Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Host 47th Midlands Championships to Close Calendar Year
12/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 26, 2009
2009 Midlands Weight-by-Weight Preview
Video: Story of the Midlands Championships
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Continuing one of the great traditions in collegiate wrestling, Northwestern is set to host the 47th edition of the Midlands Championships on Dec. 29-30 in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Among the former All-Americans included in this year's field is Northwestern's own Brandon Precin, who is aiming to defend his 125-pound Midlands title from a year ago.
Visit NUsports.com's official Web site of the Midlands Championships for complete session-by-session scheduling, a weight-by-weight preview and for up-to-date tournament brackets throughout the two-day affair. Final seeding will be determined by the tournament committee and posted on NUsports.com on Monday evening and the tournament gets underway at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Competitors from 11 top-25 ranked teams will be in the mix this season, highlighted by the No. 1 and 2-ranked teams in the country in Iowa and Iowa State. Last season, Iowa narrowly edged its rival Cyclones by three points in the final team standings. Fans in attendance at the 2009 Midlands will be treated to matches featuring four former NCAA champions and three NCAA runners-up.
"We're really excited about the field we've got coming to compete this year, it definitely ranks as one of the best we've ever had," said NU head coach Tim Cysewski, a five-time Midlands champion as a competitor. "There's the usual group of All-Americans and NCAA champions coming back but I also know there's a lot of competitors who are hungry for upsets to make a name for themselves."
As a defending champion and a third-place finisher at the NCAA Championships, Precin received the No. 1 pretournament ranking at 125 pounds. Precin is redshirting the 2009-10 campaign and will be wrestling unattached when he takes to the mats at the Midlands Championships.
Another duo of Northwestern wrestlers—senior Eric Metzler at 133 pounds and junior Andrew Nadhir at 149 pounds—have aspirations of high place-winnings this week. Metzler is three years removed from a fifth-place showing at the 2006 Midlands Championships and, at 4-2 in 2009, has been in his best form since missing the early half of the 2008-09 campaign due to injury.
Nadhir, meanwhile, has been a force at 149 pounds, going 9-2 to begin his junior season. Nadhir was not among the top-8 in the pretournament rankings but, after finishing sixth at the Big Ten Championships as a sophomore, is looking to place at Midlands for the first time in his career.
Visit the 2009 Midlands Championships Info Center.
