InterMat Staff

MINNEAPOLIS -- Winning all 10 matches, including seven by bonus-point margins, the Augsburg College wrestling team dominated in a 42-0 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in a dual meet on Sunday afternoon at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall. Augsburg (3-0 in dual meets), the No. 2-ranked team in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III national rankings, claimed three major decisions, a pin an a technical fall in its first five bouts to build a 23-0 lead, then had two more technical falls among its final five victories over Wisconsin-Eau Claire (0-11 in dual meets). Against opponents from Divisions II and III since the 1989-90 season, Augsburg is now 241-21. Augsburg has lost just 16 matches against non-Division I opponents since the 1995-96 season. Against strictly Division III opponents, Augsburg is 243-23 since the 1979-80 season and 167-13 since the 1989-90 season. Brandon Bahr (SO, Bemidji, Minn.) claimed the lone pin of the day for the Auggies, a 2:45 match-ender over the Blugolds' Keith Dawson (SO, Neillsville, WIs.) at 174 pounds. Three Auggies scored technical falls -- a second-period 16-1 win by Paul Bjorkstrand (SR, Burnsville, Minn.) at 133 pounds, and third-period 16-0 wins by Brad Baus (SO, Mukwonago, Wis.) at 197 and Josh Roberts (SO, Grand Forks, N.D./Central HS) at 125. Bjorkstrand improved to 15-4 on the season with a dominating effort, using three takedowns and three 3-point near-falls to secure the early ending to his bout. Roberts also had three takedowns and three 3-point near-falls in his victory, while Baus collected four 3-point near-falls in his win. Top-ranked 157-pounder Jason Adams (SR, Coon Rapids, Minn.) opened the match with a 10-2, major-decision win over Jon Ames (SR, Genoa, WIs./Viroqua, Wis.), improving to 19-2 on the season. Augsburg's two other ranked wrestlers competing on Sunday also scored wins -- with No. 4-ranked heavyweight Andy Witzel (SR, Fulda, Minn.) scoring a 2-0 decision over Joe Pitsch (SO, Oshkosh, Wis./North HS) and No. 3-ranked 149-pounder Tony Valek (SO, Belle Plaine, Minn./Scott West) closing the match with an 8-2 triumph over Andy Johnson (SR, St. Cloud, Minn./Tech HS). Beau Hansen (JR, Albert Lea, Minn.) scored an 11-2, major-decision win at 165, while Caleb Lines (FY, Jackson, Minn./Jackson County Central HS) claimed three takedowns, a reversal, two near-falls and 4:23 of riding time en route to a 14-1, major-decision win at 184. Jake Saatzer (JR, Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS) also claimed a win for the Auggies, an 8-4 triumph at 141. Augsburg is in competition this coming Saturday and Sunday (1/9-10) at the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Augsburg is the defending NWCA Division III National Duals champions, having won the event four times in its eight-year history. Wisconsin-Eau Claire hosts St. Olaf and Itasca Community College next Saturday at 1 p.m. No. 2 Augsburg (Minn., 3-0) 42, Wisconsin-Eau Claire (0-11) 0 Sunday, January 3, 2010 – Si Melby Hall, Minneapolis, Minn. Action begins at 157 pounds. Time of match: 1:23. Attendance: 94. Official: Mike Roff. 157 -- No. 1 Jason Adams (AUG, 19-2) maj. dec. Jon Ames (UWEC, 2-12) 10-2 (Augsburg 4-0). 165 – Beau Hansen (AUG, 6-4) maj. dec. Levi Polus (UWEC, 2-10) 11-2 (Augsburg 8-0). 174 – Brandon Bahr (AUG, 8-8) pinned Keith Dawson (UWEC, 3-8) 2:45 (Augsburg 14-0). 184 – Caleb Lines (AUG, 10-8) maj. dec. Will Christ (UWEC, 3-11) 14-1 (Augsburg 18-0). 197 – Brad Baus (AUG, 10-5) tech. fall Andy Meyer (UWEC, 0-11) 16-0 at 5:46 (Augsburg 23-0). HWT – No. 4 Andy Witzel (AUG, 12-3) dec. Joe Pitsch (UWEC, 1-7) 2-0 (Augsburg 26-0). 125 – Josh Roberts (AUG, 6-3) tech. fall J.T. Bernstein (UWEC, 1-12) 16-0 at 5:34 (Augsburg 31-0). 133 – Paul Bjorkstrand (AUG, 15-4) tech. fall Brian Reier (UWEC, 0-1) 16-1 at 4:47 (Augsburg 36-0). 141 – Jake Saatzer (AUG, 8-3) dec. Zach Weisenberger (UWEC, 0-6) 8-4 (Augsburg 39-0). 149 – No. 3 Tony Valek (AUG, 19-4) dec. Andy Johnston (UWEC, 7-5) 8-2 (Augsburg 42-0).

Lincoln -- Behind seven bonus-point victories and two pins from senior Craig Brester, the 12th-ranked Nebraska wrestling team (8-3) extended its winning streak to three with a pair of victories over North Dakota State (33-9) and North Carolina State (31-10) Sunday afternoon at the NU Coliseum. Seven Huskers dominated in their first competition of the New Year by individually winning both matches on the day, with Nebraska claiming seven bouts against the Bison and eight versus the Wolfpack. At 17-0, Brester remained perfect in his senior season as he pinned North Dakota State's Drew Ross and North Carolina State's Andrew Tumlin. The Howells, Neb., native needed only 41 seconds to defeat Ross and just 1 minute, 19 seconds to down Tumlin. With nine falls in 2009-10, Brester is four pins away from reaching the school's single-season all-time top-10 chart. Lane followed Brester's example against North Dakota State, registering his second pin of the season in 1 minute, 3 seconds against Joe Arthur to wrap up the 33-9 team win. The Huskers led just 13-9 through six matches, but 174-pound senior Stephen Dwyer created separation with his technical fall victory over Mac Stoll (18-1), followed by redshirt freshman Josh Ihnen's 6-0 win at 184 pounds against Kenny Moenkedick. Dwyer was also responsible for spurting NU in its second dual of the day, as his pin of North Carolina State's Quinton Godley (3:59) gave the Huskers a 19-10 lead with three matches remaining. Ihnen, Brester and Lane all claimed victories again to give the Huskers their eighth dual victory of the season. Nebraska was just as dominant in the light weight classes, with freshman David Klingsheim, freshman C.J. Napier and junior Mike Koehnlein all winning both matches. On paper, Koehnlein delivered the biggest upset of the day, defeating North Dakota State's Ryan Adams (14-7), who entered Sunday with a 16-2 record. Redshirt freshman Tyler Koehn also stepped in at 157 pounds to claim a 2-0 victory over North Carolina State's Colton Palmer. The Huskers return to the road next weekend as it travels to the tradition-rich NWCA National Duals in Cedar Falls Iowa Jan. 8-9. Last year, Nebraska defeated Northwestern and Penn State, but fell to Iowa and Iowa State at the UNI Dome. No. 12 Nebraska 33, North Dakota State 9 125-David Klingsheim (NU) wins by decision over Justin Solberg (NDSU), 10-5 (NU 3, NDSU 0) 133-C.J. Napier (NU) wins by forfeit (NU 9, NDSU 0) 141-Mike Koehnlein (NU) wins by major decision over Ryan Adams (NDSU), 13-2 (NU 13, NDSU 0) 149-Andrey Patselov (NDSU) wins by decision over Chris Hacker (NU), 10-8 (NU 13, NDSU 3) 157-Vince Salminen (NDSU) wins by decision over Tyler Koehn (NU), 6-1 (NU 13, NDSU 6) 165-Tyler Johnson (NDSU) wins by decision over Alex Ward (NU), 6-5 (NU 13, NDSU 9) 174- Stephen Dwyer (NU) wins by technical fall over Mac Stoll (NDSU), 18-1 (NU 18, NDSU 9) 184-Josh Ihnen (NU) wins by decision over Kenny Moenkedick (NDSU), 6-0 (NU 21, NDSU 9) 197-#2 Craig Brester (NU) wins by fall over Drew Ross, 0:41 (NU 27, NDSU 9) HWT-#12 Tucker Lane (NU) wins by fall over Joe Arthur (NDSU), 1:03 (NU 33, NDSU 9) No. 12 Nebraska 31, North Carolina State 10 125-David Klingsheim (NU) wins by decision over Mike Moreno (NCSU), 10-5 (NU 3, NCSU 0) 133-C.J. Napier (NU) wins by major decision over Scott Norris (NCSU), 11-2 (NU 7, NCSU 0) 141-Mike Koehnlein (NU) wins by decision over Dale Shull (NCSU), 14-7 (NU 10, NCSU 0) 149-Bobby Ward (NCSU) wins by major decision over Chris Hacker (NU), 14-4 (NU 10, NCSU 4) 157-Tyler Koehn (NU) wins by decision over Colton Palmer (NCSU), 2-0 (NU 13, NCSU 4) 165-Ray Ward (NCSU) wins by fall over James Nakashima (NU), 2:02 (NU 13, NCSU 10) 174-#3 Stephen Dywer (NU) wins by fall over Quinton Godley (NCSU), 3:59 (NU 19, NCSU 10) 184-Josh Ihnen (NU) wins by decision over Jonathan Becker (NCSU), 2-0 (NU 22, NCSU 10) 197-#2 Craig Brester wins by fall over Andrew Tumlin (NCSU), 1:19 (NU 28, NCSU 10) HWT-#13 Tucker Lane wins by decision over Eloheim Palma (NCSU), 6-2 (NU 31, NCSU 10)

NORFOLK, Va. -- The 24th ranked Old Dominion wrestling team put forth an impressive performance in their home opener Sunday, topping Purdue, Rider and UNC Greensboro in a quad meet at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Junior James Nicholson, ranked No. 4 nationally, won all three of his bouts, including two by technical fall and one by pin. Senior Chris Brown, ranked No. 10, also swept his trio of matchups, picking up a technical fall and a major decision in the process. The Monarchs (3-1, 1-0 CAA) upended Purdue, which is receiving votes in the latest national polls, 17-14 in the closest match of the day. Redshirt freshman Grant Chapman won the clinching match at the heavyweight spot to give ODU the victory. Old Dominion also topped UNC Greensboro, 36-7 and CAA foe Rider, 19-15. In the opening match of the day, Old Dominion rolled past UNC Greensboro. The Monarchs won the first seven bouts and eight overall. James Nicholson and redshirt freshman Brennan Brumley each registered falls in the opening round, while freshman Justin LaValle and Brown picked up technical fall victories. A win by senior Eric Decker at 174-pounds would put ODU up 33-0. The Spartans would win two of the final three matches. Rider topped Purdue 25-10 in the other 11 a.m. match. In the most thrilling match of the day, the Monarchs and Boilermakers battled until the last bout. Brothers James and John Nicholson each won their matchups to give ODU an early 8-6 lead. Consecutive wins by Brown and freshman Joey Sheridan gave the Monarchs a 14-6 cushion. Purdue would fight back though, winning three straight decisions to make the heavyweight bout between Chapman and Adam Walls the deciding matchup. The final bout was a thriller as it went all the way to a tiebreaker, where Chapman pulled through with a 3-2 win to give the Monarchs their second consecutive win over the Boilermakers. Rider bested UNC Greensboro 38-9 to pit the only two undefeated teams against each other in the last match. The Monarchs once again used a critical James Nicholson win to take an early lead. Rider would win three of the next four matches though to grab a 9-8 lead. Brown would stop the Broncs momentum as he used a flurry of third round takedowns to get a major decision win over Rob Morrison at 165-pounds. Decker and sophomore Joe Budi also won their matches to put the Monarchs up 19-9 with two bouts remaining. At 197-pounds a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers met as No. 19 Tyler Smith of Rider topped No. 13 Jesse Strawn, 7-4. Rider also grabbed a win with No. 17 Ed Bordan in the heavyweight bout, but they could not amount enough points to surpass conference rival Old Dominion. Purdue picked up its first win of the day by topping UNC Greensboro 30-9 in the other 3 p.m. match. The Monarchs will next be in action at the Virginia Duals in Hampton, Va. The two-day event will begin on January 8th at the Hampton Coliseum.

