Hawkeyes roll at Midlands with five champions; SDSU's Gross named OW

Photo: Iowa All-American Michael Kemerer wins his second-straight Midlands Championships title with a 5-2 win over Arizona State’s Joshua Shields. Photo by Richard Immel.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Iowa swept five-of-10 weight classes to run away with the team title at the 55th annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships held Sears Centre Arena on Sunday evening.

Hawkeye All-Americans Brandon Sorensen and Michael Kemerer performed up to expectations by repeating as tournament champions.

Sorensen claimed his third Midlands title with a 4-2 win over Central Michigan All-American Justin Oliver in the 149-pound final. He is the 12th wrestler in Iowa history to hold this distinction.

In the evening’s main event, Kemerer ousted Arizona State’s Joshua Shields, 5-2, to make it back-to-back Midlands wins at 157 pounds for the talented sophomore. Intriguingly, Kemerer and Shields were high school teammates at Franklin Regional in Murrysville, Pa.

Alex Marinelli, Cash Wilcke and Sam Stoll tacked on first place individual finishes for Iowa, catapulting the Hawkeyes well ahead of runner-up Rutgers. Iowa’s 47-point margin of victory is its largest since setting the Midlands scoring record of 189 points in 2014.

“This is a midseason review or test and where we have to go from here to the next one is a significant step or two. There is a lot of work to do,” said Iowa head coach Tom Brands.

Returning NCAA finalist Seth Gross highlighted the individual efforts on the weekend as he crushed all comers at 133 pounds. The South Dakota State junior wrestled six matches at the Midlands, winning four by technical fall and two by pin. Gross clipped Buffalo’s Bryan Lantry by first period fall in the title bout.

Gross was dubbed the Outstanding Wrestler of this year’s Midlands Championships. He surpassed all individuals in team points accumulated (31) and total match points earned (93).

Arizona State All-American Zahid Valencia won his second-straight Midlands tournament by posting bonus point wins from start to finish. He opened with two falls before earning major decision wins in his final three bouts. The final tally was 18-7 for Valencia over South Dakota State’s David Kocer in the 174-pound final.

Rounding out the list of tournament champions were Nick Suriano of Rutgers at 125 pounds, Mason Smith of Central Michigan at 141 pounds and Emery Parker of Illinois at 184 pounds.

The 55th annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships match video is archived and available online on Flowrestling and BTN2GO. Complete brackets and match-by-match results can be found at Trackwrestling.com.

55TH ANNUAL KEN KRAFT MIDLANDS CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Hoffman Estates, Ill., December 29-30

Outstanding Wrestler – Seth Gross (South Dakota State), 133-pound champion
Champion of Champions – Alex Marinelli (Iowa), 165-pound champion

Team Standings
1. Iowa 156.5
2. Rutgers 109.5
3. Central Michigan 108
4. Arizona State 106.5
5. South Dakota State 99
6. Northwestern 85.5
7. Purdue 84
8. Princeton 73
9. Iowa-Unattached 58.5
10. Penn 54

Final Results
125 pounds
1st – Nick Suriano (Rutgers) dec. Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State), 2-1
3rd – Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern) maj. dec. Zeke Moisey (West Virginia), 15-2
5th – Sean Russell (Edinboro) forfeit Spencer Lee (Iowa-Unattached)
7th – Luke Welch (Purdue) dec. Devin Schroder (Purdue), 7-1

133 pounds
1st – Seth Gross (South Dakota State) fall Bryan Lantry (Buffalo), 2:47
3rd – Scott Delvecchio (Rutgers) dec. Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh), 3-1 SV1
5th – Dylan Duncan (Illinois) dec. Colin Valdiviez (Northwestern), 6-2
7th – Paul Konrath (Wisconsin-Unattached) dec. Korbin Myers (Edinboro), 3-2

141 pounds
1st – Mason Smith (Central Michigan) dec. Cole Weaver (Indiana), 6-0
3rd – Tyler Smith (Bucknell) dec. Nate Limmex (Purdue), 10-4
5th – Max Murin (Iowa-Unattached) dec. Carter Happel (Iowa), 5-2
7th – Yahya Thomas (Northwestern-Unattached) maj. dec. Colton Schilling (Cal Poly), 10-2

149 pounds
1st – Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) dec. Justin Oliver (Central Michigan), 4-2
3rd – Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) dec. Pat Lugo (Iowa-Unattached), 8-5
5th – Jason Tsirtsis (Arizona State) dec. Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton), 5-4
7th – Austin O`Connor (North Carolina) fall Steven Bleise (Minnesota-Unattached), 0:57

157 pounds
1st – Michael Kemerer (Iowa) dec. Joshua Shields (Arizona State), 5-2
3rd – John Vanschenkbrill (Rutgers) dec. Mike D`Angelo (Princeton), 7-4
5th – Luke Zilverberg (South Dakota State) dec. Justin Staudenmayer (Brown), 5-0
7th – Andrew Crone (Wisconsin) dec. Larry Early (Old Dominion), 7-1

165 pounds
1st – Alex Marinelli (Iowa) dec. Jon Schleifer (Princeton), 3-1 SV1
3rd – Richie Lewis (Rutgers) dec. over Anthony Valencia (Arizona State), 5-2
5th – Kaleb Young (Iowa) dec. May Bethea (Penn), 2-0
7th – Jacob Morrissey (Purdue) dec. Logan Peterson (South Dakota State), 7-5

174 pounds
1st – Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) maj. dec. David Kocer (South Dakota State), 18-7
3rd – Dylan Lydy (Purdue) dec. Mikey Labriola (Nebraska-Unattached), 3-2
5th – Christian Brucki (Central Michigan) fall Garrett Sutton (Michigan), 5:53
7th – Johnny Sebastian (Northwestern) maj. dec. Devin Skatzka (Indiana), 14-5

184 pounds
1st – Emery Parker (Illinois) dec. Nate Jackson (Princeton WC), 8-2
3rd – Jordan Ellingwood (Central Michigan) dec. Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh), 7-0
5th – Joe Heyob (Penn) forfeit Nick Gravina (Rutgers)
7th – Martin Mueller (South Dakota State) dec. Kayne MacCallum (Eastern Michigan), 10-4

197 pounds
1st – Cash Wilcke (Iowa) dec. Frank Mattiace (Penn), 3-1 SV1
3rd – Christian Brunner (Purdue) forfeit Nate Rotert (South Dakota State)
5th – Pat Brucki (Princeton) dec. Jacob Warner (Iowa-Unattached), 4-2
7th – Jackson Striggow (Michigan) forfeit Jacob Smith (West Virginia)

285 pounds
1st – Sam Stoll (Iowa) dec. Tanner Hall (Arizona State), 2-1
3rd – Youssif Hemida (Maryland) fall Matt Stencel (Central Michigan), 1:03
5th – Conan Jennings (Northwestern) forfeit Amar Dhesi (Oregon State)
7th – Shawn Streck (Purdue) inj. def. Jake Gunning (Buffalo), 5:00