Weaver Advances to Midlands 141 lbs. Championship Match

Saturday, December 30

Hoffman Estates, IL

1 PM

Indiana University

Session III

Weaver Advances to Midlands 141 lbs. Championship Match

12/30/2017 5:48:00 PM | Wrestling

Session III Brackets (PDF)IU Match By Match Results Tournament Central TrackWrestling Hub

Will face No. 9 Mason Smith (Central Michigan) as both seek their first Midlands title

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Indiana wrestling junior Cole Weaver (141) will wrestle for the top podium spot after winning his semifinals bout in the third session of the 55^th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships at Sears Centre Arena on Saturday afternoon. Weaver (19-4) pushed past unseeded Nate Limmex (Purdue) with a 9-4 decision in his semifinals bout to enter the first Midlands Championship match of his career.

Earning the third seed in a contentious 141 lbs. bracket where every entrant had the opportunity to become a first-time Midlands Champion, Weaver put his nose to the grindstone for four consecutive wins by decision in yesterday's competition. The best season of Weaver's collegiate career adds another milestone with his first-ever podium finish at Midlands, but he has a chance at something greater in tonight's title bout.

Weaver will lock up against No. 9 Mason Smith (Central Michigan) in Saturday's fourth and final session, set to begin at 8:05 p.m. ET. Fans can follow the action live on BTN Plus or FloWrestling.com.

Saturday's title matches will begin at 165 lbs. and conclude at 157 lbs., putting Weaver's championship bout in the eighth set of matches. The tournament will begin a new weight class once all three matches (first-, third-, and fifth-place) are finished. Award ceremonies will commence with the 165 lbs. podium following the 174 lbs. matches and are expected to last two minutes.

Sophomore Devin Skatzka (174) became the eighth wrestler in program history to earn multiple podium finishes at Midlands, the first since Nate Jackson (174 lbs. in 2014; 184 lbs. in 2016), with his eighth-place finish on Saturday afternoon. Skatzka adds this podium landing to his fifth-place finish at the 54^th Midlands Championships in 2016, also at 174 lbs.

Skatzka clinched a top-eight finish in his first match of the third session, upending No. 20 Josef Johnson (Harvard) by decision, 9-5, in the blood round. The Hoosier sophomore pushed ahead of Johnson by one in the first period and extended his lead to 6-2 after five minutes, gaining enough riding time to hold the point through the final whistle.

In his final match of the calendar year, a battle for seventh-place, Skatzka lost by major decision, 14-5 to Johnny Sebastian (Northwestern).

Junior Jake Danishek (157) persevered through the first two sessions on Friday to enter the blood round alongside Skatzka, but dropped an 8-0 major decision to John Van Schenkbrill (Rutgers). Danishek ended his weekend with a 2-2 tournament record and one pin, falling one win short of a podium spot.

Hoosier wrestling alumnus Nate Jackson (Princeton Wrestling Club) also clinched a spot in the 184 lbs. title with a 7-4 decision over fourth-seeded Jordan Ellingwood (Central Michigan) in Saturday's championship semifinals round. He will face third-seeded Emery Parker (Illinois) in hopes of winning his first career Midlands Championship. Jackson wrestled Parker three times last year, twice in the postseason, and won all three matches.