The Illinois wrestling team closed out strong at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships in State College, PA, as the Illini finished a strong second in the team standings and will send nine wrestlers out of ten to the NCAA Championships in two weeks.  Mike Poeta won his second straight Big Ten Championship at 157 pounds for the Illini, as he was the lone Illinois wrestler to reach the finals.  Take a look at the final brackets.

Three Illini claimed third place medals today: Jimmy Kennedy at 133, Patrick Bond at 197 and John Wise at heavyweight.  All ten Illini finished in the top eight in their respective weight classes.  Coming home with fourth place finishes are John Dergo at 174 and Jordan Blanton at 184.  Roger Smith-Bergsrud (165) and B.J. Futrell (125) finished sixth.  Ryan Prater (141) claimed seventh place, and Eric Terrazas (149) finished in eighth place.  Terrazas was the lone Illini to not claim an automatic qualifying spot in the NCAA Championships, as only the top five wrestlers at his weight class received automatic qualfying spots.

The second place finish for the Illini matches their finish in 2006, but the feeling was much different that year.  Illinois had several wrestlers reach the finals in 2006, and if only one of them had been able to claim a Big Ten title, the Illini would have had back-to-back Big Ten Championships.  But all the finalists finished second that day, as did the Illini as a team.  In contrast, this year's team finished strong.  Going in, no one had much of a chance to beat Iowa, who is clearly the best team in the country.  But the Illini knew they would have to wrestle well to claim second place, and that's exactly what they did.

How well did Illinois wrestle?  Only one of their ten wrestlers (Smith-Bergsrud) failed to place at or above his seed going into the tournament.  Roger was seeded fourth and finished sixth.  The Illinois wrestlers who exceeded expectations were Futrell (seeded eighth, finished sixth), Dergo (seeded fifth, finished fourth), Bond (seeded fifth, finished third) and Wise (seeded fourth, finished third).  The other five Illinois wrestlers (Kennedy, Prater, Terrazas, Poeta and Blanton) all finished exactly where they were ranked going into the tournament.

This is the third time Illinois has finished as Big Ten Runner-Up under Mark Johnson.  The first time that happened for Johnson at Illinois, in 2001, the Illini went on to their best team finish at the NCAA Championships since 1948, fifth place.  Like that year's team, this year's Illini squad appears to be moving in the right direction as the NCAA Championships approach in two weeks.

bmoline@wdws.com