By DAN McCOOL
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Evanston, Ill. – Friday’s 174-pound championship match at the Midlands wrestling tournament was thought to be a collision of the funk of Iowa’s Mark Perry and the strength of Northwestern’s Jake Herbert.
It turned into a one-sided contest, and Perry had no kind words in his self-critique following a 5-4 loss to Herbert at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“That’s probably the worst I’ve seen myself wrestle, even in the matches I’ve lost and even in the matches against (Oklahoma State’s Johny ) Hendricks, “Perry said. “Not really a lot of effort out there, not a very solid performance for me.”
Perry said he pinched a nerve in his neck before the match against Herbert, but said that was not an excuse. The sophomore from Iowa scored his first takedown in the final 5 seconds of the match. By then, Herbert’s reversal midway through the second period and then a three-point near fall at the end of the second was too much to overcome.
Herbert, Northwestern’s first two-time Midlands champion, was voted champion of champions by his peers Friday night.
The night was better for Iowa State 141-pounder Nate Gallick and Northern Iowa 165-pounder Nick Baima. They won championships at the 43rd annual tournament. Gallick repeated as the top man at his weight, beating Andy Simmons of Michigan State again, and he had to go twice as long as last year to earn the repeat. Gallick scored a 5-3, four-overtime victory, while Baima became Northern Iowa’s first Midlands champion since 2003 with a 6-5, double-overtime win over Mike Poeta of Illinois in an all-suburban Chicago final.
Baima was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler.
Illinois won its third consecutive team championship with 115 1/2 points, three ahead of Central Michigan. Iowa placed fourth with 83 points, Iowa State was fifth with 821/2 and Northern Iowa was tied for sixth with Northern Illinois at 79 points.
Gallick scored a 2-1, double-overtime win over Simmons in last year’s finale. After a 1-1 tie in regulation and a scoreless first overtime, Simmons and Gallick swapped escapes in the second extra session. Another scoreless 1-minute session led up to Gallick getting a 4-3 lead on a takedown with 13 seconds left in the 30-second tie-breaker period. Gallick finished the points on an escape in the last 30-second period.
“It’s not over until it’s over, so I’m always looking for some way to score, “said Gallick, who is 3-0 against Simmons in college.
“I saw a chance to score and put the match back on my side, “Gallick said. “I knew he had a little more riding time than me in overtime, so I was going to have to score to win.”
Baima got a takedown with 51 seconds left in regulation to tie the match, 5-5, and set up the exciting finish. There was a scramble at the end of the first overtime period, but no points came from that. In the first 30-second scrap, Baima had a cradle locked, but never pushed the issue of turning Poeta. When it came Baima’s turn to be down, he escaped 2 seconds into the 30-second test for what proved to be the difference.
Baima said conditioning paid off for him as the match went on.
“We kept going and I started feeling better and better, “said Baima. “I just noticed that (Poeta) kept getting up slower and he started getting frustrated. He’s real explosive and fast, but towards the end he was not going to keep the pace.”
“I started believing in my moves towards the end and I blew into it and got it, “Baima said.
Wrestling Gear
