Spartans Bounce Back After Tough Start At Midlands Wrestling Championships
12/29/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 29, 2000
EVANSTON, ILL. - After the first session of wrestling, the No. 10 ranked Michigan State wrestling found themselves in eighteenth place at the Midlands Wrestling Championship, held at the Welsh-Ryan Arena on the University of Northwestern campus. The Spartans entered the tournament with five wrestlers seeded in the top ten of their weight classes, but after only scoring 14.5 points, the Spartans had to make a tremendous comeback, and did so, ending the day's second session in fifth-place, with 35 points. The turnaround came due to quality wrestling in the second session, highlighted with Chris Williams (125 pounds) and Pat McNamara (133 pounds) advancing to the semifinals of the tournament.
The lower weight classes dominated for the Spartans, with Williams seeded No. 5, McNamara at No. 2 and Mike Castillo (141 pounds) at No. 3. Williams advanced to the semifinals after a first round bye, a 6-0 decision over Ohio State's Sharpely and a 5-4 decision over the Oregon's No. 4 seeded Williams. MSU's Williams will next face the No. 1 seeded Iowa's Strittmatter.
At 133, No. 2 Pat McNamara defeated Cornell's Doyle, 9-2, along with a 4-2 decision over Illinois's Hay. McNamara beat out the No. 7 seed Oregon's Watson 4-2 to advance to the semifinals.
No. 3 Mike Castillo got out early in the tournament, scoring victories over Cal Bakersfield's Kurpedlani via pin in 3:48 and a decision over Minnesota's Hatlevig, 9-5. Castillo lost a questionable a decision in his quarterfinal match against the sixth-seed George Mason's DeFilippis, 7-5.
At 149, the eighth-seeded Karl Nadolsky broke out of the gate, pinning his first opponent, San Francisco State's Waylon Miller, in 28 seconds. The pin time was only three seconds off making the tournament's fastest fall list. Nadolsky then dropped a 6-4 decision to Ohio State's ninth-seeded Anderson. Nadolsky fought his way through the consolation brackets, winning his last two matches, outscoring his opponents, 19-8.
Two other Spartans will be wrestling in the second day of competition. At 197, Nik Fekete won his last three consolation matches, including a 6-4 decision over Navy's Bigrigg. Ninth-seeded heavyweight Matt Lamb, also made his way through the consolation bracket including a major decision over Hofstra's Eberle, 10-1 and a decision over Purdue's Vervelli, 3-1.
After losing his first match at 165 pounds, Cory Posey bounced back, making his run through the consolation brackets and winning two matches, before losing a tough 7-5 decision to Indiana's Stanley.
The six Spartan wrestlers will continue their run for the tournament title tomorrow. Wrestling will begin at noon, with the second championship session beginning at 7 p.m.
TOP FIVE TEAM1. Minnesota 73.02. Iowa State 59.03. Iowa 40.04. Hofstra 35.55. Michigan State35.0