The Illinois wrestling team had a successful start to their season Saturday at the Michigan State Open. Eight of the wrestlers placed within the top six in their weight classes at the tournament, and two of them secured first place.

Illinois arrived at 6:30 a.m. to exercise before weigh-ins and started competing at 9:30 a.m. The tournament didn’t end until 9:30 p.m. but the athletes remained persistent during matches and left the tournament with strong performances all-around. 

Freshmen Luke Luffman, who won four consecutive matches at 285-pounds, and Trey Sizemore, who won the 174-pound class with little difficulty, both returned home with first-place finishes. The MSU Open was the first tournament of the athletes’ collegiate careers and both wrestlers competed in the freshman-sophomore division. 

Despite having never competed at the college level before, Luffman wasn’t concerned about his performance and had confidence his prior training and experience would serve him well.

“We’ve been working pretty hard,” Luffman said. “I just felt more ready than nervous. I’m always excited to go out there and compete … it’s just fun to see your work pay off.”

Luffman said he stayed calm before every match by joking around with his fellow teammates. He said he enjoys the humorous atmosphere.

“They’re just funny guys,” Luffman said as two wrestlers laugh while jabbing at each other with torn boxing gloves inside a wrestling room. 

Freshman Dj Shannon wrestled at 174-pounds in the open division and took second place. Senior Travis Piotrowski earned a third-place finish in the open division for 133-pounds. Fourth-place finishers include redshirt-freshmen Zac Braunagel and Danny Braunagel, as well as redshirt-junior Dylan Duncan. 

Despite placing fourth against top-tier opponents, Zac Braunagel felt his performance has the potential to improve as the season progresses.

“There was a lot of good that came out of this weekend, but there’s a lot of things that I need to fix, too,” Zac Braunagel said.

Braunagel listed baseline defense, harder sprawls, hitting opponents with hips, putting more pressure down on his head for his focuses in practice this following week. 

Head coach Jim Heffernan was glad to see some great performances at the MSU Open, but shared concern for what some of the athletes were lacking out on the mats.

“I thought some guys didn’t prepare themselves right for their first round. I think other guys did a really good job,” Heffernan said. “That’s probably my biggest takeaway, is guys paying attention to how much time is left and figuring out how to win rather than continuing to wrestle.” 

Some of the Illini were hesitant to give themselves praise for their personal accomplishments and were quick to focus on the obstacles they must overcome next. 

Up next, Illinois will travel to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for a tri-meet with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Army and West Point Sunday.