TEMPE -- With seven individual wins, including two that produced bonus points, the No. 22 Arizona State University wrestling team opened the second half of its season with a 25-13 road victory over the host Roadrunners of CS Bakersfield inside the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, Calif., on Sunday afternoon in a Pac-10 dual. The victory kept the Sun Devils perfect in the conference at 3-0 and improved them to 4-2 overall on the season while the Roadrunners slipped to 0-3 on the year with a 0-2 record in the Pac-10. The dual opened at 184 pounds with Jake Meredith taking a 5-1 victory over Mike Larson to stake the visitors to an early 3-0 team lead. Larson carried a 1-0 lead through two periods before Meredith started the third period down and reversed Larson for a 2-1 lead. Meredith added a two-point near fall and one more point for riding time to take the win. At 197 pounds, rookie Anthony Pike was trailing 8-3 in the second period before Riley Orozco pinned him at 4:55 to put the hosts in front, 6-3. But, that lead for the Roadrunners was short-lived as No. 15 Erik Nye knocked off the top-ranked heavyweight in the Pac-10 rankings, No. 16 Mitch Monteiro, with a 5-3 decision to tie the team score at 6-6. With the match scoreless through one, Monteiro chose down to open the second and escaped for a 1-0 lead before Nye made it 2-1 with a takedown. After Monteiro escaped, the match was tied at 2-2 heading into the third where Nye escaped and then took down Monteiro for a 5-2 lead. The CSUB big man escaped with 1:03 remaining, but no more scoring was to be had as Nye took the decision. From there, the Sun Devils piled on 10 points to take the lead for good as the light weights took to the mats. First up, No. 3 Anthony Robles used four takedowns and one three-point near fall to easily score a 13-1 major decision over Frank Lomas to win the 125-pound match and give ASU a 10-6 lead. Then, Ben Ashmore made it 16-6 after the 133-pound match as he scored a takedown 15 seconds into the match before working for the fall and getting it as he stuck Tyler Iwamura in 1:21. CSUB cut the lead to 16-10 after 141 pounds as No. 12 Elijah Nacita scored a major decision over ASU’s No. 11 Chris Drouin, 13-5, but the Sun Devils rebounded with two wins in a row as Vicente Varela and Michael Swigart won at 149 and 157, respectively, to make it 22-10 ASU. First up, Varela used three takedowns, one reversal and one three-point near fall to take a 12-5 decision over John Cardenas. Then, Swigart won a close match as he took a 2-0 lead into the second period before Andrew Balch escaped to open the period and then took down Swigart with one second remaining in the stanza. Trailing, 3-2, Swigart chose down to open the third and reversed Balch at 1:06 and then rode him out for the 4-3 win. The hosts picked up a win at 165 as Joey Granata defeated Kyle DeBerry, 5-4. DeBerry was up 2-1 through the first period on a takedown before Granata took the 3-2 lead through two periods on a reverse. DeBerry chose neutral to open the third and scored a takedown, but, with one second remaining in the match, was reversed by Granata to fall, 5-4. The final match of the day came at 174 pounds and featured a meeting between a pair of high school teammates as ASU’s Eric Starks won a 4-3 decision over his fellow Battle Ground High School graduate Trevor Hall. Hall held a 2-1 lead through one with a takedown before a Starks escape in the second tied it at 2-2. Hall escaped in the third for a 3-2 lead before Starks took down Hall with two seconds remaining in the match to win, 4-3. Next up for the Sun Devils will be the 2010 NWCA National Duals that will be held in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Saturday and Sunday (January 9-10). The match-ups for the first round of the double-elimination team tournament will be announced later this week. #22 Arizona State (4-2, 3-0 Pac-10) def. CS Bakersfield (0-3, 0-2 Pac-10), 25-13 Icardo Center • Bakersfield, Calif. 184 - Jake Meredith (AS) dec. Mike Larson (CB), 5-1 197 - Riley Orozco (CSB) pinned Anthony Pike (AS), 4:55 285 - #15 Erik Nye (AS) dec. #16 Mitch Monteiro (CB), 5-3 125 - #3 Anthony Robles (AS) major Frank Lomas (CB), 13-1 133 - Ben Ashmore (AS) pinned Tyler Iwamura (CB), 1:21 141 - #12 Elijah Nacita (CB) major #11 Chris Drouin (AS), 13-5 149 - Vicente Varela (AS) dec. John Cardenas (CB), 12-5 157 - Michael Swigart (AS) dec. Andrew Balch (CB), 4-3 165 - Joey Granata (CB) dec. Kyle DeBerry (AS), 5-4 174 - Eric Starks (AS) dec. Trevor Hall (CB), 4-3

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- On Sunday, No. 2 Iowa State and No. 5 Minnesota split 10 matches, but Jake Varner's pin against Sonny Yohn at 197 pounds with one second remaining on the clock helped propel the Cyclones over the Gophers, 19-16, at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis. Jake Varner of Iowa State (Photo/The Guillotine)"That's Jake's win right there," said Iowa State coach Kevin Jackson. "He did what the best guy in the country is supposed to do. And I'm talking about the best guy. He's dominating all his opponents. I thought Sonny Yohn actually wrestled a very, very strong match for a young kid. He was in that match all the way up until Jake caught him, unfortunately. He should have known not to roll the half nelson because Jake loves that position." The dual meet started at 174 pounds with Minnesota's Scott Glasser defeating No. 11 Duke Burk of Iowa State, 7-2, to put the Gophers up 3-0. "I think that I've made a lot of improvements," said Glasser who improved to 18-3 on the season. "I'm basically injury free right now ... besides some nicks, but everyone has them." Earlier this week, Glasser dropped his first round match at the Southern Scuffle, but won eight straight matches in the consolation bracket, which included a win over No. 10 Ryan Patrovich of Hofstra, to place third. "I've come off some good wins at the Scuffle," said Glasser. "I think it just gave me a lot of confidence. That's just what I needed." Iowa State won the next two matches as No. 12 Jerome Ward won by decision at 184 pounds before Varner pinned Yohn to put the Cyclones in front 9-3. At heavyweight, Iowa State held out starter David Zabriskie, who is ranked No. 5, because of an injury he sustained at the Midlands Championships and sent out freshman Eric Thompson against No. 10 Ben Berhow. Thompson picked up the first takedown of the match to go up 2-0 and eventually held a 4-3 lead heading into the final period. But in the third period, Berhow picked up an escape to tie the match at 4-4 ... and then registered the go-ahead takedown with under a minute remaining to win the match 6-4. Iowa State's Andrew Long defeated Minnesota's Zach Sanders at 125 pounds (Photo/The Guillotine)At 125 pounds, Iowa State's Andrew Long picked up two takedowns in the second period and added another as time expired to upset No. 3 Zach Sanders of Minnesota, 8-4, which put Iowa State up 12-6 heading into the intermission. "Andrew is a true competitor," said Jackson. "He will wrestle. He will try his best. And he will try to do the things that he needs to do to win. He's getting better every time out there." Long, a freshman, improved to 15-2 on the season. Both of Long's losses this season have come to Iowa's Matt McDonough ... with the most recent loss coming earlier this week in the final of the Midlands Championships. "That match at the Midlands was his to win," said Jackson. "He was in that exact same position here in the third period with Sanders. And I think Sanders might be a better offensive wrestler than McDonough ... with his shots anyway. He was able to finalize this match. I think he did that because he gained from that experience from the Midlands. If that wouldn't have happened, we probably wouldn't have gotten the victory here. I think he's continuing to learn and understand and figure out what it takes to win against these very good wrestlers." Minnesota's second-ranked Jayson Ness dominated No. 5 Nick Fanthrope of Iowa State, 6-1, at 133 pounds to improve to 17-0 on the season. At 141 pounds, Mike Thorn won by major decision over Dalton Jensen, who was filling in for the injured Nick Gallick, which put the Gophers in front 13-12. At 149 pounds, Minnesota's David Zilverberg led Iowa State's Mitch Mueller 1-0 heading into the third period. In the third period, Mueller, a three-time NCAA qualifier, picked up an escape, added two takedowns and a riding time point to win 6-3 and put the Cyclones back in front 15-13. Zilverberg was filling in for Mario Mason, who was suspended for violating team rules. At 157 pounds, Iowa State's Andrew Sorenson nearly pinned Minnesota's Luke Mellmer, but settled for a 12-0 major decision. Minnesota is hoping to get 2008 Olympian Jake Deitchler in its lineup soon at 157 pounds, but according to Minnesota coach J Robinson, it's a "wait and see" situation. Sorenson's major decision gave the Cyclones a 19-13 lead heading into the marquee matchup of the dual meet between No. 3 Jon Reader of Iowa State and No. 4 Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota at 165 pounds. Minnesota's Dustin Schlatter topped Iowa State's Jon Reader at 165 pounds (Photo/The Guillotine)Schlatter, who made the U.S. World Team in freestyle this past summer, scored first, picking up a takedown just under 30 seconds into the match to go up 2-0. That takedown proved to be the difference as neither scored another takedown and Schlatter held on for the 3-2 win to improve to 8-1 on the season. "I thought Jon Reader had a couple opportunities to win the match and got a little excited and lost those positions," said Jackson. "Schlatter is a tough guy. He's a true competitor. We've got to finalize those positions in order to win. And we have a couple other guys that really have to figure out how they're going to wrestle to win and tie into our basic philosophy. If we can get that done, we'll be fine. With the victory, Iowa State improved to 3-1, while Minnesota fell to 3-2. Both teams will now prepare to compete at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals Saturday and Sunday at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Results: 174 Scott Glasser (MINN) dec. No. 11 Duke Burk (ISU) 7-2 / 3-0 184 No. 12 Jerome Ward (ISU) dec. Kaleb Young (MINN) 4-0 / 3-3 197 No. 1 Jake Varner (ISU) pinned Sonny Yohn (MINN) 6:59 / 3-9 HWT No. 10 Ben Berhow (MINN) dec. Eric Thompson (ISU) 6-4 / 6-9 125 No. 13 Andrew Long (ISU) dec. No. 3 Zach Sanders (MINN) 8-4 / 6-12 133 No. 2 Jayson Ness (MINN) dec. No. 5 Nick Fanthrorpe (ISU) 6-1 / 9-12 141 No. 6 Mike Thorn (MINN) major dec. Dalton Jensen (ISU) 11-3 / 13-12 149 No. 14 Mitch Mueller (ISU) dec. David Zilverberg (MINN) 6-3 / 13-15 157 Andrew Sorenson (ISU) major dec. Luke Mellmer (MINN) 12-0 / 13-19 165 No. 4 Dustin Schlatter (MINN) dec. No. 3 Jon Reader (ISU) 3-2 / 16-19 Related: Kevin Jackson Audio Interview The Guillotine Photo Gallery

