HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – The 19th ranked University of Pennsylvania Wrestling team opened its final event of the 2022 calendar year on Thursday. The 58th annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships is being held at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill. The Quakers saw seven wrestlers advance to the quarterfinals on day one and three will wrestle in tomorrow morning's semifinal rounds. As a team the Red and Blue are in fifth place and are the only non-Power Five team in the top seven.
 
#13 Anthony Artalona opened the day with a quick start as he needed just 13 seconds to advance to the second round defeating Brown's Keegan Rothrock (F 0:13). Artalona made his way to the quarterfinal bout with decisions over SIUE's Alec Peralta (Dec. 7-2) and NC State's Luke Ahrberg (Dec. 6-4). His final bout of the day featured a few reviews that both ended with no takedowns called, one against Artalona and his opponent Rutgers Andrew Clark. Artalona tied the bout at 3-3 late in the third and but was unable to advance to the semifinals as his opponent secured the takedown in sudden victory.

ICYMI - @PennWrestling's Anthony Artalona got his day off to a ?? start, needing only 13 seconds to advance on! #Midlands58 pic.twitter.com/31nIrGArkN

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 30, 2022

#13 Michael Colaiocco, #10 Doug Zapf, and #18 Nick Incontrera swept their competition as they all advanced to the semifinals in their weight classes.
Colaiocco earned a first-round bye and used wins over a pair of Ivy League and EIWA opponents with a major decision over Princeton's Anthony Clark (10-2) and then won by fall over Harvard's Dante Frinzi (F 2:49). Colaiocco earned his second win over Wisconsin's Taylor Lamont this season to advance to the semifinals at 133 pounds.  

Zapf earned a first-round bye and then used a pair of major decisions to advance to the quarterfinals. He then advanced to the semifinals with a 9-3 decision over Virginia's Jarod Verkleeren.
Incontrera opened his day with a fall over Northern Illinois' Hayden Pummel and then won by a 10-3 decision over West Virginia's Scott Joll. He made easy work of his quarterfinal opponent with a 10-1 major decision victory over Wisconsin's Josh Otto.

Ryan Miller (125), Anthony Artalona (157), Cole Urbas (197), and Ben Goldin (285) also advanced to the quarterfinals in their respective weight classes.

Day One full Team Standings and Individual Results from day one.  

The semifinals will begin at noon on Friday, December 30.