Full NIU Results Listed Below

EVANSTON, Ill. – Steve Bleise of the Northern Illinois University wrestling team knocked off No. 2 Kevin Jack of North Carolina State and advanced to the 141-pound semifinals of the 53rd annual Midlands Championships to highlight an impressive day of wrestling for the Huskies on Tuesday in Evanston, Ill.

Entering the prestigious Midlands Championships ranked in the top 20 at 141 pounds, Bleise (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) won all four of his matches to book a berth in Wednesday’s semifinals against Matthew Kolodzik of Princeton. Bleise recorded the biggest victory yet of his remarkable redshirt freshman season when he worked a sudden victory takedown to win 4-2 over Jack, a returning All-American for NC State whose only previous losses this season were to wrestlers ranked in the top five of his weight class.

Trace Engelkes (Winnebago, Ill./Winnebago) is the other Huskie still alive after the first day of the two-day Midlands Championships, as the NIU junior 174-pounder posted three wins on the day and will face Jacob Holschlag of Northern Iowa in the consolation quarterfinals tomorrow.

NIU wrestling head coach Ryan Ludwig highlighted the performances of Bleise and Engelkes after two sessions of wrestling completed on Tuesday night at Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena.

“Steve wrestled well and was able to advance to the semis. He was focused and stayed true to his plan, but there’s a lot more wrestling to do tomorrow,” Ludwig said. “Trace had two gritty wins tonight to put him in tomorrow’s action, and he’s wrestling really hard.”

At one of the biggest and most competitive wrestling tournaments of the season, the Huskies are currently ranked 20th with 23.5 team points.

Bleise and Engelkes were two of five Huskies to record victories on Tuesday. Picking up multiple wins in the consolation brackets for NIU were Shaun’Qae McMurtry (Lockport, Ill./Nebraska) at 165 pounds and Shawn Scott (Holly, Mich./Holly) at 197 pounds, while Austin Eicher (Fenton, Mich./Hartland) also notched a win at 133 pounds.

Wrestling will resume on Wednesday at the Midlands Championships at 12 p.m. CT. If Bleise wins his semifinals match in that session, he would advance to wrestle on Wednesday night during the #Midlands53 finals, which begin at 8 p.m. and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

Follow @NIUWrestling for updates on Twitter on Wednesday as Steve Bleise attempts to become the first Huskie to win the Midlands title since Mike Grimes accomplished the feat for NIU in 2006 at 149 pounds.

Midlands Results for NIU Wrestling

125 - Alijah Jeffery
Champ. Round 1 - Alijah Jeffery (NIU) received a bye
Champ. Round 2 - Ronnie Rios (Oregon State) over Alijah Jeffery (NIU) (Dec 8-6)
Cons. Round 2 - Ben Thornton (Purdue) over Alijah Jeffery (NIU) (Dec 4-2)

133 - Austin Eicher
Champ. Round 1 - Austin Eicher (NIU) received a bye
Champ. Round 2 - Cody Pae (Purdue) over Austin Eicher (NIU) (Dec 9-4)
Cons. Round 2 - Austin Eicher (NIU) received a bye
Cons. Round 3 - Austin Eicher (NIU) over Brian Peska (Nebraska) (Dec 10-3)
Cons. Round 4 - Brance Simms (South Dakota State) over Austin Eicher (NIU) (Dec 5-2)

141 - Steve Bleise
Champ. Round 1 - Steve Bleise (NIU) over Mousa Jodeh (Illinois) (Maj 16-3)
Champ. Round 2 - Steve Bleise (NIU) over Kyle Ayersman (Purdue) (Maj 12-1)
Champ. Round 3 - Steve Bleise (NIU) over Topher Carton (Iowa) (Dec 8-4)
Quarterfinal - Steve Bleise (NIU) over No. 2 Kevin Jack (North Carolina State) (SV-1 4-2)

157 - Austin Culton
Champ. Round 1 - Austin Culton (NIU) received a bye
Champ. Round 2 - No. 15 Chad Walsh (Rider) over Austin Culton (NIU) (Fall 5:43)
Cons. Round 2 - Austin Culton (NIU) received a bye
Cons. Round 3 - Timothy Schaefer (Buffalo) over Austin Culton (NIU) (SV-1 3-1)

165 - Shaun`Qae McMurtry
Champ. Round 1 - No. 6 Austin Wilson (Nebraska) over Shaun`Qae McMurtry (NIU) (Dec 3-2)
Cons. Round 1 - Shaun`Qae McMurtry (NIU) received a bye
Cons. Round 2 - Shaun`Qae McMurtry (NIU) over Derek Davison (Eastern Michigan) (TF 17-2)
Cons. Round 3 - Shaun`Qae McMurtry (NIU) over Grant Nehring (North Dakota State) (Dec 10-4)
Cons. Round 4 - Luke Zilverberg (South Dakota State) over Shaun`Qae McMurtry (NIU) (Dec 6-5)

174 - Trace Engelkes
Champ. Round 1 - Trace Engelkes (NIU) over Mitch Sliga (Northwestern) (Maj 8-0)
Champ. Round 2 - Phil Bakuckas (Rutgers) over Trace Engelkes (NIU) (Dec 9-4)
Cons. Round 2 - Trace Engelkes (NIU) over Anthony Pafumi (Rutgers) (TF 18-2)
Cons. Round 3 - Trace Engelkes (NIU) over Jason Grimes (American U.) (Maj 13-2)

184 - Zach Benkovich
Champ. Round 1 - Zach Benkovich (NIU) received a bye
Champ. Round 2 - David Taylor (Nittany Lion WC) over Zach Benkovich (NIU) (Fall 2:32)
Cons. Round 2 - Zach Benkovich (NIU) received a bye
Cons. Round 3 - Michael Fetchet (Columbia) over Zach Benkovich (NIU) (Dec 9-4)

184 - Quinton Rosser
Champ. Round 1 - Quinton Rosser (NIU) received a bye
Champ. Round 2 - Jacob Waste (Cal Baptist) over Quinton Rosser (NIU) (Dec 8-4)
Cons. Round 2 - Quinton Rosser (NIU) received a bye
Cons. Round 3 - Michale Fagg-Daves (Rider) over Quinton Rosser (NIU) (Maj 18-8)

197 - Shawn Scott
Champ. Round 1 - Troy Murtha (Princeton) over Shawn Scott (NIU) (Fall 0:59)
Cons. Round 1 - Shawn Scott (NIU) over Paul Head (Cal Baptist) (Maj 18-5)
Cons. Round 2 - Shawn Scott (NIU) over Jeric Kasunic (American U.) (Dec 6-3)
Cons. Round 3 - No. 7 Reuben Franklin (CSU Bakersfield) over Shawn Scott (NIU) (Fall 6:31)

285 - Arthur Bunce
Champ. Round 1 - Arthur Bunce (NIU) received a bye
Champ. Round 2 - No. 1 Nick Gwiazdowski (NC State) over Arthur Bunce (NIU) (Fall 1:24)
Cons. Round 2 - Chris Johnson (SIUE) won by decision over Arthur Bunce (NIU) (Dec 7-1)

285 - Jake Cochrane
Champ. Round 1 - Jake Cochrane (NIU) received a bye
Champ. Round 2 - No. 18 Tanner Hall (Arizona State) over Jake Cochrane (NIU) (Maj 10-2)
Cons. Round 2 - Jake Cochrane (NIU) received a bye
Cons. Round 3 - Duece Rachal (Illinois) over Jake Cochrane (NIU) (Fall 0:55)

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