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The No. 13 Indiana University wrestling team improved to 9-0 on the year with a 29-9 road victory at West Virginia (0-4) Saturday afternoon. Indiana won seven of 10 bouts on the day. The Hoosiers have limited all nine opponents to nine points or less. Angel Escobedo got things started for the Cream and Crimson in the 125-pound match, defeating Shane Young, 12-4. Escobedo (20-0) controlled the tempo throughout the match en route to his sixth major decision of the year. West Virginia held a lead momentarily after taking the next two decisions at 133 and 141 pounds. Matt Coughlin would put an end to that quickly, however, dominating Brandon Loro at 149 pounds. Coughlin's 14-4 major decision gave the Hoosiers an 8-6 advantage on the team scoreboard, an edge they would not relinquish the rest of the way. Coughlin's win started a four-bout streak in which IU posted bonus points. Kurt Kinser notched a 16-4 major decision, followed by a pin and technical fall for Paul Young and Trevor Perry. Young's opponent, Donnie Jones, is a two-time NCAA Qualifier and has been ranked as high as No. 13 this season. Young made quick work of him though, sticking Jones in just under two minutes (1:55). Perry nearly one-upped his teammate, connecting on his lethal headlock right off the opening whistle. After Christian Mory fought his way out of Perry's grasp, Perry continuously racked up points until the match was halted due to technical fall at 21-6. At 184-lbs., Eric Cameron battled No. 19 Matt Ryan in a tight 7-4 defeat for the Mountaineers third and final win. Matt Powless and Nate Everhart then concluded the match with back-to-back decisions, pushing Indiana's final lead to 29-9. Results: 133 lbs.- Colin Johnston (WVU) dec. over Matt Ortega (IU), 8-2; (4-3) 141 lbs.- Brandon Rader (WVU) dec. over Danny Monaco (IU), 14-7; (4-6) 149 lbs.- Matt Coughlin (IU) maj. dec. over Brandon Loro (WVU), 14-4; (8-6) 157 lbs.- No. 12 Kurt Kinser (IU) maj. dec. over Kyle Eason (WVU), 16-4; (12-6) 165 lbs.- No. 14 Paul Young (IU) pins Donnie Jones (WVU), 1:55; (18-6) 174 lbs.- Trevor Perry (IU) tech. fall over Christian Mory (WVU), 21-6; (23-6) 184 lbs.- No. 19 Matt Ryan (WVU) dec. over Eric Cameron (IU), 7-4; (23-9) 197 lbs.- Matt Powless (IU) dec. over Kyle Rooney (WVU), 8-6; (26-9) 285 lbs.- No. 6 Nate Everhart (IU) dec. over Brandon Williamson, 6-0; (29-9) Indiana wraps up the non-conference schedule on Jan. 16 with a pair of home dual matches versus American and Cleveland State. Those matches are slated to start at 10 a.m. inside University Gym.

STILLWATER, Okla. -- Oklahoma State’s fourth-ranked wrestling team improved to 4-0-1 on the season with a 21-13 victory over the No. 19 Cal Poly Mustangs on Saturday night in front of 1,210 fans inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. Alex Meade led the Cowboys with a 12-2 major decision over Cal Poly’s Steven Vasquez at 165 pounds. The redshirt freshman got the Cowboys going with the first of their three major decisions on the night. Meade improved to 17-3 on the year. Joining Meade with bonus-point wins were 174-pounder Mike Benefiel and Jared Rosholt at 285 pounds. Meade dropped Steven Vasquez, 12-2, while Rosholt handled Jim Powers by a 13-3 count. The Cowboys will be back in action on Jan. 8 at the Virginia Duals, in Hampton, Va. 125: No. 8 Chris Notte (OSU) dec. Micah Ferguson (CP), 11-5 Notte started off the day right for the Cowboys with an 11-5 victory over Ferguson at 125. He had two first-period takedowns to take a 4-1 advantage and added to his lead with a takedown in the second. Notte recorded four more points in the third and added a point for riding time to give the Cowboys a 3-0 advantage. 133: No. 10 Boris Novachkov (CP) dec. No. 9 Jordan Oliver (OSU), 6-0 Oliver fought off a leg shot for more than thirty seconds in the first period to take a 0-0 score into the second. He added more than a minute of riding time before Novachkov escaped, giving the visitor a 1-0 lead. A late takedown and a three-point near fall with less than one minute left gave Novachkov a 6-0 victory. 141: No. 8 Filip Novachkov (CP) dec. No. 3 Jamal Parks (OSU), 4-2 Parks took an early 2-0 with a takedown halfway through the first period. Novachkov escaped once in the first and once in the second to tie the bout 2-2 going into the third period. A Parks escape in the third put the sophomore in the lead but a late takedown by Novachkov gave Cal Poly a 4-3 victory, their second of the day. 149: No. 20 Quinten Fuentes (OSU) dec. Eric Maldonado (CP), 8-4 Fuentes took down Maldonado with just 25 seconds remaining in the first period to take a 2-0 into the second. An escape early in the second and another takedown gave the Cowboys a 5-0 lead into the third period. Maldonado was able to manage two escapes and a takedown in the third, but it wasn’t enough as Fuentes rolled to an 8-4 victory, tying up the match 6-6. 157: No. 10 Chase Pami (CP) dec. No. 12 Neil Erisman (OSU), 8-3 157 got off to a quick start with a Chase Pami takedown just eleven seconds into the bout. The first period saw a 4-2 advantage in favor of the Mustangs. Pami added three points to his lead in the second with an escape and a takedown. He allowed just one escape point from Erisman in the third period and added a point for riding time, resulting in an 8-3 Mustang win. 165: No. 12 Alex Meade (OSU) maj. dec. Steven Vasquez (CP), 12-2 Meade got the Pokes back on the winning track with a 12-2 major decision at 165. A takedown and a two-point near fall gave the Cowboy redshirt freshman a 4-0 lead entering the second period. A pair of takedowns and an escape led to a 9-1 lead for the Cowboy in the second. He added another takedown and a point for riding time in the third to get the 12-2 major decision. 174: No. 14 Mike Benefiel (OSU) maj. dec. Travis Rasmussen (CP), 12-4 Two takedowns in the first minute of the bout highlighted a 4-1 first period lead for Benefiel, and he also added more than two minutes of riding time in the beginning period. He continued scoring in the remaining two periods, running away with a 12-4 major decision. 184: Ryan DesRoches (CP) maj. dec. Elliott Hellwege (OSU), 12-2 DesRoches struck first and put on the pressure early, resulting in two two-point near falls in the closing seconds of the first and an 8-1 opening period lead. Hellwege managed just one escape point in the second to narrow the lead to 8-2 entering the third period. DesRoches recorded an escape and a takedown in the third and added a riding time point to finish with a 12-2 major decision. 197: No. 9 Alan Gelogaev (OSU) dec. Ryan Smith (CP), 10-4 Smith scored the first points with a takedown just 15 seconds into the opening period, but Gelogaev quickly escaped and returned the favor a minute later with a takedown of his own. Smith was able to escape and the first period ended in a 3-3 tie. Gelogaev dominated the second with a takedown and a two-point near fall in the closing seconds, giving him a 7-4 advantage entering the third period. He added another takedown in the third and a riding time point, resulting in a 10-4 decision and giving the Cowboys their fifth win of the evening. 285: No. 3 Jared Rosholt (OSU) maj. dec. Jim Powers (CP), 13-3 Rosholt recorded his 101st career victory as a Cowboy in dominating fashion with a 13-3 win over Cal Poly’s Jim Powers. Two takedowns in the opening period gave the Cowboy senior a 4-1 advantage entering the second. Rosholt added four more points in the second period by way of an escape, a takedown and a stalling point awarded in his favor. A five-point third period gave Rosholt a 13-3 major decision, improving his record to 16-1 on the season.

