Willie Saylor, Editor
 
For as good as the USAW teams from Illinois have been in recent years, the 2012 editions will have taken the cake (and most of the gold medals). Below are the recent results from both National Duals and Fargo for Illinois squads. And this is the most productive year for them ever. With the Jr. Freestyle title on Saturday, Illinois has captured five of the six gold medals fought over at duals this summer. Their lone Silver this season came in Cadet Freestyle where they lost only to Pennsylvania.

And it wasn’t even close. Heading into the finals, the constituents of the Illinois Jr. Freestyle Team posted a combined record of 74-16 in the six duals they wrestled.

Counting the final dual with Iowa, Illinois won 85 of the 105 bouts contested in Jr. Freestyle this weekend.
 
Illinois’ 3-Year History
2012 Duals:                        
Junior Freestyle: 1st
Junior Greco: 1st
Cadet Freestyle: 2nd
Cadet Greco: 1st
Schoolboy Freestyle: 1st
Schoolboy Greco: 1st
 
2011 Duals:                                      2011 Fargo:
Junior Freestyle: 1st                                         Junior Freestyle: 1st
Junior Greco: 1st                                             Junior Greco: 1st
Cadet Freestyle: 1st                                        Cadet Freestyle: 1st
Cadet Greco: 1st                                             Cadet Greco: 3rd
Schoolboy Freestyle: 3rd
Schoolboy Greco: 3rd
 
                                               
2010 Duals:                                      2010 Fargo:
Junior Freestyle: 1st                                         Junior Freestyle: 1st
Junior Greco: 2nd                                            Junior Greco: 1st
Cadet Freestyle: 2nd                                        Cadet Freestyle: 1st
Cadet Greco: 3rd                                             Cadet Greco: 2nd
Schoolboy Freestyle: 12th
Schoolboy Greco: 8th
 
2009 Fargo:                        
Junior Freestyle: 3rd
Junior Greco: 1st
Cadet Freestyle: 1st
Cadet Greco: 3rd
 
Below is a recap of how the Gold Bracket played out, followed by a select list of primetime individual bouts.

Gold Bracket, Pool A
Illinois – The reigning champs dominated, posting a cumulative 34-11 record in individual bouts throughout Pool A action, including a drubbing of Minnesota thirteen bouts to two.
Wisconsin – After losing their first two duals, Wisconsin edged Missouri eight bouts to seven to get to the 5th place dual.
Missouri – With a tough line-up, Mizzou was competitive, but couldn’t get in the win column on Saturday.
Minnesota – The lightweights started Minny off on the right foot in their dual with Wisconsin, winning the first eight bouts and jumping out to a 31-2 lead to head to the Bronze dual.

Gold Bracket, Pool B
Michigan – They trailed Oklahoma halfway through the dual, but won five of the last six bouts in a 42-24 win. Their narrow loss to Iowa sent them to the 3rd place dual.

New Jersey – “15” was a bad omen for Jersey on Saturday. The Garden State squad lost all three duals by that number: to Michigan, 40-25, to Iowa, 38-23, and to Oklahoma, 36-21.

Oklahoma – The Sooner State lost their dual with Michigan in the back half of their line-up. But the big men saved the day against New Jersey, winning four of the last five bouts.

Iowa – In a razor-thin 32-30 win over Oklahoma, Iowa survived. A second close one saw them edge Michigan 8 bouts to 7 for a 33-26 win that clinched them their spot in the finals.

Medal Matches
1st Place: Illinois vs. Iowa – In a dual in which there were no bonus points, Illinois won six of the first seven bouts. They had the dual wrapped up after Taylor McGiffen posted a win at 195 to give them a 30-20 lead before posting a final score of  36-22.

3rd Place: Minnesota vs. Michigan – The teams traded wins in the early stages of the dual. But Michigan won seven of the last eight to claim Bronze, 37-25.

5th Place: Wisconsin vs. Oklahoma – The Sooner State put this issue to bed early, rattling off the first seven bouts staking them to a 25-3 lead. In total, they won 11 of the 15 bouts in a 40-21 win.

7th Place: Missouri vs. New Jersey – The squads split the first six bouts with Missouri holding a 12-11 lead. But Jersey would go on to take  seven of the final nine matches and win 36-23.


Notable Individual Results
Day I:
One of my favorite bouts featured a pair of future teammates. #2-J’Den Cox, a Sr.-to-be that has already verballed to Missouri, downed Willie Miklus, who will be a Tiger this fall, 2-0, 4-1.

interesting Day I scenario played out between three 152lbers, all of whom are Fargo finalists. Brian Murphy (IL) beat Oliver Pierce (TX), before Dylan Milonas (NJ) beat Murphy.

