After holding off Penn State’s Nico Megaludis in the final seconds of the match, Illini sophomore Jesse Delgado ran to the side of the mat and jumped into the arms of assistant coach Jeremy Hunter and associate head coach Mark Perry, who bear-hugged the newly crowned 125-pound national champion.

The Illinois wrestling team had not crowned an individual champion in 10 years, and had never had a 125-pound champion in its history — until Saturday night. The Gilroy, Calif., native ended his season with a 27-3 overall record, adding a national title to his Big Ten championship.

Senior Conrad Polz earned his second All-American honor for the Illini by placing a career-best fifth place in the 165-pound weight class. Meanwhile, senior Jordan Blanton earned his third All-American honors by placing seventh at 174 pounds. Polz ended his career with the Illini with an 81-42 overall record, while Blanton finished his career with 115 wins and 43 losses.

Despite a season plagued by injuries to 141-pound B.J. Futrell and heavyweight Pat Walker, the Illini were able to place ninth in the team championship this weekend in Des Moines, Iowa, behind four Big Ten teams: Ohio State, Iowa, Minnesota and Penn State.

“This year has been really hard with losing guys from injury,” head coach Jim Heffernan said. “Leaving here with a national champion and three All-Americans makes it feel a little better. Our goal was to finish in the top 10, and we did that this year.”

After defeating Utah Valley’s Jade Russer 14-4 in the first round, Brown’s William Watterson 20-5 in the second and North Carolina’s No. 7 Nathan Kraisser 10-7 in the third, Delgado found himself in the semifinals against Cornell’s No. 6 Nashan Garrett.

Delgado never trailed during the entire seven minutes, as he recorded two takedowns in the first period to Garrett’s two escapes, taking a 4-2 lead into the second. Delgado chose to begin the second period down and escaped to push the lead to 5-2. After recording one more takedown in the second period and another in the third, Delgado never looked back and reached the final with a 10-5 decision.

The sophomore standout attributes much of his success to assistant coach Jeremy Hunter, a former 125-pound national champion at Penn State.

“There are times where him and I will have individual workouts where nobody else will be there,” Delgado said. “We put in a lot of extra time together and work on technique and stuff. He doesn’t kill me all the time, but could if he wanted. He’s better than anyone else I wrestle.”

Penn State’s Megaludis was soon the only wrestler standing between Delgado and a national title, as the two prepared for their third match of the season. The first ended in a victory for Megaludis by fall in 6 minutes, 45 seconds. The second match between the two came in the semifinals of the Big Ten Championships, and Delgado wrestled to a 6-3 victory. The rubber match would be for the national title.

Medaludis was able to set the tempo early, but Delgado fought off multiple shots to end the first period with a scoreless draw. Delgado chose down to begin the second and escaped to take the 1-0 lead, which lasted until the third period. Megaludis started down to begin the third and escaped to tie the score up 1-1 with 1:54 remaining. Late in the period, however, the tides began to turn.

“I took a shot, got the scramble and ended up turning him on his back for the takedown and three back points,” Delgado said.

After recording a takedown and adding three more back points, Delgado carried a 6-1 lead into the final 30 seconds of the match and never backed down. He held off Megaludis 7-4 and earned the title of national champion.

“It’s really a surreal feeling,” Delgado said. “It hasn’t sunk in yet.”

Dan is a freshman in LAS. He can be reached at [email protected].