches in the wrestleback to advance to Session 3, but was defeated by eighth seed Blake Gillis of Wartburg in a 6-3 decision. Two Hoosiers - true freshman Nick Walpole and redshirt freshman Trevor Perry - were eliminated from the tourney on day one. Perry won his first-round match 7-6, but was bested by No. 20 Kurt Brenner of West Virginia in round two. Perry won his first bout in the wrestleback, but was unable to advance any further after taking a medical forfeit Walpole drew a tough assignment in his first match of the day on Friday, falling to 10th-ranked Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa State by a 10-2 score, but rebounded by winning his first two matches in the wrestleback, including a major decision and a fall. Walpole was eliminated from the tourney with a 7-3 decision at the hands of Sal Tirico of Columbia. The Hoosiers (8-0) return to dual-meet action with a match at Eastern Illinois on Sunday, Jan. 13, at 3 p.m.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Six individuals placed in the top five of their respective weight classes as 10th-ranked Central Michigan University finished fourth at the 2006 Midlands Championships. The Chippewas finished in the top four for the third straight year. Iowa State won the team title with 154.5 points, while Iowa was second with 107. Northwestern (102), CMU (96.5) and Indiana (96) rounded out the top five in the 56-team field. Five Chippewas entered Saturday's action still alive in the championship bracket. All five, however, fell in the semifinals and ultimately placed either third or fourth in their classes. Brandon Sinnott posted CMU's best individual finish, claiming third at 174 pounds. Seeded second, Sinnott dropped his semifinal match to No. 3 Eric Luedke (Iowa), 7-5, before knocking off top-seeded James Yonushonis (Penn State), 5-3 in overtime, in the third-place match. Luke Smith (125 pounds), Christian Sinnott (184), Wynn Michalak (197) and Bubba Gritter (285) all finished fourth overall. The fifth-seeded Luke Smith was upset by Iowa State's Nick Fanthorpe in the semis, 4-2. He rebounded to defeat Northern Illinois' John Weinert in the consolation semis before falling, 6-2, to No. 1 seed Franklin Gomez (Michigan State). At 184, Christian Sinnott dropped his semifinal bout to No. 1 seed Ben Wissel (Independent), 4-1. He won a consolation semi before falling in the third-place match, 4-2, to No. 3 Jake Varner (Iowa State). Michalak's bid for back-to-back Midlands titles ended with a 7-3 loss to Northwestern's Mike Tamillow in the semis. Michalak, seeded third at 197, fell to top-seed Josh Glenn (American) in the third-place bout. Gritter, seeded fifth at heavyweight, fell to No. 1 seed Dustin Fox (Northwestern) in the semifinals. He won a consolation semifinal before falling in the third-place match to No. 8 seed Blake Gillis (Wartburg). Seventh-seeded Eric Kruger won three of four consolation bracket matches on Saturday, capping his day with a 4-2 overtime victory over No. 6 Mitch Mueller (Iowa State) in the fifth-place match at 141 pounds. Tyler Grayson, who was not included in CMU's team point total, placed eighth at 149 pounds. The Chippewas return to action Jan. 5, visiting No. 22 Michigan State at 7 p.m. CMU's next appearance in Rose Arena is Jan. 7, when No. 3 Hofstra visits at 2 p.m.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Top-ranked Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward) and eighth-ranked Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick) won titles at the 44th Midlands Championships. Lang topped Iowa's Alex Tsirtis in the 141-pound final and Tamillow defeated Kurt Backes of Iowa State at 197 as the eigth-ranked Wildcats finished third overall at the 44th Midlands Championships held at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena. This is only the second time in school history Northwestern has produced multiple Midlands champions -- the Wildcats also had two in 1964. Lang, who cruised through the first day of competition, faced off against Harvard's fifth-seeded Max Meltzer in the semifinals. Lang dominated his opponent to the tune of a 16-6 major decision and moved on to the final match against Iowa's Tsirtsis. The top-ranked junior fell behind the second-seeded Hawkeye, but a pair of thunderous takedowns propelled Lang into the lead. He held on for the 8-5 decision to capture his first career Midlands title. Tamillow