Mercenaries coming to Midlands

[Sandor45]

A little off topic in relation to the time of the year, but according to the T Row and Funky podcast, Ben Askren and Tommy Rowlands are teaming up to create a wrestling team for the sole purpose of ending Iowa's streak of Midlands Team titles for the upcoming year.
Don't know how serious they are, but it sounds like Rowlands is already kind of training for this.
They're calling themselves the Mercenaries, and here's a list of guys they've enlisted to fill out their roster so far.

Sam Hazewinkel.
Nick Simmons
Reece Humphrey
Ben Askren
Max Askren
Jake Herbert
Tommy Rowlands

I know all of these guys obviously have the right amount of credentials to be invited to Midlands, but can they form a team like that?
I think this would be amazing for the Midlands as it's been kind of stale the last few years. Why not take advantage of the uniqueness of the Midlands and get a bunch of old names in there.

 

[DonHawkeye]

Yes, they can form a team like that. At least you used to be able to. I also predict that this team does not do as well as most would think.

 

[andegre]

Yes, they can for a team like that. At least you used to be able to. I also predict that this team does not do as well as most would think.

Add to that, Iowa will have one of their weaker teams next year.

 

[Lsanders20]

Yes, they can for a team like that. At least you used to be able to. I also predict that this team does not do as well as most would think.

I would agree with this but it would be awesome to see. Notice they are looking to do it next year not the following when we are stacked lol.

 

[Sandor45]

I see Humphrey, Askren, and Herbert winning it.
But who knows, David Taylor did it the one year and barely beat Dudley.
It'd be interesting to say the least.

 

[andegre]

Yes, they can for a team like that. At least you used to be able to. I also predict that this team does not do as well as most would think.

Add to that, Iowa will have one of their weaker teams next year.

Wait, is the team title streak really that long? Didn't we get 5th in 2010 or so? And also skipped in 2013 or 2014? What is the streak, 2? Wow, that's a long streak!

 

[edquinn06]

Add to that, Iowa will have one of their weaker teams next year.

This is probably why they are doing it next year.

 

[Sandor45]

Wait, is the team title streak really that long? Didn't we get 5th in 2010 or so? And also skipped in 2013 or 2014? What is the streak, 2? Wow, that's a long streak!

13, 14, 15, 16

 

[YoungGun07]

Would they give the team title to a non-collegiate team? Maybe some ex-hawkeyes should put a team in just to make sure these guys don't win it. Dennis, Telford, Metcalf, McDonough, Evans, Burak, St. John and Ramos (if he would do it) would have just as good of a chance as those listed.

 

[Sandor45]

Would they give the team title to a non-collegiate team? Maybe some ex-hawkeyes should put a team in just to make sure these guys don't win it. Dennis, Telford, Metcalf, McDonough, Evans, Burak, St. John and Ramos (if he would do it) would have just as good of a chance as those listed.

Yes. This.
They should definitely do this.

 

[PrairieHawk24]

Would they give the team title to a non-collegiate team? Maybe some ex-hawkeyes should put a team in just to make sure these guys don't win it. Dennis, Telford, Metcalf, McDonough, Evans, Burak, St. John and Ramos (if he would do it) would have just as good of a chance as those listed.

Don't forget Grothus and Slaton!

 

[edquinn06]

Don't forget Grothus and Slaton!

Isn't Borshel back in Iowa?

 

[IAHWKGUY]

Yes. This.
They should definitely do this.

Agreed. I've never been to Midlands, but even I would consider traveling for this.

Throw a Brands and/or Cael in there, I mean why not, and now we really have something.

 

[LaxHawk174]

Well we have Spencer Lee as a True FR to knock out their 125 lber.

 

[nearfall2]

Sunkist used to go when I was a kid. So club teams were welcome at one point.

 

[YoungGun07]

Borschel is back in Iowa, but the others are still competing or coaching at the college level. I doubt Jay is in the shape he would need to be.

 

[pottymouth2]

I'd be more impressed if they put their efforts into getting their former teams to enter the Midlands (e.g. tOSU, MIZZ)

 

[DonHawkeye]

Sunkist Kids has won this several times.

http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2012-12-18/bracket-history-midlands

 

[Azchief32]

Would they give the team title to a non-collegiate team? Maybe some ex-hawkeyes should put a team in just to make sure these guys don't win it. Dennis, Telford, Metcalf, McDonough, Evans, Burak, St. John and Ramos (if he would do it) would have just as good of a chance as those listed.

