Virginia's Paul Bjorlo Falls To #11-Seeded Mike Kimberlin In Overtime In The 42nd Annual Midlands Championships

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EVANSTON, Ill. – University of Virginia wrestler Paul Bjorlo (Reston, Va./South Lakes) dropped a hard-fought match to #11-seeded Mike Kimberlin from Northwestern by the score of 7-5 in overtime in a 174-pound match in the 42nd annual Midlands Championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena on the campus of Northwestern University. The Midlands Championships is recognized as one of the premier wrestling events in the country and features some of the top talent in the nation. Bjorlo posted a record of 2-2 at 174-pounds after winning his first two matched before dropping a pair of bouts to the #1 and #11 seeds in the event.

Bjorlo started the event off with back-to-back wins over Penn’s Brock Wittmeyer (4-1) and Iowa’s Alex Grunder (Iowa) to start the event with a record of 2-0. In his next match, Bjorlo fell to Stanford’s #1-seeded Matt Gentry by the score of 11-4 before eventually falling to #11-seeded Kimberlin 7-5.

Bjorlo’s teammate Rocco Caponi (Uniontown, Ohio/SVSM) also competed in the Midlands Championships for UVa and went 1-2 at 174-pounds. Caponi dropped a major decision to American’s Dan Waters (11-1) before winning a major decision match against Triton’s Rob Nash (13-0) before being edged by Iowa State’s Grant Turner 11-10.

Here is a look at Virginia’s results from the Midlands Championships:

157W	Paul Bjorlo (UVa) def. Brock Wittmeyer (Penn)			4-1W	Paul Bjorlo (UVa)def. Alex Grunder (Iowa)			8-4L	#1 Matt Gentry (Stanford) def. Paul Bjorlo (UVa)		11-4L	#11 Mike Kimberlin (Northwestern) def. Paul Bjorlo (UVa) 	7-5 (OT)

174L Dan Waters (American) def. Rocco Caponi (UVa) MD, 11-1W Rocco Caponi (UVa) def. Rob Nash (Triton) MD, 13-0L Grant Turner (Iowa State) def. Rocco Caponi (UVa) 11-10

— UVa —