Northwestern University Athletics
2000 Midlands Final Notables
12/30/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 30, 2000
EVANSTON Ill. - * Cael Sanderson (Iowa State) defeated Nate Patrick (Illinois) in the finals at 184 pounds to win his 96th straight collegiate match. He also defeated Josh Brocks (fall, 3:26), Marcus Schontube (16-10), Francis Volpe (fall, 5:11) and Victor Sveda (14-5). Sanderson is now 16-0 in Midlands history and has three titles to his credit.
* Joe Williams (Hawkeye WC) won his seventh straight Midlands title winning his 36th straight match. He joins Bruce Baumgartner as the only two Midlands wrestler's to achieve those milestones. Baumgartner holds the record with eight straight Midlands titles and 40 consecutive wins.
* The 2000 Midlands marks the first time a team other than the Iowa Hawkeyes has won the team title since 1990. Team scores were not kept in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1995.
* 118 wrestler's fell victim to the pin during the 2000 Midlands. 118 pins shatters the the previous record of 95, reached in 1993. Six wrestlers entered the top 10 in their respective weight divisions, two of them setting new fastest fall records.
141 Florean Ghinea, Montclair St. -- :17/1st
149 Dave Esposito, Lehigh -- :42/5th
184 Lionel Halsey, Schultz WC -- :14/t-2nd
184 Kevin Vogel, Keen WC -- :34/9th
197 Lee Fullhart, Hawkeye WC -- :40/5th
197 Chael Sonnen, Oregon -- :17/1st
* In all-time wins, Joe Williams moved into a tie for third place with 40 behind Mike Schmidlin (47) and Bruce Baumgartner (43).
* The Dan Gable Outstanding Wrestler Award for the Midlands 2000 goes to, Joe Williams - Hawkeye WC for the second straight year.
* The Art Kraft Champion of Champions Award went to Cael Sanderson of Iowa State.
* The Gorriaran Memorial Most Falls-Least Time Award went to Steve Neal (Schultz WC). Neal needed just 11:12 to dispose of his last four opponents.
* Lionel Halsey (Schultz WC) recorded the fastest fall in this years tournament, pinning Jason Lebron (Triton) in :14 seconds. The pin was the second-fastest in the 184 pound weight class and tied for sixth fastest in Midlands history.
