Northwestern University Athletics
#MIDLANDS52 DAY ONE RECAP
12/29/2014 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling, Ken Kraft Midlands Championships
Results
Session I Photo Gallery • Session II Photo Gallery
EVANSTON, Ill. - Five Northwestern wrestlers advanced to the semifinals at the 52nd annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships hosted by Northwestern University.
Stevan Micic (125-unattached), No. 1 Jason Tsirtsis (149), No. 8 Pierce Harger (165), Johnny Sebastian (174-unattached) and No. 1 Mike McMullan (285) will all wrestle for a spot in the finals of their respective weight classes at noon on Tuesday.
Dominick Malone (133) and Alex Polizzi (197) remain alive in the consolation bracket.
Northwestern sits in third-place in the team standings with 65 points through the first day.
Complete coverage and results from the first day of the Midlands can be found below.
Second Session
Team Standings after the Second Session
1. Iowa - 110.5
2. Illinois - 90.0
3. Northwestern - 65.0
4. Edinboro - 60.0
5. Virginia Tech - 54.5
9:55 p.m. - Alex Polizzi ends the night in style for the Wildcats with a first-period pin of Iowa's Kris Klapprodt in 1:38 at 197 lbs.
9:32 p.m. - At 133 lbs., Dominick Malone continues his march through the consolation bracket with a 6-3 victory over Ian Nickell over CSU-Bakersfield. Malone needs one more win tomorrow afternoon to guarantee a spot on the podium.
8:44 p.m. - Mike McMullan and Alex Polizzi both win by medical forfeit. McMullan advances to the semifinals at 285, and Polizzi continues to march through the consolation rounds at 197.
8:30 p.m. - Ben Sullivan won his third consecutive match in the consolations at 157 lbs. with a 12-4 major decision over Chris Perez (Princeton). Sullivan will wrestle again tonight for a chance to survive to Tuesday's third session.
8:18 p.m. - Johnny Sebastian (unattached) continued his red-hot day with an 11-2 major decision over Maryland's Josh Snook. The win moves Sebastian through to Tuesday's semifinal round.
8:07 p.m. - The Wildcats earned a third semifinal spot with Pierce Harger's 5-0 victory at 165 lbs. over No. 14 Tristan Warner (Old Dominion). The 8th-ranked Harger jumped out to an early lead and held off Warner's efforts throughout the final period. Harger will face second-seeded and seventh-ranked Nick Moore of Iowa in the semis.
7:46 p.m. - Jason Tsirtsis advanced to the semifinals at 149 with a nail-biting 2-1 win in the tiebreak over Rider's B.J. Clagon. After riding Clagon out in the first 30-second frame, Tsirtsis escaped in the second and held on for the win. He will wrestle Brody Grothus of Iowa in tomorrow's semifinal round.
7:26 p.m. - NU scored a pair of victories in the consolation rounds early in the second session. At 125, Garrison White took care of Johnson Mai (Columbia), 5-2. He will have one more match tonight. At 133 lbs., Dominick Malone earned his third fall of the day, pinning Cole Baumartner (Missouri) in 1:01.
7:10 p.m. - Stevan Micic (unattached) continued his impressive run in day one of the Midlands Championships with a 13-1 quarterfinal victory over Kory Mines (Edinboro). With the win, Micic sets up a Tuesday semifinal showdown with top-seeded Thomas Gilman of Iowa at 125 lbs.
First Session
Team Standings after First Session
1. Iowa - 47.5
2. Illinois - 40.5
3. Northwestern - 32.0
4. Edinboro - 31.5
5. Virginia Tech - 31.0
5:17 p.m. - Mike McMullan ends Session I in style for Northwestern with a 12-1 major decision over Matt Tourdot (Old Dominion) to advance to the quarterfinals at 285.
5:03 p.m. - The 'Cats had a pair of wrestlers at 197. Jacob Berkowitz (unattached) dominanted en route to a 16-6 win over Jack Carda (Air Force) to stay alive in the consolation bracket. Ruben Franklin of CSU-Bakersfield (Unattached) scored a third-period fall over Alex Polizzi in 6:09. Polizzi will wrestle tonight in the consolations.
4:27 p.m. - Johnny Sebastian (unattached) has an easier time of it in his second match, needing just 1:26 to earn a victory over Jake Residori (SIU-Edwardsville). The fall by Sebastian puts him in the quarterfinals at 174.
4:10 p.m. - Pierce Harger advanced to Monday night's quarterfinals with a 9-2 victory over Ty Prazma of Missouri. Harger will match up against Tristan Warner (Old Dominion) with a spot to the semifinals on the line.
3:51 p.m. - Ben Sullivan made quick work of Mark Savenok (Wheaton) in the 157 lbs. consolations with a first period fall. Sullivan pinned Savenok in 59 seconds to advance to Session II Monday night.
3:27 p.m. - In the 141 lbs. consolations, Logan Arlis of Illinois knocked off Jameson Oster by a 5-1 score.
