The Midlands Championship was once the marque in-season tournament of college wrestling. Almost all the top teams would be in attendance as well as up and coming stud high schoolers and post-graduate Olympic hopefuls. But the tournament has been languishing in recent years. Many traditional teams, including Iowa State, have been electing to attend the Southern Scuffle instead, transforming the Scuffle into the premier in-season tournament of the year and leaving Midlands to slowly waste away.
But this year Iowa State, and many other teams, have changed their plans and will be closing out the year in Evanston instead of ringing in a new one in Chattanooga, leading to what should be a very large and very talented field.