Event: UFC 108: Evans vs. Silva Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas Date: January 2, 2010 I hope you all had a great holiday season! I hope to cap it off for you with some holiday cheer and a little extra spending money for those credit card bills. Those who followed my advice for UFC 107 would have profited by $246! That's enough for a lifetime Platinum subscription to InterMat. Let's see if we can keep the good times rolling … Tonight's UFC 108 card features a light heavyweight, non-title fight between former Michigan State wrestler and former champion Rashad Evans (18-1-1) and knockout artist Thiago Silva (14-1-0), whose only loss is to undefeated champion Lyota Machida. This is a great match-up. It should end with a knockout, and not go the distance of three (3) rounds. If it does go the distance, I would guess that Rashad wins the dance contest. But tonight my money will be on the Brazilan Beast Silva at an attractive +175 underdog odds. I respect the methodic, cautious style of Rashad and his quick-striking power (see the Iceman for details), but Thiago Silva will be fine if Evans takes it to the mat. He may even win by submission. But my guess is that after some toe-to-toe slugging, we will once again see an invisible knife go across the neck of Thiago Silva, as this scary dude notches another scalp for his belt. Take SILVA as a rabid ‘dog and benefit from the generous +175 odds. In what I think may be the "fight-of-the-night." British welterweight Paul "Semtax" Daley (22-8-2) takes on the division's best jiu-jitsu artist, the very lanky Dustin Hazelett (14-4-0). In a pick-em affair, Daley will be trying to end it quickly with a single punch. He devastated favorite Martin Kampmann in his last fight, and his record shows 17 of his 22 wins have come by KO! Hazelett has no chance if they stand and punch. They won't. As soon as Hazelett gets his chance to go to the mat, he will. And, that is where it will end, with Daley's arm bend backwards and his neck getting cranked. The referee will call an end to this affair late in the first round with Hazelett's hand-raised at a true valued price of –115. Lay it and lay it big. Hazelett by submission. Lightweight Joe Lauzon (17-4-0) is another tall and lanky fighter who trains with BJ Penn, and beats most guys, but can't beat the elite (Kenny Florian). Like Hazelett, he wins by submission and his opponent tonight is the experienced veteran slugger, Sam "Hands of Stone" Stout (15-5-1, his draw with Joey Clark). These are two, different styles and the heavily favored Lauzon at –275 is expected to win. I agree. The price is steep, but his arsenal is more complete, and he gets the job done tonight. It's Lauzon by decision for me. Lightweight Jim Miller (15-2-0) takes on journeyman, Duane Ludwig (27-9-0), who has been fighting in the UFC since '03. I'm not sure why this is on the main card tonight, but oddsmakers give Ludwig little chance of winning. A strong puncher, Ludwig will need more to get past Miller, who should end this quickly with a choke submission. There is little value in laying –450, so proceed with caution. The opening event on the main card has Junior Dos Santos (9-1-0), who is on fire with consecutive wins against Mirko Cro Cop, Stefan Struve, and Fabricio Verdum, all formidable opponents, taking on veteran Gilbert Yvel (36-13-1, with one no contest), who has been fighting MMA for 13 years, but is making his UFC debut. The former Pride and Affliction fighter has had two fights this year, against Josh Barnett and Pedro Rizzo. Enough said. He's been around the block and his physique is impressive. But Dos Santos is younger, quicker, and more accurate with his strikes. His underrated ground game will be used only if he can't end this fight with a KO. An overpriced favorite at –325. Dos Santos still offers the only side to consider here. I like his KO chances and see this one ending in the very first round. Tonight's undercard features two (2) fights that will be shown FREE on Spike TV for those of you interested in mixed martial arts, but unwilling to pay the almost $50 PPV fee. These fights are: Lightweight Cole "Magrinho" Miller (15-4-0) taking on Dan Lauzon (12-2-0), Joe's brother, who makes his UFC debut. Miller is a gateway guy, if you can beat him, you belong in the UFC, lose to him and you get cut. Dan is a tough fighter, but Cole's experience in the big show gives him the edge, and at –160, the value is there. Cole Miller by decision. Former Minnesota All-American, Jacob "Christmas" Volkmann (9-1-0) will try to bounce back from his only loss (to Paulo Thiago) as he takes on powerful striker, Martin Kampmann (15-3-0), who is also coming off a loss (to Paul Daley). This is a classic wrestler vs. striker match-up. Can Volkmann survive the KO long enough to win a decision with body control on the mat? As a +190 underdog I will take my chances on Christmas. The remaining fights will be seen only if viewers get the chance due to shorter main event fights: Middleweight Mark "The Filipino Wrecking machine" Munoz (6-1-0), former Oklahoma State NCAA champion, is too big a favorite here at –400, but he should get by Ryan Jensen (15-4-0). Munoz's only loss was to Matt Hamill, and he struggled against Nick Catone, but I look for him to get back on track tonight with some impressive body control that leads to some fight-ending ground-and-pound in the second round. Lay a limited amount on Munoz. Welterweight wrestler Jake Ellenberger (21-5-0) almost shocked the MMA world by hanging so tough with Carlos Condit. He lost a close decision. He takes on a never-quit Mike "Quicksand" Pyle (18-6-1). Ellenberger is a modest –140 favorite who should out work and out wind Pyle. He gets the clear decision in a boring fight of tactical technique. Lightweight Rafaello Oliveira (9-2-0) made his UFC debut by losing to unknown Nik Lentz. His opponent tonight, John "Quick Guns" Gunderson (22-6-0), makes his UFC debut with more submission wins than KOs, despite his nickname. Gunderson is small for even a lightweight, and I think the bright light experience of Oliveira should help him cash the ticket tonight. I'll make a small play on him at –190 to win by submission. So let's see how we can do with our "fictitious" $1000 bankroll. History is on our side. Let's lay $100 to win $175 in Thiago Silva's upset knockout. Let's lay $138 to win $120 on Dustin Hazelett's predicted submission. Let's lay $165 to win $60 on Joe Lauzon's dominance. Let's lay $90 to win $20 on a Jim Miller bridge-jump. Let's lay $130 to win $40 on red hot Jr. Dos Santos. Let's lay $50 to win $125 on Jacob Volkmann to lay and pray. Let's lay $64 to win $40 on Cole Miller and ask why we didn't lay more? Let's lay $75 to win $20 on Munoz making wrestlers feel proud. Let's lay $112 to win $80 on Ellenberger's work ethic. Let's lay $76 to win $40 on Oliveira to win. In total, we are laying an even $1000 to win $720. That's two (2) underdogs and eight (8) favorites. Good luck and enjoy the fights. I know I will. Don't forget to support your local youth wrestling program, where tomorrow's champions are made.

On Sunday, national wrestling powers Iowa State and Minnesota will clash at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis. The Cylones, under the direction of first-year head coach Kevin Jackson, are 2-1 and ranked No. 2, while the Gophers are 3-1 and ranked No. 5. Below is a weight-by-weight breakdown of Sunday's dual meet. Matchups are subject to change. 125: No. 13 Andrew Long (Iowa State) vs. No. 3 Zach Sanders (Minnesota) Sanders has clearly established himself as one of the nation's top wrestlers after finishing sixth at the NCAAs last season as a freshman. He has a motor that never stops ... and he is able to create scoring opportunities through constant motion. His only loss this season has come to 2008 NCAA champion Angel Escboedo in the semifinals of the Southern Scuffle this past weekend. Long, a three-time Iowa state champion, has been impressive in his freshman campaign. He's coming off a runner-up finish at the Midlands ... and the only wrestler who has defeated him this season is Matt McDonough of Iowa, who has defeated him twice. Bottom Line: Long is a talented freshman who has bright future in front of him, but Sanders, a returning All-American, is the more seasoned and proven wrestler at this point. Sanders defeated Long 6-3 at the Kaufman-Brand Open last season. Expect Long to keep this match competitive, but look for Sanders to eventually wear out the freshman and pull out the victory. Prediction: Sanders (Minnesota) by Decision 133: No. 5 Nick Fanthrope (Iowa State) vs. No. 2 Jayson Ness (Minnesota) Ness, a three-time All-American, has dominated his competition this season. He's 16-0 and has 13 pins. He won the Southern Scuffle this past weekend, picking up three pins, an injury default, and a 7-3 victory in the finals over No. 11 Danny Mitcheff of Kent State. Fanthorpe was a 2008 All-American who has battled injuries over the past two seasons. He's 6-3 this season and coming off a disappointing fifth-place finish at the Midlands after he entered the event as the No. 1 seed. Bottom Line: Ness seems to be at the top of his game right now, while Fanthrope hasn't been at his best. The two met at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in 2007 and Ness won that match 11-8. Both wrestlers have certainly come a long way since that meeting, but Ness is still a cut above Fanthorpe. Prediction: Ness (Minnesota) by Decision 141: Dalton Jensen (Iowa State) vs. No. 6 Mike Thorn (Minnesota) Thorn, a returning NCAA qualifier, is wrestling with a lot of confidence. He has been impressive in the first half of the season, going 11-2. Thorn was on the verge of winning the Southern Scuffle this past weekend. He was up 4-2 in the third period of his finals match against talented true freshman Kyle Dake of Cornell before giving up a reversal and a riding time point to lose 5-4. Interestingly, Thorn's father, John, was an All-American for Iowa State in 1983. Jensen is filling in for the injured Nick Gallick, a two-time All-American who is recovering from a hip injury. He's 9-3 this season, but two of those losses have come to Division II wrestlers. Bottom Line: A Thorn-Gallick match would have been intriguing (Gallick won 7-5 last season), but won't happen because of Gallick's injury. Jensen is a serviceable fill-in for the Cyclones, but Thorn is a legitimate All-American threat this season who has proven that he can compete with the nation's best. Prediction: Thorn (Minnesota) by Major Decision 149: No. 13 Mitch Mueller (Iowa State) vs. David Zilverberg (Minnesota) Mueller has had a solid career for the Cyclones, qualifying for the NCAAs three times, but remains the lone four-year starter from Iowa's State 2005 No. 1 recruiting class who has not reached the All-American podium. He's coming off a solid Midlands performance, where he went 4-2 and placed fourth. Mario Mason has been the starter for the Gophers all season at this weight class, but is not expected to compete against Iowa State. Look for David Zilverberg, who placed eighth at the Southern Scuffle, to get the call for the Gophers. Bottom Line: Mueller is a seasoned veteran who seems to beat the wrestlers he should and lose to wrestlers ranked above him. He had a big win over No. 3 Kyle Borshoff of American at the Midlands, which should give him confidence as he heads into the final months of his collegiate career. Mueller will not only be looking to win, but also pick up bonus points. Prediction: Mueller (Iowa State) by Major Decision 157: Andrew Sorenson/Nate Carr Jr. (Iowa State) vs. Joe Grygelko (Minnesota) The 157-pound weight class was thought to be the weakest link in Iowa State's lineup this season after Cyler Sanderson transferred to Penn State to wrestle for his older brother, Cael Sanderson. Sorenson has stepped up and wrestled well in the early part of the season, winning two tournaments and finishing runner-up in another. But he has yet to beat a ranked opponent and failed to place at the Midlands. Another option here for the Cyclones is Carr Jr., the son of Iowa State great Nate Carr Sr. Carr Jr. has a career record of 18-9. Minnesota is hoping to get 2008 Olympian Jake Deitchler, who placed fourth at the Midlands, in its lineup soon, but expect to see Grygelko on Sunday. Grygelko lost his pigtail match at the Southern Scuffle, but got on a bit of a roll in the consolation bracket, winning four straight matches before losing to Kent State's Mallie Shuster in sudden victory. Bottom Line: This is the lone match that does not include a ranked wrestler. Iowa State will be favored, but Grygelko, who is coming off the best college tournament of his career, could certainly make it interesting. Prediction: Sorenson/Carr Jr. (Iowa State) by Decision 165: No. 3 Jon Reader (Iowa State) vs. No. 4 Dustin Schlatter (Minnesota) This is the marquee matchup of the dual meet. The winner will likely move into the No. 2 spot in the rankings at 165 pounds (behind Wisconsin's Andrew Howe) after No. 1 Jarrod King of Edinboro was throttled, 15-2, in the semifinals of the Southern Scuffle. Reader has been wrestling well all season. He has two wins over No. 5 Ryan Morningstar of Iowa, avenging losses from last season. His only loss this season was to Howe in sudden victory in the finals of the Midlands. Schlatter won the Southern Scuffle this past weekend in impressive fashion. He had wins over the No. 9 (13-1), No. 10 (3-2), and No. 18 (5-1) wrestlers in the country. Bottom Line: Both wrestlers are expected to challenge for NCAA titles this season ... and this should be a tight, low scoring match. One takedown might decide the match. Schlatter defeated Reader in freestyle, 3-0, 3-1 at the 2009 U.S. Nationals. Prediction: Schlatter (Minnesota) by Decision 174: Duke Burk (Iowa State) vs. Scott Glasser (Minnesota) Burke, a three-time NCAA qualifier, is coming off a sixth-place finish at the Midlands, while Glasser is coming off a third-place finish at the Southern Scuffle. Burk transferred from Northern Illinois to Iowa State last season and had a solid first season for the Cyclones, but struggled at the end of the season, dropping four of his last six matches. Glasser, a five-time North Dakota state champion, has battled injuries throughout his career, which have hindered his performance. This past weekend at the Southern Scuffle, Glasser lost his opening-round matches before reeling off eight consecutive wins in the consolation bracket to place third. Bottom Line: This match is a tossup. Both wrestlers have battled injuries and inconsistency over the past two seasons. Minnesota will need this one to have a shot in this dual meet. Prediction: Glasser (Minnesota) by Decision 184: No. 12 Jerome Ward (Iowa State) vs. Kaleb Young (Minnesota) Ward had the biggest win of his young career last month when he defeated All-American Phil Keddy of Iowa in front of over 11,000 fans in Ames. He's strong and very difficult to score on ... but sometimes struggles to his offense rolling. He's coming off s a seventh-place finish at the Midlands. With Sonny Yohn moving up to 197 pounds, Young is expected to step in for the Gophers at 184 pounds. He was slightly above .500 last season (17-16), but failed to win a match this past weekend at the Southern Scuffle. Bottom Line: Ward is the more skilled athlete and should win this match. However, Ward rarely gets bonus points, even against inferior opponents. Prediction: Ward (Iowa State) by Decision 197: No. 1 Jake Varner (Iowa State) vs. No. 18 Sonny Yohn (Minnesota) Varner's wrestling resume speaks for itself: Three-time All-American, NCAA champion, and U.S. World Team member in freestyle. He's strong and technical ... and has thrived under the tutelage of Cael Sanderson and Kevin Jackson. Varner has his sights set on winning World and Olympic medals, while most college wrestlers aren't looking past the NCAA. He's currently 13-0 on the season. Yohn has competed at both 184 pounds and 197 pounds this season with mixed results. He was dominant in winning the Bison Open and Kaufman-Brand Open ... and pinned No. 10 Brent Jones of Virginia at the Southern Scuffle. But he also has some bad losses, like losing 13-1 to No. 10 (at 184) Clayton Foster of Oklahoma State and getting pinned by No. 13 Jesse Strawn. Bottom Line: Varner should have no problem handling Yohn, but the question is whether or not he will be able to pick up bonus points in this match. Prediction: Varner (Iowa State) by Major Decision No. 5 David Zabriskie (Iowa State) vs. No. 10 Ben Berhow (Minnesota) Zabriskie, a two-time All-American, is wrestling at a very high level right now. At the Midlands, Zabriskie defeated defending NCAA champion Mark Ellis of Missouri and No. 3 Zach Rey of Lehigh en route to reaching the finals. While Zabriskie is coming off a great tournament, Berhow is coming off one of the most disappointing tournaments of his college career, failing to place at the Southern Scuffle while losing to an unranked true freshman and getting pinned by another unranked wrestler. Berhow had been wrestling well up to that point this season with wins over NCAA qualifiers David Marone of Virginia Tech and Tucker Lane ... and a close (sudden victory) loss to No. 2 Jared Rosholt of Oklahoma State. Bottom Line: Zabriskie is a national title threat this season, while Berhow is still trying to establish himself as a legitimate All-American threat. Zabriskie defeated Berhow 11-6 in the dual meet last February. Prediction: Zabriskie (Iowa State) by Decision Dual Meet Prediction: Iowa State 17, Minnesota 16

