Dec. 30, 2006
Final Midlands Brackets in PDF Format
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Final Midlands Summary in PDF Format
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Final Midlands Summary in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. - Northern Illinois placed two top-five finishers on the final day of competition at the 44th Midlands Championship on the campus of Northwestern University. Headlining the day's action for the Huskies was Mike Grimes, who captured the 149-pound championship with a pair of Saturday victories. The Huskies scored 61.0 points as a team, good for 10th place in the 56-team field.
"Having Mike as Midlands Champion is a great accomplishment for him and for our program," said head coach Dave Grant. "We have come close to having wrestlers win the Midlands in the past, so we are happy to see Mike get us to that point. He exemplifies the attitude and hard work association with our program and what it stands for."
Grimes, seeded sixth in his weight class, advanced to the semifinals on Friday and picked up where he left off on Saturday. In the semifinal, Grimes defeated second-seeded Matt Couglin of Indiana, 3-1, to advance to the final. In the championship bout, Grimes bested Jake Patacsil of Purdue to take first place.
"It was a tough tournament and a tough road, but it was a fun tournament," said Grimes. "I was able to beat the nation's fifth-ranked wrestler in the semis and then had a challenging match in the championship that came down to the last 30 seconds against a tough opponent."
Pat Castillo, seeded seventh at 125, advanced to the semis with three wins on Friday. In his first Saturday match, Castillo dropped a 3-1 decision to third-seeded Angel Escobedo of Indiana. In the wrestleback, Castillo rebounded with a victory in the fifth-place match over teammate John Weinert.
NIU returns to the mat on January 14 with a MAC dual meet at Buffalo.
For complete Midlands Championships information visit the official website: http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/nw-06-midlands-championship.html
-NIU-
