Non DI Talent At the Midlands = The 1990's

 



The 90's saw an abundance of non-DI talent shine at the Midlands.  Let's take a look. 

Augustana DIII Legend Raphael Wilson At The Midlands

Viking Raphael Wilson didn't lose much during his illustrious career. Winning three NCAA DIII titles, some of the only losses he took were at the 1991 Midlands.  Against DI competition he defeated opponents from Pittsburgh, Lock Haven, Missouri & Indiana in route to a 6th place finish.  

Eustacio Torres Places 8th as Matt Blevin pins his way to 4th at 1991 Midlands 

A dominating team in NCAA Division II wrestling, San Francisco State makes yet another appearance in Non DI Talent At the Midlands with quite a few more to come.  In 1991 the Gators had two make the award stand at the Midlands. Eustacio Torres at 158 lbs & Matt Blevin at HWT. 

Torres wasn't near as eventful as as Blevin, but he still managed to defeat Jamie Byrne of Northern Iowa in the R12 match to place by a 3-3, 2-0 score. Ironically enough, Byrne would go on to finish one match shy at the NCAA Division I championships too.  Torres would place 4th at the NCAA DII championships. 

Blevin came into the Midlands having already won an NCAA DII title.  After suffering a 5-0 loss to future Olympic Gold medalist Rulon Gardner, Blevin put one set of shoulders to the mat after the other.  Accumulating four falls in all, at a time of 5:20.  Still not good enough for the Gorriaran award though, as that was won by Tom Erickson with four falls in 3:54.  Among those Blevin pinned were BIG 10 runner-up Ray Mendoza of Ohio State, three time NCAA DI qualifier Jeff Scherma of Cleveland State & All American Perry Miller of Pittsburgh.  Blevin would finish 3rd at the NCAA DII's. 

Ranger Keeps Midlands Legend Off Podium 

What do you say about Jason Finucane's 1991 Midlands run at 150 lbs? While I suppose a lot could be said, what sticks out to be most is the DIII wrestler's 5-4 win over Mike Schmidlin in the blood round to place.  All in all Mike Schmidlin participated in 15 Midlands championships, taking home medals in 7 of those tournaments. It was a wrestler from a small school in a community of a little over 8,000 residents who kept him from earning another, thus taking his place in history.  Finucane finished in 8th. 

Earning NAIA Respect, Matt Campbell Shows DI Wrestlers the Northern Lights Through Miracle Run In Consolations

At the 1992 Midlands championships, Montana State Northern's Matt Campbell would have a miraculous run through the consolation bracket. The four time Montana High School State champion dropped a tight 5-4 decision to Bobby Soto of Cal State Bakersfield in the opening round & then never looked back as he scraped tooth & nail to a bronze finish.  Along the way he pinned Hawkeye Pablo Ubasa in just 13 seconds. Then he defeated Northern Iowa's Burke Tyree 9-3 as he knocked off Iowa State four time All American Eric Akin by a score of 4-2.  It would then be a 5-1 decision over two time All American David Land of Maryland as Campbell ended his final Midlands tournament with a 13-4 major over Brad Bruhl of Northern Iowa. Campbell would go on to win the NAIA title that season. 

Lassen's Gerald Carr defeats two All Americans in route to semi-finals 1994 Midlands 

Put into a pigtail, it was no bother for NJCAA wrestler Gerald Carr who defeated both Joel Morrissette of Michigan State (6-5) & Matt Nerem of Iowa (7-3) in route to making the semi-finals. As Carr would go on to place 6th, both Morrissette & Nerem later earned NCAA DI All American honors of 6th.  Carr would go on to become a two time DI All American in his own right once he transferred to Minnesota for his final two seasons of eligibility. 

Frances Aquino Earns DII Gators Another Midlands Medal 

 At 134 lbs in 1996, Frances Aquino defeated Division I opponents from Eastern Illinois, Edinboro, Cal State Bakersfield & Columbia to capture an 8th place finish for San Francisco State. 

Future DIII Legend Earns 8th Place As a Member of the NJCAA 

The legendary Rick Sanders of Portland State, who won two Olympic Silver medals in 68' & 72' may have passed away over 50 years ago, but I wonder sometimes if he wasn't reincarnated into future two time NCAA DIII champion Ben Shane of Wartburg. A unique, free spirited soul in his own right, Shane started off his collegiate wrestling career for North Idaho.  While he did many great things for the Cardinals, including earning a 4th place finish at the 1997 NJCAA championships, the other highlight of his time in NJCAA was earning an 8th place finish at the Midlands. In order to place, he defeated future MMA star Kenny Johnson 10-7 in the blood round. 

