#3 Wrestling set for the Midlands Championships

TEMPE – Well. 3 Sun Devil Wrestling heads to Chicago, Illinois this week for Northwestern’s two-day Ken Kraft Midlands Championship. Wrestling will take place on the 29th-30th. December at NOW Arena for the first time since 2019. Forty-three powerhouse programs, including No. 2 Iowa, No. 4 Iowa State, No. 5 Michigan, No. 11 Wisconsin and No. 13 Northern Iowa will be in attendance. The Sun Devils will travel with 14 wrestlers.

Midlands data

Chicago, Illinois
View(Big Ten Network+)
The center of the tournament
FloWrestlingMidlands preview

ASU travel party:

125: Brandon Courtney, Richard Figueroa, Tristan Mascarenas

133: Michael McGee, Julian Chlebove

141: Jesse Vasquez

149: Kyle Park

157: Max Wilner, Michael Kilic

165: Tony Negron

174: Get Valencia

184: Anthony Montalvo

197: Jonathon Fagen

HWT: Cohlton Schultz

Midlands schedule:
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29

• 9.30 First round (10 mats) (championships 1 and 2, wrestling)
• 19.00 Second round (10 mats) (quarterfinals, wrestling)

FRIDAY DECEMBER 30

• 11:00 a.m. Third set (8 mats) (semi-final, consolation, 7th place match, women’s series begins)
• 18:05 Fourth set (4 mats) (1st, 3rd, 5th place matches men’s and women’s series)
  • The award ceremony ends at 21:00
  • Midlands Hall of Fame induction will take place before the final session

Here’s a gift?? @brandona_makes his season debut this week ?? pic.twitter.com/JM5eKwRLFb

Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) December 26, 2022

Battle at 125

There’s no getting around it – Arizona State’s 125 has been a hot topic for weeks as a three-time All-American and 2021 NCAA runner-up. Brandon Courtney the first five events of the season and Richard Figueroa 10-0 in place of Courtney, including a sweep of the Cliff Keen Invitational and upsets of Matt Ramos (Purdue) and Noah Surtin (Missouri). Courtney will make her debut this week in Chicago, and Figueroa will also be in the tournament. This should be fun.

Light noise

Figueroa is obviously turning heads at 125, but he’s not the only lightweight. Two-time All-American Michael McGee is 9-1 on the year, his only loss coming against Vitali Arujau. McGee has earned bonus points in six matches so far this year (4 MD, 2 Fall), won the Hammer Award at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic and was runner-up at the Cliff Keen Invitational.

Two-time All-American Kyle Park has found himself at an insane 149. Everyone at the top has lost at least once, including Yianni Diakomihalis, Sammy Sasso and Austin Gomez. Parco’s 8-2 year on the same rig from Journeymen Classic and CKLV as McGee. He has been very energetic and motivated and is doing everything he can to keep his name in the national conversation.

Winter trip

Midlands begins cross country road trip to ASU. The Sun Devils are on the road from December 27 to January 1. 8 because they have contests at Illinois (Midlands), Texas (vs. Cornell) and Iowa (Iowa State). ASU vs. Cornell from Austin, Texas on Jan. 4 will air on FloWrestling, and Iowa State will host the Sun Devils on Jan. 8 on Big 12 Now/ESPN+.

ASU vs. Cornell Showcase:

Austin, Texas
View (Florestling)
Double knowledge

Pack your bags, our three-event road swing starts this week! Catch us in Chicago, Austin and Ames. ??

See links and information: https://t.co/8KLNw6QWSb pic.twitter.com/xe5d64M9R7

Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) December 26, 2022