45TH MIDLANDS CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Midlands is a national invitational/open event for outstanding college teams, clubs and individuals. The Midlands is a premier wrestling tradition, attracting 350 of the country's best wrestlers. Admission varies per session; contact the Northwestern ticket office 847-491-CATS or go to NUSports.com.

Sat., Dec. 29
1st Session - 9:30 a.m.; 2nd Session - 7 p.m.

Sun., Dec. 30
3rd Session - Noon; Final Session - 7 p.m.

RADIO/TV COVERAGE OF 45TH MIDLANDS
Panther fans in the Cedar Valley can follow the Midlands action via radio on 99.3-FM (KWAY). Benjamin Hupke (play-by-play) and Benji Dolly (analyst) will have the call.

The Big Ten Network wil be covering the "Midlands 45" and will air live on Dec. 30 with the finals. The Big Ten Network will also show the semifinals on a tape-delayed basis.

PANTHERS EARN THREE PRE-SEEDS
UNI has been tabbed with three pre-seeds for the Midlands Championships. C.J. Ettelson is listed as the top seed at 141 pounds, while Moza Fay is the No. 2 seed at 165 pounds. Alex Dolly is the No. 8 seed at 174 pounds.

The official seeds will be determined prior to the start of the tournament.

STRONG PERFORMANCES IN PAST FOR PANTHERS AT
MIDLANDS
A trio of Panthers have had strong showings the past two years at Midlands.

Senior C.J. Ettelson placed 3rd in 2005 and 4th in 2006 in the 141-pound weight class.

Junior Andrew Anderson took 5th in 2005 and 6th in 2006 in the 197-pound brackets.

Junior Moza Fay tallied a 3rd-place finish in 2006 in the 157-pound weight class.

UNI IN NATIONAL POLLS
The Panther wrestling team is moving up in the national polls after a promising start to the season in a 16-16 tie against the nationally-ranked Wisconsin Badgers.

UNI is ranked No. 24 in the nation according to The Wrestling Report's top 25 poll.

The Panthers are No. 25 in the weekly W.I.N. rankings.

UNI also joined the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA poll at No. 25.

C.J. CRACKS TOP-10 PIN LIST
Senior C.J. Ettelson is in a tie for 10th place on the Panthers' all-time pins list with 26 career falls.

Ettelson is tied with Jeff Weatherman (1983-87) with 26 pins. Kurt Schedenhelm ranks No. 9 on the UNI list with 27 falls.

Ettelson has a career mark of 83-41 entering this weekend's Midlands tournament.

C.J. CLOSES IN ON TOP 20 VICTORY CHART
C.J. Ettelson will take his 83 career wins into the Midlands. Ettelson needs nine more wins to rank in the top 20 at UNI when it comes to individual victories.

Efonda Sproles (1979-82) ranks No. 20 on the Panthers' all-time victory list with 92. Kirk Myers (1978-82) and Rich Powers (1988-92) are tied at the top of the list with 134 wins apiece.

YOUNG GUN
True freshman Trent Washington (Omaha, Neb.) is getting his collegiate wrestling career off to a tremendous start.

Washington (8-3 overall) scored a 14-11 victory over Wisconsin's No. 18-ranked Zach Tanelli in the dual on Dec. 8.

Washington said his approach was to score early and often against the junior Tanelli.

"That's the kind of wrestler I am," Washington said. "I want them to know right away that I will wrestle, especially since I was a freshman and he was a junior in this match. I wanted him to know that I was here to wrestle and was not going to be intimidated."

Washington won the 133-pound title at the season-opening Loras Open. He followed that up with a second-place finish at the Kaufman-Brand Open in Omaha, Neb., on Nov. 17.

His only loss this season came in the 133-pound title match at the Kaufman-Brand Open to Oklahoma State true freshman Jamal Parks, 5-2.

Washington tallied a three-year prep mark of 106-5 as a wrestler at Boys Town High School in Nebraska.

#2 IOWA STATE TRIPS UNI, 29-10
The No. 25-ranked University of Northern Iowa wrestling squad dropped a 29-10 dual to the No. 2-ranked Iowa State Cyclones on Dec. 16 in the McLeod Center.

Head coach Brad Penrith credited his team with a stronger effort than Thursday's 40-3 loss at No. 1-ranked Iowa.

"It was definitely a better performance than Iowa," Penrith said. "We still have some work to do. I'm not happy about losing to (Iowa State), but we have things to work on."

