Michigan State University
Midlands Championships
Wrestling Finishes Midlands; Cheza Takes Eighth
12/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 30, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Michigan State wrestling team finished competition at the 47th annual Midlands Championships on Wednesday (Dec. 30). Redshirt sophomore David Cheza was the top Spartan finisher at this year's Midlands Championships as the 149 pounder took home eighth place. As a team, the Spartans finished 14th out of the 50 teams competing in the event.
"This year's Midlands tournament was the toughest it has been in a long time," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "We wrestled some of the best teams in the country and now we're looking forward to getting into the dual portion of our schedule."
Cheza went 3-1 in action on Tuesday, including defeating the No. 8 seed R.J. Pena of Oregon State and No. 9 seed Mike Kessler of Rider. On day two of the tournament, Cheza advanced via forfeit before falling to fourth-seeded Kevin LaValley of Bucknell. American's Kyle Borshoff defeated Cheza, 4-3, in a hard fought seventh-place match.
"David had a really solid tournament - he's shown that he has grown and matured a lot," Minkel said. "It's nice to see him step up in a tough tournament."
Wrestling unattached last season, Cheza took home sixth place at the Midlands Championships.
Eric Olanowski (125 pounds) and Nick Palmieri (184 pounds) were the only other Spartans in action on Wednesday and each lost their first matches of the day.
The Spartans return to action Saturday, Jan. 9 when they host the West Virginia Mountaineers at 7 p.m. at Jenison Field House.
