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Iowa State University Athletics
Reader, Varner to Midlands Finals
12.30.2007 | Wrestling
EVANSTON, Ill. ? Iowa State redshirt freshman Jon Reader (165) and Cyclone sophomore All-American Jake Varner (184) each advanced into the championship match of the 45th Midlands Championships Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Nick Fanthorpe (133), Cyler Sanderson (157) and David Zabriskie (HWT) will contend for third-place honors. Wrestling for seventh place will be 149-pounder Mitch Mueller and David Bertolino at 197 pounds. Nick Gallick placed seventh for Iowa State, winning on a medical forfeit. ISU sits in second place heading into tonight's final session with 132 points behind Iowa, which has 165 points and leads five grapplers into the finals. Central Michigan is third with 113.5 points, followed by Illinois (93) and Northwestern (82.5).
Tonight's championship matches, along with the third and fifth-place matches, are set to get underway at 7 p.m. with the Big 10 Network airing the finals live. Live play-by-play results will also be available on cyclones.com.
Reader was the first ISU wrestler to advance into tonight's championships match with an 8-3 decision over Rider's Jason Lapham. The redshirt freshman notched three takedowns in the bout, along with a reversal in the final period. Ranked sixth nationally, Reader has outscored his Midlands opponents 35-10 and improves to 15-1 on the year.
“I wanted to stay on offense the whole match,” Reader said. “You just have to be steady at all times.
After placing seventh at the 2006 Midlands, Reader will vie for the 165-pound title against Iowa's second-seeded Mark Perry. The Hawkeye has pinned his way to the championship bout against Reader.
At 184 pounds, the second-seeded Varner scored a 2-1 decision against third-seeded Christian Sinnot of Central Michigan. Throughout the first period both wrestlers engaged in head-to-head battle, but it was Varner coming though in the second period with an escape on Sinnot. The nation's top-ranked 184-pounder overpowered Sinnot in the closing three minutes by holding him down to the mat and gaining 1:24 worth of riding time.
“I am most comfortable on top and that was the key to this match,” Varner said. “I had good position and that made it hard for him to score.”
The championship match pits Varner against former Northwestern NCAA champion, Jake Herbert. In their only match up last season, Herbert denied Varner in the 2007 NCAA184-pound title match via 6-0 decision.
Nick Fanthorpe (133), Cyler Sanderson (157) and David Zabriskie (HWT) will each wrestle for third place after suffering semifinal losses. Fourth-seeded Fanthorpe fell 3-1 to the top-seeded Franklin Gomez of Michigan State, but battled back with a 3:52 pin of Northern Illinois' sixth-seeded Pat Costillo. Sanderson was dealt his first loss of the season, a 10-3 decision to third-seeded Matt Kocher of Pittsburgh. Sanderson rallied in his consolation match with a 10-4 decision over Iowa's Ryan Morningstar. Zabriskie pushed the nation's top-ranked heavyweight and the tournament's top-seeded Dustin Fox of Northwestern to the very end, but came up short in the match's second overtime, falling 4-3. He bounced back with a 3-2 decision over No. 7 Zach Sheaffer of Pittsburgh to wrestle in tonight's third-place bout.
Mitch Mueller and David Bertolino wrestle for fifth place at 149 and 197 pounds, respectively. Mueller rematched against Iowa's Brent Metcalf in the semifinals, but could not get an advantage on the Hawkeye, falling 10-4. Dropping into the consolations after a quarterfinal loss last night, Bertolino picked up two wins before being halted by fourth-seeded T.J. Morrison of Rider. Bertolino scored a 17-0 technical fall in 5:27 over Brodie Ambrose of Iowa and followed with a 4-2 decision of Michigan State's seventh-seeded Joe Williams.
Gallick made things exciting in his first match of the day, taking sixth-seeded Ryan Prater of Illinois down to the wire for a 7-5 victory. He wrapped up the tournament with a 6-2 mark.
Wrestling unattached, true freshman Tyler Clark exited the tournament in his first match of the afternoon.
Tonight's championship matches, along with the third and fifth-place matches, are set to get underway at 7 p.m. with the Big 10 Network airing the finals live. Live play-by-play results will also be available on cyclones.com.
Reader was the first ISU wrestler to advance into tonight's championships match with an 8-3 decision over Rider's Jason Lapham. The redshirt freshman notched three takedowns in the bout, along with a reversal in the final period. Ranked sixth nationally, Reader has outscored his Midlands opponents 35-10 and improves to 15-1 on the year.
“I wanted to stay on offense the whole match,” Reader said. “You just have to be steady at all times.
After placing seventh at the 2006 Midlands, Reader will vie for the 165-pound title against Iowa's second-seeded Mark Perry. The Hawkeye has pinned his way to the championship bout against Reader.
At 184 pounds, the second-seeded Varner scored a 2-1 decision against third-seeded Christian Sinnot of Central Michigan. Throughout the first period both wrestlers engaged in head-to-head battle, but it was Varner coming though in the second period with an escape on Sinnot. The nation's top-ranked 184-pounder overpowered Sinnot in the closing three minutes by holding him down to the mat and gaining 1:24 worth of riding time.
“I am most comfortable on top and that was the key to this match,” Varner said. “I had good position and that made it hard for him to score.”
The championship match pits Varner against former Northwestern NCAA champion, Jake Herbert. In their only match up last season, Herbert denied Varner in the 2007 NCAA184-pound title match via 6-0 decision.
Nick Fanthorpe (133), Cyler Sanderson (157) and David Zabriskie (HWT) will each wrestle for third place after suffering semifinal losses. Fourth-seeded Fanthorpe fell 3-1 to the top-seeded Franklin Gomez of Michigan State, but battled back with a 3:52 pin of Northern Illinois' sixth-seeded Pat Costillo. Sanderson was dealt his first loss of the season, a 10-3 decision to third-seeded Matt Kocher of Pittsburgh. Sanderson rallied in his consolation match with a 10-4 decision over Iowa's Ryan Morningstar. Zabriskie pushed the nation's top-ranked heavyweight and the tournament's top-seeded Dustin Fox of Northwestern to the very end, but came up short in the match's second overtime, falling 4-3. He bounced back with a 3-2 decision over No. 7 Zach Sheaffer of Pittsburgh to wrestle in tonight's third-place bout.
Mitch Mueller and David Bertolino wrestle for fifth place at 149 and 197 pounds, respectively. Mueller rematched against Iowa's Brent Metcalf in the semifinals, but could not get an advantage on the Hawkeye, falling 10-4. Dropping into the consolations after a quarterfinal loss last night, Bertolino picked up two wins before being halted by fourth-seeded T.J. Morrison of Rider. Bertolino scored a 17-0 technical fall in 5:27 over Brodie Ambrose of Iowa and followed with a 4-2 decision of Michigan State's seventh-seeded Joe Williams.
Gallick made things exciting in his first match of the day, taking sixth-seeded Ryan Prater of Illinois down to the wire for a 7-5 victory. He wrapped up the tournament with a 6-2 mark.
Wrestling unattached, true freshman Tyler Clark exited the tournament in his first match of the afternoon.
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