2007 Midlands Wrestling Tournament, End of Day One
Iowa State won the Midlands wrestling tournament team title in 2006 and finds itself in a familiar place atop the standings after the first day of the Midlands in 2007. Iowa State is leading Iowa and Central Michigan with a score of 90.5 overall. The Cyclones have a total of six wrestlers left in the semifinals.
Again just behind Iowa State is Iowa with five wrestlers remaining in the finals. Central Michigan, Illinois and Northwestern all have four still fighting for a title. Tennessee-Chattanooga does not have any wrestlers remaining in the championship rounds, but does lead the field with seven wrestlers in the wrestlebacks.
Individually, at 125 lbs., Angel Escobedo of Indiana returns to the semifinals to defend his title, while Michigan State's Nick Simmons dropped down to 125 lbs. and is also in the semis. Simmons won last year's Midlands at 133 lbs.
Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa came into the 141 lb. weight class as the No. 1 seed and fell to Corey Jantzen of Harvard. Both wrestlers took part in the Midlands as high schoolers, but were meeting for the first time at Midlands.
Illinois' Mike Poeta wrestled his way into the semifinals of the 157 lb. weight class as the defending champion. At 184 lbs., Jake Herbert returned to Midlands "45" as a two-time defending champion. The Olympic redshirt did not wrestle at the Championships last year.
Northwestern's defending Midlands champion Mike Tamillow is on a collision course to face No.-1 seeded Josh Glenn (American) with the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds still in play.
Six wrestlers finished the day with three falls, which tied for the most in the tournament after one day. Jesse Linczmaier of Northern Illinois earned the fastest fall, when he downed his 165-lb. opponent in the first round of wrestlebacks in 30 seconds.
Three weight classes remain with all four top seeds still in play for the semifinals: 133, 157 and 197 lbs.
Please continue to check this page for continuous updates on brackets and team standings throughout the tournament.
