A few days have passed since the Midlands Championships, and oh man, I’m still beaming about Michael Kemerer winning the 157 pound title. The redshirt freshman’s first time wrestling in an Iowa singlet in Evanston was arguably the most exciting Midlands performance since Thomas Gilman won the 125 pound bracket back in 2013.
As you may recall, a fourth-seeded Gilman recorded decisions over top-seed Jesse Delgado in the semifinals and No. 2 Jarrod Garnett in the finals to win the first of his three crowns. While Kemerer’s tempo and skill isn’t at the level of Gilman’s — not yet, at least — the former Pennsylvania state champion’s major over former NCAA and Big Ten champ Jason Tsirtsis showed his ability to bust things open.