HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Taylor Lujan became the ninth Midlands Champion in UNI history and the Panthers matched the highest team finish in program history at second place in the final day of the Ken Kraft Midlands Championship hosted at Sears Centre Arena in the Chicagoland Area.
Taylor Lujan started the day with bang when he earned an 11-3 major decision over Andrew Morgan in the semifinals. In the championship match, Lujan shut out Iowa’s Abe Assad 4-0. Lujan took down Assad in the first period and picked up over a minute of riding time. In the second period, Lujan earned a quick escape to preserve his riding time point. Assad chose neutral in the third period and was aggressive for most of the final period, but Lujan held him off and preserved the 4-0 win.
Lujan was joined in the championship bout by Bryce Steiert. Steiert also earned a major decision in his semifinal match, a 9-0 win over Illinois’ Joey Gunther. In the final, He fell to Dylan Lydy in a rematch of the Cliff Keen Invite Championship match. The bout was tied at 1-1 with just 35 seconds remaining when Lydy grabbed a single leg and took picked up a takedown over Steiert at the edge of the mat to secure the 3-2 win.
Max Thomsen dropped his semifinal match 3-2 but battled back for a 3-1 win in the consolation semifinals. He earned the third-place finish after a medical forfeit in the third-place match.
Carter Isley earned a fifth-place finish after dropping the semifinals and the consolation semifinals. He earned fifth with a medical forfeit in the consolation semifinals.
As a team, the Panthers finished second place, matching last year’s finish, the highest in program history. Iowa took first with 196.5 points, UNI was second with 101 total points, 6.5 points ahead of Illinois and eight points ahead of Wisconsin.
As a team, UNI continues to show that they are among the nation’s elite teams despite being without Fifth-ranked Jacob Holschlag at 197.
UP NEXT
The Panthers return home for the first home dual since November when they host Utah Valley at 5 p.m. Saturday at the West Gym.
