It was not supposed to happen like this. Senior Pete Friedl was not supposed to be the only Illinois wrestler to place at the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla, on March 18 and the fourth-ranked Illini were not supposed to place 29th out of 69 teams.

Illinois was the only team in the nation to bring all 10 wrestlers to the meet. Not even national champion Oklahoma State was equipped with that many, nor was Minnesota – who won the Big Ten Championship. Both teams brought nine wrestlers to the National Championship meet.

But this advantage didn’t seem to matter as four of Illinois’ five seniors and two others were bounced from the tournament much earlier than expected.

“We had a good year, but we didn’t end up where we wanted to,” said head coach Mark Johnson. “I take responsibility as a coach when we’re that far off.”

Because of nerve damage suffered during the Iowa meet earlier in the season, 141 lb. junior Cassio Pero was forced to forfeit after winning his second round matchup.

Senior All-American Alex Tirapelle (157 lbs) did not place for the second year in a row after entering the tournament ranked No. 1. – Tirapelle lost his third and fourth round matchups to No. 11 Derek Zinck of Lehigh and No. 7 Dustin Manotti of Cornell and was eliminated.

With his two wins in the NCAA Tournament, Tirapelle moved ahead of his brother, Adam, as Illinois’ all-time winningest wrestler with 128 victories.

“We’ve had a lot of great wrestlers here, but I don’t think he was thinking about becoming the all-time winningest wrestler,” Johnson said. “He was thinking about winning a national title and he just didn’t nail it down.”

Senior Kyle Ott (125 lbs) hoped to place for the third consecutive year after finishing second each of the last two seasons. Ott, though, lost his first round match by decision to unranked Michael Sees of Bloomsburg. Ott came storming back, but he was pinned and eliminated three rounds later in the consolation quarterfinals.

“It’s disappointing for him and the team,” Johnson said. “We knew he had the ability to win, but it’s just unfortunate.”

Friedl, on the other hand, was dominant throughout the tournament. After beating unranked Derrick Morgan by major decision, Friedl defeated No. 11 seed Alex Camargo of Kent State and avenged a loss earlier in the season to No. 3 seed Ben Wissel.

In the semifinals, Friedl lost by decision to No. 2 seed Roger Kish of Minnesota, who eventually took second in the 184-lb. weight class. Friedl finished off his college career in third place by beating No. 4 seed Joseph Mazzurco of Cornell and overpowering top-seeded Josh Glenn of American University.

With the five wins, Friedl became only the eighth three-time All-American in Illinois wrestling history and is now ranked third in career wins with 123.

“Our team lacked a little toughness because of the injury situation,” Johnson said. “I don’t think we’ll ever really know (why we underperformed) but I do know that we’ll be a much more disciplined team because of this.”