Midlands Results

EVANSTON, Ill. - Elmhurst wrester Joe Rau placed sixth at the prestigious Midlands Championships hosted by Northwestern University.

Competing against some of the top wrestlers in Division I, Rau finished the tournament with a 5-3 record and a sixth-place showing at the 184-pound weight class.

Rau opened the the tournament by pinning UW-Parkside's Matt Gille in 2:34. He fell 11-5 to Lehigh's Robert Hamlin, the top-ranked wrestler in Division I.

Rau bounced back from his first loss of the season by winning four straight matches in the consolation bracket. He defeated Stanford's Spence Patrick by an 8-0 major decision before pinning Michigan State's John Rizgallah in 1:11.

Rau followed with a 6-4 victory over Penn's Erich Smith to move into the consolation quarterfinals. Rau earned an 18-4 major decision over Virginia Tech.'s John Dickson to move into the consolation semifinals. Rau was pinned by Purdue's Braden Atwood in 1:38 to fall into the fifth-place match.

In the fifth-place match, he dropped a 5-3 overtime decision to Oklahoma's Erich Schmidtke.

Rau is a two-time CCIW Champion and an NCAA All-American during the 2010-11 season. He is currently ranked third in the nation in Division III.