Dec. 29, 2007

Contact: Gene Natale, Jr.

Day One Results

Team Standings

EVANSTON, Ill. - Cleveland State traveled to Northwestern University Saturday to compete in the annual Midlands Invitational, and it proved to be quite a challenge, as all ten Vikings entered in the meet were eliminated from competition on the first day of the two day event.

As a team, Cleveland State finished 28th overall with 12.5 points at the 50 team invite. Iowa University won the team title with 185 points, followed by Iowa State with 139, and Central Michigan with 117.5.

Junior Rashard Goff had the most success of any of the Cleveland State entrants in the tournament, cruising through his first two matches at the 285 pound level against competitors from Harper and Army before going up against a very tough opponent in San Francisco State's Nik Fekete. That match went to tiebreaker where Fekete was able to eke out a close victory. The loss sent Goff to the consolation bracket where he faced another quality opponent in Liberty's Paul Walker, who eliminated Goff from the tournament with a 5-2 victory by decision. Goff's performance at Midlands was his first wearing the green and white following his completion of NCAA eligibility requirements for the fall semester.

"It was good to get Goff back," head coach Jack Effner said, "He is a tough wrestler and it is very good to see him in green again."

There were four other Vikings who each managed to win a match on day one, including senior Ryan Riggs at 125, senior Ryan Hurley at 149, and junior Marcus Effner at 165. All three battled valiantly in their subsequent bouts but all fell in the second round of their respective consolation brackets to become eliminated from the tournament, each finishing with 1-2 records for the day.

"Overall it was just a nightmare of a day," Coach Effner stated, "I think we lost our mental focus over our break for the holidays, which is something we will have to work on in the next week of practice."

Freshman Alek Hughes was the fourth Viking who managed to win a match at the tournament, registering a win over conference rival AJ Hunte of Pittsburgh, scoring a fall in 1:42 in his first consolation bout following an opening round loss to Purdue's Logan Brown. Hughes took a medical forfeit for his subsequent match, giving him a 1-1 record for the day's competition.

The Cleveland State Wrestling team will be back in action this coming weekend as they prepare for the Buffalo Duals in Buffalo, NY on January 5, 2008.