Mike Poeta fell just short of securing his first NCAA Wrestling Championship last weekend in St. Louis. After plowing through the rest of the bracket, Poeta was unable to defeat Cornell’s Jordan Leen in the title match at 157 pounds, losing 5-4. Despite the loss, Poeta’s second-place finish made the Illinois wrestler a two-time All-American.

“(Poeta’s) had a good tournament,” head coach Mark Johnson said.

“(It’s) obviously a disappointment that he didn’t come away with the national championship, but he’s only a junior. He’s got another shot at it.”

The No. 8-seeded Leen surprised most of his opponents by even appearing in Saturday’s championship match.

The Cornell grappler defeated the top-seeded and 12th-seeded wrestlers in the bracket to earn his way into the title match versus second-seeded Poeta, who he also went on to defeat.

Poeta trailed the match 4-1 heading into the final period.

The momentum swung in Poeta’s favor after an escape and a takedown locked the match at 4-4.

Poeta then let Leen escape late in regulation, and Leen defended his one-point lead and held on for the victory.

“Mike’s good on his feet and that’s what we went for,” Johnson said of Poeta, who was unavailable for comment.

“We thought he had a takedown at the end of the second period that they didn’t give him, and that’s just part of the game. It’s disappointing, but Mike had a great season overall.”

Poeta ended the year 35-3 and is now tied for the ninth-most wins in the University’s history.

“Mike deserved that win almost more than anyone I know,” sophomore Jimmy Kennedy said. “(Leen) wrestled a smart match against him.”

Kennedy also received All-American honors for the Illini by finishing in fourth-place in the 133-pound bracket.

Second-seeded Kennedy defeated eighth-seeded Mack Reiter of Minnesota, but lost the third-place match to the bracket’s No. 1 seed, Franklin Gomez of Michigan State.

“Every match is a barn burner,” Kennedy said.

“You can’t go out there taking any match lightly. Three of the top four guys were from the Big Ten so it was pretty similar opponent quality (to that of the Big Ten Championships).”

Overall, the Illini finished in 14th place at the NCAA Championships with 40.5 points.

Both senior Gabe Flores (125 pounds) and junior John Wise (HWT) finished one win shy of All-America honors for Illinois in the tournament.

Johnson remains excited about next year’s squad, in part because Poeta and Kennedy will return to wrestle for the Illini.

“(Kennedy’s) just has all the attributes to be as good as we’ve had,” Johnson said.

“He’s definitely something that we can build around. And of course Mike’s the leader of our team so it’s nice to have them both back.”