Evanston, Ill. -- Alex Krom won the individual championship at 141 pounds and the University of Maryland wrestling team finished sixth at the Midlands Championships, its best finish ever at the prestigious tournament. The Terps had three wrestlers place, as Steven Bell finished runner-up at 133 pounds and Hudson Taylor took fifth at 197 pounds. Maryland finished sixth despite wrestling with eight entrants rather than 10, as Mike Letts and Patrick Gilmore were unable to compete. "It's a pretty good showing for us," said head coach Kerry McCoy. "We're not overly excited about it. To have only eight guys compete and finish sixth is pretty good, and it's a good barometer to see where we are. We have some work to do to get ready for National Duals and correct some errors, but I'm happy with the way our guys are wrestling at this point." Krom had a dominant run, going 5-0 with three pinfalls and one major decision. The 10th ranked wrestler in the country, Krom took a 9-2 decision over one-seed Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois in the final, becoming the first Maryland wrestler to win a title at the Midlands. To get there, he pinned No. 19 Trevor Melde of Rutgers in the quarterfinals in 1:45 and No. 16 Ryan Prater of Illinois in the semifinals in 2:00. Bell won his first four matches to reach the finals, including a semifinal win over No. 15 Kelly Kubec of Oregon State, but was defeated in the championship match by fourth-seeded and No. 12 Tyler Graff of Wisconsin. Taylor, meanwhile, found himself wrestling a post-collegiate entrant in the semifinals. Because the Midlands Championships is an open tournament, wrestlers of all ages are eligible to enter. Wynn Michalak, who wrestled at Central Michigan, bested Taylor 9-5 in the semifinal round. The loss, however, does not count towards Taylor's record. From there Taylor went on to drop a close match with fourth-seeded and No. 7 Trevor Brandvoid of Wisconsin. He then pinned Patrick Bond of Illinois in 3:55 to take fifth place. The Terps are next in action on Jan. 9 when they compete in the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Propelled by eight placewinners, the No. 18 Virginia wrestling team finished in fifth place Wednesday in the Southern Scuffle, hosted by UNC Greensboro at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center in Greensboro, N.C. The Cavaliers recorded 96.5 points, just one point outside of fourth place, held by No. 20 Edinboro. No. 8 Cornell won the event with 164 points and was followed by No. 5 Minnesota (151.5) and No. 13 Indiana (131.5). Fourth-ranked Chris Henrich (Jr., Lansdale, Pa.) notched UVa's top finish with a runner-up standing at 174 pounds. Henrich (15-2) picked up a 4-0 win over No. 10 Ryan Patrovich of Hofstra in the semifinals before dropping a 6-1 decision to top-ranked Mack Lewnes of Cornell in the championship match. At 184 pounds, Mike Salopek (R-Fr., North Huntingdon, Pa.) notched a third-place podium finish. Salopek blanked Virginia Tech's Tommy Spellman, 2-0, in the consolation championship. Jon Fausey (Fr., Dalmatia, Pa.), competing unattached, scored an eighth-place finish at 184. Nick Nelson (Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.), competing unattached for UVa, scored an impressive third-place finish at 141 pounds. He finished with seven wins in the tournament, including a 3-2 decision over Ohio's Germane Lindsay to claim the third-place match. Derek Valenti (So., Newton, N.J.) took seventh at 141 after eking out a 1-0 decision over Penn's Zach Kemmerer in the seventh-place match. No. 16 Danny Gonsor (So., Cleveland, Ohio), after suffering an upset loss Tuesday, rebounded to take fifth place at 157 pounds. He finished with a pin of Ohio's Clay Tucker in the fifth-place bout. Gonsor's lone loss Wednesday was a narrow 7-5 defeat to No. 4 Matt Moley of Bloomsburg, a defending All-American. Ross Gitomer (Sr., Flemington, N.J.) placed sixth at 125 pounds. His tournament was highlighted by a 3-2 upset of No. 5 Eric Morrill of Edinboro on Tuesday. He fell into the consolation bracket after dropping a 7-0 decision to top-ranked Troy Nickerson of Cornell, the reigning national champion. Morrill bounced Gitomer in the fifth-place match with a 3-1 win which needed two sudden victory periods. Matt Snyder (R-Fr., Lewistown, Pa.) nabbed seventh place at 125. He finished strong with a 16-9 victory over UNCG's Eric Chandler in the seventh-place bout. Virginia starts the 2010 portion of its schedule Jan. 8-9 at the Virginia Duals in Hampton. Brackets for the event will be announced early next week.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Senior Matt Kyler won the individual championships at 149 pounds and an injured Jordan Thome finished sixth at 133 pounds as the Army wrestling team wrapped up competition at the Southern Scuffle held at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. Army finished with 60 points and placed 12th in the 32-team field. Cornell won the event with 164 points, in front of Minnesota (151.5), Indiana (131.5), Edinboro (87.5) and Virginia (96.5). “We have a lot of work to do and we’re certainly not content with the final results at all of our weight classes,” said Army head coach Chuck Barbee. “We want to do better. We need to get back in the room, make corrections, get tougher and raise our intensity even more. The whole team wrestled hard. Guys need to keep making jumps and making improvements. We can’t be satisfied with winning a match; we need to get on the podium.” Kyler secured two major decisions early Wednesday to move into the finals where he claimed the individual championship when Cesar Grajales of Pennsylvania injury defaulted. Ranked 10th in the latest InterMat rankings, Kyler secured a 17-7 major decision against John Nicholson of Old Dominion followed by a 15-7 major decision over Torsten Gillespie of Edinboro to advance to the finals. Kyler jumped out to a 5-1 in the third period when Grajales defaulted at the 5:22 mark. “Matt wrestled hard,” said Barbee. “He has been working on fundamentals and doing the little things right and that certainly added up. He paid attention to the details and was rewarded.” Thome, a freshman, moved into the semifinals with a hard-fought 8-6 win against Zac Stevens of Michigan. Thome faced Jayson Ness of Minnesota, ranked second in the latest InterMat poll, in the semifinals but injury defaulted, ending his tournament run. Thome, who did not compete in his consolation bout, finished sixth in the event. “Jordan is wrestling really well,” said Barbee. “Any time you put a freshman out there, you never know how he is going to respond. Jordan shows up at game time and loves to compete. It wasn’t a huge surprise how well he wrestled but he was certainly exciting to watch before he was hurt.” Three other Army wrestlers competed during the second day of the 10-mat event. Casey Thome was edged in his quarterfinal bout at 141 pounds by Germane Lindsey of Ohio, 3-2, and then fell in the consolation bracket to Zack Kemmerer of Pennsylvania, 8-3. Nicholas Bundy, who wrestled four times on Tuesday in the 141-pound division, lost his consolation bout to Ivan Lopouchanski of UNC Greensboro, 7-4. Jimmy Rafferty posted a 4-1 mark at 149 pounds during the first day but lost to Savva Kostis of Appalachian State, 13-4. Army will return to dual meet action next week, hosting four matches. On Friday, Army will host Hofstra at 7:30 p.m. at Gillis Field House and then welcome Merchant Marine Academy, Boston University and Rutgers for a Sunday quad-meet at Christl Arena. Wrestling Sunday gets underway at 2 p.m.

