Top 5 Storylines At The 2022 Midlands Championships
Top 5 Storylines At The 2022 Midlands Championships
A breakdown of the top matchups and storylines at the 2022 Midlands Championships on December 29-30.
After a two-year hiatus, the Midlands Championships returns on December 29-30 and will feature many of the top wrestlers in the country. This event will be streamed live on BTN+ but you can check out a breakdown of the top storylines heading into this tournament in the below article.
Endless Stories To Follow At 125
Princeton’s Pat Glory is the returning NCAA runner-up and the clear #2 at 125 pounds behind Spencer Lee. Glory is currently 6-0 on the season, but has had close matches against both of Rutgers’ 125-pounders - Dylan Shawver (11-9) and Dean Peterson (4-1 and 6-5). Glory will be the favorite to stand atop the podium at Midlands but will be tested by a deep field.
Past All-Americans Brandon Courtney (Arizona State), Eric Barnett (Wisconsin), and Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) and are interesting challengers to watch in the 125-pound bracket. Glory is 1-0 against Courtney but has notably never wrestled Cardinale or Barnett. It’s also worth noting that Cardinale and Courtney have yet to wrestle a match on the season and are set to make their season debut at Midlands.
Then there are notable roster battles that could be decided at Midlands at 125 for Arizona State and Rutgers. As mentioned, Shawver and Peterson have both given Glory tough matches this year and look to be All-American contenders. For Arizona State, Richard Figueroa has performed incredibly well filling in for two-time All-American Brandon Courtney. Figueroa is currently ranked #7 in the country after winning the CKLV at the beginning of December and compiling a 10-0 record on the season. Could Figueroa overtake Courtney as the starter for the Sun Devils? Their performance at Midlands will tell us a lot about what we can expect for the rest of the season.
133 Is Deep
There are a potential 4 past All-Americans in the 133-pound bracket at Midlands - #5 Michael McGee (Arizona State), #4 Lucas Byrd (Illinois), #10 Chris Cannon (Northwestern), and #21 Taylor LaMont (Wisconsin). On top of those four, Joe Heilmann (Rutgers) and Michael Colaiocco (Penn) add depth to an already incredible weight.
Lucas Byrd and Michael McGee are the clear favorites of the above-mentioned wrestlers. Byrd and McGee have only wrestled twice in their college careers and have split matches - McGee won at 2021 NCAAs but Byrd won their most recent match at the 2022 NWCA All-Star Classic. On top of the recent win over McGee, Byrd is undefeated against the other ranked wrestlers in the field - 4-0 against Cannon and 1-0 against both Heilmann and Colaiocco. McGee has wins over both Colaiocco (7-5) and Heilmann (11-3) this year but was pinned by Chris Cannon the only time the two wrestled back at the 2021 NCAA tournament.
Lucas Byrd's win over Michael McGee at the NWCA All-Star Classic:
Will The Chaos Continue At 149?
149 has been one of the most unpredictable weights in the country this year with zero undefeated wrestlers in the top 10. The chaos started the opening weekend of the year with Iowa State freshman Paniro Johnson upsetting Austin Gomez. Then two weeks later, Gomez handed 3-time NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis his first loss in almost 4 years. Yianni and Paniro won’t be in the 149-pound field at Midlands but with #2 Austin Gomez (Wisconsin), #5 Kyle Parco (Arizona State), #7 Yahya Thomas (Northwestern), #10 Doug Zapf (Penn), and returning NCAA runner-up Ridge Lovett in the field we could see further madness go down at 149.
Lovett is currently redshirting this year but defeated Bryce Andonian and Tariq Wilson last year on his way to making the NCAA finals. It will be fascinating to watch Ridge Lovett back in action against the top guys at this weight.
Austin Gomez has to be the favorite of to come out on top Midlands. On top of his win over Yianni this year, he has past wins over Doug Zapf (9-4 this year), Yahya Thomas (8-6 last year), and Ridge Lovett (4-2 and pin last year). Gomez is a "can't miss" wrestler and is able to light up the scoreboard with big moves resulting in big points.
The other top 3 wrestlers have never met in their college careers making this bracket even more intriguing. How does a match between Parco and Thomas look? Will Zapf continue to move up the rankings and cement himself as a top 8 guy? Will a wrestler outside the top 10 disrupt this weight even more? These are the all-important questions we’ll have answers to heading into the new year after Midlands!
An All-Access Look at Austin Gomez's incredible come-from-behind victory over Sammy Sasso:
Potential Hamiti vs Hall Rematch At 165
All-Americans Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) and Peyton Hall (West Virginia) met last year in consolation rounds in one of the most exciting matches of the entire 2022 NCAA tournament. Hamiti came out on top of that match, 10-6, and we could see a rematch in the 2022 Midland finals with Hamiti and Hall as the highest-ranked wrestlers in the 165-pound bracket.
Highlights of Hamiti's wild win over Peyton Hall at last year's NCAA tournament:
Hamiti and Hall are the favorites, but they’ll have to get by the rest of the field first. #9 Justin McCoy (Virginia) and #10 Izzak Olejnik (Northern Illinois) are the two most obvious contenders who could throw a wrench into the Hamiti - Hall rematch. McCoy finished 1-match shy of All-American status last year when he lost to Peyton Hall at NCAAs. However, McCoy also defeated Olejnik last year and is currently 6-1 on the year with his only loss coming to pass national champ, Shane Griffith. Olejnik is currently 12-0 on the year with ranked wins over #14 Danny Braunagel and HM Enrique Munguia.
Can Cohlton Schultz Bounce Back?
Returning NCAA runner-up #4 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) had a slight setback at the CKLV when he lost to AJ Nevills. The Midlands could be the perfect opportunity for him to redeem himself against a tough heavyweight field.
#6 Lucas Davison (Northwestern), #7 Yaraslau Salvikouski (Harvard), and #10 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) are all potential contenders at heavyweight that could challenge Schultz. Of that bunch, Lucas Davison is having the best season this year after coming off a 6th place finish at the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Davison went on to finish second at the CKLV and defeated AJ Nevills in the match after Nevills took out Schultz. Slavikouski finished 3rd at CKLV and also defeated AJ Nevills, Owen Trephan, and Grady Griess in Vegas. On top of that, Slavikouski has a win over Davison from the 2021 CKLV before his season was cut short with an injury.
Lucas Davison's win over AJ Nevills at the 2022 CKLV:
Then there’s two-time All-American Trent Hillger. He may have a loss to Iowa State’s Sam Schuyler on the year, but Hillger has a past college win over Slavikouski (3-0 at the 2019 Midlands). If Hillger is wrestling his best, he can compete with anyone in the country at 285 pounds.
Hillger's win over Slavikouski at the 2019 Midlands:
