EVANSTON, Ill. — Backed by four individual champions, a runner-up and four third-place finishes, the top-ranked Iowa wrestling team won its record 24th Midlands Championships team title on Tuesday night.
The Hawkeyes scored a tournament-record 189 points to win the 52nd annual Midlands Championships. That bested Iowa’s previous best and record 187.5 points it scored in 2013. Illinois finished a distant second with 130.5, while Northwestern (106), Edinboro (101) and Virginia Tech (99.5) rounded out the top five.
Iowa crowned four individual champions — Cory Clark, Mike Evans, Nathan Burak and Bobby Telford — for the first time since 2007 when Joe Slaton, Dan LeClere, Mark Perry and Brent Metcalf all earned first-place finishes.
Clark was seeded third at 133 but advanced to his first championship match in three tries and won 4-2 over fourth-seeded Zane Richards of Illinois. He previously collected a fourth-place finish in 2012 and a sixth-place finish in 2013. He improves his overall record to 14-0 on the season.
“It felt good to have a first-place performance instead of a sixth and previous year fourth, so it’s a big jump for me, especially going up a weight,” Clark said. “At the same time, all this tournament is for me is a learning experience and I’ve learned a lot.”
It was the second Midlands title for Evans. He defended his 174-pound title following a 2-1 victory over second-seeded Zac Bruson of Illinois. Evans is the first repeat winner at Iowa since Metcalf won three straight titles from 2007-2009.
Burak won the 197-pound title despite wrestling unattached. He came in seeded first and claimed his first Midlands crown after dispatching of sixth-seeded Timmy McCall, 4-3, in the finals. Burak scored a takedown in the final seconds to grab the win and his all-time Midlands record is now 10-1.
Telford finished off the record-setting night with a win over top-seeded Mike McMullan of Northwestern. The second-seeded Telford won 4-2 to improve upon his 2011 and 2013 runner-up tallies.
“It’s a big win,” Telford said. “I’ve been in this situation three times, I’ve gotten second twice and that kind of lingers with a guy. It was my last chance at it and it was my last chance to get the feather in my hat with a Midlands championship.”
Thomas Gilman also was second at 125 for the Hawkeyes. Gilman won the 125-pound title last year but struggled to score against Virginia Tech’s Joey Dance and lost 3-1 in the second sudden victory period. It was the first loss for Gilman, who is now 14-1 on the season.
The third-place finishers for Iowa included sixth-seeded Brandon Sorenson at 149, fifth-seeded Michael Kelly at 157, 10th-seeded Alex Meyer at 174 and third-seeded Sammy Brooks at 184.
Josh Dziewa (141) and Nick Moore (165) also collected fourth-place finishes at their respective weight classes, but both were upset by lower seeded wrestlers in their third-place matches.
Iowa returns to action on Friday at Rutgers. The dual is set to begin at 7 p.m. and will be televised on BTN. The Hawkeyes then travel to Ohio State to compete at 1 p.m. Sunday.