Michigan State University
Midlands Champsionship
Results From Midlands
1/4/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 4, 2001
The Spartan wrestling squad ended their tremendous team effort at the Midlands Wrestling Championship finishing in eighth-place and scoring 56 points. The Spartans, who were in 18th after the first session of wrestling,, came back to start the second day at Welsh-Ryan Arena in fifth-place. The tournament was packed with Big Ten and national notables including, the No.1 ranked Minnesota team, that won the tournament (144 points), seven-time Midlands champion Joe Williams (184 pounds) and heavyweight legend Sean Neal, who both won their weight classes in impressive fashion.
The Spartans were paced by the lower weight classes, putting three wrestlers in the championship rounds, Chris Williams at 125 pounds, Pat McNamara at 133 pounds and Mike Castillo at 141 pounds. Williams and McNamara wrestled for third or fourth in their respective class, while Castillo contended for the fourth or fifth-place finish.
The fifth-seeded 125-pounder, Chris Williams got knocked down into the consolations by No. 1 and class champion Iowa's Strittmatter, dropping the decision, 6-1. Williams fought his way through the consolations, defeating Hofstra's Noto, 9-1. Williams suffered a 9-3 loss to the number six seed Oregon State's Navarro in the third-place match.
At 133 pounds, the second-seeded Pat McNamara was bumped into the consolation bracket after dropping a 4-2 decision to eventual champion, Iowa State's Cody Sanderson. McNamara defeated the No. 4 seed Iowa State's Azevedo, 4-2, to advance to the third-place match. McNamara found himself facing a 4-3 deficit at the end of the second period in his match with No. 3 seed Hofstra's Roman Fleszar and struggling to regain the league throughout the third period before Fleszar scored the match-winning takedown with a little over a minute to go in the third period. McNamara lost the decision, 7-4.
"I didn't have the kind of tournament that I would have liked to have," said McNamara. "It's disappointing but it's early in the season and I still have time to fix the problems in my wrestling."
At 141 pounds, the third-seeded Mike Castillo found himself battling to get back in top five contention, after dropping down into the consolations after a 7-5 loss in the second session. Castillo found his way to the fifth-place match, after scoring wins over Slippery Rock's Abbate, 13-8 and Central Michigan's Phillips, 8-4. Castillo stumbled in the consolation quarterfinals, losing to No. 5 seed Hofstra's DeBuin, 7-3. Castillo went down early to Ohio State's Sessley in the last match, but came back within two, midway through the third period. Castillo drove on Sessley, attempting a takedown, but was unable to score in the last thirty seconds, losing the match, 5-3. Other Spartans in action on the second day were heavyweight Matt Lamb, Nik Fekete at 197 pounds and Karl Nadolsky at 149 pounds, all suffering their second and eliminating loss in the their first matches.
