Wrestling Readies for Midlands Championships

Wrestling at Midlands Championships
Date	Thursday-Friday, Dec. 29-30 \| All Day
Location	Evanston, Ill. \| Welsh-Ryan Arena
Twitter	@EMUWrestling
Results	TrackWrestling
Live Stream	BTN2GO (THURS) (FRI)
TV	Big Ten Network (Finals Only)

EVANSTON, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University wrestling team wraps up its 2016 schedule with a trip to Evanston, Ill. for the 54th annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships. The two-day tournament begins Thursday, Dec. 29 at 10:30 a.m., and runs through Wednesday, Dec. 30, with the Championship bouts taking place at 8 p.m.

Live results of the action can be found at trackwrestling.com or by following @EMUWrestling on Twitter. All bouts will stream live on BTN2GO, while the finals of each weight class will be aired live on Big Ten Network.

FAMILIAR TERRITORY: Tuesday marks the seventh straight year EMU wrestling will participate in the Midlands Championships.

TOP NOTCH FIELD: The Midlands Championships will once again feature some of the top teams in the country. Of the 46 teams, 13 are ranked in the NWCA top-25, including No. 3 Iowa, No. 4 Ohio State, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 9 Lehigh, No. 10 N.C. State, No. 11 Rutgers, No. 12 Illinois, No. 14 Central Michigan, No. 15 Michigan, No. 17 Wisconsin, No. 18 Oklahoma No. 19 Arizona State, and No. 23 Pittsburgh.

EMU LINEUP: Eastern will send 10 wrestlers onto the mats tomorrow, including Armando Torres and Sa'Derian Perry at 133 lbs., Kyle Springer at 141 lbs., Zac Carson and J.J. Wolfe at 157 lbs., Devan Marry and David Kasper at 165 lbs., Derek Hillman and Jared Langley at 197 lbs., and returning placer Gage Hutchison at heavyweight.

SPRINGER NAMED TOP CONTENDER: Each year, the Midlands Championship names its top contenders at each weight class. This season, redshirt junior Kyle Springer was named one of nine top contenders in 2016 at 141 lbs.

ALL-TIME AT MIDLANDS: In the 53-year history of the Midlands Championships, EMU has placed a wrestler 19 times, most recently with Gage Hutchison taking seventh at heavyweight last year. The Eagles have never won a weight class, but they have had runners-up three times, most recently with Mike Feeney, who had a runner-up finish at 174 lbs. in 2000.

THE LAST TIME...: EMU wrapped up its 2015 schedule with a big time performance from redshirt sophomore Gage Hutchison at the 53^rd annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 29-30. The heavyweight grappler took seventh place in his weight class out of 27 total wrestlers.

In all, Eastern sent 10 wrestlers onto the mats over the two days. They racked up 12 total wins to finish in 27^th out of 43, totaling 16.5 points.

UP NEXT ON THE MATS: Eastern rings in the New Year by opening MAC dual action Friday, Jan. 6 when it hosts Ohio University. The dual in the Convocation Aux Gym is set to begin at 7 p.m.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Zac Carson

Derek Hillman

Gage Hutchison

David Kasper

Jared Langley

Devan Marry

Sa'Derian Perry

Kyle Springer

Armando Torres

J.J. Wolfe

Eastern Michigan Athletics