Clash of The Champions, Midlands 1996 

T.J. Williams in known for a lot of things. He's known for being a two time national champion for the University of Iowa & he's known for only having one loss during his three year stint as a Hawkeye. Before coming to Iowa, Williams competed for Lassen Community College where he was in one of the toughest Midlands brackets of all time. 

In the semi-finals he dropped a 6-3 match to two time NCAA champion Cary Kolat of Lock Haven. He would then drop a 4-4 t.b. to future NCAA champion Casey Cunningham of Central Michigan.  Who would he face for 5th place?  Another future NCAA Champion, Brett Matter of Pennsylvania.  The future Hawkeye defeated the Quaker 13-5 major decision. 

Two More For the Gators in 1997

San Francisco State would put two more on the Midlands award stand in 1997 with Damon Broadbent & Paul Healy. 

Broadbent, a junior at the time, competed at 118 lbs. He started off his day by pinning future PAC-12 runner up Randy Ruiz of Stanford. Knocked into the consolations himself, he came back strong defeating future EWL champ Jason Gabrielson of Edinboro & then earning Midlands place-winner status by defeating future EIWA champion Justin Bravo of of Pennsylvania.  Broadbent would earn an 8th place finish & later that season be crowned the NCAA Division II champion.  He was 2nd at the NCAA Division II championships as a senior. 

Healy was a senior at the time, who opened up his Midlands championships with a huge 8-5 upset over the *5 seed Ed Mosley of Harvard.  Mosley would later in his collegiate career make the EIWA finals & earn an 8th place finish at the NCAA DI championships.  Healy then scored another notable victory with a 10-5 decision over Kevin Keeney of Oregon, who today is part owner/operator (alongside Chael Sonnen) of Caged Promotions. Healy too finished in 8th place & later that season earned a 5th place showing at the NCAA DII Championships. 

Lassen's Marchette Defeats Series of DI Wrestlers to take 6th in 1997

The 1997 Midlands were a good time for Lassen Community College's Sonny Marchette. In order to make the award stand he had to defeat a series of NCAA DI qualifiers, as well as a two time All American.  He had wins over Isaac Miller of Michigan State, a two time qualifier. Ben Chunko of Bucknell, who would later earn a R12 at the NCAA's for Drexel. Mike Mendoza of Cal State Bakersfield who was a three time qualifier, and most impressive he pinned Sean Gray of Virginia Tech in 4:52, who went on to become a two time All American.  Marchette himself would go on to win the NJCAA title that season & later transfer to Iowa State. 

Mountain Cat Captures the Hawk's Eye At 97 & 98 Midlands 

Jody Strittmatter, who would later become a two time NCAA DI All American for Iowa, started his collegiate career off for Pittsburgh-Johnstown. While a Mountain Cat not only did he win back to back NCAA DII titles, he also had outstanding showings at the Midlands in both 1997 & 1998.  As a freshman he finished in 3rd place, with notable wins over Steve Garland of Virginia, Chuckie Connors of North Carolina & Mike Kawamura of Arizona State.  Ironically enough it is Garland who would upset Strittmatter three seasons later in the NCAA DI quarter-finals, 9-7 s.v.  Garland would finish as the NCAA DI runner-up that season, as Strittmatter took 3rd.  During Strittmatter's time at Pittsburgh-Johnstown, he won a Midlands title his sophomore season. His brother John was also a Midlands place-winner for Pittsburgh-Johnstown in 1998, taking a 7th place finish at 133 lbs. 

NAIA Legend Upends DI All Americans To Earn Two Midlands Medals 

One of only seven four time champions in the 65 year history of NAIA wrestling, Turk Lords more than once showed his ability to compete with NCAA DI competition.  At the 1996 Midlands, the Northern Light placed 6th, defeated Danny Faqir 4-3 in the process who would go on to take 7th place All American honors for Arizona State.  In 1998, Lords took out the *2 seed Sam Neider of Northwestern 3-3 tiebreaker in the quarter-finals.  Neider had placed 5th at the NCAA DI's the year prior & would go on to earn a second All American honor later that season with a 7th place finish.  In the semi-finals Lords took Iowa State NCAA DI runner-up Zach Thompson to a 3-2 decision.  Finishing in 4th place, Lords avenged a 4-2 loss he had suffered against Nick Muzashvili of Michigan State the year prior, upending the Spartan by a score of 10-5. Muzashvili would earn a 3rd place showing at the NCAA DI's later that season, placing 4th the year after. 



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That about wraps it up for the best of the non-DI talent at the Midlands during the 1990's.  Make sure to check out Non DI Talent At the Midlands = The 2000's as it will feature an abundance of non DI talent that shined at the Midlands from 2000 to 2009.