Two Panthers are vying for their first Midlands Championship wrestling titles, and five others are still in the hunt for third place after the first day of competition. The team is tied with Wisconsin for sixth place. The Panthers finished 13th last year with two medalists.
CONTENDERS FOR FIRST
  • 133 pounds – No. 7 Joe Colon (seeded fourth)
  • 165 pounds – No. 14 Cooper Moore (seeded fifth)
VYING FOR THIRD PLACE
  • 125 pounds – No. 7 Dylan Peters (seeded fifth)
  • 133 pounds – Levi Wolfensperger
  • 165 pounds – Curt Maas
  • 197 pounds – Basil Minto (seeded 12th)
  • 285 pounds – Blaize Cabell
FIRST DAY OF COMPETITION
No. 7 Joe Colon (133 pounds) entered the prestigious tournament seeded fourth and fended off fifth seed No. 8 Tyler Graff. Colon beat Graff of Wisconsin in a 6-0 decision at the Panthers’ first home dual of the season. Colon faces nationally top-ranked A.J. Schopp of Edinboro next in the semifinals.
Redshirt freshman Cooper Moore knocked off fourth-seeded No. 10 Jackson Morse of Illinois in a 5-2 decision to advance to the semifinals in the 165-pound weight class. Moore will have the chance to avenge a loss to No. 5 Steven Monk of North Dakota State. Moore beat Monk early in the season, earning a spot in the national rankings. However, Monk beat Moore in overtime in their next meeting.
The Panthers have two wrestlers in contention for a medal in the 133-pound and 165-pound weight classes. Levi Wolfensperger lost his first match of the tournament to No. 4 Mason Beckman of Lehigh, but he bounced back to win the next three and remain in the hunt for third place. Wolfensperger faces No. 10 Devon Lotito of Lehigh in the first round tomorrow. Curt Maas (165 pounds) lost his first match, but came back with his first pin of the season and will go on to face No. 13 Pierce Harger of Northwestern.
Dylan Peters (125 pounds) fell to a familiar foe, Thomas Gilman of Iowa. Gilman handed Peters three of his five losses last year when Peters wrestled unattached. Peters’ first match tomorrow will be against Kory Mines of Edinboro.
Basil Minto earned the Panthers’ fastest fall of the day, pinning Matt Idelson of Columbia in 45 seconds. No. 16 Alex Polizzi of Northwestern ended his run for the title, winning with a 7-3 decision.
At heavyweight, Blaize Cabell beat Division III’s top-ranked wrestler, but was bumped to the consolation rounds by Ernest James of Edinboro in a 6-4 decision won in overtime.
At 149 pounds, Tyler Patten started the day knocking off the Colin Shober of Northwestern, who was seeded 12th. However, Patten lost the next two to be eliminated from the tournament.
No. 14 Joey Lazor made an early exit at the tournament, which he took seventh at last year. He lost his first match in a 5-3 decision against Brandon Wright of Grand View and forfeited his second match of the day to bow out of the tourney.
MONDAY’S SCHEDULE
Wrestling will resume at noon Monday. The finals will televised live on the Big Ten Network at 8 p.m. CT Monday.
