The 55th Midlands are here and we are bringing them to you LIVE! Follow along with updates here or watch them yourselves LIVE ON FLO. And yes, we will have FloZone!

We're about 10 minutes away from first whistle. The tension is palpable! 

And we're off! NCAA runner-up Seth Gross going to work on Lehigh's unattached Dan Moran on mat 4. Iowa's Max Murin on mat 10. Northwestern's Sebastian Rivera on mat 2. Rutger's bloodrounder Scott DelVecchio has Maryland's Bertoni first on mat 7. #1 seed Mason Smith has WVU's tough Chris Monserrat on mat 8. 

We'll catch up with results when more have accumulated. In the meantime it's all about mat assignments. Steve Bleise returns to action on Mat 9. Iowa's Vince Turk takes on Harvard AJ Jaffe on mat 5. Another Scarlet Knight (there are a lot of them in Chicagoland right now) Eleazar Deluca is taking on Michigan's Meisinger on mat 10.  #3 seed at 141 Cole Weaver on mat 4.

We are up to the 149 Pound pigtails (of which there are scads, 149 is the largest bracket). Baby J Bannister, fresh off his Wilkes Open title is up on mat 8 versus Jakob Bergeland. Freestyle world team member Brandon Wright is wrestling as a post grad against Penn's Joe Oliva on mat 5. Princeton's AA Matt Kolodzik is already up 4-1 on Evan DeLuise mat 6. 

I am contractually obligated to mention Lehigh's Jimmy Hoffman on mat 2, since wrestling is taking place in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. 

Ryan Freakin Deakin has toed the line of mat 10. NCAA champ Jason Tsirtsis is at the other end of the arena on Mat 1. UNC's true frosh Austin O'Connor has Northwestern's Eric Yang on Mat 3, and Sun Devil Josh Maruca "Salt" has Austin Nash "Bridges" on Mat 9. 

ODU's NCAA qualifier Seldon Wright is wrestling on mat 4, so we're up to 174 pound pigtails already. Iowa's third place finisher Michael Kemerer -- and guy on the big photo for this article -- is up against Arizona State's national qualifier Oliver Pierce on Mat 8. New Hawkeye Pat Lugo is wrestling unattached on Mat 7. #7 nationally Josh Shields is now up on Mat 8.

Round of 64 time! NCAA runner up Zeke Moisey faces off against Drew Hildebrandt on Mat 2! And one of the last of the pigtails, Matt Correntti and Trent Hillger at 285 on mat 4. Also better tune in quick to Mat 9 if you want to catch AZ St's Tanner Hall before his match is over. 

Sebastian Rivera up again already on mat 8! Ten mats makes for a speedy tournament! SURIANO ALERT. MAT 10.

#17 Travis Piotrowski is up on Mat 2. SD State's Seth Gross back up on Mat 9. Sun Devil All-American Ryan Millhof has the tough Devin Schroder on Mat 7. 

SPENCER LEE ALERT. MAT 10 RIGHT MEOW. 

Welp Lee pinned. For another good 125 pound match, check out mat 6 for Brandon Cray and Sean Russell. Another Arizona State wrestler (there are a lot of them here in Sears Centre Arena) Ali Naser is up on Mat 1. Two quality 133 pounders in a great R64 match on Mat 2, Noah Gonser and Dylan Duncan. Duncan is ranked #20 and Gonser is right on the bubble and a finalist at the Keystone Classic. 

#19 Bryan Lantry wrestling for Buffalo now on Mat 6. #18 Ryan Diehl coming up soon on Mat 9 as we move up to 141 round of 64. #1 seed Mason Smith of the Central Michigan Chippewas going at it with Nicholas Villarreal on Mat 2. Two top 20 bubble guys on deck for a solid R64 match at 141 on Mat 3 with Nate Limmex and Jack Hathaway.

Top seed Brandon Sorensen scheduled for his first 2017 Midlands match on Mat 10, after Tyler Smith and Chris Poland finish their match. Scott DelVecchio with his second match of the day coming up on Mat 7. Vince Turk is up on Mat 1, followed by an Eleazer Deluca match.

Want a peak at Northwestern's redshirting true freshman Yahya Thomas? He's on Mat 2 right now. Matt Kolodzik has his second match of the day after Pomrinca and Stickley wrestle on Mat 6. After Limmex/Hathaway is another opportunity to see Brandon Wright on Mat 3. Tsirtsis coming up on deck Mat 8. And a solid bout it slated next for Mat 5 with NCAA qualifier Hunter Ladnier vs Austin O'Conner.

