Michigan Grappler - Everything wrestling in Michigan

Home | Contact Us | Advertise

Metcalf, Reader, three Chipps advance to Midlands Semifinals

2009 Midlands Championships - Day 1

Evanston, IL

12/29 - Day 1 of the Midlands Championships is in the books

with 4 former Michigan prep standouts and three CMU

Chippewas still alive in the championship bracket

Central Michigan sits 4th in the overall team standings after

the first day after Tony D'Alie (149), Ben Bennett (174), and

Jarod Trice (285) advanced to the semifinals in their weights.

Bennett, currently ranked 5th in the country at 174lbs,

continued his promising freshman campaign with three wins

including an impressive first period fall over 15th ranked

Shane Riccio of Bucknell in the quarterfinals The 2008 MI

Grappler Wrestler of the Year will now meet up 12th ranked

Dorian Henderson of Missouri in the semifinals tommorow

morning.

Trice, who was a Michigan Grappler Dream Team member in

2007, knocked off top seeded Aaron Anspach who was a

2007 NCAA Runner-Up for Penn State. Trice scored a 8-1

decision over Anspach and will now face long time nemesis Dom Bradley, currently ranked 4th in the country, of Missouir. Trice and Bradley have met numerous times dating back to prep wars in Fargo and as recent as last year's World Trials where Bradley eliminated the Chippewa sophomore from the tournament.

CMU's Tony D'Alie also made the semis with an upset over 3rd seed

and #3 ranked Kyle Borschoff of American University. D'Alie, who is

ranked 12th in the country, will now need another upset as he meets

#2 ranked Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin in the semis tommorow

morning.

A pair of former Davison standouts, Brent Metcalf and Jon Reader

continued their winning ways as they cruised to the semis at 149

and 165lbs. Metcalf scored a 12-3 win over MSU's David Cheza while

Reader lit up Josh Asper of Maryland 16-4. Reader, the #2 seed for

Iowa State, will square off with arch-rival Ryan Morningstar of Iowa in

a rematch of last year's Midlands Finals. Metcalf will see Eric

Albright of Pitt in the 149lb semifinals.

6 other Chippewas, along with three Michigan State Spartans,

remain alive in the consolation bracket and will need a win tommorow

morning to advance into the medal rounds. In addition, former

Michigan prep stars Andrew Nadhir of Northwestern (DCC) and Pat Wright of Mizzou (Grand Ledge) are alive in the wrestlebacks as well.

Nadhir will wrestle MSU's David Cheza first thing tommorow morning while Wright is pitted against Chippewa Steve Brown at 157 for a spot in the Top 8.

Michigan State sits 12th in the overall team standings without the work of their returning NCAA Champ Franklin Gomez, who did not compete. Also noteworthy, CMU's all-american and 6th ranked Scotti Sentes was elminated from the 133lb consolation bracket this afternoon.

The semifinals are slated for noon tommorow and the finals will take place at 7:20pm. Check back tommorow for a final recap

Full Midlands Brackets (upated after Day 1)

Michigan's Semifinalists:

149 - Brent Metcalf (Iowa/Davison HS)

149 - Anthony D'Alie (CMU)

165 - Jon Reader (Iowa State/Davison HS)

174 - Ben Bennett (CMU)

197 - Wynn Michalak (CMU graduate)

285 - Jarod Trice (CMU)

Who's still alive in the consolations:

(1 match from placing)

125 - Matt Steintrager (CMU)