Michigan State University
Midlands Championships
Gomez Places Second to Lead Spartans at Midlands
12/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 30, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. - Michigan State wrestling was led by sophomore Franklin Gomez's second-place finish at 133 pounds, and Joe Williams' eighth-place finish at 197 pounds at the two-day Midlands Championships hosted by Northwestern Saturday and Sunday.
Top-seeded Gomez suffered his first defeat of the season in the 133-pound title match, after picking up two wins on Sunday for an overall 13-1 season mark. In the quarterfinals, Gomez defeated Wyoming's Corey VomBaur in a 16-1 technical fall, and went on to best Iowa State's Nick Fanthorpe, a 3-1 decision, to advance to the finals. In the title match, Gomez took on Iowa's third-seeded Joe Slaton, but fell in a tough 6-2 loss, surrendering the bracket title and his first loss of the season.
At 197 pounds, seventh-seeded Williams battled to contend in the tournament title bout for the second straight year, but fell short in the quarterfinals, suffering his third loss of the season to Northwestern's second-seeded Mike Tamillow, an 8-4 decision. In wrestleback rounds, Williams battled and defeated Indiana's Joey Fagiano with a 7-1 decision, but dropped his next decision in a 4-2 loss to Iowa State's David Bertalino. Williams salvaged an eighth-place finish after suffering a 9-5 losing effort to Tennessee-Chattanooga's David Koz.
Full tournament results and scores, including final team standings, will be updated at nusports.com upon match completion Sunday night.
The Spartans will return to action next semester, hosting Ohio at 7 p.m. in Jenison Field House on January 4, 2008 in East Lansing, Mich.
Players Mentioned
