Sunday, December 29
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Midlands Championships

Minotti Midlands Quarters

Minotti, Brown reach semifinals to pace Lehigh on day one at Midlands

12/30/2013 12:23:00 AM | Men's Wrestling

Complete Results | Midlands Website

EVANSTON, Ill. – Two Lehigh wrestlers advanced to the semifinals to lead the contingent of Mountain Hawks who competed at the 51st Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, which got underway Sunday inside Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena. Freshman Mitch Minotti went 4-0 to advance to the semifinals at 149, while junior Nathaniel Brown won all three of his matches to reach the semis at 184. Brown is competing unattached at the Midlands so his points do not count towards Lehigh's team score.
 
The Mountain Hawks placed four wrestlers in Sunday night's quarterfinals, splitting those four bouts. In addition to its two semifinalists, Lehigh has three wrestlers competing in the consolations Monday, needing just one win to cement a place in the top eight.
 
As a team, Lehigh sits in 12th place with 27 points. Minotti and the three wrestlers left in the consolations all count towards the team score for the Mountain Hawks.
 
"We were looking for improvement from where we left off, but we took a step back today," said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. "The fight wasn't there the way we saw in the last few weekends we wrestled. We weren't creating opportunities. We weren't wrestling with passion. We're a young team and we know we're going to have ups and downs. We were hoping to build on what we did before the break but we just need some consistency right now." 
 
The No. 6 seed at 149, Minotti impressed in all four of his victories to reach the semifinals. After opening the day with back-to-back wins by decision, Minotti won an 11-3 decision over 11th seed Brandon Nelson of Purdue in the round of 16 and then dominated third seeded David Habat of Edinboro in the quarterfinals by a 7-0 score. Minotti scored takedowns in the first and third periods and secured a second period reversal, while accumulating an incredible 5:53 of riding time. He will face the No. 10 seed, Blake Roulo of George Mason.
 
"He's been dialed in all year," Santoro said of Minotti. "He wasn't wrestling the way he wanted to but he was still very successful in the first semester. We hope this is a breakout tournament for him because he wrestled well today and was getting better each round."
 
Brown was a finalist at 174 last year and is now one win away from reaching the finals for a second straight year. The No. 3 seed at 184, Brown opened with a 15-0 technical fall over Kyle Lux of Northern Iowa. He won by medical forfeit in the round of 16 before defeating No. 11 seed Domenic Abounader of Michigan 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Brown will face the No. 2 seed, Jimmy Sheptock of Maryland in the semifinals.
 
Sophomore Mason Beckman and freshman Elliot Riddick both reached the quarterfinals, but saw lengthy winning streaks come to a halt. Beckman, seeded third at 133, won his first two bouts including a technical fall in his debut, but suffered his first loss of the season in the quarterfinals against sixth seed Alan Waters of Missouri, who is taking a redshirt season. The loss was Beckman's first of the season after opening with ten straight wins. He will next face Cashe Quiroga of Purdue, needing a victory to place at the Midlands for the second straight year.
 
Riddick brought a seven match win streak into his quarterfinal match against Shane Hughes of Columbia at 174, but in his third overtime match of the day, Riddick came up short, 4-2 in sudden victory as Hughes avenged a loss to Riddick at the Northeast Duals. The No. 3 seed at 174, Riddick's day began with a technical fall before posting two sudden victory wins. He initiated most of the shots against Hughes but only mustered one takedown as Hughes notched the decisive takedown halfway through sudden victory. Next up for Riddick is Alex Meyer of Iowa.
 
"Elliot did a great job," Santoro said. "He was in on about seven shots. He only finished one. It's a shame it didn't go in his favor but he wrestled the whole time, compared to some other guys who went out and never touched a leg."
 
The fifth and final Mountain Hawk to advance to Monday was sophomore John Bolich, who went 3-1 at 197. Bolich bounced back from a round of 16 loss to win two matches Sunday night. The ninth-seeded Bolich will face No. 6 seed Chris Penny of Virginia Tech on Monday.
 
Freshmen Darian Cruz (125) and Doug Vollaro (285) won their first consolation bouts in Sunday's night session but were eliminated one win shy of the round of 12. Cruz went 1-2 in his first Midlands, exiting to No. 7 seed Kory Mines of Edinboro, while Vollaro went 2-2 with both losses coming in sudden victory. Vollaro led Northern Iowa's Blaize Cabell late in the third period before giving up a stalling point and a takedown. He escaped and had riding time, which sent the match to sudden victory, but it was Cabell notching the takedown to win 7-5.
 
Eleven of the 14 Lehigh wrestlers to compete Sunday won at least one match. Sophomore Randy Cruz (133), freshman Drew Longo (141) and sophomore Ben Haas (165) all went 1-2 and we're eliminated in Sunday night's first round of consolation matches. Freshman Will Switzer was the first Mountain Hawk on the mats and pinned Rider's Paul Kirchner, but suffered an injury in the second period of his next match and defaulted out of the tournament.
The Mountain Hawks had four entrants in the 141-pound bracket with the four men combining to go just 2-7. Sophomore Laike Gardner, the No. 6 seed at 141, fell victim to a pair of upsets while junior Jim Carucci also went 0-2. Freshman Zach Diekel also went 0-2 at 184.
 
