Two wrestlers to join Team USA in Turkey

Yangwentao (Ryan) Fang

Portrait of Isaiah Martinez.

Instead of “I-L-L,” Isiah Martinez and Zane Richards will hear “U-S-A” in October.

The Illini wrestlers will join a team of seven for the World Championships in Corum, Turkey, on Oct. 25-30. Martinez and Richards qualified for the national team after winning titles at the University Nationals.

Martinez, a two-time NCAA Champion, defeated his opponents, 45-4, in four matches. He defeated former Oklahoma State wrestler Chance Marstellar, 14-6 and 16-5, in the best-of-three finale, earning Martinez the 74kg title.

Richards’ won seven matches — three of which came by technical fall — and lost one. He still earned a spot in the 61kg championship, in which he lost in the first match to Wisconsin’s Tyler Graf, 11-0. Richards rallied in the second bout for an 11-11 win by criteria. He then won the third match win, 4-2.

Illinois’ Xavier Montalvo, a redshirt freshman, reached the round of 16, but lost, 8-8, by criteria to Iowa’s Burke Paddock.

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