Vanderhyde’s sixth-place finish leads Olivet College wrestling team at 46th Midlands Championships

Senior Kyle Vanderhyde (Sparta) finished in sixth-place at 174 pounds, leading the Olivet College wrestling team to a tie for 30th-place at the 46th Annual Midlands Championships Dec. 29-30 at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. In addition, senior Jason Brew (Sparta) at 157 pounds and sophomore Vince Tucker (Clio) at 141 pounds competed against the nation's best amateur wrestlers. Vanderhyde is the only NCAA Division III wrestler, who placed at the 2008 Midlands Championships and is the first wrestler in school history to earn a Top 8 finish at the Midlands Championships.

Vanderhyde received a bye in the first round and then beat Robert Kellogg of Northwestern, 4-3, in the second round. In the third round, he was leading No. 4 seed Duke Burk of Iowa State by a 2-1 score when Burk was injured and was unable to finish the match, giving the win to Vanderhyde. In the quarterfinals, he fell to No. 5 seed Mike Miller of Central Michigan, 9-3.

Dropping down to wrestleback bracket, Vanderhyde defeated Scott Giffin of Penn (6-2) and Lloyd Rogers of Tennessee-Chattanooga (2-1in overtime). He was defeated by No. 2 seed Raymond Jordan of Missouri and in the fifth-place match, Vanderhyde fell to No. 7 seed Mike Letts of Maryland, 10-1.

Brew lost his opening round match to Eric Cubberly of Central Michigan, 19-1. In the first round match of the consolation bracket, he pinned Jeremy Edward of Illinois State in 1:41. Brew defeated Phil Sorrentino of Pitt, 8-2, and bowed out of the tournament with a 15-8 loss to Scott Winston of Rutgers.

Tucker was eliminated from the tournament with two losses. He was pinned by No. 8 seed Zach Tanelli of Wisconsin and fell to Collin Dozier of Michigan State, 7-3. Tanelli went on to win the 141-pound championship.

Olivet will return to action Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 10-11 at the 2009 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals at the University of Northern Iowa.