RESULTS FROM DAY 1 - InterMat rankings:
125 – NO. 7 DYLAN PETERS (1-1)
  • Peters tech fall Mike Fuenffinger (Augsburg), 19-3 (6:34)
  • Thomas Gilman (Iowa) dec. Peters, 6-3
  • UP NEXT: Kory Mines (Edinboro)
133 – NO. 7 JOE COLON (3-0)
  • Colon maj. dec. Nick Smith (Northern Illinois), 17-5
  • Colon dec. Erik Spjut (Virginia Tech), 6-2
  • Colon dec. No. 8 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin) 6-3
  • UP NEXT: No. 1 A.J. Schopp (Edinboro)
133 – LEVI WOLFENSPERGER (3-1)
  • Mason Beckman (Lehigh) tech fall Wolfensperger, 15-0 (6:10)
  • Wolfensperger dec. Martin Ramirez (Adams State), 11-7
  • Wolfensperger maj. dec. Vince Rodriguez (George Mason), 18-10
  • Wolfensperger dec. Dennis Gustafason (Virginia Tech), 8-6
  • NEXT UP: No. 10 Devon Lotito (Cal Poly)
141 – NO. 14 JOEY LAZOR (0-1)
  • Brandon Wright (Grand View) dec. Lazor, 5-3
149 – TYLER PATTEN (1-2)
  • Patten dec. Colin Shober (Northwestern), 9-3
  • No. 13 Eric Grajales (Michigan) pins Patten, 1:35
  • Frank Goodwin (Maryland) maj. dec. Patten, 11-2
149 – GUNNAR WOLFENSPERGER (0-2)
  • Mike Kelly (Iowa) dec. Wolfensperger, 5-1
  • Connor Sutton (Columbia) pins Wolfensperger, 4:46
157 – ZACH WITTE (0-2)
  • Justin Staudenmayer (Brown) dec. Witte, 3-1
  • Seth Hazleton (Princeton) dec. Witte, 6-5
165 – NO. 14 COOPER MOORE (3-0)
  • Moore dec. Nick Wanzek (Minnesota), 8-2
  • Moore tech fall Chad Welch (Purdue), 15-0
  • Moore dec. No. 10 Jackson Morse (Illinois), 5-2
  • NEXT UP: No. 5 Steven Monk (North Dakota State)
165 – CURT MAAS (2-1)
  • Ramon Santiago (Rider) maj. dec. Curt Maas, 13-2
  • Maas pins Chad Welch (Purdue), 1:15
  • Maas dec. Zach Towers (Edinboro), 7-0
  • NEXT UP: No. 13 Pierce Harger (Northwestern) – seeded 7th
174 – NO. 18 CODY CALDWELL (1-2)
  • Caldwell dec. Conor Brennan (Rider), 5-3
  • Zach Epperly (Virginia Tech) dec. Caldwell, 9-4
  • Alex Meyer (Iowa) dec. Caldwell, 9-4
184 – KYLE LUX (0-2)
  • Nate Brown (Lehigh) tech. fall Lux, 15-0 (5:05)
  • Jeff Koepke (Illinois) tech. fall Lux, 16-1 (2:24)
197 – BASIL MINTO (3-1)
  • Minto pins Matt Idelson (Columbia), 0:45
  • No. 16 Alex Polizzi (Northwestern) dec. Minto, 7-3
  • Minto dec. Shane Siefert (UW-Whitewater), 8-3
  • Minto dec. Charles Johnson (Southern Oregon), 9-3
  • NEXT UP: Donald McNeil (Rider) – seeded 10th
197 – JARED BARTEL (0-2)
  • Abe Ayala (Princeton) dec. Bartel, 3-1
  • Charles Johnson (Southern Oregon) pins Bartel, 4:07
285 – BLAIZE CABELL (3-1)
  • Cabell dec. No. 1 (Division III) Chad Johnson (Augsburg), 3-2
  • Ernest James (Edinboro) dec. Cabell, 6-4 SV1
  • Cabell dec. Spencer Empey (Cal Poly), 5-2
  • Cabell dec. Doug Vollaro (Lehigh), 7-5 SV1
  • NEXT UP: Adam Fager (Utah Valley) – seeded 8th
285 – CODY KRUMWEIDE (2-2)
  • Krumweide dec. Jake Kettler (George Mason), 5-2
  • No. 1 Bobby Telford (Iowa), maj. dec. Krumweide, 10-2
  • Krumweide pins Greg Velasco (Rider), 5:47
  • Ty Walz (Virginia Tech) dec. Krumweide, 9-2
TOP 10 SCHOOLS
1. Iowa, 112
2. Illinois, 57
3. Edinboro, 52
4. Maryland, 46.5
5. Michigan, 44
6. Northern Iowa, 39
Wisconsin, 39
8. Columbia, 36.5
9. Purdue, 36.5
10. Northwestern, 34

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