Five wrestlers competed at 43rd Annual Midlands Tournament

Five Olivet College wrestlers competed Thursday and Friday, Dec. 29-30 at the 43rd Annual Midlands Tournament hosted by Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Wrestlers from NCAA Division I, II and III schools, NAIA schools and junior colleges were selected by a committee to compete at this prestigious tournament.

The Comets, who are ranked 11th in the latest NCAA Division III national rankings, were 28th of 60 schools. University of Illinois took first-place, followed by Central Michigan University, Michigan State University, University of Iowa and Iowa State University. Among eight Division III schools, Olivet placed second behind the Univ. of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, who is the top-ranked team in the national rankings.

In the first round, freshman 149-pounder Jason Brew (Sparta) pinned #7 seed Ryan Hurley from Cleveland State (Ohio) University in three minutes, 15 seconds. In the second round, he fell to Danny Zeeman from the University of Illinois, 6-1. Dropping to the consolation bracket, Brew fell to Chris Seta from Campsville (Ky.) University, 11-4.

Senior 157-pounder Ken Andrews (Swartz Creek) won by pin (4:24) in the first round over Brad Medchill from University of Iowa. He lost his second round match, 2-0, to fourth seeded Matt Lebe from West Virginia University. In the consolation round, Andrews was pinned by Sherwood Fendryk from Sacred Heart (Conn.) University.

Freshman 165-pounder Kyle Vanderhyde (Sparta) picked-up a 7-2 first round win over Dane Kupper from Iowa State University. He lost his second round match, 5-3, to Bryan Harney from Michigan State and was eliminated with a loss 5-1 loss to Alex Nelson of Northern Illinois University.

Senior 174-pounder Mike Andrews (Swartz Creek) fell 6-1 to Nick Corpe from Purdue (Ind.) University in the first round and was pinned by Danny Burk from Northern University in the consolation bracket.

Senior 184-pounder Ryan Newberry (Grand Junction/South Haven) defeated Mike Caldron from Lassen (Calif.) Community College, 7-1, in the opening round. In the second round, he dropped a 25-10 decision to No. 1 seed Ben Wissel from Purdue. Newberry finished his competition with a 3-1 overtime loss to John Murphy from Michigan State.

Olivet is next in action Wednesday, Jan. 4, when it travels to wrestle Univ. of Chicago at 4 p.m. CT.