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2005 Midlands Championships
Dec. 29-30 at Evanston, IL

Session I Notebook (Dec. 29)
By Matt Pfiffner

125
No. 4 seed Luke Magnani of Iowa looked very solid in rolling to wins in his first two matches. Former Hawkeye Luke Eustice, seeded second, also was impressive in two easy wins.

133
Mike Lopez of Luther nearly had the upset of the first session, but fell to top seed Kerry Boumans of Overtime WC in the second round, 7-5. Lopez led 3-2 at the end of the first period and it was a 5-5 match early in the third. Lopez shot late in the match, but Boumans countered for the winning takedown.

Daniel Dennis of Iowa, seeded fifth as a true freshman, had some anxious moments in his first match, as he was thrown to his back out of bounds on two or three occasions. But he wore down Dionte Lacy of Triton for a 15-8 win and won easily in his second bout.

Jesse Sundell of Iowa State received a first round bye and scored a very easy 12-3 major decision over Mark Mossor of West Liberty State in the second round.

141
Nate Gallick, the top seed for the Cyclones, had no trouble in his first two matches and appears ready to make another Midlands title run.

Gallick and Wartburg's Dustin Hinschberger will meet in the quarterfinals Thursday night. The Knight two-time NCAA Div. III National champ won a pair of decisions for another shot at Gallick, who beat Hinschberger in overtime earlier this season.

One of the biggest upsets of the first session occurred at this weight, when No. 3 seed Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa dropped a 4-3 decision to Eric Kruger of Central Michigan. Tsirtsis trailed 3-0 entering the third period and couldn't make up the deficit in the final seconds.

C.J. Ettelson of UNI only had one match in the first session and it was an easy 12-3 win to advance to the quarterfinals against No. 2 seed Andy Simmons of Michigan State.

149
Former Iowa NCAA champ Cliff Moore joined the 20 wins in 4 Midlands Championships club with three wins as the No. 1 seed. He had a major decision, a fall and technical fall to breeze into the quarters.

Brad Stockton of Waldorf gave No. 5 seed Doug Withstandley of Purdue a good go in the second round, but dropped a decision as the Boilermaker pulled away after leading 2-0 in the second.

Aron Scott of Iowa State also gave a seeded grappler a scare. After a first-round fall, Scott took No. 6 seed Darren McKnight of Michigan State into overtime before dropping a 7-5 decision. Scott got in deep on several shots in the third period and OT, but could never finish them off.

Ty Eustice of Iowa would have been seeded first or second, but is sitting out the tournament because of illness.

157
Chris Bitetto of UNI and Iowa's Joe Johnston will renew their rivalry in the quarterfinals, after both won a pair of matches earlier in the day. Both wrestlers had falls in their first matches, but had to fight to survive in the second round. Bitetto snuck out a 4-3 win over Travis Koppenhafer and Johnston had to rally from an early deficit against Iowa Central talent Matt Collum. It was a 7-7 match late in the second period, but Johnston's conditioning won out over the final few minutes in a 20-9 major decision.

ISU's Trent Paulson would have been the No. 2 seed, but is nursing an injury and is not competing.

165
Trent's brother Travis is competing and is seeded No. 1 at 165. He scored a major decision in the first round and scored a 7-1 win over Iowa's Cole Pape in the second round of action.

Paulson will meet former Iowa City High 3-time State champ Johnny Galloway Jr. of Northern Illinois in the quarters. Galloway upset the No. 8 seed in the first round and scored a second close decision of the day in the next round.

UNI's Nick Baima rallied from an early deficit against Eric Luedke of Iowa in the second round for a 9-4 victory.

174
Mark Perry of Iowa and Jake Herbert of Northwestern appear destined to meet in the finals. Both won Midlands titles last season as freshman, Perry at 165 and Herbert at 174. Perry pinned his first opponent and scored a 12-0 major decision over David Bertolino of Iowa State in the second round.

184
Iowa State's No. 2 seeded Kurt Backes survived a scare in the first round. He trailed John Murphy of Michigan State 4-2 early in the third period, but scored a takedown and two near fall points seconds after a Murphy escape and held on for a 6-5 win. He dominated his second round foe.

Iowa's Paul Bradley, the defending Midlands champ at 184, is not wrestling. He suffered a slight injury in the Iowa State dual and has not competed since.

197
There were almost a pair of big upsets at this weight by wrestlers from Iowa colleges. Joe Curran of Iowa State dropped a thrilling 7-6 decision to No. 4 seed Brady Richardson of Indiana and Jeff Knoll of Northern Iowa fell to No. 2 seed Matt Delguyd of Northwestern in the final seconds, 3-1.

285
Matt Fields of Iowa had a pair of workmanlike decisions to advance to the quarterfinals and Tyler Rhodes of UNI defeated a pair of seeded grapplers to do the same. Rhodes won over No. 9 seed Jacob Lininger of Shipensburg in the first round and worked for a 4-1 win over No. 8 seed Joe Sapp of Northern Illinois in the second round.