Poeta Into Semifinals
Mike Poeta cruised into the semifinals of the NCAA Wrestling Championships with a 10-5 win over Tyler Safratowich of Minnesota. Poeta has clinched All-American status for the third consecutive season, after finishes of third and second place the last two years. In tonight's semifinals, Poeta will face the wrestler who defeated him 5-4 for the championship last season, Cornell's Jordan Leen.
Two other Illini battled hard in their quarterfinal matches against higher-ranked opponents, but came up just short. Ryan Prater at 141 fell 8-6 to Ryan Williams of Old Dominion on a last second reversal. Meanwhile, John Wise fell 3-2 to top-ranked David Zabriskie of Iowa State on a takedown in the final seconds. Both fall to the consolation round of 12, where they will wrestle tonight for All-American status.
John Dergo and Jimmy Kennedy both picked up wins in the consolation round earlier today to also advance to the consolation round of 12. Kennedy had a dominating performance against Old Dominion's Kyle Hutter, winning 10-1. Dergo picked up a 5-3 decision over Wyoming's Shane Onufer to advance.
Three other Illini were eliminated from the tournament, as B.J. Futrell, Roger Smith-Bergsrud and Patrick Bond all fell in the consolation round of 16. The Illini as a team fell two places in the session from seventh to ninth place.
More action coming up tonight. I'll try to update it later this evening.
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