Dec. 30, 2011
• Final Brackets & Team Standings | Session III Live Blog | Session IV Live Blog
EVANSTON, Ill.-- The Wisconsin wrestling team took 18th place with 40 points at the 49th annual Midlands Championships. Three Badgers placed in the tournament, including senior Ben Jordan (third place) at 165 lbs., redshirt junior Cole Schmitt (seventh place) at 149 lbs., and unattached freshman Connor Medbery (seventh place) at heavyweight.
Iowa won the championships with 152 points, followed by Northwestern with 105.5 points, Oklahoma with 94.5 points, Virginia Tech with 76.5 points and Edinboro with 74.5 points.
Jordan claimed the third place title at 165 lbs. after defeating four-straight opponents on Friday. First, Jordan advanced to the consolation quarterfinals after Lehigh’s Brandon Hatchett was forced to medical forfeit. Jordan did the rest from there, defeating Rutgers’ No. 2 seed Scott Winston by a 3-1 sudden victory decision, Iowa State’s No. 4 seed Andrew Sorenson by a 8-4 decision, and Clarion’s No. 5 seed Bekzod Abdurakhmonov by a 3-2 decision in the third place bout. Jordan finished Midlands with a 7-1 record and defeated three wrestlers ranked higher than him throughout competition.
“It feels pretty good but it’s not where I wanted to be,” Jordan said. “It’s a good place to build and I defeated three people ranked in the top 10. Today I got focused again, kept the pressure on those guys and it made a big difference.”
At 149 lbs., Schmitt took on Illinois’ No. 3 seed Eric Terrazas. Schmitt won the bout by a 1-0 decision, advancing him to the consolation quarterfinals. Schmitt was then defeated by Utah Valley’s Josh Wilson by an 8-3 decision and knocked down to the seventh place match where Lehigh’s Shane Welch medical forfeited, giving Schmitt the seventh place title. This is the second-straight year Schmitt made the Midlands podium and end this year’s tournament with a record of 5-2.
Medbery had another impressive performance on day two of the Midlands Championships, going 2-1 and winning the seventh place title at heavyweight. Medbery advanced to the consolation quarterfinals with a pin against Iowa’s 2010 Big Ten Champion and No. 7 seed Blake Rasing. Medbery then dropped a close match to Maryland’s Spencer Myers by a 3-2 decision, placing him in the seventh place bout where Medbery defeated Purdue’s Roger Vukobratovich by a 16-0 tech fall at 2:52. Medbery closed his first Midlands with a 4-2 overall record.
“This was a great experience,” Medbery said. “I came in with the attitude that I wanted to compete with some of the best in the nation and just give it my all. I know what I need to do to move forward.”
The Badgers host their first conference home dual of the season against Northwestern, which will be televised on Jan. 8. The dual, which is set to take place at the UW Field House at 2 p.m., will broadcast on BTN on delay at 8 p.m. (CT).
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Justin Mozer
UW Athletic Communications
