EVANSTON, Ill. – The University at Buffalo wrestling team had six wrestlers competing at the 54th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships at Northwestern University on Saturday. The Midlands Championships feature one of the season’s best fields with 13 of the Top 25 teams. Individually, the tournament includes 71 ranked wrestlers, 38 of whom are in the top 10 of their weight classes.
Bryan Lantry (133) continued his strong campaign by advancing to the quarterfinals after earning a major decision over Purdue’s Cody Pae, beating Iowa’s Phillip Laux, 3-2, and pinning 8th-seeded Corey Keener of Central Michigan in the third period. He lost his quarterfinal bout to top-seeded Zane Richards of Illinois, 7-3, but will wrestle in the consolation bracket tomorrow.
The Bulls had a pair of wrestlers in action at 125 in Justin Patrick and Kyle Akins. Patrick rebounded after losing to top-seeded Thomas Gilman of Iowa in the first round by earning an 11-9 decision over Maryland’s Michael Beck and a 3-2 decision over Travis Piotrowski of Illinois. He followed that up with a first-period pin of Anthony Rubinetti of Northwestern. Patrick will wrestle again tomorrow.
Akins won his first match of the day by beating Johnson Mai of Columbia, 3-1. After losing to Central Michigan’s Brent Fleetwood in the next round, he rebounded to earn a 9-4 decision over Kegan Calkins of Oregon State. In his final match, he dropped a major decision to Paul Bianchi of North Dakota State.
Nate Rose represented the Bulls at 197. The redshirt-freshman got off to a great start by earning a major decision victory over Illinois’ Andre Lee in the first round. After dropping a major decision to top-seeded Nate Rotert of South Dakota, Rose bounced back to earn a 3-2 decision over Northwestern’s Regis Durbin. Rose’s day ended when he dropped a decision to 9th-seeded Matt Williams of Cal State Bakersfield.
Both Jake Gunning and Nolan Terrance wrestled for the Bulls in the heavyweight bracket and both went 1-2 on the day. Gunning won his first match over David Jensen of Nebraska, before losing decisions to Iowa’s Samuel Stoll and Central Michigan’s Newton Smerchek.
Terrence lost his first match, but came back to earn a 3-2 decision over Purdue’s Jacob Aven in his next match. Terrence’s day ended with a close 2-1 decision to Nebraska’s David Jensen.
Lantry and Patrick will be in action again tomorrow in the consolation bracket. Lantry will face Eli Stickley of Wisconsin and Patrick will battle Oklahoma’s Christian Moody.
from UBBulls.com via IFTTT
