Dec. 28, 2011

Midlands Notes

DeKALB - The Northern Illinois wrestling team will wrap up the 2011 calendar year with a trip to nearby Evanston, Ill., where they will take part in the 49th annual Midlands Championships.
 
The meet kicks off Thursday, Dec. 29, at 9:30 a.m. with the first round of competition. The next day's wrestling gets underway at noon, with finals slated to begin around 7:20 p.m.
 
"Midlands has such great tradition," said Huskie head coach Ryan Ludwig. "We are always excited to go out and compete in this event."
 
The Midlands annually host some of the best teams in the Midwest and across the country and this season is no different. A total of 13 teams in the NWCA/USA Today's Top 25 will be competing inside Welsh-Ryan Arena, including top-ranked Iowa, No. 7 Illinois and No. 10 Lehigh. In addition, six other programs receiving votes in the polls are set to compete.
 
Despite the stacked field, two Huskies were honored as top contenders in their respective weight classes. At 184, senior Brad Dieckhaus was ranked sixth in the field that includes No. 1 Robert Hamlin of Lehigh, Northern Iowa's Ryan Loder (No. 6) and Central Michigan's Ben Bennett (No. 7). Meanwhile, Nick Smith was included among the top contenders at 125, which will also feature nine of InterMat's top 20 at that weight class.
 
"We have a number of young guys on the squad who are looking to break through nationally and this tournament provides the platform to do just that," Ludwig said.
 
NIU is coming off a bittersweet performance at the NIU Quad Meet on Dec. 21 with wins against Cumberland (36-9) and Cleveland State (38-0), along with a loss to Kent State (29-6) in both schools' Mid- American Conference openers. Rob Jillard and Dieckhaus both went 3-0 in their matches on the day, helping NIU boost its record to 5-4 on the season.