Undefeated Poeta leads wrestlers into Wendy’s Duals

Erica Magda

Erica Magda

By Ryan Dixon

Before Big Ten conference competition swings into gear, the No. 15th-ranked Fighting Illini wrestling team will first have to take care of business Sunday when coach Mark Johnson’s men will compete in the Wendy’s Duals in Ashland, Ohio.

The Orange and Blue will open the tournament against the Cleveland State Vikings at 9 a.m., and will go on to grapple the Liberty Flames and Ashland Eagles at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. Illinois has a 5-1 mark in dual meets so far this year, and will look to bolster that record before heading into the Big Ten portion of its season – which could be key to performing well in conference.

“We’re probably not quite ready to start the Big Ten grind yet, so we need a couple of really hard weeks of training,” assistant coach Jim Heffernan said.

Junior Mike Poeta (157 pounds) said he believes the Illini are far better than the rankings show.

“We’re like the 18th or 19th (ranked team) and that’s a joke,” Poeta said. “We’re so much better than that.”

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Poeta added that it’s not just about winning matches to prove how good the Illini are but also the margin of those victories.

“We have to distance ourselves from the guys we’re going to wrestle,” Poeta said.

“We can’t be satisfied with one or two point wins. We have to go out there and get 10 point wins, techs, pins.”

Poeta is 19-0 this year and has held the National Wrestling Coaches Association No. 1 ranking in his weight class for seven consecutive weeks, his second-longest stint at the top. His longest streak was nine weeks in a row in 2006-07.

Not to be outdone, 13th-ranked sophomore Patrick Bond (197) has rattled off seven victories in a row to move himself to 14-3.

Another source of success for the Illini has come from their two starting freshmen. At 14-4 with wins over two ranked opponents, Ryan Prater (141) is ranked 19th by the NWCA, and fellow freshman Grant Paswall (149) is 15-4 on the season.

“I think those two (Prater and Paswall) have done a very good job, put into a difficult situation in a hurry, coming in,” Heffernan said.

After the Wendy’s Duals on Sunday the Illini will have time to train before starting their Big Ten season in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Feb. 1. The extra time might be exactly what Illinois needs in order to wrestle at its optimum level.

“To improve as a team we all have to improve individually,” sophomore Jimmy Kennedy (133) said. “We just have to keep pushing ourselves hard and we’ll all come together as a team.”