Wrestling team tied for 29th-place after first day of 44th Annual Midlands Championships

After the first day of the 44th Annual Midlands Championships, the Olivet College wrestling team stands in a tie for 29th-place (out of 56 schools) and has two wrestlers alive in the brackets. The two-day tournament is being hosted by Northwestern (Ill.) University at the Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Comets were granted five entries for the annual tournament, which attracts the best amateur wrestlers from across the nation.

Olivet has nine points and is second among NCAA Division III schools. The Comets are tied with San Francisco State University. Leading the way are sophomores Jason Brew (Sparta) at 157 pounds and Kyle Vanderhyde (Sparta) at 184 pounds. They will wrestle in the third session tomorrow, which begins at 1 p.m. ET.

Vanderhyde advanced to the quarterfinals of the championship bracket with two wins. After receiving a bye in the first round, he beat Nathan Kmetz from Cleveland State, 13-2. In the third round, Vanderhyde upset Northwestern’s Nick Hayes, 5-3. Hayes was seeded sixth. He dropped into the consolation bracket with a 13-5 loss to No. 3 seed Eric Luedke from Iowa in the quarterfinals.

Brew had a 3-1 record today. After a bye in the first round, he won 9-2 against Matthew Button from Harvard in the second round. Brew dropped a 13-7 decision to No. 7 seed Moza Fay from Northern Iowa in the third round. In the consolation bracket, Brew beat Rob Morrison from Rider, 11-4, and Joe Rujawitz from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 3-1 in overtime.

Junior 184-pounder Daron Cruickshank (Inkster/John Glenn) finished his trip to the Midlands Tournament with a 1-2 record. He had a bye in the first round, beat Upper Iowa’s Phil Brushuk, 9-7, in the second round and fell to No. 1 seed Benjamin Wissel, 17-0, in the third round. Dropping down to the consolation bracket, Cruickshank bowed out of the tournament with an 8-0 loss to Penn’s Colin Hitschler.

Olivet’s other two entries – seniors Ken Andrews (Swartz Creek) at 157 pounds and Jeff Wright (Escanaba) at 197 pounds – were eliminated after losing two matches.

Following tomorrow’s action, the Comets will compete in the Tri-State (Ind.) University Triangular Sunday, Jan. 7, at 11 a.m. The third participating school is Mount Union (Ohio) College.