Dec. 29, 2006

EVANSTON, IL -

Four University of Iowa wrestlers advanced to the championship semifinals and four in the consolation bracket at the 44th annual Midlands Championships in Evanston, IL, Friday night. The Hawkeyes ended the first day of the two-day tournament in fourth place with 65.5 points. Iowa State leads the team standings with 91.5.

Hawkeye senior Eric Luedke (174) and juniors Alex Tsirtsis (141), Mark Perry (165) and Matt Fields (Hwt.) all advanced to Saturday morning's championship semifinals. Fields picked up his 50th career win with a 2-1 decision over American's Adam Lopiccolo in the quarterfinals. Saturday's semifinal matchups include #2 Tsirtsis facing #6 Mitch Mueller of Iowa State at 141, #1 Perry wrestling #5 Roger Smith Bergsrud of Illinois at 165, #3 Luedke facing #2 Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan at 174 and #3 Fields wrestling #2 Tervel Dlagnev of Nebraska-Kearney at heavyweight. Tsirtsis beat Mueller, 4-1, at the Iowa-Iowa State dual earlier this month, while Fields lost a 3-2 decision to Dlagnev at the Kaufman-Brand Open finals in November.

Still competing for Iowa in the consolation bracket are senior Mario Galanakis (133), sophomore Charlie Falck (125), and redshirt freshmen Ryan Morningstar (157) and Chad Beatty (174). Saturday's matches will start at noon (CT) at Welsh-Ryan Arena on the Northwestern University campus.

TEAM STANDINGS (Top 10 After Session II)
1. Iowa State 91.5
2. Northwestern 68.5
3. Central Michigan 67.0
4. Iowa 65.5
5. Indiana 63.0
6. Illinois 52.0
7. Michigan State 45.0
8. Northern Illinois 41.0
9. American 38.5
10. Northern Iowa 36.5
Purdue 36.5

IOWA'S SESSION II INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Championship Quarterfinals
133 - Eric Metzler (NU) dec. #3 Mario Galanakis (I), 3-2
141 - #2 Alex Tsirtsis (I) dec. #7 Eric Kruger (CMU), 10-4
157 - #4 Andrew Flannagan (HRVD) dec. #5 Ryan Morningstar (I), 5-0
165 - #1 Mark Perry (I) maj. dec. #8 Ross Taplin (UNO), 11-1
174 - #3 Eric Luedke (I) maj. dec. Kyle Vanderhyde (OLV), 13-5
Hwt. - #3 Matt Fields (I) dec. #6 Adam Lopiccolo (AMER), 2-1

Consolation Bracket
125 - #6 Charlie Falck (I) tech. fall Jake Oster (ELM), 22-7, 5:43
125 - Falck (I) maj. dec. Anthony Ciecarilli (EIU), 17-4
133 - Andrew Gold (PENN) dec. Lucas Magnani (I), 1-0
141 - Kyle Borshoff (AMER) pinned Derek Coorough (I), 3:52
157 - Brad Medchill (I) dec. Dallas Hesseltine (HARP), 3-2
157 - #6 Tony Greathouse (MSU) maj. dec. Medchill (I), 10-2
165 - Nick Conklin (EMU) dec. Joe Uker (I), 8-6
174 - Chad Beatty (I) maj. dec. Alex Dolly (UNI), 10-1
174 - Beatty (I) dec. Danny Burk (NIU), 5-4
184 - Duke Burk (NIU) dec. Rick Loera (I), 5-1
197 - Jacob Marrs (UNO) won by medical forfeit over Dan Erekson (I)