Sebastian Rivera Advances to Semifinals at #Midlands54

By Northwestern Athletics

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern freshman Sebastian Rivera is headed to the semifinals at #Midlands54 after knocking off the overall No. 3 seed, Shakur Laney, from Ohio at 125 lbs. Rivera beat Laney, 10-8, with a takedown near the end of the match to seal his place as one of the final four wrestlers at 125 in his first career Midlands tournament.

Rivera, in his first season of college wrestling, will wrestle unattached tomorrow morning vs. Big Ten foe and the number two seed of the tournament, Tim Lambert of Nebraska. Lambert is the No. 8 ranked wrestler in the country at 125 lbs.

Freshman Ryan Deakin (149) fell to top-seed Brandon Sorensen of Iowa by major decision in the quarterfinals and will wrestle Andrew Crone of Wisconsin in the consolation bracket. Redshirt-sophomore heavyweight Conan Jennings fell to No. 2 seed and No. 4 ranked Tanner Hill of Arizona State, 3-1, and will wrestle Garrett Ryan of Columbia in the wrestlebacks.

Junior Mitch Sliga (184) and senior Jacob Berkowitz (197) ended the second session with two straight victories to continue their run through the consolations. Sliga’s back-to-back decisions over Carson Powell of Iowa State and Christian LaFragola of Brown will lead him to a match vs. Pete Renda wrestling unattached for NC State.

Berkowitz earned two decisions over Marcus Harrington of Iowa State and Malik McDonald of NC State. He will face Brett Harner of Princeton tomorrow afternoon.

Northwestern sits in 17th place in the team standings after the first day with 27.5 points.

Upcoming Matches:

Semifinals:
125: Sebastian Rivera (NU) vs. No. 8 Tim Lambert (Nebraska)

Consolations
149: Ryan Deakin (NU) vs. Andrew Crone (Wisconsin)
184: No. 20 Mitch Sliga (NU) vs. Pete Renda (NC State – unattached)
197: Jacob Berkowitz (NU) vs. No. 9 Brett Harner (Princeton)
285: Conan Jennings (NU) vs. Garrett Ryan (Columbia)

Results:

Quarterfinals:
125: Sebastian Rivera (NU) dec. No. 17 Shakur Laney (Ohio) 10-8
149: No. 2 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) maj. dec Ryan Deakin (NU) 12-4
285: No. 4 Tanner Hall (ASU) dec. Conan Jennings (NU) 3-1

Consolation Round 4:
125: Anthony Rubinetti (NU) maj. dec. Brandon Paetzell (Rutgers) 19-10
133: Anthony Cefolo (Rider) dec. Jason Ipsarides (NU) 3-2
165: Johnny Sebastian (NU) dec. Patrick Gerish (Maryland) 8-2
184: Mitch Sliga (NU) dec. Carson Powell (Iowa St.) 3-0
197: Jacob Berkowitz (NU) dec. Marcus Harrington (Iowa St.) 12-6
197: Nate Rose (Buffalo) dec. Regis Durbin (NU) 7-2

Consolation Round 5:
125: Justin Patrick (Buffalo) Fall Anthony Rubinetti (NU) 2:38
165: Clark Glass (Okla.) dec. Johnny Sebastian (NU) 5-2
184: Mitch Sliga (NU) dec. Christian LaFragola (Brown) 9-6
197: Jacob Berkowitz (NU) dec. Malik Mc Donald (NC State) 9-5