The 47th Midlands Championships will start today at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. If you have never been to a Midlands, you should plan on making the tournament next year. It is an incredible show with a ton of great competition.
The Midlands is “Where the Elite Meet to Compete.” There have been a ton of Olympic team members and champions wrestle in this tournament, including Dan Gable, Cael Sanderson, Cary Kolat (who competed while in high school), the Brands. This year, it is rumored that Jake Deitchler will make his first appearance of the season (he has been out with an injury).
Tennessee will be represented by the entire UTC team, and also Nick Marable from University of Missouri. Marable has been on a tear this season and is seeded 4th in the tournament at 165. Jake Young, from UTC, is seeded 9th at 174. He has been having a great season so far, with only 2 losses. One of those was apparently a 2-point loss to last years NCAA runner up Mike Miller of Central Michigan.
I am heading up there tomorrow to catch the semifinals and the finals. Here is the official Midlands Championship site, which includes schedule, seeding, and results.
For those of you who followed the life of Adam Frey for the last couple years, I have some sad news. Adam lost his 21-month battle with cancer. He was 23 years old. I have followed his story since watching him win the senior nationals in 2005. He fought hard, keeping a blog of his struggle at http://adamfrey.us.
Pope High School, located in Marietta, Georgia, locked up the 2009 McCallie Invitational title with a total of 285 points, more than 85 points more than the second place team, Father Ryan, who finished a strong tournament with 197 points.
Some other teams, along with Pope, brought in some out of state talent. At 140, Ryan Maus from Kennesaw High School first majored 2x State Champion Stuart Doster of Baylor in the semis, then went on to beat State Champion Michael Hooker from McCallie 6-1 in the finals. 3x Champ TJ Duncan from McCallie fought off numerous takedown attempts by Kennesaw’s other finalist Johnathan Rivera to pull off a 3-2 win at 152.
For those of you who followed the life of Adam Frey for the last couple years, I have some sad news. Adam lost his 21-month battle with cancer. He was 23 years old. I have followed his story since watching him win the senior nationals in 2005. He fought hard, keeping a blog of his struggle at 