Day II:
Like Cox and Miklus, Day II gave us another battle of future teammates, this one coming in the final dual. In an entertaining bout, future Hawkeyes Sam Brooks (IL) and Alex Meyer(IA), squared off at 182lbs. Meyer won in consecutive periods, 5-3, 5-1.
Another big big storyline was the results between three Top 6-ranked 138/145lbers. #1-Bryce Brill (IL) defeated #5-Mitch Bengston (MN). Earlier in the day, Bengston had beaten Fargo Champ, #6-Grant Leeth (MO).

106:
Day I:
#3-Ke-Shawn Hayes (Missouri) over #4-Ethan Lizak (Pennsylvania) Dec 6-0, 5-0
#14-Doyle Trout (Nebraska) over #5-Nkosi Moody (Illinois) Dec 3-6, 4-1,7-0
#2-Pup Simmons (Oklahoma Red) over #19-Gannon Volk (Minnesota) Pin 8-2,0:48
 
Day II:
#3-Ke-Shawn Hayes (Missouri) over #5-Nkosi Moody (Illinois) Pin 5-0,1:19
 
113:
Day I:
HM-Adrian Cordova (Colorado) over HM-Skyler Petry (Minnesota) Dec 3-3,1-0
 
Day II:
HM-Jarred Oftedahl (Minnesota) over #20-Cody Karstetter (Oklahoma) Dec 4-1,1-0
 
120:
Day I:
#14-Joe Smith (Oklahoma) over HM-Tristan Manderfeld (Minnesota) Dec 2-1,1-0
HM-Sebastian Pique (Illinois) over HM-Luis Gonzalez (New Jersey) Dec 4-0,5-0
 
Day II:
(GR) Dylan Peters (Iowa Blue) over #14-Joe Smith (Oklahoma Red) TF 1-4,6-0,7-0
UR-Matt Findlay (Utah) over #8-Zahid Valencia (California) Dec 6-0,0-2,3-1
 
126:
Day I:
#2-Jared Cortez (Illinois) over #1-Joey McKenna (New Jersey) Dec 2-0,1-0
#2-Jared Cortez (Illinois) over #16-Jacob Rubio (Texas Blue) Dec 6-0,1-0
#5-Dalton Brady (Arizona) over HM-Jordan Shearer (North Dakota) Dec 7-0,1-0
#7-Jacob Schmitt (Michigan Blue) over HM-Andrew Crone (Wisconsin) Dec 8-2,4-0
(GR) Matt Garelli (Illinois) over #12-Colton Adams (Nebraska) Dec 2-1,4-2
 
Day II:
(GR) Cory Clark (Iowa Blue) over #1-Joseph McKenna (New Jersey) Dec 4-1,2-0
#1-Joey McKenna (New Jersey) over #13-Ken Bade (Michigan Blue) Dec 3-1,6-0
#1-Joey McKenna (New Jersey) over #14-Joe Smith (Oklahoma Red) Dec 2-1,2-1
UR-Josh DiSanto (Pennsylvania) over #5-Dalton Brady (Arizona) TF 7-1,6-4
#2-Jared Cortez (Illinois) over #18-Kyle Gliva (Minnesota Black) Dec 4-2,5-0
#2-Jared Cortez (Illinois) over (GR) Cory Clark (Iowa Blue) Dec 2-1,1-0            
#7-Jacob Schmitt (Michigan Blue) over #18-Kyle Gliva (Minnesota) TF 8-2,6-0
 
132:
Day I:
#2-Zain Retherford (Pennsylvania) over (GR) Dakota Bauer (Iowa Blue) Dec 7-2,4-1
#2-Zain Retherford (Pennsylvania) over #12-Tate Robinson (Missouri) 3-1, 7-0
 (GR) Zane Richards (Illinois) over #14-Michael Magaldo (New Jersey) TF 6-0,6-0
#18-Daniel Lewis (Missouri) over (GR) (GR) Dakota Bauer (Iowa Blue) Pin 1:45
 
Day II:
#12-Tate Robinson (Missouri) over (GR) Matt Garelli (Illinois) Dec 2-1,5-4
#18-Daniel Lewis (Missouri) over (GR) Joe Munos (Minnesota) Dec 5-1,0-4,2-2
(GR) Dakota Bauer (Iowa Blue) over #14-Michael Magaldo (New Jersey) Pin 7-0,0:25
#2-Zain Retherford (PA) over #11-Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer (New York) Dec 5-4,8-2
#18-Daniel Lewis (Missouri) over #14-Michael Magaldo (New Jersey) TF 6-0,7-0
 
138:
Day I:
#1-Bryce Brill (Illinois) over #3-Anthony Ashnault (New Jersey) Dec 2-1,6-0
#12-Darick Lapaglia (Missouri) over (GR) Kyle Larson (Iowa Blue) Dec 6-0,3-0
HM-Tommy Forte (Indiana) over #10-Anthony Valencia (California) Dec 1-0,3-0
 
