College Wrestling
Broncs 29th of 47 at Midlands
Evanston, Illinois-The Broncs competed at the 48th Midlands Championships Wednesday and Thursday, hosted by Northwestern University. "We saw some good signs out here," said Rider head coach Gary Taylor. "I think we will get a lot out of this. It is one of the toughest tournaments in the country."
The most prestigious amateur wrestling event in the nation, the Midlands featured the best collegiate and post-graduate wrestlers along with Olympic hopefuls. "That's why we came here," Taylor said.
Sophomore Zac Cibula (Luxemburg, Wis./Luxemburg Casco), the ninth seed, lost 13-1 in the quarterfinals against the top seed, Kevin LeValley of Bucknell. "Zach wrestled well up until he lost," Taylor said. "That kid is very tough. He's ranked second or third in the country."
Cibula defeated the eighth seed, Joe Napoli of Lehigh, 4-3. "That was a great win," Taylor said. "Napoli is a very good wrestler." Cibula defeated Nick Hucke of Missouri 4-1 in the first round.
In the consolations on Thursday, Cibula lost 6-2 to the tenth seed, Nick Lester of Oklahoma.
Cibula (16-5) is ranked 31st at 141 pounds by the WrestlingReport.com. "Zach continues to work at and keeps getting better."
Junior Jimmy Kirchner (Somerville, N.J./Somerville) lost by tech fall in the quarterfinals against the top seed, Tyler Graff of Wisconsin-Madison. In the consolations on Thursday Kirchner did not wrestle. "Jimmy did not make weight today," Taylor said. "We were very disappointed by that. He had a chance to place."
Kirchner, the ninth seed at 133, won by tech fall over David Prado of Arizona State in the first round and then defeated the eighth seed, Jose Mendoza of Cal Bakersfield by tech fall on Wednesday. "He looked real good the first couple of rounds," Taylor said. "Then he wrestled the defending Midlands champion."
Senior Rob Morrison (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff), the eighth seed, lost 11-3 to Curran Jacobs of Michigan State in the consolations. Morrison lost to the ninth seed, Ethen Lofthouse of Iowa, 2-1.
"It was important for Robbie to compete here and see what he needs to work on," Taylor said. "He lost to two very good wrestlers."
Morrison defeated Chris Eggert of Eastern Michigan 5-1 in the first round. Morrison (13-3) is ranked 19th by both InterMat and Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine at 174 pounds, 20th by AWN and 21st by WrestlingReport.com.
Freshman Chuck Zeisloft (Woodbury Heights, N.J./Gateway) was pinned in the consolations at 125 by Jose Torres of Triton. Zeisloft won 13-11 in sudden victory over Jimmy Martinez of Cal. Bap. in the first round before losing 9-2 to the second seed, Brandon Precin of Northwestern.
Junior Aaron Nestor (Transfer, Pa./Reynolds) was pinned by the ninth seed in consolations, Trevor Melde of Rutgers. In the consolations, Nestor defeated Josh Palivoda of Cleveland State 4-2. Nestor lost 9-1 to the tenth seed at 141, Mike Koehnlein of Nebraska in the first round.
Senior Joe Ferber (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem High School East) went 0-2 at Midlands. Ferber lost 2-0 to Mike Lukowski of N. Illinois in the consolations. Ferber lost 8-0 to the tenth seed at 197, Matt Whilps of Pitt in the first round.
Freshman Evan Craig (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) went 0-2 at Midlands. In the consolations, Craig lost 6-2 to Joe Bach of Oklahoma. Craig lost 12-2 to Quintas McCorkle of Clarion
Freshman Ramon Santiago (Sayreville, N.J./Sayreville) went 0-2 at Midlands. In the consolations Santiago lost 6-1 to Sean McMurray of UN. Santiago lost by tech fall to the top seeded 157, Jake Patacsil of the C. College Club in the first round.
Rider returns to Alumni Gym to host North Carolina State January 5. "We're excited to come home and compete," Taylor said. "It is a great opportunity for us to bring NC State to our gym."
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