Hawkeyes send 12 to the quarterfinals at Midlands
Iowa has lived up to expectations early at the 2019 Midlands Championships.
Iowa’s 125-pound Spencer Lee wrestles Indiana’s Liam Cronin during the first session of the 57th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, IL, on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019. Lee won by a fall in 54 seconds.
December 29, 2019
The first session of the 57th annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships has officially concluded, and the Hawkeyes took their first steps toward a seventh-straight Midlands team title.
A total of 12 Hawkeyes advanced to the quarterfinals after the first session of the event.
Iowa has six wrestlers seeded first in their individual weight brackets, and three seeded second.
All the top-seeded Hawkeyes wrestled their way to the quarterfinals. Iowa has at least one competitor in the quarterfinals of every weight bracket except 174-pounds. No Hawkeyes appeared in the tournament’s 174-pound bracket.
All the highly seeded Hawkeyes impressed throughout Session I, especially Spencer Lee. None of Lee’s matches in the 125-pound bracket lasted more than a minute. Lee ended his round of 32 matchup against Indiana’s Liam Cronin in 54 seconds via fall.
That wasn’t even Lee’s quickest match of the session.
The All-American pinned Oklahoma’s Christian Moody in 52 seconds during the round of 16.
Multiple Hawkeyes also joined Lee’s pin party.
Alex Marinelli, the two-time defending Midlands champion, recorded three falls on his way to the quarterfinals.
Marinelli defeated all three of his opponents nearly as swiftly as Lee, pinning Pennsylvania’s Jack Conway in two minutes, Wisconsin’s Joshua Otto in one minute and 17 seconds and Oklahoma’s Jake Stiles in four minutes and seven seconds.
Tony Cassioppi also recorded two falls at as the top-seeded wrestler at 285 pounds.
Jeren Glosser, Pat Lugo, and Vince Turk all advanced to the quarterfinals for Iowa at 149 pounds. Lugo won by technical fall, pin, and major decision as the No. 2 seed.
Turk is the No. 12 seed, while Glosser is unseeded.
Iowa’s Abe Assad advanced to the quarterfinals at 184 competing unattached. Nelson Brands, the No. 2 seed at 184, also advanced to the quarterfinals with a pair of decisions.
Austin DeSanto, the defending champion and top seed at 133, won by major decision and technical fall.
Max Murin, Kaleb Young, and Jacob Warner also advanced for Iowa.
Midlands Session II begins at 7 p.m. tonight with quarterfinal action.
