The Illini wrestling team seemed to be right at home in California as they dominated all three meets over the weekend to improve to 4-0 on the season

It also proved to be a good homecoming for three California natives on the squad who went undefeated in all of their matches.

“In the middle of January, California is a lot different place to wrestle in than at home,” said Clovis High School alum and redshirt freshman Troy Tirapelle. “Although we were three thousand miles away from school, we were basically in our hometown in front of a home crowd.”

The other Clovis High alumni are Troy’s older brother, senior All-American Alex Tirapelle, and sophomore Gabe Flores, who all had won championships at Clovis.

The team shut out Stanford 39-0 on Sunday night, after beating both San Francisco State and Fresno State on Friday. The Illini only lost one match all weekend.

Senior All-American Kyle Ott, ranked No. 3 at 125 pounds, started things off in exciting fashion against Stanford’s No.11 ranked Tanner Gardner. Ott was down a point with only 30 seconds to go in the match, but the senior came through with a reversal to win the match, 5-2.

Flores (133 pounds) didn’t let his fans down in the next match as he defeated Eric Minnick via technical fall 17-1. Junior All-American Cassio Pero (141) scored a takedown in every period on his way to a 9-3 victory over Tyler Parker.

Next up were the Tirapelle brothers, who had plenty of family and fans in the crowd all weekend long. Troy (149 pounds) defeated Josh Zupancic 3-1 in a tightly contested match to finish his weekend undefeated. Alex, the No.1 ranked wrestler at 157 pounds in the country, dominated his match against Scott Loescher and won with a major decision, 15-2.

“The whole trip was just a lot of fun,” Troy said. “Every part of it, from coming back home and the wrestling, it was just awesome in every possible way.”

Redshirt freshman Mike Poeta, ranked No. 9 at 165 pounds, defeated Ray Blake, 5-2. Junior Donny Reynolds, No. 17 at 174 pounds, won with a major decision 12-2 against Luke Feist. Senior All-American Pete Friedl, No. 3 at 184 pounds, followed that with another major decision 12-4 against Ryan Hagen.

Senior Tyrone Byrd, No. 8 at 194 pounds, won as a result of a forfeit, and junior heavyweight Matt Weight won with a major decision 16-2 over Jared Boyer to finish off the meet for the Illini.

The team was in Fresno on Friday and defeated San Francisco State 44-0 in the morning meet. In an overwhelming performance, the team did not allow a single takedown by a San Francisco State wrestler. In the nightcap, the team defeated Fresno State 37-3, as it won every match except for a single loss in the heavyweight division.

The Illini are off to a great start but still know that they have a ways to go before they reach their potential.

“There are always things you can work on coming off every meet,” Troy Tirapelle said. “In every match there are always things that one does wrong, and the coaches point out them after the match, and you have to try and improve on them in the next meet.”

These were the last matches before the Big Ten season as the Illini face three Big Ten opponents this upcoming weekend.

“It was a good team effort over the weekend,” said Alex Tirapelle. “It’s great to get off to a good start to the season like this, especially before Big Ten season starts, and we’re excited for those matches to begin.”