Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Second After First Day of Midlands Championships
12/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 29, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After one full day of the 44th Midlands Championships, eighth-ranked Northwestern sits in second place in the team race with 68.5 points. Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward), Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick), Dustin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) and Eric Metzler (Luxemburg, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco) are all still alive in their weight's championship brackets with session three starting at noon at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Unseeded Eric Metzler provided the dramatics for Northwestern on the first day of the Midlands. The sophomore 133-pounder upset Iowa's third-seeded Mario Galanakis in the quarterfinals. Metzler pulled out to a 3-0 lead and held on for the 3-2 decision. He will face Illinois' seventh-seeded Jimmy Kennedy, a true freshman, in the semifinals. The sophomore downed Christopher Rudd of Wheaton and American's sixth-seeded Jordan Lipp forfitted his match.
Lang, ranked No. 1 at 141 lbs., went 3-0 on the first day of competition, recording three major decisions. The junior topped Eastern Michigan's David Pienarr 12-3 in his first match of the day. Lang faced Michigan State's Jeff Wimberly in the round of 16 and downed the Spartan grappler in an 11-3 major decision. In the evening session, the top-ranked junior defeated Mike Lopez 9-0 to advance to Saturday's semifinal. He will face fifth-seeded Max Meltzer of Harvard for a spot in the final match.
Tamillow, seeded second and ranked eighth nationally at 197 lbs., started his day against Luther College's Alec Bonander. The junior recorded a 12-3 major decision to advance to the second round. Tamillow then took on his high school teammate Dave Herrera of Northern Illinois and downed the Huskie in a 9-0 major decision. The junior faced Rider's TJ Morrison in Friday evening's quarterfinal and notched a 5-2 decision to move on to the semifinals where he will face a familiar foe, Central Michigan's third-seeded Wynn Michalak. Tamillow defeated Michalak to win the 197-pound championship at last week's Reno Tournament of Champions.
Fox, the No. 1 seed in the heavyweight bracket, recorded two close decisions and a fall in his three wins. The junior pinned Rider's Nick Clufo at 3:33 in his first round match and then topped Cleveland State's Rashard Goff 2-1 to move on to the quarterfinals. The third-ranked junior downed eighth-seeded Blake Gillis of Wartburg by a 2-1 score to advance to Saturday's semifinal. He will take on Central Michigan's fifth-seede Bubba Gritter for a spot in the finals.
Fourth-seeded Freshman Brandon Precin (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) advanced to the quarterfinals, but fell to Central Michigan's fifth-seeded Luke Smith in a close 3-2 decision. He will compete in wrestleback action Saturday afternoon with his first match against Nebraksa-Kearney's Trevor Charbonneau.
Junior Greg Hagel (Linwood, N.J./Blair Academy), seeded seventh at 165 lbs., advanced to the quarterfinals, but fell to Iowa State's second-seeded Troy Paulson. Hagel had defeated Loras' Dave Early and Purdue's Justin Fragga in his earlier matches. He will take on fourth-seeded Max Dean of Indiana in his first consolation match.
Sophomore Vincent Colletti (Naperville, Ill./Montini Catholic) fell in his first match to Iowa State's fifth-seeded Cyler Sanderson, but managed to take two matches in the wrestleback bracket at 149 lbs. Fellow 149-pounder Marty Gould (Lincolnwood, Ill./Niles West) also made some progress in the wrestleback before bowing out of the tournament. Gould won his first match against Quin Swift, an independent, with a pin a 2:42, but fell to West Virginia's third-seeded David Jauregui in the second round. Gould topped UW-LaCrosse's Jake Locket in the consolation before falling to Central Michigan's Steve Brown.
Session Three begins at noon CT at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The final session will get underway at 7 p.m. CT.
