Post Grads At The Midlands - Part 4

 

Jeremiah Jarvis 

Sometimes your collegiate career doesn't quite end the way you wanted it to. Jeremiah Jarvis of UC Davis had a respectable collegiate career competing for the Aggies qualifying for the NCAA tournament three times. Yet he was mere seconds away from pulling off a huge upset his senior year in the first round of the NCAA championships.  He was leading returning NCAA Runner-up Alex Tirapelle of Illinois with only seconds left to go in the match.  He was reversed and pinned as the final seconds of the third period ticked off the clock.   

And THAT's the beauty of post-grads competing at the Midlands.  It gave guys like Jeremiah Jarvis the opportunity to come back and do at the Midlands what they weren't able to do at the NCAA's. 

Two years post graduation, Jarvis made the most out of his Midlands appearance.  He took NCAA champion Matt Gentry of Stanford to the wire in a 9-8 loss & then he defeated Iowa's Joe Johnston 12-11 for 7th place.  Johnston finished as the NCAA runner-up that season. 

Lee Fullhart 

A four time All American for the Iowa Hawkeyes, it went both ways for Lee Fullhart as he competed in three Midlands championships post graduation.   

Competing for the Hawkeye Wrestling Club in 2000, he won a Midlands title defeating Lehigh's Jon Trenge 5-2 in the quarterfinals and destroying MMA legend Chael Sonnen 18-3 technical fall in the semi-finals. 

In 2001 he took a runner-up finish competing for Team Excel.  In the semi-finals he defeated Minnesota's Owen Elzen 12-5, before taking Iowa State's Cael Sanderson to a 5-3 decision. Sanderson was dominating everyone that final season, but it was Fullhart who kept him to a tight decision. 

In 2002 , competing this time for Gator Wrestling Club, Fullhart once again finished as the Midlands runner-up.  A quarterfinal victory over Sean Stender Northern Iowa 9-5, he barely managed to escape NAIA sensation Emmett Wilson of Montana State Northern 1-0.  In the finals he was upset by Trenge, 4-1.  I really thought that this might finally lead Trenge to an NCAA title, but Trenge would be upset by Damion Hahn of Minnesota in the NCAA finals. 

Wade Hughes 

Competing for the now defunct George Washington Colonials, Wade Hughes won 187 matches during his collegiate career. His senior year of 57-4, to this day ranks the most amount of matches wrestled in a single season by one wrestler.  Competing for both Superior Land and The Sunkist Kids, Hughes continued to wrestle beyond his final year of collegiate eligibility. 

In 1986, he won the Midlands title with two impressive victories along the way.  In the quarter-finals he pinned three time All American and Olympian Ken Chertow in 5:42.  Then in the finals he defeated Penn State's Jim Martin 10-8. Martin finished as the NCAA runner-up that season and then won the NCAA title the following season. 

Harold Smith 

A standout for the Kentucky Wildcats during college, Smith was a two time NCAA All American and a three time Midlands finalist, winning a title his junior season.  

Post college, Smith continued wrestling and in two of the three Midlands tournaments he competed in as a post-graduate, Smith had everyone other than Bruce Baumgartner figured out. 

In 1983 he pinned Nebraska's Gary Albright of Nebraska in the first period.  Albright, to remind you again, was a three time All American for the Cornhuskers and one of the only wrestlers to ever win the Gorriaran award twice during their career.

In 1984, he garnered a 4-2 decision over Bill Hyman of Temple in the semi-finals, before losing to Baumgartner in the finals. Hyman won the NCAA title later that season. 

Terry Murphy 

I don't have a photograph, but I think all things considered, Terry Murphy deserves mention in an article like this. Competing for Eastern Illinois, Murphy only made the NCAA's once, qualifying in 1990.  It was post college, competing in five Midlands championships, where Murphy proved himself as a wrestler.  Between 1992 and 1996 he was 5th-2nd-8th-8th-5th.  Had it not been for a motorcycle accident in 1993, he may have fared even better.