No. 11 Spartan Wrestling Places 14th At Midlands Championships

Dec. 29, 2002

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EVANSTON, Ill. - Senior Gray Maynard (Las Vegas, Nev.) placed second and red-shirt freshman Nick Simmons (Williamston) took third in the 40th-annual Midlands Wrestling Championships, which concluded Sunday evening (Dec. 29) at Northwestern University. MSU finished in 14th place with 48 points in the tournament, which featured over 40 schools and wrestling clubs from around the nation. Iowa defended its Midlands title, capturing first place with 129.5 points.

Maynard went a perfect 4-0 in the tournament before bowing to second-seeded Keaton Anderson of Ohio State, 9-6, in the championship match. Maynard pinned Heath Eslinger of the Gator Wrestling Club in the semifinals.

Simmons won all four of his matches on day two, including a dramatic 4-3 win over third-seeded A.J. Grant of Michigan in the third-place match. Simmons avenged losses to Grant in the quarterfinal round Saturday (Dec. 29) and in the finals of the MSU Open held in November.

Charles Sageman (Sr., Saginaw, 157 pounds), John Wechter (Sr., Saginaw, 285 pounds) and Henry Lossen (R-Fr., Winona, Minn., 285 pounds) all survived day one action, but fell in their first matches of day two in the sixth round of the consolation bracket.

The No. 11 Spartan wrestling team returns to action Saturday, Jan. 4, to face Kent State at Jenison Field House, beginning at 1 p.m.

TOP 15 TEAM SCORES1. Iowa, 129.52. Ohio State, 96.53. Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club, 95.04. Illinois, 92.55. Penn State, 84.56. Lehigh, 77.57. Iowa State, 75.58. Cornell, 73.09. Hofstra, 72.010. Michigan, 66.511. Northern Iowa, 57.512. Central Michigan, 5113. Arizona State, 4914. Michigan State, 4815T. North Carolina, 36.515T. Northern Illinois, 36.5
COMPLETE MSU RESULTS - MIDLANDS CHAMPIONSHIPS, DAY TWO
Wt.  Winner              Loser                       Score
Consolation Sixth Round125 No. 6 Nick Simmons-MSU          Heath McKim-Air Force               F, 0:37
Consolation Seventh Round125 No. 6 Nick Simmons-MSU          No. 7 Efren Ceballos-Cal Bakersfield    8-4
Consolation Eighth Round125 No. 6 Nick Simmons-MSU          No. 5 Kyle Ott-Illinois         7-3
Third-place match125 No. 6 Nick Simmons-MSU          No. 3 A.J. Grant            4-3
Semifinals157 No. 1 Gray Maynard-MSU          Heath Eslinger-Gator WC         F, 1:57
Championship157 No. 2 Keaton Anderson-Ohio St.  No. 1 Gray Maynard-MSU              9-6
Consolation Sixth Round157 No. 7 David Bolyard-CMU         Charles Sageman-MSU         2-0
Consolation Sixth Round285 No. 6 Pat Cummins-Penn St.  John Wechter-MSU                9-5
Consolation Sixth Round285 No. 5 Kellen Fluckiger-Az. St.  Henry Lossen-MSU                9-4