Northwestern University Athletics
Final Wrap-Up of 42nd Midlands Championships
1/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 4, 2005
2004 Final Notables in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
EVANSTON, Ill. - With the 42nd Midlands Championships in the books, NUsports.com offers a look back at the important storylines that made the tournament so special. Comcast SportsNet Chicago will televise the finals of the championships at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14 and follow with rebroadcasts at 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21 and 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25.
- Congratulations to Jon Trenge, Lehigh, on achieving 20 Midlands wins in his first four tournaments and becoming the 17th member of the exclusive "20 in 4 Club." Trenge had a total of 21 wins competing in 2000, `01, `02 and `04.
- Over 8,100 wrestlers have entered the tournament in its history. The 8,000th entry was recognized at the start of the meet on December 29. John Rojas, Lassen Community College (California), 125 lb. class, was awarded a special "Midlands 8,000" shirt.
- Matt Gentry, Stanford, won both prestigious individual awards -- the Dan Gable Outstanding Wrestler Award and the Art Kraft Champion of Champions Award. In the 25 years that both awards have been given, only seven wrestlers have won both in the same year.
- 82 falls were scored at the tournament, which is an indicator of the close competition. In 2003 there were 84 after a number of 90-plus fall years.
- 2004 saw nine wrestlers take the top step on the victory stand for the first time. Only Jon Trenge had been a Midlands champion in the past. Two of the first time champions -- Mark Perry, Iowa; and Jake Herbert, Northwestern; were redshirt freshmen, who won in their first try. 274 wrestlers have won Midlands titles in 42 years.
- The Midlands Hall of Fame was reactivated this year and the inductees led the parade of champions before the finals. Those honored:
Competitors:
Tom Erikson, Four-Time Champion; All-Time Fastest Fall
John Fisher, Four-Time Champion: third on All-Time Win List
Mike Schmidlin, Most Falls All-Time; second on All-Time Win List
Joe Williams, 10-time Champion; first on All-Time Win List.
Contributors, long time tournament administrators:
Larry Benz -- Evanston, Illinois
Tom Jarman -- North Manchester, Indiana
Bob Rowell -- Bloomington, Minnesota
Bernie Norris, deceased.
- The University of Illinois made it two in a row as team champions, scoring 130.5 points and placing in nine of the 10 weights.
- Comcast Sports Net in Chicago will broadcast a two hour Midlands finals show at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14 and follow with rebroadcasts at 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21 and 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25.
- Northwestern's Jake Herbert became the Wildcats' first undergraduate champion since 1974 when Andre Allen won the 142 lb. title. As a team, the Wildcats' seventh-place finish was their best since the 1992-93 season when they finished sixth.
2004 Midlands Select Champions
-Russell Bush, Mt. Vernon, Iowa
-Ray Holder, Brooklyn, Iowa
-Ed McGinnis, Iowa City, Iowa
-Linda Moore, Springfield, Ohio
-Michael O'Connor, Lockport, Illinois
-David Rice, Glencoe, Illinois
-Glenn Rice, Glencoe, Illinois
-Adam Stine, Bristol, Illinois
-Matt Walz, Iowa City, Iowa
-Ryan Warner, Geneseo, Illinois
The 10 listed above are the second group of Midlands Select Champions. Two repeated from 2003 -- Ray Holder and Matt Walz -- while many others from last year came close to the top 10. Congratulations!!