GREENSBORO, NC -- Chris Honeycutt led a contingent of seven Edinboro wrestlers to place at the Southern Scuffle, as Edinboro finished fourth out of 31 teams in the two-day event held at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. Honeycutt took home first place place at 184 lbs. Three Fighting Scots – Torsten Gillespie (149 lbs.), Jarrod King (165 lbs.), and Chris Birchler (285 lbs.) – finished third, with Eric Morrill coming in fifth at 125 lbs. and Ashton Osterberg and Phil Moricone placing eighth at 133 and 174 lbs., respectively. Edinboro finished with 97.5 points. Cornell came away with the title with 164 points, with defending champion Minnesota second (151.5 points) and Indiana (131.5) third. Virginia rounded out the top five with 96.5 points. Honeycutt is redshirting this season, and the two-time national qualifier at 184 lbs. has enjoyed an outstanding campaign while competing in open events. Coming in as the third seed, he won all five of his matches, culminated by a 7-5 decision over Kent State’s Dustin Kilgore, the top seed, in the finals. He trailed 5-3 late in the match, but used a takedown and two near-fall points for the upset. In the semifinals the junior handed Cornell’s Steve Bosak, the second seed, a 5-2 defeat. He improved to 26-1. King, the number one seed at 165 lbs., reached the semifinals in the morning with a 3-0 decision over Pennsylvania’s Steve Burak in the quarterfinals, his 21st straight win to start the season. The defending national champion was surprised in the semifinals by a familiar foe, however, as Rick Schmelyun of Bloomsburg defeated King 15-2. King had earlier defeated Schmelyun in the PSAC finals. King would rebound to pick up a fall over Cornell’s Justin Kerber, then winning a 4-0 decision over Paul Young of Indiana to take home third place. He is now 23-1. Gillespie enjoyed a strong run, winning six of his seven matches at 149 lbs. He actually faced a pair of EWL opponents today, handing Bloomsburg’s Josh Roosa a 4-3 defeat in the quarterfinals, then after losing 14-7 to number one seed Matt Kyler of Army, claiming a 5-1 decision over Frank Hickman of Bloomsburg to reach the consolation finals. He had lost to Hickman in the PSAC’s. Gillespie won by medical forfeit over Liberty’s Frank Gayeski in the third place match. He is now 20-10. Bircher turned in a strong showing at heavyweight, going 5-1. The lone loss was a 3-2 decision to top-seeded Nathan Everhart of Indiana in the semifinals. He won by the same score over Dustin Porter of Gardner-Webb in the third place match. That leaves the senior with a 21-7 record. Morrill was unable to duplicate his recent performance at the Reno Tournament where he upset the top two seeds. Facing a loaded field at 125 lbs., the junior suffered two tight losses. In the quarterfinals he was a 3-2 loser to Virginia’s Ross Gitomer. He came back with two more wins but then suffered another 3-2 setback, this time to third-seeded Zachary Sanders of Minnesota, ranked fourth nationally. Morrill avenged the loss to Gitomer in the fifth place match with a takedown in overtime for a 3-1 decision in sudden victory. That leaves Morrill with a 22-4 ledger. Moricone had a strong early run after just recently returning to competition at 174 lbs. He lost by fall to top-ranked Mack Lewnes of Cornell in the quarterfinals, but came back with a 10-7 decision over Cody Yohn of Minnesota. An injury would derail his efforts for a higher finish, as he was unable to continue in the first period against Scott Glasser of Minnesota, who he had defeated 2-0 in his first match of the tourney. He injury defaulted in the seventh place match with Jacob Ison of Ohio. Moricone is now 10-3. Osterberg turned in a strong showing while filling in for starter Kyle Fluke at 133 lbs. The senior would win five of eight matches to come in eighth. After losing in the round of 16 he picked up three wins in the consolation bracket to reach the stand. Osterberg improved to 13-13.

Evanston, Ill. -- Senior Keegan Davis (Salem, Ore.) posted the highest place for the No. 25 Oregon State wrestling team, finishing third at 157 pounds, lifting the Beavers to a tie for eighth place out of 54 with 65.0 team points at the Midlands Championships. Oregon State tied with American University, edging out No. 20 Illinois and 21 Pittsburgh. The Beavers moved up three spots from yesterday's finish, tacking on 28 team points. Davis found himself narrowly behind in the third place match at 157 pounds before chalking up a final takedown late in the match to earn the 4-3 decision over sixth-seeded Jake Deitchier, wrestling unattached for Minnesota, and his highest placing at the Midlands Championships and first placing of the season. Davis began the day as the only remaining Beaver wrestler in the championship bracket, but fell to top seeded Steve Fittery of American in a 15-5 major decision. Davis came back in the consolation bracket with a 9-6 win over Derek St. John, wrestling unattached for Iowa, before his placing victory. Also competing in the third place match, junior Colby Covington (Springfield, Ore.) had already solidified himself as the only unseeded wrestler guaranteed to place at 174 pounds. Covington opened the final day with three straight nail biting decisions over Ethan Lofthouse of Iowa, wrestling unattached, 5-4, a 9-8 victory over seventh-seeded Shane Riccio of Bucknell and a 2-1 win over fifth-seeded Duke Burke of Iowa State to get to the deciding match. But in the final match, Covington came up just shy of third place in a 5-3 loss to third-seeded Luke Manuel of Purdue. Redshirt sophomore Jason Lara (Midway City, Calif.) earned the first placing for the Beavers, tallying seventh place honors at 125 pounds. Lara started the day off with a 6-3 decision over JJ Krutsinger of Iowa but fell to sixth-seeded Ben Kjar of Utah Valley in a tough 4-3 heartbreaker in the consolation semifinals. But Lara rebounded with a 5-3 decision over ninth-seeded Anthony Zanetta of Pitt to earn his first placing at the Midlands Championships and of his collegiate career. Next to place was sophomore Kelly Kubec (Lake Stevens, Wash.) at 133 pounds, earning seventh place. Kubec started out strong with a fall over Jimmy Kirchner of Rider in 2:22, but came up just short against seventh-seeded Matt Fisk of Lehigh in a 6-4 decision. But Kubec got back to his pinning ways with a 2:08 fall over eighth-seeded Billy Ashnault in the seventh place match. Kubec has now placed in both big tournaments this season and has a team-high tying 10 falls - tied for 42nd all-time in a single season and ninth most for a sophomore in school history. Earlier in the day, freshman RJ Pena (Salem, Ore.) fell just short of a placing match at 149 pounds, losing to seventh-ranked Mitch Mueller of Iowa State, 5-1, in overtime. And sophomore heavyweight Clayton Jack (Vacaville, Calif.) was unable to overcome sixth-seeded Mark Ellis of Missouri, falling 10-1, just out of placing. The Beavers return home to host Wyoming next on Thursday, Jan. 7, in legendary Gill Coliseum beginning at 7:00 p.m.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Two champions, three finalists, seven placers and a third-place finish in the team standings ... That is what the No. 13 Indiana University wrestling team accomplished the last two days at the 2009 Southern Scuffle. Angel Escobedo, ranked second nationally at 125 lbs., concluded his individual title run by avenging his loss to No. 1 Troy Nickerson (Cornell) in last season's NCAA semifinals, defeating the defending national champion when Nickerson suffered an injury in the early goings and could not continue. Escobedo has run his undefeated season record to 19-0, and is all but assured to be slotted as the nation's top-ranked 125-pounder next week. The Griffith, Ind., native also defeated No. 3 Zach Sanders, 8-2, in the semifinals. Escobedo began the championship round by putting IU on top of the podium, and Nate Everhart ended the evening the same way by earning the heavyweight crown. Everhart tallied five victories en route to his championship, inflating his flawless season mark to 21-0. He topped Scott Steele of the U.S. Naval Academy, 3-2, in the finals. It marks the second time this season in which both Escobedo and Everhart have won individual championships at a nationally-prominent tournament, having each done so earlier this year at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Kurt Kinser made a splash as well, advancing to the 157-pound championship match. The Bloomington High School South product's biggest win came over Bloomsburg's Matt Moley, who is ranked third nationally. With a 1-1 score late in the third period, Kinser garnered a takedown in the final seconds to earn a 3-1 triumph. He then came up just shy of snagging Indiana's third individual title, falling to No. 7 Thomas Scotton (North Carolina), 2-1, in the fourth tiebreaker. Paul Young and Trevor Perry each placed fourth in the competition. They combined for five pins during the two-day tournament. Young's season pin total is now a team-high nine falls while Perry has stuck 28 opponents in his career, the eighth most in school history. Eric Cameron and Matt Powless could also be found on the medals stand, both going out with a win in the seventh place match. Cameron and Powless each racked up five victories the last two days. The Cream and Crimson receive little rest after their stellar performance at the Southern Scuffle, returning to action just three days later with a dual match at West Virginia on Jan. 2 at 2 p.m. EST.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Jarod Trice's individual title at heavyweight led Central Michigan to a third-place finish at the 2009 Midlands Championships. Trice, the No. 8 seed, capped his run through the bracket with a 3-2 decision over No. 3 seed David Zabriskie (Iowa State) in the finals Wednesday night. He earned his spot in the championship match by defeating No. 1 seed Aaron Anspach in the quarterfinals and No. 4 seed Dom Bradley in the semis. Trice, just a sophomore, is CMU's first Midlands champion since Wynn Michalak won the 197-pound title as a sophomore in 2005. CMU finished third in the team standings with 118 points, trailing only Iowa (168.5 points) and Iowa State (144.5). It is the Chippewas' fifth top-four finish at Midlands in the past six years, and the 118 team points are the most CMU has ever scored at Midlands. Trice was one of seven Chippewas to finish in the top eight of their weight class. Redshirt freshman Ben Bennett, seeded second at 174 pounds, finished runner-up after dropping a 6-1 decision to No. 1 Jay Borschel in the finals. Also finishing in the top eight were Matt Steintrager (fourth, 125 pounds), Tony D'Alie (sixth, 149 pounds), Steve Brown (sixth, 157 pounds), Tyler Grayson (sixth, 165 pounds) and Eric Cubberly (seventh, 165 pounds). Michalak, a three-time NCAA All-American at CMU and the 2008 NCAA Championships runner-up, represented Chippewa Wrestling Club at Midlands and finished runner-up. The Big Ten Network will air the finals on tape delay on Sunday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time. CMU next competes at National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa Jan. 9-10.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Iowa State finished second at the Midlands Championships for the third-straight year Wednesday evening in Welsh-Ryan Arena. The second-ranked Cyclone squad, which scored 144.5 points, capped the event by crowning Jake Varner as an individual champion at 197 pounds in the 2009 tournament’s finals. Iowa’s squad placed first with 168.5 and Central Michigan (118) followed with third place. Iowa State’s Varner added a second Midlands Championship to his impressive wrestling resume with a 6-1 decision of Wynn Michalak of the Chippewa Wrestling Club. Varner controlled the post-collegiate competitor by allowing only one point from an escape. The Cyclone had previously been a champion of the event as a sophomore at 184 pounds in 2007. The 47th edition of the Midlands, hosted by Northwestern, featured over 360 individual entries from around the country. Iowa State’s wrestlers amassed a 48-30 record over the two-day tournament. Making his third-straight Midlands finals appearance at 165 pounds, ISU’s Jon Reader was unable to topple top-seed Andrew Howe of Wisconsin. Reader fell to the Badger in triple-overtime, 3-1 (SV2). The defeat was Reader’s first loss of the 2009-10 season, as his record drops to 11-1. An amazing string of big wins ended for ISU redshirt freshman Andrew Long as he fell in the 125-pound final to Iowa’s Matt McDonough by decision, 9-7. The Creston, Iowa native lead 5-2 after the first period but could not overcome a late barrage of takedown attempts by his opponent. Long recorded a 4-1 mark in the tournament to improve his season record to 14-2. In the last finals match of the evening, third-seeded Cyclone heavyweight David Zabriskie fell to the upset-minded No. 8-seed, Jarod Trice of Central Michigan, 3-2. Zabriskie was unable to find a shot in the last period to take the lead on the larger Chippewa heavyweight. Zabriskie was 4-1 in his senior try at the Midlands and has an 11-1 overall mark this season. ISU 149-pounder Mitch Mueller made the most of his fourth trip to the Midlands by notching his best finish ever. Mueller, who hails from Iowa City, Iowa wrestled to fourth place after previously placing sixth as a sophomore and freshman. Mueller fell in the final Midlands session to Bucknell’s Kevin LeValley by a score of 2-0 in the third-place match. Mueller notched a record of 5-2 in the Midlands to advance to 16-4 in his senior campaign. Cyclone senior Nick Fanthorpe capped his fourth Midlands outing with a fifth-place finish at 133 pounds. Fanthorpe edged Iowa’s Nate Moore in overtime, 2-1 (TB1). Fanthorpe recorded a 4-2 Midlands record and stands at 6-3 overall. Senior 174-pounder Duke Burk fell in the fifth-place match to Missouri’s Dorian Henderson by a score of 3-1 (SV). Burk’s 3-3 mark in the tournament drops his overall record to 10-4. Sophomore Jerome Ward clinched a seventh-place Cyclone finish at 184 pounds in the afternoon session of Midlands wrestling by receiving a medical forfeit. Ward went 4-2 in his second trip to the event. The second-ranked Cyclones return to action with a road trip to dual No. 6 Minnesota Jan. 3 at 2 p.m. in the Sports Pavilion.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Senior No. 6 John Dergo won the Midlands title at 184 pounds Wednesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena, his first title in a major tournament, by defeating American’s No. 2 and second-seeded Mike Cannon, 11-9 in sudden-victory overtime. Dergo beat three two-time All-Americans in a row in Cannon, Missouri’s top-ranked Max Askren and fourth-seeded Louis Caputo (Harvard). Also for the Illini, senior Jimmy Kennedy took second at 141, junior No. 16 Ryan Prater took fifth at 141 and senior Patrick Bond finished sixth at 197. The Illini placed 10th in the 54-team field. “He had an unbelievable tournament,” Illinois head coach Jim Heffernan said. “He beat three two-time All-Americans in a row, so it was awesome. A lot of times last year, he saw what he was supposed to do and he was a half-step behind. But he’s going full-speed now. There’s no holding back. He’s going as hard as he can every time he wrestles.” Dergo had the most exciting run of the Illini on Wednesday, avenging a loss earlier in the season with a 3-2 win over top-ranked and top-seeded Max Askren (Missouri) in the semifinals to set up a title bout with American’s second-ranked and second-seeded Mike Cannon. Dergo trailed Cannon 8-6 late in the bout but scored a takedown and Cannon was called for a technical violation, giving Dergo a 9-8 lead. Cannon earned a point for the riding-time advantage, tying the bout and sending it to sudden-victory overtime. Dergo stayed aggressive, recording a takedown to win the match and the championship. In the tournament, Dergo defeated Askren, Cannon and Harvard’s fourth-seeded Louis Caputo all for the first time in his career. Kennedy won his third career bout against Iowa’s fourth-seeded Joey Slaton in the semifinals, 6-5, but fell behind early in his championship bout against Maryland’s 10th-ranked and third-seeded Alex Krom and dropped a 9-2 decision to finish second. Prater was one of the bigger surprises of the tournament, reaching the semifinals against Krom before being pinned by the Terrapin. Prater dropped a tight 4-3 bout to Hofstra’s eighth-seeded Lou Ruggirello but rebounded by pinning Iowa’s ninth-seeded Montell Marion in 2:24 to earn fifth place. After Bond dropped his quarterfinal bout on Tuesday, he responded by winning a pair of consolation bouts to stay alive. He began Wednesday by knocking off Purdue’s 12th-ranked and seventh-seeded Logan Brown, 5-3, in the round of 12 to ensure a placing finish. Bond kept rolling with an 8-5 win over No. 11 and sixth-seeded Brent Haynes (Missouri), avenging a dual loss earlier in the season, but dropped a 6-2 match to Iowa’s No. 9 and fifth-seeded Chad Beatty in the consolation semifinals. That set up a fifth-place match with second-seeded and third-ranked Hudson Taylor (Maryland), which Taylor took by fall in 3:55, giving Bond a sixth-place finish. The Illini return to action on Jan. 8 when they host SIUE at Huff Hall at 7 p.m.

