Six Wrestlers in Midlands Semifinals, ISU in 2nd

EVANSTON, Ill. ? Six Cyclone wrestlers will wrestle in the Midlands semifinals Tuesday after hard-fought performances in Monday night's quarterfinal action in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Five of the six wrestlers are designated point scorers for the ISU squad. Iowa State has 82.5 points and is in second-place behind Iowa's 93 points.

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“We wrestled pretty well overall,” Iowa State head coach Cael Sanderson said. “We made some mistakes along the way but we are still within striking distance of first place. We just have to come out and wrestle aggressively and smart tomorrow.”

Iowa State's Jake Varner has yet to wrestle a full match. The top-ranked 197-pounder has yet to see the second period. Varner has three falls so far on his junior Midlands Championships experience. He most recently stuck No. 8 seed Jessie Strawn of Old Dominion in 1:29 Monday. This secured Varner's spot in the semifinals.

Part of wrestling tradition at the Midlands Championships is the high level of wrestling competition. Tyler Clark has already met and risen above tough challengers and had to defeat a familiar, yet tough opponent in Arizona State's Anthony Robles to make the semifinals of 125 pounds.

“He is able to get really low,” Clark said. “You don't face anyone else that wrestles the entire match at that level. So you have to concentrate instead on snapping him and constantly changing levels. That's what got me going on the reversal.”
Clark beat Robles for the second time this season, this time edging him 3-2. Clark had a third-period reversal to seal the victory.

Takedowns come in bunches for the Cyclone 133-pounder, Nick Fanthorpe. The No. 2 seed recorded his second major decision of the day with a 13-4 performance against Missouri's Todd Scravrien.

“I am more relaxed wrestling here than I was as a freshman,” Fanthorpe said. “It is something that comes with experience and wrestling, not just here, but in a lot of different college tournaments. What I like about Midlands is that we see some guys we probably won't see again until the NCAA Championships.”

Iowa State's 157-pounder showed a lot of aggression on his way to his second Midlands semifinal appearance. Cyler Sanderson, the second seed, took out his intrastate foe Tyson Reiner of Northern Iowa by major decision, 10-2.
“Tomorrow I want to be more aggressive,” Cyler Sanderson said. “I am feeling pretty good right now.”

Jon Reader is two-for-two on making the tough trek to the Midlands semifinals at 165 pounds. In a square-off against fellow sophomore, No. 5 Luke Manuel of Purdue, Reader was able come away with a 3-1 decision after being thwarted in many scoring attempts.

“I had trouble getting the angle I needed for a single-leg,” Reader said. “I didn't pay attention to the stalling warning against him. That is what this meet is for; training to better your execution for the month of March.”

Iowa State's Dalton Jensen (141) advanced to the semifinals with a 6-2 decision against Central Michigan's Erik Kruger. This is the redshirt freshman's Midlands Championships debut. Kyle Simonson (197), another non-scoring wrestler for the Cyclones, was thwarted in the quarterfinals by Missouri's Max Askren, the No. 2 seed. Simonson will wrestle tomorrow in consolation.

Nick Gallick (141), Mitch Mueller (149), Jerome Ward (184) and David Zabriskie (HWT) will work towards climbing the ladder to the top of the consolation bracket on Tuesday. All four will be attempting to add Cyclone team points .

The Midlands Championships continue Tuesday at noon in Welsh-Ryans Arena for the third session and conclude with the final session at 7:20 p.m. The finals will be airing live at 7 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

Players Mentioned

Tyler Clark

Tyler Clark

Nick Fanthorpe

Nick Fanthorpe

Nick Gallick

Nick Gallick

Dalton Jensen

Dalton Jensen

Mitch Mueller

Mitch Mueller

Cyler Sanderson

Cyler Sanderson

Kyle Simonson

Kyle Simonson

Jake Varner

Jake Varner

Jerome Ward

Jerome Ward

David Zabriskie

David Zabriskie

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