notched two major decisions on day one en route to his semifinal showdown against Central Michigan's Wynn Michalak. Tamillow defeated the familiar foe at last week's Reno Tournament of Champions. Tamillow, seeded second at 197, handled the third-seeded Michalak to record the 7-3 decision. He faced Iowa State's fifth-seeded Kurt Backes in Saturday night's final match. The junior trailed 1-0 early, but a late takedown enabled Tamillow to secure victory with a 3-1 decision. The win gave Tamillow his first career Midlands title. Third-ranked and top-seeded Dustin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) took to the mat next at heavyweight against Nebraska-Kearney's Tervel Diagnev. Fox fell behind early and could not regain control of the match. He lost the 10-4 decision and settled for second place in the heavyweight bracket. Unseeded sophomore Eric Metzler (Luxemburg, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco), who defeated Iowa's third-seeded Mario Galanakis in the quarterfinals, wrestled Saturday night for fifth place. He took on Indiana's Andrae Hernandez at 133 lbs. Metzler fought hard, but fell 3-0 to the fourth-seeded Hoosier to capture sixth place. Freshman Brandon Precin took eighth in the 125-pound division. He fell in the quarterfinals and took one match in the wrestleback bracket Saturday afternoon to ensure a top-eight finish. Iowa State took the team title with 154.5 points, its first since 1981. Coach Cael Sanderson, a legend in the wrestling world, become only the second rookie head coach to win a Midlands title. Another legend, Dan Gable, was the first to accomplish the feat with his 1976 Iowa squad. Northwestern finished third with 102 points, behind only the Cyclones and the Iowa Hawkeyes. The 'Cats improved on their 10th place finish in 2005. Jake Herbert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny), a two-time Midlands champion, did not wrestle for the Wildcats in this year's event. The Wildcats return to action January 14 at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals hosted by the University of Northern Iowa.

The Hawkeye wrestling team crowned one champion, two runners-up and four other placewinners at the 44th annual Midlands Championships in Evanston, IL, Saturday night. Iowa placed second in the team race, scoring 107 points. Iowa State won its first team title since 1981 with 154.5. Hawkeye senior 174-pounder Eric Luedke won his first Midlands title and picked up his 35th career victory, defeating Rider's Doug Umbehauer, 6-4, in the finals. Juniors Alex Tsirtsis and Mark Perry both placed second with second-seed Tsirtsis losing an 8-5 decision to top-seed Ryan Lang of Northwestern at 141 and top-seed Perry losing a 5-2 decision to second-seed Travis Paulson of Iowa State at 165. Also placing for the Hawkeyes were senior Mario Galanakis (8th-133), junior Matt Fields (6th-Hwt.), sophomore Charlie Falck (7th-125) and redshirt freshman Ryan Morningstar (7th-157). Iowa's next competition will be January 13-14 at the Cliff Keen/N.W.C.A. National Duals in Cedar Falls, IA. All matches will be held at the UNI-Dome on the University of Northern Iowa campus.

All four Golden Gopher wrestlers who entered the Southern Scuffle as No. 1 seeds claimed individual titles and remained undefeated on the season, but Minnesota was narrowly edged by top-ranked Missouri, 179.5-176, for the team title. Capturing individual titles for the Gophers were Manuel Rivera (141), Dustin Schlatter (149), Roger Kish (184) and Cole Konrad (Hwt). Konrad won his fourth consecutive title at the Southern Scuffle in the heavyweight division. Top-ranked nationally in his weight class, Konrad cruised through the tournament, grabbing three straight pins and a major decision. He then went on to claim the 6-2 victory over North Carolina's Spencer Nadolsky to become the first wrestler in tournament history to win four titles. As the championship round unfolded, it looked as though the senior from Freedom, Wis., may get a chance to be the hero as he has been so many times in his career with a victory in the final match of the night. However, he never got that chance, as a pin by Missouri's Max Askren in the 197-pound final sealed the title for the Tigers, putting them ahead by 7.5 points. The maximum points Konrad could have gotten with a pin in the final was six points. Kish's title at 184 pounds gave the Gophers reason to hope. Kish