California Baptist University
Midlands Invitational
Haas, Schmidt, and Morton Advance to Day Two of the Midlands Invitational
12/29/2024 8:12:00 PM | Wrestling
HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL--- The California Baptist University men's wrestling team headed to the NOW Arena at Northwestern University to compete in the Ken Kraft Midlands Invitational on Sunday, with three Lancers advancing to day two of the prestigious tournament.
The tournament featured top-tier competition, including wrestlers from Ohio State, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Harvard, Arizona State, and Princeton, among many others. CBU brought eight wrestlers to the tournament, pulling out 13 match wins through the first two sessions and having three wrestlers advance to the final day.
#29 Elijah Griffin was seeded fourth in the 141lb bracket and would begin the day with a victory over Evan Herrmian of Michigan State. Griffin would come up short in the next round to Danny Martinez of SIU Edwardsville and would go 1-1 in the consolation bracket to end his day 2-2. Jeremy Ginter Jr. would follow a similar path at 157lbs, defeating Brock Woodcock of SIUE before going 1-1 in the consolation bracket.
Drayden Morton would be one of three advancers for the Lancers on the day as he competed at 165lbs for CBU. Morton bested Hudson Hightower of Princeton via technical fall in the opening round before following that up with an overtime win over Tyler Swiderski of Central Michigan. In the third round, Morton put up a valiant effort against 2024 NCAA qualifier #23 Evan Maag of George Mason but would fall into the consolation bracket after a decision. Morton would stamp his ticket to day two with a win over Brett Smith of Northern Illinois via decision 8-6. The win will put Morton in a position to become a Midlands placer in session three or four.
Carter Schmidt, wrestling at 174lbs for CBU, would also earn a spot on day two of the Midlands Championships with multiple wins for the Iowa State transfer. Schmidt got knocked out of the championship bracket in the opening round but would battle back in the consolation bracket with a pair of victories. Schmidt would beat Hayden Bottiglieri of Harvard and Logan Messer of George Mason to earn a spot on day two. Schmidt and Morton will compete in the blood rounds of the consolation bracket as they look to lock up placement.
The most impressive performance of the day came from Nathan Haas, who would battle in the ultra-competitive 184lb bracket for the Lancers. Haas began his day with a major decision win over Tyler Bienus of Bucknell and followed that up with a decision win over Alex Cramer of Central Michigan. Haas was matched up in the quarterfinals with 2x NCAA qualifier #20 Donnell Washington of Indiana. Haas earned his second ranked victory of the season in the match as he would upset Washington in an 8-7 decision to advance to the semifinals of the championships bracket. Haas guaranteed himself placement in the tournament and will face #29 Shane Cartagena-Walsh of Rutgers in the first semifinal match on Monday morning.
Eli Sheeren was the only other Lancer to notch multiple victories on the day as he would best Dillon Bechtold of Bucknell and Brook Byers of Stanford in the 197lb bracket.
NEXT: Haas, Schmidt, and Morton will compete on Day Two of the Midlands Championships with sessions three and four at the NOW Arena beginning at 8:30 AM PT.
Players Mentioned