Day II:
(GR) Sam Brancale (Minnesota) over #12-Darick Lapaglia (Missouri) Dec 4-0,0-1,5-0
#3-Anthony Ashnault (New Jersey) over (GR) Kyle Larson (Iowa Blue) Dec 1-0,6-0
#1-Bryce Brill (Illinois) over #5-Mitch Bengtson (Minnesota Black) Dec 5-2,7-0
#3-Anthony Ashnault (New Jersey) over #12-Darick Lapaglia (Missouri) Dec 3-5,6-5,5-0
 
145:
Day I:
#15-Fox Baldwin (Florida) over #6-Grant Leeth (Missouri) Dec 1-1,2-1
HM-Troy Heilmann (New Jersey) over (GR) Kevin Moylan (Illinois) Dec 2-0,1-2,1-1
 
Day II:
#5-Mitch Bengtson (Minnesota Black) over #6-Grant Leeth (Missouri) Dec 1-0,1-0
 
152:
Day I:
#2-Brian Murphy (Illinois) over #2-Oliver Pierce (Texas Blue) Dec 3-0,2-2
#9-Dylan Milonas (New Jersey) over #2-Brian Murphy (Illinois) Dec 3-0,6-2
 
Day II:
#6-Keilan Torres (Oklahoma Red) over #14-Jake Marlin (Iowa Blue) Dec 6-0,1-4,4-4
#9-Dylan Milonas (New Jersey) over #14-Jake Marlin (Iowa Blue) Pin 0:33
#6-Keilan Torres (Oklahoma Red) over #9-Dylan Milonas (New Jersey) Pin 1:36
 
160:
Day I:
 (GR) Nick Becker (Wisconsin) over #13-Jordan Cooks (Michigan Blue) Dec 3-2,6-0
 
Day II:
(GR) Justin Koethe (Iowa Blue) over #9-Russell Parsons (New Jersey) Dec 7-0,6-1
 
170:
Day I:
#19-Matt Gray (Wisconsin) over #19-Burke Paddock (New York) Dec 6-0,1-0
(GR) Samson Imonode (Arizona) over #8-Jason Grimes (GA Black) Dec 1-0,1-1
 
Day II:
#3-Ricky Robertson (Illinois) over #19-Matt Gray (Wisconsin) Dec 6-2,9-2
#8-Jason Grimes (GA Black) over #18-Troy Seymour (New York) Dec 0-1,1-1,1-0
 
182:
Day I:
 (GR) Kyle Crutchmer (Oklahoma) over #8-Glenn Climmons (GA Black) Dec 1-0,0-6,1-0
#5-Joel Dixon (Oklahoma) over #10-Andrew Garcia (Michigan) Dec 0-4,1-0,1-1
(GR) Alex Meyer (Iowa Blue) over (GR) Sam Brooks (Illinois) Dec 5-3,5-1
 
Day II:
(GR) Kyle Crutchmer (Oklahoma) over (GR) Alex Meyer (Iowa Blue) Pin 2-8,0:47
(GR)  Kevin Beazley (Michigan) over (GR) Kyle Crutchmer (Oklahoma) Pin 0:37
 
195:
Day I:
 (GR) Sam Brooks (Illinois) over #6-Frank Mattiace (New Jersey) TF 6-0,7-1
 
Day II:
#6-Frank Mattiace (New Jersey) over #11-Payne Hayden (Michigan) Dec 2-0,2-2
 
220:
Day I:
#2-J`Den Cox (Missouri) over (GR) Willie Miklus (Iowa Blue) Dec 2-0,4-1
#8-Jake Hart (Pennsylvania) over #10-Nathan Rotert (South Dakota) Dec 1-2,3-2,1-0
 
Day II:
#2-J`Den Cox (Missouri) over #8-Jake Hart (Pennsylvania) Pin 6-0,1:33
#2-J`Den Cox (Missouri) over (GR) Gage Harrah (Illinois) Dec 5-1,6-0
#13-Tommy Petersen (Minnesota) over #7-Brian Moran (Michigan) Dec 2-1,1-7,3-1
 
HWT:
Day I:
#1-Brooks Black (Pennsylvania) over (GR) Joe Scanlan (Iowa Blue) Dec 5-1,2-0
#2-Adam Coon (Michigan Blue) over #8-Newton Smerchek (Wisconsin) Pin 1:00
#7-Nathan Butler (Kansas Blue) over #18-Jake Scanlan (Iowa Red) Dec 3-0,1-0
(GR) Evan McGee (Oklahoma Red) over #11-Joe Bexley (GA Black) Dec 3-2,3-0
 
Day II:
#1-Brooks Black (Pennsylvania) over #11-Joe Bexley (GA Black) TF 6-0,6-0