EVANSTON, IL -- The top-ranked University of Iowa wrestling team won its 21st overall and third straight Midlands Championships title with 168.5 points at the 47th annual tournament Wednesday night in Evanston, IL. Iowa State placed second with 144.5, while Central Michigan placed third with 118.0. The Hawkeyes went 3-3 in the finals, crowning three champions in redshirt freshman Matt McDonough (No. 3 seed at 125), and seniors Brent Metcalf (No. 1 seed at 149) and Jay Borschel (No. 1 seed at 174). It was Metcalf's third Midlands title and the first for McDonough and Borschel. Metcalf was named the Dan Gable Most Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament, and took home the Individual High Scorer Award for racking up 32.5 team points. Hawkeye redshirt freshman Nate Moore (133) earned the tournaments Fastest Fall Award, sticking his first opponent in 46 seconds. McDonough sparked a strong Iowa start with a 9-7 win in sudden victory over No. 4 seed Andrew Long in the 125-pound title match. Down 5-2 at the end of the first period, McDonough scored an escape and takedown to tie the score at 5-5 in the second period. Long, who accumulated over one minute of riding time in the bout, scored an escape to start the third period to take a 6-5 lead. McDonough scored a takedown near the end of the third period to take a 7-6 lead, but Long's riding time point sent the match into sudden victory. McDonough scored a takedown in the first sudden victory period for the win. The Hawkeye redshirt freshman remains undefeated at 15-0 this season. In a rematch of the 2008 Midlands title match, Metcalf won a 9-2 decision over No. 2 seed Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin. The Hawkeye senior improved to 15-0 on the season, scoring team bonus points in five of his six Midlands matches. Borschel picked up his 75th career victory with a 6-1 win over No. 2 seed Ben Bennett of Central Michigan in the finals. The Hawkeye senior scored a takedown and two nearfall points near the end of the first period, an escape early in the second period and accumulated over two minutes of riding time in the match. He is now undefeated at 14-0 this season and is a three-time Midlands placewinner. He placed second in 2007, third in 2008 before winning the 2009 title. Also placing for the Hawkeyes were seniors Joe Slaton (No. 4 seed at 141-3rd), Ryan Morningstar (No. 3 seed at 165-3rd), Phillip Keddy (No. 3 seed at 184-4th) and Chad Beatty (No. 5 seed at 197-3rd), sophomore Montell Marion (No. 9 seed at 141-6th), redshirt freshman Nate Moore (133-6th) and Grant Gambrall (184-6th), and true freshman Derek St. John (157-5th). It is the first time that Beatty, Moore, Gambrall and St. John have placed at Midlands. Slaton, who is 10-1 while competing unattached this season, recorded a dominating 9-0 major decision over No. 8 seed Lou Ruggirello, who was also competing unattached. Morningstar scored a takedown near the end of the second sudden victory period to beat No. 4 seed Nick Marable of Missouri, 4-2. Morningstar, a four-time Midlands placewinner, is now 11-2 on the season. Beatty scored a third-period escape and takedown to score a 6-3 win over No. 4 seed Trevor Brandvold of Wisconsin, improving to 13-2 this season. St. John, who was competing unattached, recorded a medical forfeit over No. 3 seed Steve Brown of Central Michigan for fifth place in his first Midlands appearance. The Hawkeye true freshman is 21-4 while wrestling unattached this season. Moore, who was also wrestling at Midlands for the first time, took No. 1 seed Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State to the tie break period, but lost the bout 2-1. Iowa's next competition will be Jan. 9-10 at the 2010 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. The Hawkeyes (9-0) are the defending Division I team champion, and will be making their 17th appearance at the two-day annual tournament, which features top wrestlers from each collegiate athletic division (NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA, JUCO and Women's). The Division I field includes eight of the top 10 ranked teams in the most recent USA Today/NWCA coaches poll. All-session tickets are $45 for adults and $35 for seniors and students. Individual session tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for seniors and students. Tickets may be purchased by contacting the UNI-Dome box office at 877-216-3663 or 319-273-4849. Final Team Standings (Top 10) 1. Iowa - 168.5 2. Iowa State - 144.5 3. Central Michigan - 118.0 4. Missouri - 103.0 5. Wisconsin - 90.5 6. Maryland - 74.5 7. Lehigh - 65.5 8. American - 65.0 Oregon State - 65.0 10. Illinois - 64.0

