Lehigh University
Midlands
Rey reaches semis; six alive for Lehigh at Midlands
12/29/2009 11:00:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
 |
EVANSTON, Ill. – Sophomore heavyweight Zach Rey won three matches to reach the semifinals, leading a contingent of 12 Lehigh wrestlers who competed on a lengthy opening day of the 47th Midlands Championships, Tuesday at Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena. After four previous Mountain Hawks suffered losses to Iowa wrestlers in the quarterfinals, Rey, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, won a 5-2 decision over Rutgers’ seventh seeded D.J. Russo to move into the semifinals, where he will face the No. 3 seed, David Zabriskie of Iowa State on Wednesday.
After a marathon first day Rey is the lone Lehigh wrestler left in the championship bracket, while five others remain alive in the consolations. Early Tuesday afternoon, the Mountain Hawks found themselves in the top five, but Lehigh finished day one in eighth place with 42 team points.
The day started well for the Mountain Hawks as they went 3-0 in the pigtail round, which included falls from sophomore Sean Bilodeau and freshman Robert Hamlin. Lehigh mat men then went on to win ten-of-12 bouts in the round of 32, with seniors Matt Fisk and Seth Ciasulli and junior Alex Caruso adding pins. Among the other early highlights for the Brown and White was a pair of wins by unseeded wrestlers over seeded foes. At 165, senior Mike Galante downed the No. 11 seed Zach Toal of Missouri, while at 197, sophomore Joe Kennedy took down the No. 4 seed, Trevor Brandvold of Wisconsin by a 3-0 score.
Lehigh’s fortunes began to change in the round of 16, as the Mountain Hawks could only win five of their ten bouts in the round. Caruso ran into top seeded Jay Borschel of Iowa at 174 and dropped a 9-0 major decision. At 184 senior David Craig, the No. 7 seed, was upset by Iowa State’s Boaz Beard 10-3.
The foursome of Fisk, Galante, Hamlin and Kennedy joined Rey in Tuesday night’s quarterfinals and all four were matched up against wrestler’s from the top-ranked and defending national champion Iowa Hawkeyes. Fisk dropped a 3-2 decision to Nate Moore at 133. Hamlin took on Borschel after his win over Caruso and the Vermont native closed the gap compared to his teammate falling 4-3. Kennedy’s strong run through the championship bracket was derailed with a 3-2 loss to No. 5 seed Chad Beatty at 197. At 165 Galante took No. 3 seed Ryan Morningstar into sudden victory before the Hawkeye scored the decisive takedown to win 3-1.
The four quarterfinal losers are joined by Ciasulli, who worked his way back through the consolations with two wins in the evening session. The No. 6 seed, Ciasulli will face No. 5 seed Tyler Nauman of Pittsburgh on Wednesday with the winner earning a spot on the podium. Other placement round matches include Fisk versus Bucknell’s David Marble, Galante versus Iowa State’s Mike Finch, Hamlin versus Enoch Francois of Cal Baptist and Kennedy vs. Eric Simaz of Central Michigan.
Bilodeau and Caruso both advanced to the third round of consolations before bowing out, while Craig, sophomore John McDonald and freshmen Joey Napoli were all ousted in the second round of consolations. Sophomore Brandon Hatchett was the only Mountain Hawk of the 12 entered to not win a match.
Iowa leads the team race with 100 points, followed by Iowa State, Missouri, Central Michigan and Maryland in the top five.
Action at the 47th Midlands Championships continues Wednesday at noon Central, with the semifinals and consolations. The finals are scheduled for 7 p.m. CST Wednesday night.
Pigtail Round
|
Weight |
Match-up |
Result |
|
Score/Time |
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Tony Buxton (Harvard) |
2-0 |
|
157 |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Greg Burke (Wisconsin) |
2:45 |
|
174 |
Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Jordan Bakely (Harper) |
6:31 |
Round of 32
|
125 |
John McDonald (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Joe Roth (Cent. Mich.) |
5-4 |
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Jimmy Kirchner (Rider) |
0:52 |
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Bret Baumbach (Stanford) |
3:02 |
|
149 |
Joey Napoli (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Dean Pavlou (Chattanooga) |
10-7 |
|
157 |
Keegan Davis (Ore. St.) |
dec. |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
7-3 |
|
165 |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Zach Toal (Missouri) |
4-2 |
|
165 |
Dan Stelter (Illinois) |
dec. |
Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh) |
3-2 |
|
174 |
Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Jake Johnson (Stanford) |
3-2 |
|
174 |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Paul Jackson (N’western) |
2:06 |
|
184 |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Zac Thomusseit (Pitt) |
2-0 |
|
197 |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Trevor Brandvold (Wisc) |
3-0 |
|
285 |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Eric Bugenhagen (Wisc) |
3-2 |
Pigtail consolations
|
165 |
Eric Cubberly (Cent. Mich.) |
dec. |
Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh) |
3-1, s.v. |
Round of 16
|
125 |
Jason Lara (Oregon St.) |
Fall |
John McDonald (Lehigh) |
1:31 |
|
133 |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Thomas Williams (AU) |
5-1 |
|
141 |
Trevor Melde (Rutgers) |
dec. |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
8-6 |
|
149 |
Tony D’Alie (Cent. Mich.) |
dec. |
Joey Napoli (Lehigh) |
7-5 |
|
165 |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
Win |
Scott Winston (Rutgers) |
Med FF |
|
174 |
Jay Borschel (Iowa) |
maj. dec. |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
9-0 |
|
174 |
Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Jake Young (Chattanooga) |
3-1 |
|
184 |
Boaz Beard (Iowa State) |
dec. |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
10-3 |
|
197 |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Jake Glore (Missouri) |
6-2 |
|
285 |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
maj. dec. |
Kyle Bilquist (Del Val) |
11-3 |
First round consolations
|
157 |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
tech. fall |
Joey Deaguero (Adams St.) |
17-0, 3:49 |
Second round consolations
|
125 |
Ryan Mango (Stanford) |
dec. |
John McDonald (Lehigh) |
10-4 |
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Michael Mangrum (Ore. St.) |
13-11 |
|
149 |
Shawn Perry (Wisconsin) |
dec. |
Joey Napoli (Lehigh) |
4-2 |
|
157 |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Nate Carr (Iowa State) |
9-8 |
|
174 |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
dec. |
Mason True (No. Ill.) |
4-1 |
|
184 |
Curran Jacobs (Mich. St.) |
dec. |
David Craig (Lehigh) |
6-2 |
Quarterfinals
|
133 |
Nate Moore (Iowa) |
dec. |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
3-2 |
|
165 |
Ryan Morningstar (Iowa) |
dec. |
Mike Galante (Lehigh) |
3-1, s.v. |
|
174 |
Jay Borschel (Iowa) |
dec. |
Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) |
4-3 |
|
197 |
Chad Beatty (Iowa) |
dec. |
Joe Kennedy (Lehigh) |
3-2 |
|
285 |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
dec. |
D.J. Russo (Rutgers) |
5-2 |
Third round consolations
|
141 |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
Fall |
Jake Fleckenstein (Purdue) |
0:56 |
|
157 |
Jake Kerr (Iowa) |
dec. |
Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh) |
10-4 |
|
174 |
Evan Brown (Dubuque) |
dec. |
Alex Caruso (Lehigh) |
3-1, t.b. |
