After a week off from competition, the No. 6 Illinois wrestling team heads to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to compete in the Northern Iowa Open.
The Illini look to build off their strong performance at the Journeymen Duals by staying on the attack no matter who they are competing against. Senior B.J. Futrell, who recently became the new school record holder in career pins, expects the field to be competitive.
“We don’t really look at the competition much. No matter what singlet the guy is wearing across the mat, we want to wrestle the same way,” Futrell said. “We want to dictate our pace, wrestle to our tempo and get to our attacks. We want to be the same no matter who we wrestle against.”
After finishing 30-9 last season and sixth at the NCAA Championships, Futrell is ranked No. 3 in the nation this season, wrestling at 141.
“We’ve performed pretty well so far this season” said Futrell. “But there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement before March and this weekend is another chance to be able to do that.”
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Many of the open tournaments the Illini have competed in this season take on the same format as the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. Wrestling four or five wrestlers a day will prepare the Illini to compete come tournament time.
“Right now, I’m preparing the same as I’m going to be in March.” Futrell said.
Futrell will be able to showcase his talents this weekend at The Northern Iowa Open, as other top wrestlers will be competing as well.
“The competition will be good. Northern Iowa has some very good individuals, and Purdue will be there as well,” head coach Jim Heffernan said. “In addition, there will be some really strong individuals at the tournament. Because it is an open event, we will be able to wrestle the majority of our team.”
The Illini are currently ranked in every weight class but two. No. 2-ranked Jesse Delgado will return as the starter at 125 pounds and is the highest-ranked Illini at any weight class. Heffernan is looking for his wrestlers to compete at the highest level in every competition.
“We expect the same things every time our guys compete. We want them to compete hard, score points and be offensive.”
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @yaboybernie11.
