Sorensen captures first Midlands crown

EVANSTON, Ill. — The third time was a charm for Brandon Sorensen.

After two third-place finishes, the University of Iowa 149-pounder upgraded from bronze to gold. He did it against a familiar foe.

Sorensen scored a takedown with 30 seconds left in a 3-1 sudden-victory against Northwestern's Jason Tsirtsis for a championship at Northwestern's Ken Kraft Midlands Championships Wednesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Sorensen's victory helped secure the Hawkeyes' 25th team title here.

'That's what I really wanted,' Sorensen said. 'It is another feather in the cap, so I'm moving on. I'm still undefeated. Keep it that way.'

Sorensen and Tsirtsis exchanged escapes in regulation and Sorensen wasn't able to penetrate in shot attempts, but that all changed in the first seconds of overtime. He hit a single and worked to finish, needing about 20 seconds to earn the points.

'He was kind of reaching hard with his right hand,' Sorensen said. 'He reached and I popped it up quick and the high-crotch was right there.'

Sorensen said he doesn't have a game plan against Tsirtsis. He said he prefers to score early and now he needs to transfer that to the first period, where he prefers to score points. Iowa Coach Tom Brands said it was a big win, but even bigger the how he earned it.

'You can do that earlier but that was a big win the way he won,' Brands said. 'It's not just that he won. it's the way he won, so it is important. The way we win (and) compete is important.

'I think he can even do more to pick the pace up there, but there is some progress there for sure.'

Sorensen evened their series at two apiece and now has the mental edge. That's something that Tsirtsis had, winning their matches in the Big Ten Championships and for third at the NCAA tournament. They likely will face each other in a dual at Northwestern on Jan. 10.

'It puts the fear into him,' said Sorensen, who did win the first bout between them. 'I beat him. I'm in his head and now let's widen the gap.'

Before Sorensen claimed his first, Gilman made his third Midlands final and won his second title. Gilman beat Oregon State's Ronnie Rios, 5-1, for the 125-pound crown. He was more focused on the journey than the destination, which included a three-point decision in the semifinals.

'For me, at this point in my career, it's about the performance and not about the title,' Gilman said. 'My performance, especially today, wasn't what I wanted. My pace is high but I have to figure out how to be smarter with my pace.'

Gilman won it two years ago but came up short last season. Larger goals remain.

'I think it added more fuel to my fire for this tournament,' Gilman said. 'It was my title, I lost it and now it's mine again. Now, we have to go get the Big Ten title and a national title and keep those the next two years.'

Iowa's Nathan Burak produced the team's third title, beating Nebraska's Derek White, 6-1 with two third-period takedowns and 2:33 of riding time.

'The positive was three in the finals and 3-for-3,' Brands said. 'That's important to me. Winning titles is important.'

The Hawkeyes had eight medalists, including Alex Meyer (174) and heavyweight Sam Stoll, who both finished third. Sammy Brooks was fourth at 184 and Patrick Rhoads was seventh at 165. Top-seeded Cory Clark reached the semifinals but medical forfeited out of the tournament and did not wrestle the second day, placing sixth.

'It's an injury that is minor,' Brands said. 'He made the call. He could have went. The national tournament he's going, but he made the call. We leave that up to them. We trust our guys. We trust their judgment and I think he'll be fine going forward.'

Those consolation points were crucial as Iowa tallied 152 points, beating runner-up Nebraska by 17.

Northern Iowa red-shirt freshman Josh Alber reached the 133-pound finals. Old Dominion's Emilio Saavedra scored a takedown in the second sudden-victory overtime for a 3-1 win over Alber. No solace was found in silver.

'When you have goals like he does, you're not satisfied with just making the finals,' UNI Coach Doug Schwab said. 'I don't think that is how he was raised or how we want to run our program.'

They also traded escapes in regulation and the first tiebreaker, Alber initiated the action, including the decisive takedown scored by Saavedra.

'The thing I like is he tried to win the match,' Schwab said. 'He hit a great shot, tried to get his hand down and slipped off. He did the all offense the whole match. Sometimes you have to do all the offense and sometimes you have to do a little bit more to make things come out in your favor.'

Midlands can serve as a good learning experience for Alber. He will be able to build on it the rest of the season.

'He's been in two big tournaments and placed in both of them,' Schwab said. 'He's wrestled in a lot of high-level matches already.'

Iowa State's Tanner Weatherman reached the 165-pound final. The Cyclones senior was dominant getting to the finals with two major decisions, a pin and a 10-4 decision over CSU-Bakersfield's Adam Fierro in the semifinal.

Unfortunately, he had to settle for silver. Purdue's Chad Welch built a 3-1 lead before getting the pin in 3:54.

Former Iowa State and Penn State All-American Andrew Long won the 141-pound title, competing for Grand View. Long recorded a 23-6 technical fall over Northern Illinois' Steve Bleise in the final.

Long hadn't wrestled in college before this season since placing third for the Nittany Lions in 2011. He was dismissed from both Iowa State, where he was a 2010 NCAA finalist, and Penn State for legal issues, pleading guilty to a felony in Pennsylvania.

'Being part of a team and surrounding myself with good, healthy guys, coaches and athletes,' Long said. 'Being a student again is a way to finish what I started and continue to head down the right path on the right track.'

Long became the first NAIA wrestler to win a Midlands title since Emmett Willson, of Montana State-Northern won the 197-pound crown in 2003. He earned the Outstanding Wrestler award for the tournament, scoring two pins, two technical falls and a major decision.

Long waited six years to win Midlands gold, finishing runner-up to iowa's Matt McDonough in 2009. Long won his first Midlands title at the age of 26.

'It means that my body is not holding up quite the same as it used to,' Long said with a laugh. 'I'm feeling the effects of training a little more.

'It feels good. My first competition was a little surreal, but it's a blessing to be a part of the wrestling community and have the support of my family, fans and those who were involved in kind of keeping track of me throughout the process.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8679; kj.pilcher@thegazette.com