Four Seeded at Midlands

By Tim Goodenow, WVU Sports Information Office

December 18, 2004

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Four West Virginia University wrestlers have earned pre-tournament seeds for the 42nd edition of the Midlands Championships.

Mountaineer grapplers earning seeds for the open tournament, which will be held Dec. 29-30 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill., include Brandon Lauer (141), Matt Lebe (157), Greg Jones (184) and Brent Miller (285).

All-American Lauer drew the No. 3 seed behind Iowa State’s Nate Gallick and Michigan State’s Andy Simmons.

Junior Lebe, who leads WVU in victories with a 14-2 record, is seeded seventh. Leading the way in this loaded weight class is NCAA champion Matt Gentry of Stanford and Jake Percival from Ohio University.

Two-time NCAA champion Jones secures the No. 1 seed at 184 pounds. Challenging the WVU senior will be high-seeds Paul Bradley (Northern Illinois), Brian Glynn (Illinois) and Kurt Backes (Iowa State).

Miller comes in seeded fourth at heavyweight. A two-time NCAA qualifier, Miller could draw competition against veteran Chad Lamer of Hawkeye Wrestling Club and ranked collegians Matt Feast (Penn), Scott Coleman (Iowa State) and Bode Ogunwole (Harvard).

A seeding committee compiled a preliminary rankings list of the draw's Top 100 wrestlers – broken down into a Top 10 for the 10 separate weight classes. The pre-tournament seeds for the 141, 157, 184 and 285-pound weight classes are as follows:

141 lbs.
1. Nate Gallick/Iowa State/Tucson, Ariz.
2. Andy Simmons/Michigan State/Wlmstwn, Mich.
3. Brandon Lauer/West Virginia/Highland, Md.
4. Max Meltzer/Harvard/Bethesda, Md.
5. Brad Metzler/Stanford/Omaha, Neb.
6. Alex Tsirtsis/Iowa/Griffith, Ind.
7. Doug McGraw/Pennsylvania/Emporium, Pa.
8. Mike Simpson/Indiana/Huntington Beach, Calif.
9. Mike Martin/Illinois/Norfolk, Va.
10. Mike Keefe/Tennessee-Chattanooga/Ringgold, Ga.

157 lbs.
1. Matt Gentry/Stanford/Grants Pass, Oreg.
2. Jake Percival/Ohio University/Elyria, Ohio
3. Alex Tirapelle/Illinois/Clovis, Calif.
4. Trent Paulson/Iowa State/Council Bluffs, Iowa
5. Brian Cobb/Dave Shultz WC/San Jose, Calif.
6. Joe Johnston/Iowa/Prairie Village, Kan.
7. Matt Lebe/West Virginia/Jeannette, Pa.
8. Nate Galloway/Penn State/State College, Pa.
9. Joey Bracamonte/Oregon/Albuquerque, N.M.
10. Travis Koppenhafer/Schultz WC/Alamosa, Colo.

184 lbs.
1. Greg Jones/West Virginia/Slickville, Pa.
2. Paul Bradley/Iowa/Tama, Iowa
3. Brian Glynn/Illinois/Orland Park, Ill.
4. Kurt Backes/Iowa/St. Neshanic, N.J.
5. Eric Bradley/Penn State/Plaistow, N.H.
6. Dan Pitsch/Oregon State/Tacoma, Wash.
7. Adam Wright/Old Dominion/Dayton, Va.
8. Ed Magrys/Eastern Michigan/Cincinnati, Ohio
9. Russ Vanderheyden/Central Michigan/Rockton, Ill.
10. Andy Rios/Indiana/Strongsville, Ohio

285 lbs.
1. Chad Lamer/Hawkeye WC/Iowa City, Iowa
2. Matt Feast/Pennsylvania/Cressona, Pa.
3. Scott Coleman/Iowa State/Manhattan, Kan.
4. Brent Miller/West Virginia/Wapakoneta, Ohio
5. Bode Ogunwole/Harvard/Millersville, Md.
6. Bill Stouffer/Central Michigan/Lowell, Ind.
7. Mike Faust/Virginia Tech/Baltimore, Md.
8. Mike Behnke/Illinois/Villa Park, Ill.
9. Jamie Rakevich/Oregon State/Elma, Wash.
10. Jeremiah Beltran/Ohio University/Olathe, Kan.


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