claimed his second consecutive Southern Scuffle title with a win by way of medical forfeit over No. 6 Raymond Jordan of Missouri. The victory brought Minnesota within 1.5 points of the lead before Askren's pin in the 197-pound final. Kish finished the tournament with a 5-0 record, including two pins and a tech fall. Rivera claimed the 141-pound title with a 6-0 record. He collected bonus points in each of his first five matches, including two pins and three major decisions. Rivera defeated Alex Krom of Maryland, 7-6, in the championship match. Top-ranked Dustin Schlatter extended his winning streak to 47 consecutive matches as he also defended his Southern Scuffle title from a year ago. He defeated No. 6 Jordan Leen of Cornell, 7-1, in the finals. Also placing for Minnesota were Jayon Ness (125), Gabriel Dretsch (174), Jeremy Larson (165) and Tyler Safratowich (157). Ness took home third place with a 6-1 record, posting three pins and a tech fall in the tournament. His only loss came to No. 2 Troy Nickerson of Cornell in the semifinals. Dretsch won his first four matches of the tournament and ended up placing fourth with a 5-2 record. After a third round loss to No. 13 Keegan Mueller on Friday, Larson fought his way through wrestle-backs and defeated No. 17 Jason Kiessling of Maryland, 5-2, in the seventh-place match. Safratowich pinned three opponents on his way to eighth place in the tournament. The Gophers will return home to host Arizona State on Tuesday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m., in a dual meet at the Sports Pavilion. It will be their final tune-up before the National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Jan. 13-14.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Augsburg College claimed 10 individual titlists and 21 placewinners in action during the holiday break at the Sunshine Open wrestling tournament on Thursday and Friday at the Lakeland Civic Center. No team results were kept at the open meet, which featured three teams ranked in the top 10 in the latest NCAA Division III national rankings -- Augsburg, ranked No. 1 nationally; Heidelberg (Ohio), ranked No. 4; and the College of New Jersey, ranked No. 8. Division III squad Augustana (Ill.) and Division I program Central Florida were also among the teams at the open meet. Three-time national champion Marcus LeVesseur (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) claimed the Most Falls in Least Time award at the tournament, winning all three of his matches to claim the 165-pound crown. He won all three matches with first-period pins, in a total time of 5:05. LeVesseur, who won Division III national titles at 157 pounds three times (2003, 2004, 2005), extended his collegiate unbeaten streak to 127, the second-longest winning streak in college wrestling history, behind the 159 of Cael Sanderson at Iowa State (1998-2002). LeVesseur has yet to lose a college wrestling match. Defending national runner-up Jafari Vanier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) shared the 133-pound title with teammate Paul Bjorkstrand (So., Burnsville, Minn.), currently ranked No. 8 nationally at 133. Both went 3-0 at the meet. At 149, Jared Evans (Sr., Blue Earth, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS), the No. 4-ranked wrestler nationally, went 4-0 to claim the weight-class title. Andrew Neumann (Sr., Somerset, Wis.), ranked No. 4 nationally at heavyweight, also went 4-0 to earn his weight-class championship. At 141, Quincy Osborn (Jr., Grand Rapids, Minn.), ranked No. 2 in Division III, went 3-0 and shared the title with teammate Jason Adams (Fr., Coon Rapids, Minn.), who went 2-0. George Lynaugh (Jr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley HS) won the title at 184 pounds by going 4-0, while Seth Flodeen (So., Cannon Falls, Minn.) and Jaime Rocha (Jr., Santa Maria, Calif./Righetti HS) shared the crown at 125 pounds. Robbie Gotreau (Jr., Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS), ranked No. 6 nationally at 184, moved down to 174 and went 4-1 in finishing second at the meet. Brandon Klukow (So., Albert Lea, Minn.) and Matt Curtis (Fr., Coon Rapids, Minn.) shared third-place honors at 165, while Josh Hansen (Sr., Albert Lea, Minn.) placed third at 157 and Kris Krier (Fr., Woodbury, Minn.) placed third at 184. Augsburg returns to action on Tuesday (Jan. 2) at 7 p.m., with a dual meet at Division II Augustana (S.D.).