After you enjoy Brandon Wright vs Jaren Glosser on Mat 3, stay for Michael Kemerer vs Dylan Geick. Pat Lugo on deck Mat 4. Ryan Deakin on deck Mat 10. Check that, up now on Mat 10.

Richie Lewis sighting! He'll be up against Bye. That's Brett Bye, from South Dakota State, on Mat 3. And the first Valencia match of the day will take place on 6. It will be Anthony. Zahid will wrestle on Mat 8.

#14 CJ Brucki will wrestle on Mat 7 next. #9 David Kocer will be next on Mat 9. Two NCAA qualifiers, Joey Gunther and Jordan Pagano will wrestle after Zahid on Mat 8.

The #15 wrestler in the nation at 174 pounds, Dylan Lydy will wrestle Zach Ancewicz on Mat 4 next. Big Penn recruit Khamari Whimper will wrestle the 10 seed Devin Skatzka on Mat 6. The highly touted redshirt freshman from Nebraska Mike LaBriola will wrestle soon on Mat 7.

Post grad and number one seed at 184 Nate Jackson is wrestling Spencer Irick on Mat 1. The #6 197 pounder Nate Rotert is on deck Mat 9. After that will be Iowa's unattached Jacob Warner, also on Mat 9. Edinboro redshirt Dakota Geer now up in Mat 3, followed by #11 Nick Gravina. #15 at 197 Frank Mattiace will wrestle Dustin Conti next on Mat 10.

Hawkeye round of 12 finisher Cash Wilcke is on deck Mat 1 against Anthony Messner, one of the many Rutgers Anthonies. Tanner Hall will wrestle his second match of the day on Mat 8 against Spencer Empey. WVU's Jake Smith up against Northwestern's Zach Chakois on Mat 1 right now. 

Approaching the last of the round of 64. #6 Amar Dhesi on deck Mat 7. Sam Stoll will stroll out to Mat 3 next. Matt Correnti and Tyler Hall wrestling on Mat 5 now.

Looks like the #2 seed at 141 Eli Stickley of Wisconsin is out next round with a medical forfeit. Princeton's Pat D'Arcy on to the round of 16.

Round of 32 Matchups

125

Suriano v Stickley; Moisey v Gromacki; Rivera v Jimenez; McGee v Schroder

Bresser v Hellickson; Hudkins v Wlech; Piotrowski v Lee; Akins v Russell

133

Gross v Pepple; Simmons v Naser; Glynn v Lantz; Richardson v Duncan

Myers v Konrath; Simon v Lantry;  Phillippi v Laux; Valdivez v DelVecchio

141

Smith v Carr; Murin v Schilling; Lizak v Happel; Pohlmeyer v Smith

Weaver v Turk; Van Brill v Thomas; Martin v Limmex; D'Arcy v Stickley

149

Sorensen v Budock; Bleise v DeLuca; Tsirtsis v Barone; O'Conner v Glosser

Kolodzik v Fedelbus; Bannister v Deakin; Maruca v Lugo; Cortez v Oliver

157

Kemerer v Donner; Danishek v Willits; Staudenmeyer v Laster; Velliquette v Parriott

Zilverberg v Weber; D'Angelo v Early; Van Brill v Crone; Holmes v Shields

165

Valencia v Hoehn; Morrissey v Young; Schleifer v Peterson; Bearse v Bethea

Lewis v Carson; Carr v Parks; Viruet v Burnham; Blankenship v Marinelli

174

Valencia v Gancayco; Morland v Johnson; Brucki v Pedro; Sutton v Wright

Kocer v Terry; Pagano v Sebastian; Lydy v Skatzka; Ugalde v LaBriola

184

Jackson v Movahedi; Geer v Bonaccorsi; LaFragola v Bowman; Ayers v Ellingwood

Parker v Lyon; MacCallum v Parker; Ammerman v Mueller; Bulsak v Gravina

197

Rotert v Durbin; Lane v Brunner; Mattiace v Schuyler; Mulligan v Reinhardt

Wilcke v Gentile; Brucki v Atienza; Warner v Striggow; Belshay v Smith

285

Hall v Markulec; Streck v Gunning; Miller v Correntti; Grayson v Hemida

Dhesi v Stone; Gossett v Jennings; Butterbrodt v Parker; Garren v Stoll

That'll do it for the pigtails and round of 64! Sorry for the typos and see you soon for the round of 32!