UNI picked up wins from Moza Fay (165 lbs.), Alex Dolly (174 lbs.) and Nick Pickerell (149 lbs.).

#1 HAWKS TOP PANTHERS, 40-3
The University of Northern Iowa struggled against top-ranked Iowa in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, falling to the Hawkeyes, 40-3.

UNI jumped out to a 3-0 lead as Andrew Anderson (Sioux City, Iowa) scored a 6-4 decision over Iowa's Rick Loera. That lead wouldn't last long as Iowa took control of the mat.

"Andrew's win wasn't pretty, but it was a win nonetheless," UNI head coach Brad Penrith said. "That match set the tone for how they would wrestle all night."

Anderson picked up the only win of the night for the Panthers as UNI struggled against the Hawkeyes for the rest of the night.

"They came out and controlled the mat, Penrith said. "They set the tone early and took us out of our game plan. We wrestled really tired all night, but on a positive note it's early in the season and we have a lot of time to work on what we did wrong."

ANDERSON KNOCKS OFF #4-RANKED BADGER
UNI junior Andrew Anderson scored the biggest upset against the Wisconsin Badgers with a thrilling 4-3 victory over No. 3-ranked Dallas Herbst at 197 pounds. The match was knotted at 2-2 in the third period when Herbst was whistled for locking hands and a point was awarded to Anderson. Herbst still had a riding time point in tow, before Anderson netted an escape with only eight seconds left in the match.

"I knew (Herbst) was going to be tough on top and he had me tied up real good," Anderson said. "I was working the whole time and at one point he let up a little. I took advantage of his mistake and snuck out for the win. It was a pretty big match and the highest ranked wrestler I've ever wrestled. I had a good feeling about it coming in because I've wrestled him before. I knew it was going to be close."

Penrith pointed to Anderson's effort as a key to the Panthers' total team effort.

"Andrew hadn't beaten his opponent (No. 4-ranked Dallas Herbst) and toward the end it didn't look promising but Andrew exploded and he kept wrestling," Penrith said. "Andrew really earned his win."

STRONG START AGAINST 10TH-RANKED BADGERS
The University of Northern Iowa wrestling squad got the home season underway in promising fashion on Dec. 8 with a 16-16 tie against the No. 10-ranked Wisconsin Badgers in the McLeod Center.

UNI head coach Brad Penrith said he was happy with the result of Saturday's dual against the highly-ranked Badgers.

"We had our opportunities against a top-rated Wisconsin team that is well-coached," head coach Brad Penrith said. "We made some mistakes in our first dual meet that we need to improve on, but we also took a lot of positives away from this too. Sometimes in the first dual meet you have a lot of jitters and nerves. But the team came out and wrestled well. We'll learn from our mistakes. This shows we could have a good team by the end of the season."

TICKETS CURRENTLY ON SALE FOR 2008 NATIONAL DUALS
Tickets went on sale Nov. 1 for the 2008 National Wrestling Coaches Association/Cliff Keen National Duals, which will take place Jan. 12-13, 2008, in the UNI-Dome.

Top wrestlers from each collegiate athletic division (Divison I, II, III, NAIA, JUCO, NWCA and Women's) will compete for a national dual title. The NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals is one of the largest collegiate national sporting events in the country, with more than 1,400 wrestlers and 80 teams attending.

UNI has served as the host for the event the past two years and has a combined attendance of more than 28,500 fans (13,380 in 2006 and 15,190 in 2007).

"We are extremely excited to have the largest collegiate athletic event at one of the most capable hosting institutions in the country," said Mike Moyer, NWCA Executive Director. "There is such a large representation of Iowa wrestling programs at the event. There are few other places in the country where we could have such a strong fan base. There has been fantastic community support and UNI has shown that is has the resources in place to put on great wrestling events."

Thirteen teams from the state of Iowa will compete, including UNI (I), Iowa (I), Iowa State (I), Upper Iowa (II), Buena Vista (III), Coe (III), Cornell (III), Luther (III), Wartburg (III), Morningside (NAIA), William Penn (NAIA), Northwestern (NAIA) and Iowa Central (NJCAA).

Tickets may be purchased by contacting the UNI-Dome box office at 877-216-DOME or 319-273-4849.

2008 National Duals Ticket Prices
All Session Pass $30
All Session Pass (Senior/Student)* $22
All Session Group Tickets (10+)** $22
Individual Session $20
Individual Session (Senior/Student)* $15
Individual Session Group (8+)** $15

* Must be under 18 or have a valid University of College ID
** Group sales apply to pre-sold ticket purchases only, must be received by Jan. 4, 2008

FORMER UNI WRESTLERS STAR IN NEW WRESTLING MOVIE
A special screening of the new wrestling movie "7 Minutes" was presented at the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum on November 30.

