Northwestern University Athletics
Precin to Compete for Third Place at Midlands Championships
12/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 30, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The final session of the 47th Midlands Championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena Wednesday night will feature Northwestern's top-seeded Brandon Precin vying for third place against Central Michigan's fifth-seeded Matt Steintrager. Precin bounced back from a semifinal loss in Session III to win his wrestleback match and earn a berth in tonight's third-place bout.
The championship session gets underway at approximately 7:15 p.m. following the traditional march of champions. For complete brackets and team standings, visit the official Web site of the 2009 Midlands Championships.
Defending NCAA and Midlands team champion Iowa enters the final session with a tournament best 154.5 team points, ahead of second-place Iowa State with 139.5 points. Iowa State has qualified four wrestlers for Wednesday night's championship bouts while the Hawkeyes advanced three competitors to the finals.
Precin, a defending Midlands champion wrestling unattached this season, was caught off guard by fourth-seeded Long early in the match as the redshirt freshman managed to go in for a takedown in the opening minute. After managing to escape from Long's control, Precin again was taken down and, after momentarily escaping from his precarious position on his back, was turned again by Long at the 4:20 mark.
The loss was the first of Precin's redshirt season and just the 29th of his career.
Precin took the mats again in the wrestlebacks against sixth-seeded and 16th-ranked Ben Kjar of Utah Valley State and took control early with a first-period takedown and more than one minute of riding time. That was the only scoring until a second-period escape by Precin gave him a 3-0 advantage. From there, Precin stuck to his game plan and refused to surrender any scoring moves by Kjar, holding on for the 4-0 victory.
At 149 pounds, Northwestern junior and 10th-seeded Andrew Nadhir was forced into a medical forfeit from his wrestleback match against David Cheza of Michigan State and did not compete.
The championship bouts of the 2009 Midlands Championships will be broadcast on tape delay by the Big Ten Network at 6 p.m. CT on Sunday, Jan. 3.
