Takedown Report

Iowa breaks Midlands scoring record, Gross avenges loss to DeSanto

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Top-ranked Iowa capped off a dominant performance at the 57th Midlands Championships on Monday by crowning five champions and 12 placewinners en route to breaking the all-time tournament scoring record.
The Hawkeyes finished with 196.5 points, 95.5 points ahead of runner-up Northern Iowa. Illinois finished in third place with 94.5 points. Wisconsin (93) and Princeton (84.5) rounded out the top five teams Iowa’s Max Murin opened the finals with a 5-3 victory over Campbell’s Josh Heil at 141 pounds. Pat Lugo (149), Kaleb Young (157) and Alex Marinelli (165) followed up with titles. Tony Cassioppi gave Iowa its fifth champion as he defeated Matt Stencel, 5-1, at heavyweight. For Marinelli, it was his third Midlands title. He earned the Champion of Champions Award and won awards for most falls (4) and highest tournament point total (29).
The main event match between Wisconsin’s Seth Gross and Iowa’s Austin DeSanto at 133 pounds lived up to the hype. It was an action-packed match filled with scrambles. Gross used an early cradle to go up 4-1 after the opening period. DeSanto picked up an escape in the second period and cut the deficit to 4-2 after the second. Gross, though, had over a minute of riding time. Gross started the third period on bottom. DeSanto was able to erase riding time before Gross picked up an escape to make the score 5-2. DeSanto immediately fired off a shot and secured a takedown to make the score 5-4 in favor of Gross. Gross escaped to make it 6-4. DeSanto continued to press forward and earned a point off a stall call to make it 6-5 with a little over a minute remaining. Gross was able to hold off DeSanto in the final minute and claim the victory. Rest of the story at https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/22793?fbclid=IwAR1OBbOYslcZ6_8EF6Aq3Xah4Ak2q_qPvdF35lAjc2UL-XNWoeO38Fkr22Y

January 2, 2020 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized