Gadson Takes Fourth At Midlands Championships

EVANSTON, Ill - Kyven Gadson will be taking home some hardware from the 50th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships after winning fourth place at the historic tournament.

Gadson, the tournament's 10 seed, finished the tournament with a record of 5-2, moving his record on the season to 11-2. Gadson upset the tournaments No. 3 and No. 4 seeds on his way to fourth place.  

"This should do a lot for Kyven's confidence," Iowa State head coach Kevin Jackson said. "I don't think he realizes how good he really is and what his potential is. He is capable of dominating if he goes out there with a dominating mentality NCAA tournament. I thought our guys competed hard and they saw what it's going to be like at the NCAA tournament. We're close, we're real close and as we move into the second half of the season we're going to really start rolling."

Gadson faced Oregon State's Taylor Meeks, the tournament's No. 6 seed, in the consolation championship for third place on Sunday night in Welsh-Ryan Arena, eventually losing to Meeks, 8-6. Gadson, ranked No. 16 nationally by InterMat, certainly opened some eyes with the tournament run he made, knocking off two wrestlers ranked in the top-15 nationally.

In the consolation championship match, Gadson got behind early as Meeks got an early takedown and controlled the first period. The Waterloo, Iowa native fought back and took a 6-4 lead in the third period. However, Meeks, the nations No. 11 ranked 197-pound wrestler, got an escape and a late takedown. Meeks also was awarded a point for riding time.

Gadson has been flying under the radar so far this year, after sitting out nearly the entirety of last year with a shoulder injury.

Iowa State (1-2/ 0-0 Big 12) finished 17th in the final team standings with 32.5 points. The Cyclones will be back in action on Saturday at 7 p.m. to take on Oklahoma on the road in Norman.

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