EVANSTON, IL -- The top-ranked University of Iowa wrestling team remains in the lead after Tuesday's first day of competition at the 47th annual Midlands Championships in Evanston, IL. Eight of Iowa's nine quarterfinalists advanced to the semifinals, and seven others are still alive in the consolation bracket. The Hawkeyes lead the team race with 100 points. Iowa State is in second place with 92.5 and Missouri is in a distant third with 73.5. Iowa went 22-4 during Tuesday night's second session. Advancing to Wednesday's semifinals are redshirt freshmen Matt McDonough (#3 seed at 125) and Nate Moore (unseeded at 133), and seniors Joe Slaton (#4 seed at 141), Brent Metcalf (#1 seed at 149), Ryan Morningstar (#3 seed at 165), Jay Borschel (#1 seed at 174), Phillip Keddy (#3 seed at 184) and Chad Beatty (#5 seed at 197). McDonough scored an 8-3 decision over #6 seed Ben Kjar of Utah Valley to remain undefeated at 13-0 this season. He will face #2 seed Jarrod Garnett of Virginia Tech in the semifinals. Moore continued his string of upsets with a 3-2 win over #7 seed Matt Fisk of Lehigh. He will face #3 seed Steve Bell of Maryland in the semifinals. Slaton, who is competing unattached, posted a 9-6 win over #5 seed Tyler Nauman of Pittsburgh Tuesday night, and will face #1 seed Jimmy Kennedy, who is also competing unattached, on Wednesday. Metcalf recorded his 85th career win with a 12-3 major decision over Michigan State's David Cheza. The two-time Midlands champion will put his 13-0 season record on the line when he faces unseeded Eric Albright of Pittsburgh in the semifinals. Morningstar, Borschel, Keddy and Beatty all recorded quarterfinal decisions, and Morningstar, Borschel and Beatty will all face Iowa State opponents in their semifinal bouts. Those match-ups could be crucial to the team race. Morningstar will face #2 seed Jon Reader, Borschel will face #5 Duke Burk and Beatty will wrestle #1 seed Jake Varner. In their careers, Morningstar is 3-1 against Reader, Borschel is 3-0 against Burk and Beatty is 0-1 against Varner. Keddy will face #2 seed Mike Cannon in the semifinals. Still alive in the consolation bracket are senior Dan LeClere (#2 seed at 141), junior Jake Kerr (#10 seed at 157), sophomores J.J. Krutsinger (125) and Montell Marion (#9 seed at 141), redshirt freshman Grant Gambrall (184) and true freshmen Derek St. John (157) and Ethen Lofthouse (174). Wednesday's semifinals and consolation matches are set to start at noon at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Fans can listen to AM-800 KXIC's Steven Grace and two-time Hawkeye NCAA champion Mark Ironside call the action through the XXL All-Access audio broadcast on www.hawkeyesports.com. The championships finals and placing matches will start at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Fans can listen live on AM-800 KXIC or www.hawkeyesports.com. The Big Ten Network will air Wednesday's finals Sunday at 7 p.m. (CT). Updated team standings and brackets are available throughout the tournament at www.nusports.com.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Iowa State wrestling team stands in second place with six semifinalists after the first day of the Midlands Championships in Welsh-Ryan Arena Tuesday. At the conclusion of the second session of wrestling, ISU’s 92.5 points trails Iowa (100). Missouri is in third with 73.5 points. ISU’s heavyweight, David Zabriskie, pulled off another stellar victory by defeating returning NCAA champion Mark Ellis by decision, 6-4, in the Midlands quarterfinals. The No. 3-seeded Cyclone fought off the larger, sixth-seeded Tiger opponent on several takedown attempts to prevail as the winner. The victory puts Zabriskie at 100 wins for his Cyclone career. He joins his teammate Jake Varner (197) in the “100-Win Club” as the 34th member. The Branchville, N.J., native moves forward to the Midlands semifinals for the second time in his career. “I was just happy to advance,” Zabriskie said. “I didn’t even know that was my 100th career win. It is definitely rewarding to get that win. The most important aspect of the victory is advancing in the tournament and getting team points.” Three-time NCAA finalist Varner moved onward in the Midlands Championships with a major decision over Matt Wilps of Pitt, 13-2. The win puts Varner into his fourth-straight Midlands semifinals. Redshirt freshman Andrew Long vaulted into the semifinals with an emphatic pin at 125 pounds. The fourth-seeded Cyclone scored a defensive fall over Central Michigan’s fifth-seeded Matt Steintrager after putting him in a risky position from neutral. ISU 133-pound top-seed Nick Fanthorpe returns to the Midlands semifinals for the fourth-straight year. The Naperville, Ill., native advanced with a 6-2 decision of No. 8 Billy Ashnault of Rutgers. Cyclone Jon Reader continued his path towards his third-straight Midlands finals with a major decision of 10th-seed Josh Asper of Maryland. Reader, seeded second at 165 pounds, showed off his offensive prowess en route to the 16-4 victory. Iowa State 174-pounder Duke Burk advanced to the semifinals after grinding out a 9-8 decision against Illinois’s Jordan Blanton. Fifth-seed Burk, a senior, hails from Peoria, Ill. ISU’s Mitch Mueller (149), Boaz Beard (184-Unatt.) and Jerome Ward (184) will wrestle in Tuesday’s consolation action after being bounced in the quarterfinals. The second session of the Midlands began with consolation action. Cyclones Mike Finch (165) and Eric Thompson (HWT) battled to stay alive in the tournament and will wrestle in the fifth consolation round tomorrow, starting at 12 p.m.

EVANSTON, Ill. — Senior Jimmy Kennedy and junior No. 16 Ryan Prater took advantage of a rare opportunity – that two teammates would be seeded in the same weight class at a major tournament – Tuesday in reaching the semifinals of the 141-pound weight class at the 47th annual Midlands Championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Kennedy, who is redshirting this season, was the No. 1 seed at 141 while Prater was seeded No. 7. Senior No. 6 John Dergo also reached the semifinals at 184 by going 3-0 with a technical fall and a major decision on the day. Kennedy went 3-0 on the first day of the competition and Prater won four bouts, including an upset over No. 7 and second-seeded Dan LeClere (Iowa) in the quarterfinals. Kennedy topped Hofstra’s eighth-seeded Lou Ruggirello, who also is redshirting this season, 9-3 in the quarterfinals. Since Kennedy and Prater are on opposite sides of the bracket, they could meet for the championship if both win their semifinal bouts Wednesday afternoon. Kennedy will face fourth-seeded Joey Slaton of Iowa in the semifinals, while Prater will take on third-seeded and 10th-ranked Alex Krom (Maryland). Dergo, the No. 4 seed, also continued a strong run through the 184-pound bracket with his 6-3 win over fifth-seeded Louis Caputo (Harvard) in the quarterfinals. He’ll get a rematch with top-ranked and top-seeded Max Askren (Missouri), who he lost to at the teams’ dual earlier this season, in Wednesday’s semifinals. Blanton dropped a hard-fought battle with fifth-seeded and 11th-ranked Duke Burk (Iowa State), 9-8, in the quarterfinals after winning his two earlier matches. Blanton will face Purdue’s seventh-ranked and third-seeded Luke Manuel in the consolation round of 12, meaning he needs one more win to ensure that he places. Illinois is in seventh place as a team after the evening session with two wrestlers remaining in the championship bracket (Prater and Dergo) and two left in the consolation bracket (Blanton and Patrick Bond). Kennedy’s point totals don’t count for Illinois’ team points since he is wrestling unattached to preserve his redshirt.

Greensboro, N.C. -- The University of Minnesota wrestling team returned to action at the Southern Scuffle today (Dec. 29), hosted by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In the first day of the two day event, the Gophers had six wrestlers make it through unscathed and advance to the quarterfinals. In the team standings, Minnesota holds a narrow one-point lead in first place over second place Cornell. The Gophers have 50 points, while the Big Red have 49. In third place is Indiana with 42, just ahead of fourth place Edinboro with 41.5 and fifth place Virginia with 41. In the lower weights the Gophers dominated. Zach Sanders (Wabasha, Minn.) at 125, Jayson Ness (Bloomington, Minn.) at 133, and Mike Thorn (St. Michael, Minn.) at 141 all went 2-0 with two falls on the day. At 125, Sanders extends his season record to 10-0, charting his third and fourth falls of the season. Of Sanders 10 wins this season, seven have come by major decision or better. In his first match of the day, Sanders beat Gabriel Gomez of Virginia with a first period pin, and in the second round he beat Brett Boston of Appalachian State with a fall in the third period. Likewise, at 141 Thorn began with first period fall. Just 1:10 into the match, he pinned Dustin Haislip of the Naval Academy, marking his quickest fall of the season. In his next match, Thorn worked a little longer but still earned the same result. With a second left in the second period Thorn notched his second straight fall, this time over Nicholas Bundy of Army. Thorn improves to 9-1 on the season, and now has four falls. The big name when it comes to falls, however, is Ness. Ness improves his team leading record to 13-0, and has won his last four by fall. Ness met Tyler Untrauer of the Air Force in his first match, and was forced to wrestle past the first period for just the third time all season, earning the fall at the 3:13 mark. He then closed his day with yet another first period fall, winning in just 2:25. The two wins extend his team-long winning streak to 15 straight. Also showing his dominance was Dustin Schlatter (Massillon, Ohio). Schlatter tallied two major decisions in winning his third and fourth straight matches of the season. His first win was a 9-1 victory over Kyle Czarnecki of Boston and his second was a 13-4 drubbing of Robby Neill from the Naval Academy. Schlatter now has three major decisions on the season. With two falls, and a major decision, David Zilverberg (Wayzata, Minn.) also reached the quarterfinals. At 149, Zilverberg, scored his first fall of the season, and didn't have to work long to get it. Just 58 seconds into the match, it was over with a pin of Nick Rex of Campbell. Zilverberg followed it with another fall, this time over Pierre Frazile of the Citadel at the 4:03 mark. For his final win, Zilverberg posted an 8-0 shutout of Cesar Grajales of Penn. The final Gopher to end the day unbeaten was Sonny Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.), who did so wrestling a class up, at 197. Yohn tallied a fall at 4:36 over Tim Murphy of Edinboro for his first win, and a 2-0 decision over Neil Delany of the Air Force for his second. Yohn improved to 12-1 on the season, and 6-0 at 197. The Gophers return to action tomorrow as they look to claim six individual titles and with their second Southern Scuffle.

PALM COAST, Fla. -- Augsburg College claimed six champions/co-champions in its annual trip to Florida, competing at its Augsburg Brute/Adidas Sunshine Open on Monday and Tuesday at Flagler Palm Coast High School. The open tournament featured wrestlers from four teams ranked in the top 30 in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III national rankings -- No. 2-ranked Augsburg, No. 6 College of New Jersey, No. 12 Delaware Valley (Pa.) and No. 21 Heidelberg (Ohio). Dickinson State (N.D.), ranked No. 10 in the NAIA national poll, also competed at the tournament. Augsburg claimed titles in five of the 10 weight classes at the tournament, led by 149-pounder Tony Valek (SO, Belle Plaine, Minn./Scott West). Valek, ranked No. 3 nationally, scored two pins among his five victories, including a 5-4 win over No. 7-ranked Tyler Branham of the College of New Jersey in the championship match. At heavyweight, No. 4-ranked Andy Witzel (SR, Fulda, Minn.) swept his weight class with three of his four wins coming by pin, including two first-period match-enders. At 125, Freddie Vigil (SR, Bakersfield, Calif./South HS) had a technical fall and a major decision among his four victories to win his title. Orlando Ponce (JR, Hialeah, Fla./Hialeah-Miami Lakes HS), a national qualifier last season, dominated in winning his weight class, with three pins and a major decision among his five victories. In the title match, he scored a 4:23 pin of Justin Bonitatis of the College of New Jersey, ranked No. 6 nationally. Paul Bjorkstrand (SR, Burnsville, Minn.) and Dusty Holmes (SO, West Fargo, N.D.) shared the crown at 125 pounds, with Bjorkstrand going 3-0 and Holmes going 2-0. Augsburg's two top-ranked wrestlers -- 197-pounder Jared Massey (JR, Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial HS) and 157-pounder Jason Adams (SR, Coon Rapids, Minn.) -- were unable to capture titles at the meet. Adams opened his tournament with three pins, but was upset 8-6 by No. 6-ranked Jesse Harrington of Delaware Valley in the semifinals, then suffered a third-period pin in a wrestleback match before rallying to win the fifth-place bout. Massey also collected pins in his first three matches before a forfeit in the final. Cody Hansen (FY, Albert Lea, Minn.) had a solid performance at 141, with a pin and technical fall en route to a second-place finish. Teammates Nathan Lexvold (SO, Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo HS) and Jake Saatzer (JR, Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS) shared third place at 141. Augsburg returns to action on Sunday (1/3) at 2 p.m., hosting Wisconsin-Eau Claire in a dual meet at Si Melby Hall.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Rutgers wrestling team will close out 2009 at the 47th Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill. at the Welsh-Ryan Arena from Dec. 29-30. The tournament will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Nusports.cstv.com will serve as the official Web site of the Midlands Championships and will have complete session-by-session scheduling, a weight-by-weight preview and up-to-date tournament brackets throughout the two-day affair. Competitors from 31 schools, including 11 top-25 ranked teams, will be in the mix at the event, highlighted by the No. 1 and 2-ranked teams in the country in Iowa and Iowa State. Redshirt junior Dominick Russo (Netcong, N.J.) is the seventh seeded wrestler in the 285-pound bracket. Russo earned a No. 8 billing in the latest InterMat heavyweight rankings and owns an 11-1 record this season.