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The 45th Midlands Championships are in the books and the Iowa Hawkeyes won the team title with 185 points and four champions. The long odyssey of the “Super Sophomores” (Thank you, Jon Miller of HawkeyeNation Magazine, for coining the term.) is beginning to pay off both for them and for the team. The three young men who followed coach Tom Brands from Linn County, Iowa to Blacksburg, VA and then back to Iowa City (Joe Slaton, Cedar Rapids Kennedy HS; Dan LeClere, North Linn HS and Jay Borschel, Linn-Mar HS) all wrestled better than anticipated by the seeding committee. Slaton and LeClere won championships and Borschel lost in the finals to nationally number-one ranked Keith Gavin of Pitt. The fourth “super soph”, Brent Metcalf, who prepped at Davison, MI HS, was unbelievably dominating in his finals match.

But – it was Mark Perry who stole the show. The senior from Stillwater, OK, by way of New Jersey’s Blair Academy, pinned his first four opponents and defeated Iowa State’s Jon Reader in the championship bout 8-0. The finals match wasn’t even as close as that score might indicate. Perry amassed almost six minutes of riding time. For his performance, Mark was awarded the Outstanding Wrestler trophy.

Here are Mark’s last three matches.

Quarter-finals against Smith-Bergsrud of Illinois

http://www.flocasts.org/flowrestling...=38625&id=6987

Semi-finals against Dominic Marella of Northwestern (Don’t blink.)

http://www.flocasts.org/flowrestling...=38625&id=7034

Finals against Jonathon Reader of Iowa State

http://www.flocasts.org/flowrestling...=38625&id=7055

The Southern Scuffle

The other major tournament of the weekend was the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, NC. Minnesota won the team race by 50+ points over Edinboro. Hofstra and Cornell University finished third and fourth, respectively. The Golden Gophers crowned four champions, including sophomore 125-pounder Jayson Ness, who pinned his way through the tournament.

The tournament was filled with surprises on the individual level. North Carolina State’s exciting Darrion Caldwell was pinned twice and two former NCAA champions were upset in the finals. C.P. Schlatter of Minnesota defeated 2007 149-pound champion, Gregor Gillespie (Edinboro) 5-2 for the 157-pound championship and Mike Roberts of Boston University topped 2006 NCAA 149-pound champ, Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota 3-2. Roberts was named Outstanding Wrestler for his efforts.

Midlands Coverage

This year saw several innovations in the media coverage of the Midlands Championships. The fledgling Big Ten Network broadcast the finals live. This would be even bigger news if the BTN would come to agreements with most of the major cable providers in Big Ten markets.

Fans had multiple streaming audio choices, including TakeDown Radio and KCJJ-AM in Coralville (for Iowa fans). Fan forum site, HawkeyeNation, also provided timely matside audio reports.

Martin Floreani of flowrestling continues to elevate the level of wrestling coverage. Martin videotaped and posted dozens of Midlands matches on his website (http://www.flocasts.org/flowrestling/index.php). He had finals matches posted just minutes after completion.

It is exciting to see all of these efforts to increase the exposure of wrestling.

Iowa vs. Oklahoma State

The next chapter of the heated rivalry between the two most legendary collegiate wrestling programs in America will take place Saturday night at Carver Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. It is likely to be viewed by the largest crowd to attend any wrestling dual meet this year.

If you have any opportunity whatsoever to attend this meet, please do so. The wrestling will be exciting and the atmosphere electric. If you are a wrestling fan and have never been to a “rivalry” dual in Carver, you have no idea what you’re missing. It is what all wrestling events should strive to be.

A Follow Up From Last Week

In last week’s blog (“Tis better to give than receive”) I asked readers to pass along information on any other wrestling-related organizations that could use your support.

A reader in Massachusetts sent this story about the Josiah Quincy Upper School in Boston:
http://www.boston.com/sports/schools...--+Sports+News

A reader in New York has found an organization in Los Angeles that is similar in philosophy to Beat the Streets:

http://www.blackmatmma.org/

Finally, Chris Hubbard from Mississippi sent this:

“Regarding worthy causes, I've got one for you: Mississippi Wrestling. For those of you that do not know, wrestling in Mississippi is essentially non-existent. While there are many high schools that are interested in starting teams, there are only two active high school teams and one active club in the entire state.

Being that Mississippi is not the wealthiest state in the union, our main problem is the cost of mats. If I could find some used mats for a good price (or a very wealthy and generous individual who loves wrestling), we might be able to get the jumpstart that we need to bring wrestling to Mississippi. If you have any desire to help, in any way, please, contact me (hubbacm@gmail.com). Thank you.”

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...ndID=190150038