UNI's progress has tangible results

EVANSTON, Ill. - The University of Northern Iowa Panthers will return home with three medals and a good feeling from their latest performance.

After not placing a wrestler on the awards stand here last year, UNI had three placewinners and finished 15th at the 48th Midlands Wrestling Championships on Thursday at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena.

“I think it's a positive,” first-year UNI head coach Doug Schwab said. “It's something we can build off of.

“Some times it's hard to build off just telling them. They need to see results”

David Bonin (157), Ryan Loder (184) and heavyweight Christian Brantley earned the Panthers hardware. Bonin and Loder secured top-6 finishes, wrestling for fifth-place last night. Brantley placed seventh with a 6-4 win over Michael McMullan. Three in the top seven when Brantley was their only seeded wrestler at ninth.

Loder avenged a loss to Iowa's Grant Gambrall to place fifth.

Bonin won his first three matches, reaching the quarterfinals with two come-from-behind wins via pin. Loder beat the fifth-seed from Rutgers and his only losses came to the top-two seeds.

“I want these guys to keep doing what they've been doing,” Schwab said. “The three guys that are medalists out-hustled and out-fought some guys and that's why they've won matches.”

Expect Schwab to use their efforts as an example to hammer home his lessons of hard work and fight. He said actions carry more weight than a coach's preaching.

“It needs to come from your peers,” Schwab said. “If it's coming from those guys then it means more than coming from us. We definitely have something to point to and look what happens when you continue to fight and battle and buy in. Good things going to happen.”