Eastern Michigan Athletics
Tuesday, December 29
Evanston, Ill.
All Day
Eastern Michigan University
at
The Midlands
Photo by: Sam Janicki
Hutchison Paces Eagles at The Midlands Championships
12/30/2015 7:59:00 PM | Wrestling
The heavyweight placed in seventh place out of 27 in his weight class
EVANSTON, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University wrestling team wrapped up its 2015 schedule with a big time performance from redshirt sophomore Gage Hutchison (Buchanan, Mich.-Buchanan) at the 53rd annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 29-30. The heavyweight grappler took seventh place in his weight class out of 27 total wrestlers.
Hutchison's top-eight finish marked the second straight year in which EMU has placed a wrestler at The Midlands, as Brandon Zeerip placed eighth at 157 lbs. last year. It was also the 19th time Eastern has placed a grappler in the tournament's 53-year history.
In all, Eastern sent 10 wrestlers onto the mats over the two days. They racked up 12 total wins to finish in 27th out of 43, totaling 16.5 points.
Hutchison's first day started out with some adversity as he dropped his first match against the No. 5 seeded Billy Smith of Rutgers, who is also the 9th ranked 285 lbs. wrestler in the country. This placed him in the consolation bracket where he began to find his rhythm.
In the first consolation match, Hutchison bounced back with a 9-0 major decision win to get things going. Next came a rematch with Jake Gunning of Buffalo, whom Hutchison was defeated by in the dual earlier in the season. He would exact his revenge when he landed the pin in 4:06 and continue through the consolation rounds. In the final match of the first day, Hutchison became the lone Eagle to advance to the second day when he won a 9-3 decision.
The second day started with a tough matchup with a wrestler from Nebraska, but Hutchison was up to the challenge, taking a 2-0 decision. This win guaranteed that he would at least finish in the top-eight. In his next bout, Hutchison was tasked with a rematch with Smith of Rutgers. Once again the top-ranked grappler got the win, placing Hutchison into the seventh place match.
There he was paired with the No. 9 seeded Joseph Fagiano of Cal Baptist. In what turned out to be one of the highest scoring matches of the whole tournament, Hutchison wrapped up seventh place with a dominating 26-8 technical fall win.
Elsewhere for the Eagles, their next most successful grappler was redshirt sophomore Kyle Springer (New Boston, Mich.-Davenport Assumption). At 141 lbs., Springer won his first bout of the day with a 16-4 major decision. Then came the tall task of going up against the No. 1 seeded Chris Mecate of Old Dominion, who is ranked third nationally. Springer put up a valiant effort, but was ultimately felled by a 4-2 decision, placing him in the consolation rounds.
There Springer rattled off three straight victories by 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4 decisions, before facing yet another tough test. This time it was the No. 3 seeded Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers, who is ranked second in the country. Springer once again put up a good fight, but his day would end when he was defeated in an 11-4 decision.
The other Eagles to post wins on the first day of competition were redshirt senior Michael Shaw (Allegan, Mich.-Allegan) at 141 lbs, when he took a 9-8 decision from an opponent from Nebraska. At 165 lbs., redshirt senior Derek Davison (LaSalle, Mich.-Monroe) won his first bout to advance in the championship bracket, when he took a 5-3 decision over his opponent from Kent State, before losing two straight, including one to a nationally ranked opponent.
Finally at 174 lbs., redshirt junior Jacob Davis (North Ridgeville, Ohio-St. Edward) had a tough draw in the first round, pairing with the No. 6 seeded Matt Reed of Oklahoma, who is 16th in the country. He put up a good fight, but dropped the bout by 5-3 decision. In the first consolation match, Davis took an 8-2 decision to advance. His day ended when he dropped a 7-1 decision to the No 12 seed in the tournament.
The Midlands Championships concluded the 2015 portion of the schedule for EMU wrestling. The Eagles will be back in action Wednesday, Jan. 6 when they continue Mid-American Conference play with a home bout against the University of Northern Iowa. The start time of the matchup in the Convocation Center has yet to be determined.
Hutchison's top-eight finish marked the second straight year in which EMU has placed a wrestler at The Midlands, as Brandon Zeerip placed eighth at 157 lbs. last year. It was also the 19th time Eastern has placed a grappler in the tournament's 53-year history.
In all, Eastern sent 10 wrestlers onto the mats over the two days. They racked up 12 total wins to finish in 27th out of 43, totaling 16.5 points.
Hutchison's first day started out with some adversity as he dropped his first match against the No. 5 seeded Billy Smith of Rutgers, who is also the 9th ranked 285 lbs. wrestler in the country. This placed him in the consolation bracket where he began to find his rhythm.
In the first consolation match, Hutchison bounced back with a 9-0 major decision win to get things going. Next came a rematch with Jake Gunning of Buffalo, whom Hutchison was defeated by in the dual earlier in the season. He would exact his revenge when he landed the pin in 4:06 and continue through the consolation rounds. In the final match of the first day, Hutchison became the lone Eagle to advance to the second day when he won a 9-3 decision.
The second day started with a tough matchup with a wrestler from Nebraska, but Hutchison was up to the challenge, taking a 2-0 decision. This win guaranteed that he would at least finish in the top-eight. In his next bout, Hutchison was tasked with a rematch with Smith of Rutgers. Once again the top-ranked grappler got the win, placing Hutchison into the seventh place match.
There he was paired with the No. 9 seeded Joseph Fagiano of Cal Baptist. In what turned out to be one of the highest scoring matches of the whole tournament, Hutchison wrapped up seventh place with a dominating 26-8 technical fall win.
Elsewhere for the Eagles, their next most successful grappler was redshirt sophomore Kyle Springer (New Boston, Mich.-Davenport Assumption). At 141 lbs., Springer won his first bout of the day with a 16-4 major decision. Then came the tall task of going up against the No. 1 seeded Chris Mecate of Old Dominion, who is ranked third nationally. Springer put up a valiant effort, but was ultimately felled by a 4-2 decision, placing him in the consolation rounds.
There Springer rattled off three straight victories by 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4 decisions, before facing yet another tough test. This time it was the No. 3 seeded Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers, who is ranked second in the country. Springer once again put up a good fight, but his day would end when he was defeated in an 11-4 decision.
The other Eagles to post wins on the first day of competition were redshirt senior Michael Shaw (Allegan, Mich.-Allegan) at 141 lbs, when he took a 9-8 decision from an opponent from Nebraska. At 165 lbs., redshirt senior Derek Davison (LaSalle, Mich.-Monroe) won his first bout to advance in the championship bracket, when he took a 5-3 decision over his opponent from Kent State, before losing two straight, including one to a nationally ranked opponent.
Finally at 174 lbs., redshirt junior Jacob Davis (North Ridgeville, Ohio-St. Edward) had a tough draw in the first round, pairing with the No. 6 seeded Matt Reed of Oklahoma, who is 16th in the country. He put up a good fight, but dropped the bout by 5-3 decision. In the first consolation match, Davis took an 8-2 decision to advance. His day ended when he dropped a 7-1 decision to the No 12 seed in the tournament.
The Midlands Championships concluded the 2015 portion of the schedule for EMU wrestling. The Eagles will be back in action Wednesday, Jan. 6 when they continue Mid-American Conference play with a home bout against the University of Northern Iowa. The start time of the matchup in the Convocation Center has yet to be determined.
Players Mentioned
174
/ Wrestling
165
/ Wrestling
285
/ Wrestling
141
/ Wrestling
141
/ Wrestling
157
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