Kendric Maple Wins Midlands 141 title, Remains Undefeated, Talks to Takedown

Dec. 30, 2011

EVANSTON, ILL. –The ninth ranked Oklahoma wrestling squad finished third overall and claimed one champion among a talented field at the 2011 Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern University, on Friday, Dec. 30.

Oklahoma finished the tournament taking home the third place trophy with 94.5 points. Iowa ran away with the title after tallying 152 points. Northwestern placed second with 105.5 points. Virginia Tech (76.5) and Edinboro (74.5) rounded out the top five.

Leading the way for Oklahoma was redshirt sophomore Kendric Maple who won the 141 pound title to remain unbeaten (12-0) on the year. The Wichita, Kan., native entered Friday’s semifinal matchup having earned bonus points in each of his last seven bouts. In the semifinals Maple defeated Iowa State’s Luke Goetti, 13-1. In the championship bout, Maple downed Iowa’s No. 1 seed Montell Marion, 5-3.

In addition to OU’s 141 pound champion, five other Sooners – Jarod Patterson (fifth), Nick Lester (fourth), Matt Lester (fifth), Bubby Graham (sixth) and Erich Schmidtke (fifth) – claimed top six finishes among their respective weight classes.

Patterson finished fifth among 125 pounders after he fell to the eventual champion, Iowa’s Matt McDonough, in the semifinals. In wrestleback action the junior was defeated by the top seed in Illinois Jesse Delgado. Patterson closed out the tournament with a 6-2 win over Central Michigan’s Joe Roth.

Nick Lester claimed fourth at 149 pounds. Lester dropped his semifinal bout to Rutgers’ top-seeded Mario Mason and then downed Utah Valley’s Josh Wilson, the seventh overall seed. The redshirt sophomore then dropped the third place match to Edinboro’s David Habat.

Like his twin brother, Matt Lester faced the top-overall seed in his weight class, Northwestern’s Jason Welch. Lester fell to Welch, but was able to finish fifth among a talented field of 157-pounders after he defeated PU’s Tommy Churchard, 10-3.

Graham opened action dropping his semifinal matchup to Virginia Tech’s Pete Yates, 4-2. In wrestleback action Graham dropped two close bouts to finish sixth in the 165 pound bracket.

Schmidtke won two straight over Edinboro’s Vic Avery and Iowa’s Vinnie Wagner in the 184 pound wrestleback bracket before falling to the second seed in Northern Iowa’s Ryan Loder. Schmidtke closed out the fifth place bout with a 5-3 win over Elmhurst’s Joe Rau.

Jordan Keller (133 pounds) and Keldrick Hall (197) were also in action in their respective wrestleback brackets on Friday. Keller fell to Stanford’s Ryan Mango, the seventh seed. After posting a 3-1 record on Thursday Hall dropped his opening match in overtime to Maryland’s Christian Boley, 8-6.

Up next, the Sooners travel to Laramie, Wyo., to take on No. 20 Wyoming on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m.

Team Scores

1. Iowa (152.0)
2. Northestern (105.5)
3. Oklahoma (94.5)
4. Virginia Tech (76.5)
5. Edinboro (74.5)

OU’s Championship Matchup

141 – Kendric Maple (OU) dec. Montell Marion (IA), 5-3