Gilman and Clark

 

[LaxHawk174]

Gilman and Clark

A Gilman - Lee midlands final would be pretty cool to see.

 

[CumberlandHawk]

It would be nice to see more post college guys there like in the past. Makes it more interesting to see how the new stacks up against the old. Does Joe Williams have another round in him?

 

[hawkaeg80]

Jay is still stalling.

 

[Jay on HR]

It would be awesome if we sent our HWC guys next year And watch them roll Askern's squad.

125- Gilman
133- Clark
141- one of the Dardanes
149 - the other Dardanes
174 - Evans
184- Brooks
197 - Burak
285 -telford

 

[Jackhawk87]

Could our unattached redshirters like Lee and Warner be on a "team" like this as long as they pay their own way? Not attached to a college team. I know it won't happen, but just curious.

 

[Neo_Hawk]

Wow, what a bunch of great ideas to make a tournament more exciting. Would love to see these type of tournaments actually happen. You'd think this would get a pretty good turn out and be heavily watched on Flo is they broadcast it.

Various Alumni teams vs existing College or Club teams vs.HS recruit or all star teams. I'd pay to watch that.

 

[andegre]

Wow, what a bunch of great ideas to make a tournament more exciting. Would love to see these type of tournaments actually happen. You'd think this would get a pretty good turn out and be heavily watched on Flo is they broadcast it.

Various Alumni teams vs existing College or Club teams vs.HS recruit or all star teams. I'd pay to watch that.

Yeah, I was thinking about this last night a little bit.

I think it'd be cool since it's an invitation tournament, they could do something like:
1) Any recent NCAA champion gains automatic invite for the next 5 years
2) Finalist gets automatic invite for next 2 years
3) AA gets invite for following year
4) AND......top HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR at each weight class (would obviously have to tweak because of the different number of weight classes) would also get an invite. Would be cool to get a Mark Hall, Spencer Lee, etc get a shot right before they start college, if they want to...

All of this separate from whether a wrestler's team is entered into the tournament.

This would possibly get more individual wrestlers interested in the tournament in case their team doesn't have anything scheduled that weekend.

 

[dicemen99]

Yeah, I was thinking about this last night a little bit.

I think it'd be cool since it's an invitation tournament, they could do something like:
1) Any recent NCAA champion gains automatic invite for the next 5 years
2) Finalist gets automatic invite for next 2 years
3) AA gets invite for following year
4) AND......top HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR at each weight class (would obviously have to tweak because of the different number of weight classes) would also get an invite. Would be cool to get a Mark Hall, Spencer Lee, etc get a shot right before they start college, if they want to...

All of this separate from whether a wrestler's team is entered into the tournament.

This would possibly get more individual wrestlers interested in the tournament in case their team doesn't have anything scheduled that weekend.

HS Seniors are no longer permitted to compete in college opens and remain eligible. They changed this a few years ago, right after Marstellar entered as an 8th grader. It was getting a little out of hand in PA at least as high schoolers were popping up in most of the many opens in PA during the early part of the season.

 

[Jackhawk87]

So who wants to start working on getting the HR team into Midlands?

 

[Jay on HR]

Could our unattached redshirters like Lee and Warner be on a "team" like this as long as they pay their own way? Not attached to a college team. I know it won't happen, but just curious.

I don't think this is possible. As soon as your points count in any tournament you lose your chance to redshirt.

 

[UndercoverHawk]

So who wants to start working on getting the HR team into Midlands?

Well if I remember correctly Chief was a coach and Kwood was our coordinator. One of those 2 would be a start. Over/under 1 win at the tourney for us?

 

[el dub]

Wow, what a bunch of great ideas to make a tournament more exciting. Would love to see these type of tournaments actually happen. You'd think this would get a pretty good turn out and be heavily watched on Flo is they broadcast it.

Various Alumni teams vs existing College or Club teams vs.HS recruit or all star teams. I'd pay to watch that.

Agree with everything except the flo part. This is a big ten school event.