Iowa State wins Midlands Iowa State University Sports Information EVANSTON, Ill. -- On the silver anniversary of its last Midland Championships team title, the Iowa State wrestling program turned a new page Saturday under first-year head coach Cael Sanderson. Travis Paulson claimed his first Midlands title at 165-pounds by defeating Iowa's Mark Perry and the Cyclones tallied 154.5 team points to win its first Midlands team championship since 1981. Iowa was second with second with107 points. Northwestern (102), Central Michigan (96.5) and Indiana (96) round out the top five. "We are getting better and the people who were here this weekend would back me up," Sanderson said. "Winning the team title is good for the program and I think it shows the progress we are making. Wrestling is an individual sport and as coaches that is how we look at what we have to do. Our job is to get 10 guys wrestling at their best and we are a solid team. We dictated the pace in almost every match in this tournament. We have to keep that going." Travis Paulson avenged an early December loss to Iowa's Mark Perry to take the 165-pound title with a 5-2 decision over the Hawkeye. The match remained scoreless until the third period until Perry scored on an escape, but was then called for stalling, tying the match at 1-1. Paulson got in deep on Perry several times but did not score after each ensuing scramble resulted in neither wrestler being in control, forcing a funky stalemate. With less than a minute to go, Paulson broke through, scoring a takedown with 50 seconds left, going up 3-1. Perry tacked on another escape, only to be taken back down onto the mat by the third-ranked Paulson with three seconds remaining to seal the Cyclone's victory. The senior claimed his first Midlands title in dramatic fashion and improves his season mark to 15-1. "You have to keep the pressure on against (Perry) because he is one of the best scramblers I have ever wrestled," Paulson said. "He likes space and I did my best to keep close and force the action. The other key is to not get frustrated when you get in on a good shot but end up with no points. (Perry) has long arms that help him in scramble situations, so I wanted to be the last one moving in the scramble and that is where I got my takedowns." Nick Fanthorpe was unable to overcome the overhooks and wiry frame of Indiana's third-seeded Angel Escebedo as he fell 3-1 in the 125-pound title match. The redshirt freshman had an auspicious performance in his hometown as the only unseeded wrestler to compete in the finals. Fanthorpe's record currently stands at 14-5. "I've always worked hard on technique conditioning," Fanthorpe said. "(Being runner-up) is a great confidence builder and it shows that there is a lot more to wrestling than being the biggest or the strongest. (Escebedo) has always been bigger than me but I hadn't wrestled him since we were eight years old." Trent Paulson had to come back from an 8-4 second-period deficit against third-seeded Mike Poeta of Illinois and suffered a 9-8 loss in the 157-pound championship bout. Paulson scored a reversal to close out the first period of action narrowing the score to 4-3. Paulson is 13-2 in his senior campaign. Kurt Backes took an early edge at 197 pounds against Northwestern's Mike Tamwillow in the second period with an escape during the 197-pound title match, but could not hold off a late shot by the Wildcat and was denied his first Midlands title, 3-1. The two wrestlers were tied up in the center of the mat looking for a good shot for nearly the entire match when Tamillow countered a Backes takedown attempt and scored the winning takedown with 13 seconds left. Backes is 14-2 in his senior season. Iowa State redshirt freshmen Jake Varner (184) Nick Gallick finished fourth and Mitch Mueller placed sixth at 133 and 141-pounds, respectively. At 157-pounds, Jason Knipp took fifth-place honors. The Cyclones will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, Jan. 13 – 14 to take part in the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals. Iowa State will return to Ames Jan. 26 to play host to Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Missouri earns second Southern Scuffle title University of Missouri Sports Information Greensboro, N.C. -- The top-ranked Missouri wrestling team earned its second Southern Scuffle title in four years today after collecting 179.5 points to pull ahead of second-ranked Minnesota with 176. Senior defending National Champion Ben Askren (Hartland, Wis.) claimed his second Southern Scuffle Most Outstanding Wrestler award after pinning all five of his opponents within the first period of action. Askren and brother Maxwell Askren, a redshirt freshman, claimed individual titles at 174 and 197 pounds, respectively. Eight Tiger wrestlers finished among the top four of their weight class, with sophomore Raymond Jordan (New Bern, N.C.) taking second at 184 pounds after being sidelined out by injury. Missouri's freshmen made a significant contribution to the Tiger's overall point total. Redshirt freshman John Olanowski (Virginia Beach, Va.) came up with a fourth place finish at 125 pounds after advancing through the consolation bracket while true freshman Ashtin Primus (South Connelsville, Penn.) took third at 141 pounds and finished the tournament with a 6-1 record that included four wins by fall. Teammate Nicholas Marable (Collerisville, Tenn.) also took third in his weight class, 165 pounds. Marable wrestled in 10 bouts throughout the two-day tournament and wrapped up the evening with three straight wins over top-20 ranked opponents. After losing to Keegan Mueller of UNC in a 5-4 sudden victory second round match, Marable advanced through the consolation bracket and took third place after holding off Mueller in a rematch, 3-2. No. 1 ranked Maxwell Askren capped off his time in the tournament by sticking sixth-ranked J.D. Bergman of Ohio State in 5:48 in the title bout at 197 pounds. The meeting between the two grapplers was the second of the season and marked Askren's second win over the All-American. Junior Josh Wagner (Milton, Wis.) and sophomore Michael Chandler (High Ridge, Mo.) both finished fourth at 149 and 157 pounds, respectively. In his final match of the day, Wagner paired with third-ranked Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro and the two scored a combined 28 points through seven minutes of action. After exchanging shots and points, Gillespie came back for the 17-11 win, handing Wagner the fourth place finish. Ben Askren rewrote the Missouri record books earning his 134th career victory and surpassing the former career wins mark of 131 held by former Tiger standout Wes Roper (1978-82). Taking on No. 9 Matt Stolpinski of Navy in the title bout, Askren recorded his fifth win of the tournament by fall in a time of 1:14, his second fastest fall of the tournament. Askren, ranked No. 1 in the nation at 174 pounds, has won 68 consecutive matches dating back to the start of his junior campaign (23 this season) and has tallied 83 wins by fall during his four-year career. "Today's win was really a team effort," Head Coach Brian Smith said. "To be in fourth place entering the second day of the tournament and to be able to pull ahead of a strong Minnesota team in the final few matches of the day says a lot about the character and strength of our team. We had a lot of younger guys stepping up and making statements with their wins. It was fun to watch and I'm pleased with the effort of our team."

