DAY 1 FINAL BRACKETS

                (Evanston, Il.): Clarion junior 157-pounder James Fleming (West Mifflin) advanced to the semifinals, while seniors Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) at 165 and Quintas McCorkle (Alexandria, Va.) lost in the quarterfinals on Thursday night at the prestigious 49^th Annual Midlands Wrestling Championships.
 
               Held at the Welsh-Ryan Arena, Clarion is in 13^th place following the first day of action with 29.5 points. Iowa is leading the team race with 79.5 points, Northwestern is second with 71 and Oklahoma third with 69 points.
 
               Fleming advanced to the semifinals with a 7-6 win over #6 seed Kyle John of Maryland in the quarterfinals. Fleming scored a three-point near fall in the final 30-seconds to rally to win. He opened the tournament with a pin at 6:56 over Iowa's Nick Moore, and a second pin at 1:17 over Brennan Cosgrove. Fleming will wrestle #2 seed Ganbayar Sanjaa of American in the semis on Friday. Fleming is 13-1 this season.
 
               Abdurakhmonov, seeded 5^th,  lost in the quarterfinals 6-3 to #4 seed Andrew Sorenson of Iowa State. Abdurakhmonov trailed 4-3 late in the third period and forced a stall warning with 30-seconds left on Sorenson, but Bekzod could not score – and Sorenson gained a counter takedown at the buzzer to win 6-3.
 
               Bekzod  opened the tournament with a 7-3 win over #12 seed Lorenzo Thomas of Penn and will now drop back into the wrestle backs on Friday. He is 14-3 this season.
 
               Also advancing to the quarterfinals before losing was senior heavyweight Quintas McCorkle (Alexandria, Va.). Quintas lost 2-0 to  #3 seed Bobby Telford of Iowa. McCorkle reached the quarterfinals with a huge 4-0 upset win over #6 seed Ernest James of Edinboro. McCorkle opened with a 5-2 win over Anthony DiLonardo of Penn. He will drop back into the wrestle backs on Friday with a season record of 16-7.
 
               Alex Thomas (Jr. Seaford, De.) was seeded #9 at 197 and opened the Midlands with a 7-4 win over Kadeem Samuels of Lehigh, then lost to #8 seed Mario Gonzalez (Illinois) 14-9. He bounced back to pin Alan Yen of Stanford  at 2:17 and then lost by fall to #11 seed Dan Rinaldi of Rutgers at 4:40. Alex is 16-10 this year.
 
               Tyler Bedelyon (So. Lewistown), unseeded at 141-pounds, finished with a 3-2 record. He opened with a tough 9-7 loss to Pat Greco of Northwestern, then came back in the wrestle backs with a pin over Justin Durham of Cal Bakersfield at 1:30 and then defeated Seth Schaner (E. Michigan) 12-2. He lost late Thursday night  11-6 to  #8 Frank Goodwin of Maryland. Tyler is 10-10 this season.
 
               CLARION NOTES: Also competing for the Golden Eagles with their record on the day before being eliminated were Trey Hicks (0-2) at 125; Joe Waltko (1-2) at 133; Cameron Moran (0-2) at 149; Ryan Darch (0-2) at 174 and Steven Cressley (0-2) at 184… Updated records – Hicks (4-11); Waltko (10-9); Moran (7-11); Darch (8-11);