Dec. 29, 2002
Evanston, Ill. - Stanford placed 28th at the 40th Midlands Championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena this weekend on the campus of Northwestern University. The Cardinal brought six athletes to compete including three 2002 NCAA qualifiers and picked up 15 points to tie for 28th along with Princeton. Iowa claimed its second straight title, accumulating 129.5 points and winning two individual titles (at 184 and 285).
Brad Metzler (Omaha, NE/Westside) led Stanford with six points and a 3-2 record. He opened competition by pinning Oregon State's Tim Norman 32 seconds into the match. After being knocked into the consolation bracket, Metzler posted back-to-back wins over Montana State Northern opponents, an 8-0 major decision and a 5-4 decision before dropping a 6-3 loss to Illinois' ninth-seeded Mark Jayne.
Matt Gentry (Grants Pass, OR/North Valley) made a quick impact as he competed at 157 pounds and posted two major decisions over Iowa's Joe Johnston and North Carolina's Garrett Atkinson before dropping a 5-3 decision to third-seeded Derek Jenkins of Rider. Gentry posted two decisions in the consolation bracket before facing Lehigh's Derek Zinck, the fourth seed, where he lost the bout 11-6.
The only opponents to defeat both Metzler and Gentry all went on to place at the tournament.
At 174 pounds, freshman Ryan Hagen drew the top seed from Sunkist in his opening match and lost to the eventual champion Joe Williams, 12-4. Hagen rebounded quickly and in his next bout he pinned Eastern Michigan's Adam Gilmore at 4:45, but then lost a 3-1 decision to Pete Friedl in the next round.
Stanford will return to action on January 4th at the Lone Star Duals and is slated to face Wyoming, Nebraska and Virginia. The Cardinal will return to The Farm for a Thursday night match-up against Pennsylvania on January 9th at 7:30 p.m.
Midlands Championships
Dec. 28-29, 2002
Complete Brackets
Stanford Results:
125 - Nathan Peterson (1-2): lost to Efren Ceballos (CSUB), 9-1; dec. Pat Flynn (Hofstra), 9-8; lost to Heath McKim (Air Force), 3-0.
133 - Brad Metzler (3-2): fall Tim Norman (Oregon State) at 0:32; lost to Rocky LaForge (Hofstra), 8-4; maj. dec. Andy Thompson (Mont. N.), 8-0; dec. Caleb Schaeffer (Mont. N.), 5-4; lost to Mark Jayne (Illinois), 6-3.
157 - Matt Gentry (4-2): maj. dec. Joe Johnston (Iowa), 15-3; maj. dec. Garrett Atkinson (North Carolina), 9-1; lost to Derek Jenkins (Rider), 5-3; dec. Randy Conrad (WWC), 4-2; dec. Gabe Webster (Cornell), 4-0; lost to Derek Zinck (Lehigh), 11-6.
174 - Ryan Hagen (1-2): lost to Joe Williams (Sunkist), 12-4; fall Adam Gilmore (Eastern Michigan) at 4:45; lost to Pete Friedl (Illinois) 3-1.
Harold Penson (0-2): lost to Tyler Nixt (Iowa), 11-3; lost to Jake Huffman (Oregon State), 10-4.
197 - Ian Bork (0-2): lost to Sean Stender (Northern Iowa), 23-5, fall at 6:00; lost to Matt Greenberg (Cornell), fall at 1:25.