Former UNI wrestlers Jeff Harrison and Steve Ertl play lead roles in this film about a Division I wrestling program that is on the verge of being dropped. All of the actors who portray wrestlers in the film competed at the collegiate level.

"Wrestling is without a doubt the most misunderstood sport out there," said J.D. Oliva, producer and director of the film. "There are all types of stereotypes, and people don't realize that the sport requires an incredible amount of hard work and sacrifice."

"Mainstream America could use some education. Wrestling is growing at every level except in the NCAA, where more than 300 wrestling programs have been cut since 1972."

"7 Minutes" was shot primarily in Illinois and Wisconsin. The Chicago Sun Times published a story on the project in May and the web site for the movie (www.7minutes-movie.com) has received tens of thousands of hits.

For more information contact the wrestling museum at (319) 233-0745.

PLEDGES FOR PINS
Fall means the UNI wrestling season is underway, but it also means its "fall-athon" time: time for our second "Pledges for Pins" drive. But first let's look at what is being accomplished with pledges for last year's team total of 48 pins that brought in nearly $25,000.

A complete makeover of both sides of the West gym's north hallway, including action shots of all UNI national champions. (View the plans at www.thesignpeople.net; click on "Artwork," then enter "wrestling" as the "magic word.")

Coach Brad Penrith's former office now serves as a wrestlers' study and video room and contains a desk for assistant Tolly Thompson. The room's new doors now open into the assistant coaches' office.

A former athletic trainer's room is being updated for the first time in about 30 years to become Brad's office.

Exposed plumbing was covered in a tiny custodial office now used for wrestling supplies.

Why is a Pledges for Pins drive necessary? Panther wrestlers compete in the first-rate McLeod center but sorely lack updated facilities in the West gym, which remains their home. This site pales in comparison to that of nearly every other Division I university, a definite recruiting disadvantage for the Panthers.

In recent years, rising costs and lower state funds have combined to severely limit help from the university itself, so those of us as who care about returning the UNI program to its stature as one of the top in the nation are lending our support.

Any pledge amount, from $1 up, is welcome. Donors may specify a maximum number of pins for their contribution; for example, $20 for a maximum 50 pins ($1,000). Outright donations are also welcome, but PLEASE specify to the UNI Foundation that these are for the Pledges for Pins project. Contributors will be sent a statement at the end of the season, and all contributions are tax-deductible.

Pledges and donations should be sent, via the enclosed card, to Pledges for Pins, UNI Foundation Accounting, 1221 W. 23rd St, Cedar Falls, IA 50614 -0239.

Last year, Panther wrestlers built an elementary school playground, moved a hospital daycare center's playground equipment, donated money for Christmas gifts for a classroom of low-income children (and sang them carols), read to children at area schools, and served as Safe Date escorts during Homecoming Week. And they did all this while posting the fifth-highest GPA in the nation, behind Duke, Stanford, Brown and Princeton! Now we can show them our spirit and concern.

NCAA DIVISION I WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ST. LOUIS
The 78th Annual NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships take place March 20-22, 2008, at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

The Gateway City will once again host the tournament for two years as it heads back to the Arch in March.

For tickets to the 2008 championships, visit Ticketmaster.com or charge by phone at 314/ 421-1888 or 866/ 646-8849 (toll free).

For more information about the 2008 Wrestling Championships visit www.NCAAsports.com or www.stlsports.org/wrestling.

Good seats are still available for the 2008 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Fans can order tickets by calling 866/ 646-8849 or logging on to Ticketmaster.com. Tickets start as low as $60.

Groups of fifteen or more can call 314/ 206-7388 for great ticket discounts and special packages.

THE Brad Penrith SHOW
The Brad Penrith Show will be broadcast each Wednesday on KWAY (99.3-FM) from 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. Benjamin Hupke will serve as the show's host.

BOOSTER CLUB MEETINGS
The UNI wrestling Booster Club meetings are held the first Wednesday of every month at the Pump Haus located at 311 Main Street in Cedar Falls.

WEEKLY PRESS LUNCHEONS
The UNI head coach Brad Penrith or a member of his coaching staff will be available at the weekly Press Luncheons held each Monday beginning at 12 noon in the back room of Pepper's Grill and Sports Pub located at 620 East 18th Street in Cedar Falls.