Iowa is off to a commanding lead in the team race with nine semifinalists and 112 team points. Illinois is second with 57 points, while Edinboro is third with 52.
 
The 51st Ken Kraft Midlands Championships conclude with two sessions Monday at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena. Session three, featuring semifinals, consolations and seventh-place matches will begin at noon (CT). The final session, featuring matches for first, third and fifth will begin at 8 p.m. (CT) and will be televised live on Big Ten Network.
 
125 – Darian Cruz - Eliminated
Rd. of 32: Bye
Rd. of 16: L by tech fall #2 Jarrod Garnett (Bison WC) 16-1, 7:00
Fourth round consolation: dec. Shayne Wireman (Eastern Michigan) 6-2
Fifth round consolation: L by major dec. #7 Kory Mines (Edinboro) 9-0
 
133 – #3 Mason Beckman
Rd. of 32: Tech Fall Levi Wolfensperger (UNI) 15-0, 6:10
Rd. of 16: dec. Kevin Norstrem (Virginia Tech) 1-0
Quarterfinals: L by dec. #6 Alan Waters (Missouri) 2-0
Sixth round consolation: vs. Cashe Quiroga (Purdue)
 
133 - #12 Randy Cruz (Unattached) - Eliminated
Rd. of 32: dec. Patrick Myers (SIU-Edwardsville) 3-2
Rd. of 16: L by dec. #5 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin) 6-1
Fourth round consolation: L by major dec. Cashe Quiroga (Purdue) 20-11
 
141 - #6 Laike Gardner - Eliminated
Rd. of 32: L by major dec. Steven Rodriquez (Illinois) 12-3
Third round consolation:  L by dec. Danny Sabatello (Purdue) 7-2
 
141 – Jim Carucci - Eliminated
Rd. of 32: L by dec. Nick Lawrence (Purdue) 7-4
Third round consolation: L by dec. Logan Arlis (Unattached) 5-2
 
141 – Will Switzer - Eliminated
Pigtail: Fall Paul Kirchner (Rider) 2:25
Rd. of 32: L by injury default Tyler Argue (Northern Ill.)
Third round consolation: Medical Forfeit
 
141 – Drew Longo (Unattached) - Eliminated
Rd. of 32: L by major dec. Jesse Thielke (Wisconsin) 14-4
Third round consolation: dec. Brant Schafer (Indiana) 8-3
Fourth round consolation: L by dec. #5 Matt Bystol (Columbia) 7-4
 
149 - #6 Mitch Minotti
Pigtail: dec. Kyle Chene (Cal Poly) 6-2
Rd. of 32: dec. Dalton Kelley (CSU-Bakersfield) 8-1
Rd. of 16: major dec. #11 Brandon Nelsen (Purdue) 11-3
Quarterfinals: dec. #3 David Habat (Edinboro) 7-0
Semifinals: vs. #10 Blake Roulo (George Mason)
 
165 – Ben Haas (Unattached) - Eliminated
Rd. of 32: L by Fall #1 Steven Monk (NDSU) 2:37
Third round consolation: dec. Tyler Manion (Maryland) 5-2
Fourth round consolation: L by dec. Jud Zeigler (Princeton) 14-7
 
174 – #3 Elliot Riddick
Pigtail: Tech fall Tony Gardner (Maryland) 21-6, 4:47
Rd. of 32: dec. Brett Harner (Princeton) 3-2, s.v. 2
Rd. of 16: dec. Matt Mougin (Northern Illinois) 7-5, s.v.
Quarterfinals: L by dec. Shane Hughes (Columbia) 4-2, s.v.
Sixth round consolation: vs. Alex Meyer (Iowa)
 
184 - #3 Nathaniel Brown (Unattached)
Rd. of 32: Tech fall Kyle Lux (UNI) 15-0, 5:05
Rd. of 16: W by medical forfeit Anthony Abro (Eastern Michigan)
Quarterfinals: dec. #11 Domenic Abounader (Michigan) 6-1
Semifinals: vs. #2 Jimmy Sheptock (Maryland)
 
184 – Zach Diekel - Eliminated
Rd. of 32: L by dec. Joe Lamanna (Illinois) 8-6
Third round consolation: L by major dec. Keegan Mueller (D1 Fit) 14-4
 
197 – #9 John Bolich
Rd. of 32: dec. Matt Meadows (George Mason) 5-1
Rd. of 16: L by dec. #8 Joe Rau (Minn. Storm) 12-0
Fourth round consolation: dec. Garret Goldman (Indiana) 3-1
Fifth round consolation: dec. Vince Pickett (Edinboro) 3-2
Sixth round consolation: vs. #6 Chris Penny (Virginia Tech)
 
285 - #12 Doug Vollaro - Eliminated
Rd. of 32: L by dec. Chris Lopez (Illinois) 3-1, s.v.
Third round consolation: dec. Alex Macki (South Dakota St.) 6-1
Fourth round consolation: dec. Anthony Edgren (UW-Whitewater) 3-1
Fifth round consolation: L by dec. Blaize Cabell (UNI) 7-5, s.v.
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