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Midlands Championships Committee has released the seeds for this year's tournament. The rankings are as follows: 125 lbs. 1. Franklin Gomez -- Michigan State 2. Gabe Flores -- Illinois 3. Angel Escobedo -- Indiana 4. Brandon Precin -- Northwestern 5. Luke Smith -- Central Michigan 6. Charlie Falck -- Iowa 7. Pat Castillo -- Northern Illinois 8. Cody Garcia -- Nebraska-Omaha 133 lbs. 1. Nick Simmons -- Michigan State 2. Robbie Preston -- Unattached 3. Mario Galanakis -- Iowa 4. Andrae Hernandez -- Indiana 5. Nick Gallick -- Iowa State 6. Jordan Lipp -- American 7. Jimmy Kennedy -- Illinos 8. Corey Jantzen -- Unattched 141 lbs. 1. Ryan Lang -- Northwestern 2. Andy Simmons -- Michigan State 3. Alex Tsirtsis -- Iowa 4. C.J. Ettelson -- Northern Iowa 5. Cassio Pero -- Illinois 6. Max Meltzer -- Harvard 7. Mitch Mueller -- Iowa State 8. Eric Kruger -- Central Michigan 149 lbs. 1. J.P. O'Connor -- Unattached 2. Matt Coughlin -- Indiana 3. David Jauregui -- West Virginia 4. Jermain Thompson -- Eastern Michigan 5. Cyler Sanderson -- Iowa State 6. Mike Grimes -- Northern Illinois 7. Troy Tirapelle -- Illinois 8. Jake Patacsil -- Purdue 157 lbs. 1. Trent Paulson -- Iowa State 2. Brandon Becker -- Indiana 3. Michael Poeta -- Illinois 4. Andrew Flannagan -- Harvard 5. Ryan Morningstar -- Iowa 6. Troy Greathouse -- Michigan State 7. Moza Fay -- Northern Iowa 8. Brian Cobb -- Road Runner WC 165 lbs. 1. Mark Perry -- Iowa 2. Travis Paulson -- Iowa State 3. Nick Baima -- Northern Iowa 4. Max Dean -- Indiana 5. Roger Smith Bergsrud -- Illinois 6. Mike Cannon -- American 7. Greg Hagel -- Northwestern 8. Ross Taplin -- Nebraska--Omaha 174 lbs. 1. James Yonushonis -- Penn State 2. Brandon Sinnott -- Central Michigan 3. Eric Luedke -- Iowa 4. Doug Umbehauer -- Rider 5. Kurt Brenner -- West Virginia 6. Nick Hayes -- Northwestern 7. Kenny Robertson -- Eastern Illinois 8. JD Naig -- Nebraksa -- Omaha 184 lbs. 1. Benjamin Wissel -- Unattached 2. Gerald Harris -- Unattached 3. Jake Varner -- Iowa State 4. Christian Sinnott -- Central Michigan 5. Louis Caputo -- Harvard 6. Marc Bennett -- Indiana 7. Joe Williams -- Michigan State 8. Jason Lulloff -- UW-La Crosse 197 lbs. 1. Josh Glenn -- American 2. Mike Tamillow -- Northwestern 3. Wynn Michalak-- Central Michigan 4. Nathan Moore -- Purdue 5. Kurt Backes -- Iowa State 6. Jared Villers -- West Virginia 7. T.J. Morrison -- Rider 8. Andrew Anderson -- Northern Iowa 285 lbs. 1. Dustin Fox -- Northwestern 2. Tervel Dlagnev -- Nebraksa-Kearney 3. Matt Fields -- Iowa 4. Brian Keck -- Wildcat WC 5. Bubbda Gritter -- Central Michigan 6. Adam Lopiccolo -- American 7. Payam Zarrinpour -- Sacred Heart 8. Blake Gillis -- Wartburg

Please Note: RevWrestling.com is dedicated to covering and promoting amateur wrestling on all levels. However, on occasion, RevWrestling.com will look at mixed martial arts (MMA) as it relates to amateur wrestling. UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz 2 MGM Grand, Las Vegas, December 30, 2006 In what is expected to be the most viewed UFC match in history, Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" ORTIZ (15-4) gets his chance at revenge against Chuck "The Iceman" LIDDELL (19-3). Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has recently passed boxing in terms of fan support and interest. It is an exciting sport on the rise with many accomplished wrestlers amongst its growing legion of fighters. Both Tito (Cal State Bakersfield) and Chuck (Cal Poly) have collegiate wrestling backgrounds. And, both have become legends in their MMA sport. This revenge rematch (Chuck won by TKO in the last fight) has been greatly anticipated. It should be a fight for the decades. Tito OrtizCan Tito explode in the first round and penetrate inside of Chuck's lethal punching power to get a rare takedown of the Iceman, and then use this controlling position for unleashing his wicked elbows in a ground-and-pound victory? I think he can. But, the bookmakers have Tito as a +230 underdog. NOBODY (but Randy Couture) takes Chuck to the mat. Chuck's takedown defense is awesome. But, Tito wants to bask in the glory of his sport with a belt around his waist, and there is no better way to do that than to melt the Iceman. I think Tito has just enough punching power to buy some time to work his magic. The adrenalin will flow when Tito finds himself on top. And the UFC finds it has a former Tank Abbott sparring partner as its new light heavyweight champion. Take ORTIZ +230 over Chuck LIDDELL. Tito wins by "ground-and-pound" TKO in the second round! Forrest GRIFFIN (13-3) has become one of the UFC's most popular fighters, best known for his toe-to-toe bloodbath fight with Stephan Bonnar. Forrest also won the rematch. He doesn't feel like he's in a fight until he tastes his own blood! His opponent tonight is an ex-bounty hunter, Keith "the dean of mean" JARDINE (11-3-1), who lost a close and controversial decision to Bonnar. Both fighters like to stand and "duke it out". If it goes to the mat, Griffin will win. I'm laying my money that GRIFFIN at -335 gets a judge's decision in this one. Andrei "The Bit Bull" ARLOVSKI (11-5) once dominated the heavyweight division, showing his abilities to win by both knockout and submission. His fights have been short. Tonight will be another. Marcio "Pa De Pano" CRUZ (2-1) is a skilled Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter whose pathetic punching style makes going to the mat a must if he is to have any chance of winning. He doesn't, and this one will end in minutes with ARLOVSKI at -500 getting a first round KO over the out-classed foe. Andrei wants his belt back. And, rumor has it that Mirko Cro-cop may have something to say about that, too … Michael BISBING (11-0) is a British heavyweight that is rolling through his opponents with early knockouts. He has even shown the ability to end fights through submission, a heavyweight rarity indeed. Eric SCHAFER (9-1-2) has choked out his last four opponents, so his plan is evident. He needs to get close enough to BISBING to get him vulnerable to submission in order to win. I don't see that happening. Michael is too big and too fast. This one ends with a second round KO and BISBING backers at -400 go to the winner's window again. Chris LEBEN (15-2) was rolling through the UFC destroying people until he met up with Anderson Silva and got a first hand lesson in muy-thai fighting. Anderson pummeled and controlled Leben, locking up his head and unloading vicious leg and knee strikes. Rich Franklin lost his middleweight belt to Silva in the same manner. Canadian Jason MACDONALD (17-7) is no muy-thai fighter. But, he may be quick enough to be able to get Leben to the mat and work a submission on him. Chris will want to stand up and punch or go to the "ground-and-pound," but MMA chat rooms are a buzz at the attractive odds on this 'dog. I'll bite and take MACDONALD at +190 to get a surprise second-round arm bar submission on the red-haired psycho, Chris LEBEN. In the undercard bouts, I see: Tony DOSOUZA (9-2) pulls a mild upset at +110 beating Thiago ALVES (15-4) with a third-round rear-naked choke submission. Yushin OKAMI (18-3) at �475 smothers Rory SINGER (10-6) with a second-round triangle choke submission. Christian WELLISCH (7-2) at �145 kicks his way to a TKO victory over Anthony PERROSH (5-2). … and in a heavyweight brawl, Gabriel GONZAGA (6-1) at �300 ends Carmelo MARRERO's (5-0) unbeaten streak with a first-round KO. Hopefully, this card will provide not only a night full of excitement, but, a little extra holiday spending money to boot! This upcoming year of 2007 promises to be the UFC�s most exciting season yet. Enjoy the fights! See you at the winner's window. The UFC Monster