3:15 p.m. - Jason Tsirtsis continued his strong opening session of the Midlands with a 12-1 major decision over Clayton Ream (North Dakota State) in the 149 lbs. Round of 16. The top-seeded Tsirtsis will wrestle in the quarterfinals tonight.
2:50 p.m. - Garrison White scored a 9-0 major decision in the 125 consolations over Mark Jolcover (unattached-Northern Iowa). At 133, Dominick Malone was knocked out of the championship bracket with a 9-0 loss to Geoffrey Alexander (Maryland). Also at 133, John Coukos earned a dominant 20-5 decision over Ben Gillette (unattached).
2:37 p.m. - Stevan Micic (unattached) had to wait until the 256th match of the day to wrestle for the first time. He wasted no time getting after Binghamton's David White on his way to a 12-6 win to advance to the quarterfinals at 125 lbs. Conan Jennings' (unattached) day came to an end at 285 with a 5-3 loss in the first tiebreak session to Chris Johnson from SIU-Edwardsville.
2:23 p.m. - In the 157 lbs. consolation bracket, Ben Sullivan knocked off David Wesley (Virginia Tech) by major decision, 15-5. Regis Durbin was tech-falled by Harvard's Josh Popple in the 197 consolations, and Jacob Berkowitz (unattached) was an 11-6 winner over Matt Williams (CSU-Bakersfield) at 197.
1:34 p.m. - Sammy Gross (unattached) is bested by North Dakota State's Mitchell Bengtson in an early consolation match at 141 lbs. Bengtson was a 9-0 winner.
1:23 p.m. - Jameson Oster scored a quick fall in his first consolation match over Uzo Owuama of Grand Canyon in 1:11.
1:19 p.m. - Top-ranked Mike McMullan continued his unbeaten season with a 4-0 victory over Arthur Bunce in his first match at 285. Following the McMullan win was Alex Polizzi at 197 lbs. with an 8-2 win against Grand Canyon's Marcus Haughian. McMullan and Polizzi are both in the Round of 16 in their respective weight classes.
12:44 p.m. - 13th-ranked Ophir Bernstein (Brown) scored a 9-4 win over Mitch Sliga in the first-round at 184 lbs.
12:39 p.m. - Wrestling unattached at 174 lbs., sixth-seeded Johnny Sebastian (unattached) won a 7-5 sudden victory over Penn's Joe Heyob. Sebastian held a 5-3 advantage with just seconds remaining in the third period, but Heyob scored a late takedown to send the match to sudden victory. Sebastian quickly earned the winning takedown to advance to the third round.
12:04 p.m. - In his first match of the day, third-seeded Pierce Harger beat Columbia's Tyrel White by major decision at 165 lbs. The 10-1 victory by Harger moves him into the Round of 16.
11:48 a.m. - Justin Staudenmayer from Brown knocks off Ben Sullivan in the 157 lbs. second-round, 6-2.
11:32 a.m. - Top-ranked and top-seeded Jason Tsirtsis won his first match by major decision, 11-3, over Steven Galiardo of Brown at 149 lbs. Tsirtsis advances to the Round of 16 and will wrestle again this afternoon.
11:17 a.m. - Wrestling unattached at 141 lbs., Sammy Gross was defeated by Maryland's Shyhiem Brown, the seventh-seed at 141, 16-0.
11:03 a.m. - Sixth-seeded Danny Sabatello of Purdue won by tech-fall over the Wildcats' John Coukos at 133 lbs. by a 20-5 score.
10:50 a.m. - Malone gets his second pin of the day with a first period fall in 2:40 of Brendan O'Connor from Brown. Dom will wrestle Maryland's Geoffrey Alexander in the third-round at 133 lbs.
10:43 a.m. - In the first-round at 125 lbs., Garrison White fell 8-4 to Northern Illinois' Derek Elmore. Next, he will wrestle Mark Jolcover from Northern Iowa in the consolation bracket.
10:39 a.m. - At 285 lbs., Conan Jennings (unattached) took 12th-seed Chris Lopez of Illinois to a tiebreak but was narrowly defeated 6-5 after a Lopez takedown with seven seconds left.
10:27 a.m. - Northwestern had a pair of unattached wrestlers competing in the opening round at 197 lbs. Jacob Berkowitz (unattached) matched up against seventh-seeded Joe Rau from Minnesota Storm and was defeated 15-8. Regis Durbin (unattached) fell to Eastern Michigan's Anthony Abro 14-4.
9:39 a.m. - Jameson Oster was defeated 8-2 in the first-round at 141 lbs. by Princeton's Jordan Laster. Oster will now compete in the wrestleback rounds.
9:32 a.m. - 12th-seeded Dominick Malone with the first fall of the day, pinning Nicholas O'Brien in a quick 1:14. Malone advances to the second round at 133 lbs. where he will face Brendon O'Connor of Brown.
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