By Courtney Baumann | [email protected]

EVANSTON, Ill. – Three Iowa wrestlers – Thomas Gilman, Brandon Sorensen, and Michael Kemerer – will compete tonight in the championship round of the 54th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships.

Six more Hawkeyes – Topher Carton, Alex Meyer, Sammy Brooks, and Sam Stoll, as well as Alex Marinelli and Kaleb Young, who are wrestling unattached – made it to the podium and placed within the top-8.

Here’s what happened so far during the second day of Midlands, and here’s what’s next.

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It wasn’t a sure-fire thing like it usually is when Gilman wrestles, but he still eked out the victory in the semifinals to move on to the championship match.

After winning his first matches of the tournament with bonus points – a fall and two technical falls – Gilman defeated American’s Josh Terao with an 8-6 decision.

Gilman, the No. 1 seed in the 125-pound division will take on Big Ten rival and No. 2 seed Tim Lambert of Nebraska tonight in the finals. The senior has a good chance of winning the team points award for the tournament, as he has tallied 23.5 for the Hawkeyes so far.

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Carton lost his quarterfinal match last night to drop down into the consolation bracket to start the day. He won his first match – a fall in 2:12 – to guarantee a spot on the podium. However, he dropped his next match, a 4-3 decision to CSU Bakersfield’s Russell Rohfling.

Carton competed for seventh place against Pittsburgh’s Nick Zanetta, and won by decision, 4-1.

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Sorensen earned a major decision over No. 5 seed Sam Speno to earn a spot in the Midlands finals for the second straight year.
The junior will face Central Michigan’s No. 2 seed Justin Oliver in the championship match tonight to try for back-to-back Midlands titles.

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Kemerer became the third and final Hawkeye to make it into the championship bout with an 11-2 major decision over former Midlands champion Jason Tsirtsis. Kemerer has earned major decisions in four out of his five matchups so far in the tournament.

The redshirt freshman will spar tonight with Nebraska’s Tyler Berger, the No. 1 seed for the 157-pounders.

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Marinelli and Young, both competing unattached won their first two consolation matches of the day.

Young lost his third match to end up in the fifth place bout, where he will face Lorenzo De La Riva, who he lost to in the quarterfinals.

Marinelli, on the other hand, won his third and will battle for third place tonight against No. 4 seed Anthony Valencia

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After getting off to a slow start in the semifinal match (and being down 8-1 at one point) Meyer managed to close the gap a bit. He still ended up losing to Iowa State’s Lelund Weatherspoon.

In his first consolation match, Meyer won by decision 5-2 to move on to the third place matchup, where he will face Illinois’ Zac Brunson tonight.

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Brooks battled his way through the consolation bracket and won three straight to earn a spot in the third place match.

The senior will take on No. 5 seed Nate Jackson tonight.

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Stoll lost a tough one in his semifinal match. No. 2 seed Tanner Hall earned the 2-1 decision over Iowa’s No. 3 seed to drop the sophomore into the consolations.

The heavyweight fought back and became the fourth Hawkeye to earn a spot in the third place bout. He will face Eastern Michigan’s Gage Hutchison during Session IV.

Team standings at the end of Session III:
1. Iowa 133.5
2. Nebraska 121.5
3. Arizona State 92.5
4. Rutgers 90.5
5. Illinois 78.0
6. Wisconsin 70.5
7. NC State 70.0
8. South Dakota State 64.0
9. Oklahoma 58.5
10. Rider 57.0

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