Day 1 is now officially in the books for the Midlands Championships and the Southern Scuffle. So what were the major surprises on Day 1? Who turned in the most impressive performances? What are some key-match-ups that fans should expect to see on Day 2? RevWrestling.com recaps Day 1 and looks ahead to what should be an eventful Day 2. Midlands Championships (Evanston, Illinois) Team Race: After Day 1 (through the quarterfinals), the Cael Sanderson-led Iowa State Cyclones have a commanding lead in the team race with 91.5 points. Iowa State advanced six wrestlers into tomorrow's semifinals. Those wrestlers include Nick Fanthorpe, Mitch Mueller, Trent Paulson, Travis Paulson, Jake Varner, and Kurt Backes. Northwestern sits in second place with 68.5 points and four semifinalists. Central Michigan (67), Iowa (65.5), and Indiana (63) round out the top five teams after Day 1 at the Midlands. Day 1 Highlights: At 125, No. 2-seeded Gabe Flores of Illinois re-injured the LCL in his left knee in his 15-9 opening-round victory over Raymond Stephens of Waubonsee, which forced him to withdraw from the competition. In the quarterfinals, in a battle of freshmen, Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State upset No. 1-seeded Franklin Gomez of Michigan State, 9-7, in a controversial overtime match. At 133, Nick Simmons of Michigan State, the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the country at 133, defeated New York high school phenom Corey Jantzen in the quarterfinals, 11-1. Jantzen is only the fourth high wrestler ever to compete at the Midlands. In the bottom bracket, both the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds failed to advance to the semifinals. Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois took out No. 2-seeded Robbie Preston of Harvard in sudden victory, 5-3. Unseeded Eric Metzler of Northwestern, a former Wisconsin two-time state champion, upset No. 3-seeded Mario Galanakis of Iowa, 3-2. At 141, No. 3-seeded Cassio Pero of Illinois, a former All-American, was pinned by unseeded Don Fisch of Rider. Fisch, however, dropped his quarterfinal match to Mitch Mueller of Iowa State, 2-1. At 149, No. 3-seeded David Jauregui of West Virginia and No. 4 seeded Jermain Thompson of Eastern Michigan failed to reach the quarterfinals, both losing to unseeded wrestlers. Jauregui lost to Tyler Grayson of Central Michigan, while Thompson lost to Matt Redmond of Purdue. The semifinals saw the No. 1 and No. 5 seeds fall to a pair of Purdue wrestlers. No. 1-seeded J.P. O'Connor of Harvard was upset by Jake Patacsil, 4-3, while No. 5-seeded Cyler Sanderson of Iowa State fell to Redmond, 5-4, in the tiebreaker period. At 157, No. 2-seeded Brandon Becker of Indiana, a two-time All-American, lost by injury default to No. 7-seeded Moza Fay of Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals. At 165, unseeded Jonathan Reader of Iowa State, a talented freshman who is redshirting this season for the Cyclones, scored a 2-1 decision over No. 4-seeded Max Dean of Indiana. However, in the quarterfinals, Reader was defeated by No. 5-seeded Roger Bergsrud of Illinois, 5-3. At 184, No. 2-seeded Gerald Harris, a former Cleveland State standout, was upset in the Round of 16 by unseeded John Dergo of Illinois, 6-4, in the second tiebreaker. At 197, No. 1-seeded Josh Glenn of American dominated on Day 1, recording three pins. Looking Ahead: At 141, Mitch Mueller of Iowa State will face Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa in the semifinals. Tsirtsis defeated Mueller, 4-1, on Dec. 3. At 157, Trent Paulson of Iowa State and Mike Poeta of Illinois are on a collision course to meet in the finals. Both wrestlers have looked very impressive in their matches leading up to the semifinals. At least year's Midlands, Poeta defeated Trent's older brother, Travis, to advance to the finals. At 165, No. 2-seeded Travis Paulson of Iowa State will face No. 3-seeded and defending Midlands champion Nick Baima of Northern Iowa in the semifinals. The winner will likely face No. 1-seeded Mark Perry of Iowa, a 2004 Midlands champion, in the finals. Midlands Championships Brackets Southern Scuffle (Greensboro, North Carolina) Team Race: No. 1-ranked Minnesota leads the team race at the Southern Scuffle after Day 1 with 59.5 points. The Gophers advanced seven wrestlers into tomorrow's