Wildcats Prepped for #Midlands56 at Sears Centre

12/26/2018 9:12:00 AM | Wrestling

NORTHWESTERN WRESTLING: MATCH DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	RADIO	LIVE STATS
Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 29-30	Midlands Championships	All Day	Sears Centre Arena Hoffman Estates, Ill.	FloWrestling BTN Plus	N/A	TrackWrestling
Social: Twitter (@NUwrestle) \| Instagram (@NUwrestle) \| Facebook Northwestern Stat Pack

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — The 56th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships kick off Saturday morning at Sears Centre Arena. The two-day affair features some of the most elite grapplers and teams in the nation.

The entire first day will feature 10 mats' worth of competition, with Session I starting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 29, and Session II set for 7 p.m. later that night.

Session III begins at noon on Sunday, Dec. 30, featuring four mats and including semifinals, consolation matches, and the 7th place bouts.

The final session will start at 7 p.m. on Sunday night, with opening ceremonies at 6:30 p.m. The 1st, 3rd, and 5th place matches will take place on three mats at the Sears Centre Arena. The awards ceremony is set to conclude around 9:15 p.m.

WATCH ME, WATCH ME
For the second-straight year, FloWrestling will be live-streaming all the Midlands action. It will also be simulcast on BTN Plus via BTN2Go.

PRIOR RETURNS
Last year, the Wildcats placed six matmen at the 55th Midlands Championships, highlighted by a pair of third-place finishes by Sebastian Rivera (125 lbs.) and Ryan Deakin (149 lbs.). Heavyweight Conan Jennings finished in fifth place, Colin Valdiviez (133 lbs.) notched a sixth place result, and Yahya Thomas (141 lbs.) and Johnny Sebastian (174 lbs.) both finished in seventh.

All six of NU's 2017 placers return for this year's event.

RANKED WRESTLERS
The Wildcats boast three top-10 wrestlers, highlighted by Rivera and Deakin, who are both ranked No. 2 in their weight class by Intermat. Senior Johnny Sebastian is tabbed the 10th best 174-pounder in the nation by the ranking body.

SOCIAL NETWORK
Fans are encouraged to join the conversation by using the hashtag #Midlands56 throughout the event and follow the Twitter account @MidlandsChamps.

THIS AND THAT
For more information, please visit the Midlands home page at NUsports.com and follow along with the event on TrackWrestling.