After defeating Purdue last Friday in its Big Ten home opener, the No. 5-ranked Illinois wrestling team will be put to the test when it heads to Lincoln, Neb., to take on the No. 14-ranked Cornhuskers on Friday.
The Illini are currently ranked in every weight class but two, with 141-pound B.J. Futrell ranked highest at No. 3 in the country. Despite missing All-American Jesse Delgado at 125 pounds and No. 9 Daryl Thomas at 133 against Purdue, the Illini were still able to capture the victory. Delgado and Thomas seem to be back to full force and will be ready to wrestle on Friday.
“Jesse and Daryl are fine, actually. We weighed them both in with the idea that we could wrestle them (against Purdue),” Head coach Jim Heffernan said. “If we won at least three of the first four matches we were going to rest them. All it did really was just buy them a couple other days but they’re fine and healthy and have been training hard.”
The Illini have not wrestled against Nebraska since the 2002-03 season but lead the overall series 3-2 against the Huskers. Wrestling at 174 pounds, No. 8 Jordan Blanton will face Nebraska’s No. 4-ranked and returning NCAA Championship qualifier Robert Kokesh.
“To be honest, I couldn’t be more excited for it just because there is no better way to prepare than to be the fire,” Blanton said. “It’s nothing new to me. I really want to focus on wrestling hard for seven minutes, getting to my attacks and forcing my style on my opponents.”
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No. 11 Tony Dallago will face Nebraska’s No. 7-ranked and three-time NCAA qualifier Josh Ihnen at 184 pounds on Friday. At 197 pounds, Junior Mario Gonzalez will take on Caleb Kolb.
“I think I should go out there and just blow this guy out of the water,” Gonzalez said. “I think our good guys are better than their good guys, so overall I think we should beat them.”
Gonzalez also added that a win against Nebraska is very important to the team before heading to No. 4-ranked Minnesota on Monday.