quarterfinals. Edinboro sits in second place with 53.5 points. Cornell (52), Missouri (50.5), and Cal State Bakersfield (42.5) round out the top five teams after Day 1 at the Southern Scuffle. Day 1 Highlights: At 125, NCAA runner-up Troy Nickerson of Cornell made his season debut with a 33-second pin over Taylor Cumming of North Carolina State. Nickerson followed that up with a 16-6 major decision over Eric Morrill of Edinboro. At 141, No. 2-seeded J Jaggers of Ohio State scored a second-period pin in the opening round, but suffered an injury and withdrew from the competition. No. 3-seeded Vince Ramirez was pinned at 6:32 in the Round of 16 by Alex Krom of Maryland. At 174, Ben Askren of Missouri recorded two first-period pins … and now stands tied with former Tiger grappler Wes Roper in the Missouri career wins record book with 131. Askren is now 20-0 on the season with 18 of his victories coming by way of pin. Looking Ahead: The quarterfinal match-ups are now set for the Southern Scuffle … and there looks to be some very intriguing match-ups. At 133, No. 1-seeded Matt Keller of Tennessee Chattanooga will face talented first-year starter Adam Frey of Cornell. Frey is a former Blair Academy standout who is making his season debut at the Southern Scuffle. Frey has won by scores of 15-4 and 24-12 leading up to his quarterfinal match against Keller. At 149, it will be a battle of former Ohio high school stars when Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota, the defending NCAA champion, faces freshman Lance Palmer of Ohio State in the quarterfinals. However, the match-up that wrestling fans all across the country are talking about is the potential finals showdown between Schlatter and fellow sophomore Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro. Gillespie won his two matches on Friday by a combined score of 32-0 (two technical falls). At 165, No. 1-seeded Deonte Penn of Edinboro, a returning All-American, will face talented true freshman Scott Glasser of Minnesota, the No. 8 seed, in the quarterfinals. Glasser, a five-time North Dakota state champion, won his opening round match by a score of 14-1 and advanced to the quarterfinals after winning by injury default. At 184, No. 1-seeded Roger Kish of Minnesota will face freshman David Craig of Lehigh in the quarterfinals. Both are former No. 1 overall recruits. In high school, the two combined for 431 victories and eight state titles. At 197, No. 1-seeded Max Askren of Missouri will face Brent Jones of Virginia in the quarterfinals. Askren defeated Jones over the summer to win the FILA Junior World Team Trials in Colorado Springs. Hudson Taylor of Maryland will take on Ryan Goodman of North Carolina State in what should be another exciting quarterfinal match-up. Southern Scuffle Brackets

Founded by Northwestern's Ken Kraft, the Midlands Championships has historically brought together the very best amateur wrestling and has provided the springboard for 81 Olympic Athletes. The Midlands continues to feature many wrestlers who will compete for national titles. Programs and teams scheduled to compete include: Iowa, Iowa State, Illinois, Central Michigan, Michigan, Northern Iowa, Northwestern and many others. Who'll get the coveted team title? Tune in and find out. As the folks at Northwestern University ready themselves for the incoming athletes, coaches, friends, fans and family we too ready ourselves for this historic broadcast. We welcome back Our broadcast team: Steve Foster, Greg Zafros, Scott Casber and yes interviews with the top coaches and athletes. Our Midlands Broadcast schedule is below. We look forward to talking to you all. Thanks for tuning in. Takedownradio.com Day: Friday Date: Dec. 29, 2006 Location: Evanston, Ill. Time: 9 AM CST, breaks through the day will vary Web Bug from http://graphics.fansonly.com/ads/spacer.gif Day: Saturday Date: Dec. 30, 2006 Location: Evanston, Ill. Time: 9 AM CST to 11:00 AM CST Radio and Internet 12:00 Noon CST to 4 PM CST Internet Only 6:30 PM CST Finals and Ceremonies