Larson Places Fourth at Midlands

NORMAN – University of Oklahoma redshirt junior wrestler Ross Larson finished in fourth place of the heavyweight division at the Ken Kraft Midlands Championship. The two-day event was held in Evanston, Ill., inside Welsh-Ryan Arena on the campus of Northwestern University.

The Sooners finished in 14th place with 41 points. Iowa won the tournament with 152 points, and Nebraska placed second with 135. Rutgers rounded out the top three, tallying 110 points.

Larson, who completed the tournament with a 4-2 record, registered two wins by fall and two decision victories. The redshirt junior dropped a 10-1 major decision to Iowa's Sam Stoll, ranked No. 8 nationally. In Tuesday's quarterfinal bout, Larson posted an upset of Northern No. 7 Blaize Cabell of Northern Iowa.

“This was a very tough heavyweight field and definitely the best Ross (Larson) will see until the NCAA tournament,” OU Head Coach Mark Cody said. “He competed well and avenged a loss from last year's NCAAs. He was aggressive throughout this tournament, but we didn't see much offensive in his third-place match, which I believe cost him.”

At 141 pounds, NC State's Kevin Jack eliminated Trae Blackwell with a 16-1 technical fall in consolation round six. The sophomore finished the tournament with a 4-2 record, including a fall (2:07) in consolation round five over Arizona State's Robbie Mathers. Blackwell's two losses came to No. 2 Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers and No. 5 Kevin Jack of NC State.

Redshirt junior Clark Glass also qualified for session three but medical forfeited to Buffalo's Tyler Rill in consolation round six due to a non-serious injury.

Redshirt freshman Noah Teaney (3-2 in the tournament) and Mike Brown (3-2) were each eliminated in consolation round four and Lance Dixon, Brad Johnson, Matt Reed and Brock Wingbermuehle, all with 2-2 records in the first two sessions, were eliminated in consolation round three. Redshirt sophomore Shayne Tucker posted a 3-2 record on the day but was eliminated in consolation round five.

Full results of the 2015 Ken Kraft Midlands Championships are available at TrackWrestling.com.

The Sooners will return to the mat on Jan. 9 in Laramie, Wyo., for a dual against new Big 12-conference opponent Wyoming. The match is slated to begin at 8 p.m. CT.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Trae Blackwell

Lance Dixon

Clark Glass

Brad Johnson

Ross Larson

Matt Reed

Noah Teaney

Shayne Tucker

Brock Wingbermuehle

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics