Congratulations to Illinois wrestling coach Mark Johnson on notching his 200th career dual meet victory yesterday against the Wisconsin Badgers.  The #9 Illini disposed of the #16 Badgers by a 24-16 score, and the meet was decided by bonus points (major decisions and pins), as both teams won five matches.  I have to admit, I was caught a bit off guard when I read of the milestone earlier today on IlliniHQ.  In part, that's because Johnson would never bring something like that up himself.  It's also because I hadn't looked at his career record recently...oops.  So, let's take a look at some of Johnson's coaching accomplishments at Illinois.

Here are a few of Johnson's milestone wins at Illinois:

Win #1: December 1992, 40-7 vs. Marquette.

Win #50: February 1997, 28-9 vs. Michigan State.

Win #100: January 21, 2001, 39-0 vs. #23 Indiana.

Win #150: January 22, 2005, 20-15 vs. #8 Minnesota.

Win #200: February 8, 2009, 24-16 vs. #16 Wisconsin.

February 14, 1999: Illini's first win over Iowa since 1960 (20-16).

A few other statistical tidbits regarding Johnson's coaching tenure:

* Illinois' all-time winning percentage in dual meets before Johnson's arrival: .515 (427-402-5)

* Mark Johson's winning percentage in duals at Illinois: .819 (200-43-3)

* Number of the top 20 Illini wrestlers in career winning percentage who wrestled for Johnson: 17 (Only Jon Llewellyn - #6, Kevin Puebla - #14, and Steve Hankenson - #18 did not)

* Owns eight of the top ten single season dual meet winning percentages.  B.R. Patterson has the other two (#6 and T7).

* Exactly 100 more wins than B.R. Patterson (100-113-12), who ranks second on Illinois' all-time dual meet win list.

Tomorrow, we'll look back at last week's Big Ten results.  Then on Wednesday, it's time to check out the updated rankings.  Until then.

bmoline@wdws.com