Grapplers take out Badgers and Hoosiers

 

 

By Ryan Dixon

It didn’t matter who wrestled first for the No. 9 Illinois wrestling team this weekend – whichever weight class started things off, head coach Mark Johnson had players prepared.

Illinois (11-2, 3-1) defeated No. 13 Wisconsin and No. 17 Indiana in similar manners this weekend, winning early and often. In both duals the Illini won seven of the 10 matches, and the first two in both contests, en route to 24-13 and 23-9 victories over the Badgers and Hoosiers, respectively.

The Illini’s dual with Wisconsin on Friday proved to be a one-sided affair in favor of the Orange and Blue. Illinois burst out to a 9-0 lead, including an overtime victory by No. 10 Ryan Prater. The Huff Hall crowd erupted as the freshman manufactured a last-second escape to send the match to an overtime period. Prater (141 pounds) snatched an 8-6 victory in the extra time.

“Our crowd is so knowledgeable about wrestling,” Johnson said. “They anticipate things real well and it makes it an exciting atmosphere.”

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Friday’s performance over Wisconsin carried over to Sunday’s dual at Indiana.

“I think we had opportunities to win all the matches (Sunday),” Johnson said. “I think everybody felt really good about the dominant performance against Wisconsin.”

While Friday’s dual started at 125 pounds, Sunday’s competition at Indiana began with the 197-pound weight class.

This meant the Illini threw No. 13 Patrick Bond into the fire first against the Hoosiers.

According to Coach Johnson, “No matter who gets called (to start a dual) you better be ready.”

Coming off an upset of No. 4 Dallas Herbst, Bond didn’t seem to mind as he started the Illinois team off with an 8-3 decision victory.

“I’m a big fan of starting the match off,” Bond said. “I feel like I wrestle better when I’m first.”

Bond has won 14 of his last 15 matches and attributes his success to studying film with the coaches in order to correct mistakes from previous competition.

Both Prater and Grant Paswall (149) won their Sunday matches in Indiana, as the two recorded a major decision and a decision, respectively.

Johnson was especially pleased with the performance of his two starting freshmen.

“When you get two true freshmen winning back-to-back matches in the Big Ten against a ranked team, they’re good wins for you,” Johnson said.

No. 9 Jimmy Kennedy won both of his matches this weekend, defeating the No. 11 and No. 12 wrestlers in the country at 133 pounds.

No. 1 Mike Poeta suffered his second loss of the season Sunday to No. 8 Brandon Becker in a 3-2 decision.

Poeta beat Wisconsin’s No. 3 Craig Henning for the third time this year on Friday, but fell to 24-2 with Sunday’s loss.

Despite all of the ranked wrestlers the Big Ten boasts, Johnson said he isn’t worried about Poeta.

In Sunday’s victory over Indiana, Roger Smith-Bergsrud (165) helped the Illini rebound from Poeta’s loss with a 4-3 victory in two overtime periods over No. 12 Matt Coughlin.

The Fighting Illini have won three Big Ten duals in a row, but will have a tough test next weekend as the team prepares to grapple at No. 4 Minnesota and No. 11 Northwestern.