Rutgers takes team title at 61st Ken Kraft Midlands Championships behind champions Cartagena-Walsh, Catka

EVANSTON, Ill. – Kicking off the holiday tournament season, the 61st annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships proved to be an exciting event as it returned to Northwestern’s campus after being held in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, for the past several seasons.

More true freshmen made headlines, this time for Virginia Tech, as Aaron Seidel (133) and Collin Gaj (149) both won titles. Also in their class, Elijah Cortez took the title at 141 pounds. He is a grayshirt who will suit up for Cornell next year.

The Big 10 was dominant in the upper weights. Ohio State and Rutgers both brought home a pair of titles. Scarlett Knight Shane Cartagena-Walsh was awarded a medical forfeit in the final at 184 pounds, while teammate Hunter Catka used a dominant third period to score a major decision at heavyweight. For the Buckeyes, it was backups e’Than Birden (165) and Seth Shumate (197) winning top honors.

Pitt’s Dylan Evans earned a championship at 157 pounds. The Panthers also had runners-up at both 125 pounds and 141 pounds. 

The final two champions were Blake West of Northern Illinois at 125 pounds and Myles Takats of Bucknell at 174 pounds.

Rutgers bagged its first Midlands team title in program history by a half point over Pittsburgh, 93-92.5, in an “as close as they come” team race. Bucknell, Cal Poly, and Indiana rounded out the top five teams.

Complete results from the event are available at FloWrestling.com. The tournament was broadcast by the Big Ten Network.

A R-Sr., West is the defending MAC champion at 125 pounds. Last year, he was second at the Midlands. This year, he brought home a first-place finish. Going 4-0, all of his wins were by decision. In the final, he held a 1-0 lead going into the third period, started on top, and secured a four-point near fall to build a 5-0 lead with 1:03 left. Pitt’s Chappell took out the top-seeded #16 Koda Holeman of Cal Poly in the semifinals.

In his first collegiate appearance, true freshman Seidel bonused his way to a Midlands title. He book-ended his run with a fall in his first match and another in the final. In between, Seidel posted three straight technical falls, outscoring those foes 49-2. In the final, with a 5-3 lead, he scored a fall over 27-year-old Reineri Ortega, a two-time U23 World champion who is currently training at Iowa State’s RTC. Seidel got the wrestling world talking with his 17-0 tech over 2025 All-American and 2025 Big Ten champion Dylan Shawver of Rutgers. He held a 13-0 lead after the first, thanks to three separate near-fall counts.

Seidel was the #10 overall recruit in his class and appears to be a redshirt candidate as R-Fr. Dillon Campbell is off to a 12-3 start and ranked #9 nationally.

Cortez is a Cornell commit taking a grayshirt. After a sudden victory win to open his run, he capped his tournament with an 8-3 win in the final, thanks to a pair of takedowns in the first period. Santaniello’s run to the final was highlighted by a win over #6 Seth Romney of Cal Poly in the quarterfinals (4-2), then a decision over #31 Dylan Chappell of Bucknell in the semifinals (9-4). Teammate Briar Priest is ranked #33 this week and started the last four duals. The two appear to be in a battle for the starting spot for the second straight year.

A second true freshman for Virginia Tech is coming home with a Midlands title. In the semifinals, he took out two-time NCAA qualifier Sergio Lemley of Michigan, 9-2. He won the title with a takedown with 40 seconds left to defeat #31 Michael Gioffre of Illinois.

The battle for this starting spot at Virginia Tech is one to keep an eye on. In addition to Gaj’s performance, freshman Noah Nininger and transfer Ethan Miller advanced to the fifth-place bout, which was not wrestled. This was the season debut for Miller, a year removed from being the No. 10 seed at the NCAAs up at 157 pounds for Maryland last year.

Evans won all four bouts to improve upon his fifth-place finish at Midlands last year. After a tech. fall and a major decision to open his run, his stout defense led to the title, 2-1 in the semifinals and 4-2 in the final. An escape and a takedown in the final was enough for a ranked win over #31 Lowery. Evans was an NCAA qualifier last season, finishing second on the team with 22 wins.

Ohio State back-up Birden went a perfect 5-0, not conceding a single takedown en route to the title. Birden’s marquee wins were over former Iowa State two-time NCAA qualifier Cody Chittum, now at Chattanooga, 4-3, in the quarterfinals, then 6-3 over #17 Ryan Burton of Virginia Tech in the semifinals. Current Ohio State starter Paddy Gallagher is ranked 19th.

In the final over top-seed #25 Lamer, Takats scored a takedown in both the first and second period to build a 7-2 lead. It was his second ranked win, also notching a 5-3 decision over #31 Sergio Desiante of Virginia Tech in the semifinals. He scored wins over the top two seeds on his title run.

No final bout took place, and Cartagena-Walsh saw his hand raised via forfeit. To reach the final, he went back-to-back bonuses over ACC starters from Stanford and Pitt. In the quarterfinals, it was a 24-8 tech over Stanford’s Tye Monteiro, and in the semifinals, he notched an 11-2 major over Pitt’s Chase Kranitz.

A second Ohio State back-up is coming home with a first-place finish. Shumate’s final two bouts were both ranked, bonus point wins over Big Ten foes. In the semifinals, it was a 13-3 major decision over #13 Gabe Sollars of Indiana. Before his 19-5 major over Cotton in the final. He outscored those two final foes 16-3 in the first period. Ohio State starter Luke Geog is currently ranked 10th.

Rutgers clinched its second title in the final weight class, as Hunter Catka capped his run with a 12-2 major decision over #21 in the final. It was a close 3-2 battle going into the third, but Catka scored a takedown and a four-point near fall in the final 10 seconds.

1. Rutgers, 93

2. Pittsburgh, 92.5

3. Bucknell, 83

4. Cal Poly, 82

5. Indiana, 72.5

6. Northern Illinois, 70.5

7. Northwestern, 62

8. Virginia Tech, 60.5

9. Ohio State, 60

10. Spartan Combat RTC, 55