HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Five Campbell wrestlers will advance to day two at the 57th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships after Sunday’s action at Sears Centre Arena.
No. 10 Josh Heil at 141 pounds and No. 12 Andrew Morgan at 184 pounds both advanced to Monday’s semifinal round, while No. 19 Quentin Perez (165), No. 10 Noah Gonser (133) and No. 13 Jere Heino (285) will all take part in the consolation rounds.
Heil secured his place in Monday’s semifinals with a 2-1 overtime win over American’s Salvatore Profaci. The redshirt junior will take on No. 8 Tristan Moran of Wisconsin in session three. Heil started the day by pinning Nathan Swartz of Northern Illinois (3:46), then earned a 13-4 major decision over Princeton’s Marshall Keller. The redshirt junior also defeated Iowa’s Carter Happel 3-1 in extra time.
Morgan’s 5-3 victory over No. 13 Noah Stewart of Army West Point moved the 184-pound redshirt senior to Monday’s semis, where he’ll face No. 4 Taylor Lujan of Northern Iowa. Morgan started the day with a 6-1 decision over Joey Mazzarra of North Carolina, then topped Jack Jessen of Northwestern with an 11-3 major decision. Morgan placed fourth at 174 pounds in last year’s Midlands Championships.
Perez, who outscored his opponents 41-9 heading into Sunday’s quarterfinals, took No. 3 Evan Wick of Wisconsin to extra time, but fell to the two-time All-American, 4-2. Perez advanced to the quarterfinals with a tech fall win over Princeton’s Grant Cuomo, a 19-0 shutout. He opened the day with a 22-9 major decision over Northern Iowa’s Pat Scheonfelder. Perez will take on No. 20 Kennedy Monday of North Carolina in his next bout.
Gonser, a 2018 Midlands finalist, opened the day with a pin over Jonathan Moran of Indiana (1:19), and defeated Army West Point’s Lane Peters with a 5-3 decision. He suffered his first loss of the tournament to No. 9 Travis Piotrowski of Illinois, 5-3, and will face Harvard’s Michael Jaffe in Monday’s consolation round.
At heavyweight, Heino opened the day with a 3-1 overtime win over Vincenzo Pelusi of Franklin & Marshall before edging Iowa’s Aaron Costello 3-2. No. 15 Carter Isley of Northern Iowa, however, handed the CU redshirt senior an 8-3 setback in the quarterfinal round, his first tournament loss of the season. Heino, who placed sixth at last season’s Midlands, will face No. 12 Josh Hokit of Fresno State in his next match.
Campbell stands 13th in the team standings with 32.5 points, despite not fielding a wrestler at 157, 174 or 197. No. 1 Iowa leads the team race with 115.5 points.
Monday’s action for the 2019 Midlands Championships will again be carried with live video via FloWrestling, and follow live results at FloArena.
Following the Midlands Championships, the Camels will begin 2020 at the David H. Lehman Franklin & Marshall Open on January 4.