INDIANAPOLIS- The #14 UIndy wrestling team had its best showing since 2013 at the annual Midwest Classic, finishing second at the event which featured 43 teams this season.

UIndy, host of the annual event that brings some of NCAA Division II's best to Indianapolis, amassed 97.5 team points behind six placers. Central Oklahoma took the team title with 106.5 team points, while Adams State (89.0 points), UW-Parkside (88.5) and McKendree (86.5) rounded out the top five in the team race. 

The Greyhounds were led to the runner-up finish by an individual title from #6 Andrew Sams, who came out on top in a loaded 174 pound bracket. Sams bested a pair of ranked opponents on Day II of Midwest, with both wins avenging prior losses. In the bracket semifinal, Sams faced #3 Daniel Beemer of Ashland, taking a 3-1 win to push him into the bracket final. The match was a rematch of last season's regional final, in which Beemer topped Sams to take the 174 regional title. 

In the 174 title match, Sams came up against another familiar foe in #5 Job Ayala of UW-Parkside. Ayala defeated Sams just three weeks ago at the Findlay Open, but it was the Greyhound that came out on top in the Midwest Classic final, with Sams winning 4-3 to become the first UIndy MWC champion since Dylan Faulkenberg won the heavyweight bracket in 2018.

Joining Sams in making his first Midwest Classic final was #12 Derek Blubaugh. The Greyhound 197 opened Day II with a semifinal win over Alderson Broaddus' Gino Sita, 4-3, setting him up for his second match of the year against #1 Dalton Abney of Central Oklahoma. Blubaugh fell in the final, 4-0, to Abney to take second in the bracket. 

Both #12 Jack Eiteljorge and Cale Gray took fourth for the Hounds, with Eiteljorge going 3-1 on the day to take fourth at 165. Gray also went 3-1 on Day II to finish fourth at 285. The final Greyhound placer in the event was #8 Logan Bailey, who finished seventh in the 149 bracket with a 2-1 day that featured a pin and a major decision. 

The Greyhounds will take a couple of weeks off for Winter Break, and will return to the mat Jan. 6-7 at the NWCA National Duals and the Mat Mayhem Open in Louisville.