FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 14, 2014

Athletic Communications Contact: Paige Thompson (630-779-6209 or thomps11@illinois.edu)

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FIGHTING ILLINI WRESTLING

#15 Illini Head to NWCA National Duals

2014 NWCA National Duals will be held in Columbus, Ohio

#15 Illinois at NWCA National Duals

Feb. 16-17 // St. John Arena // 2 PM  //  Columbus, Ohio

Schedule

Sunday, Feb. 16

12 p.m. CT - Preliminary Round 1 

2 p.m. CT - Preliminary Round 2 

4 p.m. CT - Consolation Round 

6 p.m. CT - Quarterfinals

Monday, Feb. 17

10 a.m. CT - Consolation Round 2 

12 p.m. CT - Semifinals & Consolation 3 

3 p.m. CT - Final & 3rd-place matches

Live Streaming

All matches on Sunday and Monday’s consolation and third-place matches will be streamed live through Flowrestling.org here: http://goo.gl/T9ipKP 

Live TV

The Big Ten Network will air one semifinal round live at 12 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17 and will come back to air the championship finals at 3 p.m. later the same day.

Live Results

Live results will be available via trackwrestling.com here: http://bit.ly/1eXkHX1 

Illinois Probable Starters

125 3/3 Jesse Delgado, 18-2, Jr.

133 11/13 Zane Richards, 19-3, r-Fr.

141 12/13 Steven Rodrigues, 8-3, r-So.

OR -/- Logan Arlis, 2-2, r-Jr.

149 17/- Caleb Ervin, 7-5, r-So.

OR -/- John Fahy, 10-10, r-Fr.

157 15/13 Zac Brunson, 19-6, r-Fr.

165 10/13 Jackson Morse, 18-4, r-Jr.

174 -/- Tony Dallago, 16-6, r-Sr.

184 -/- Nikko Reyes, 15-8, r-Fr.

197 10/7 Mario Gonzalez, 8-0, r-Sr.

OR -/- Jeff Koepke, 7-10, r-So.

HWT -/- Christopher Lopez, 10-14, r-So.

Rankings are listed in W.I.N., Intermat

QUICK HITS

• The Fighting Illini wrapped up the conference season with back-to-back wins last weekend, defeating Purdue 18-16 and #9 Northwestern 24-12. Illinois received an automatic bid to the 2014 NWCA National Duals based on their finish last year. The Orange and Blue will square off against Central Michigan on Sunday at 3 p.m., with the winner moving on to face either #4 Oklahoma State or #6 Cornell in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m.

• Illinois and Central Michigan have only met one other time in program history, when Central Michigan defeated the Illini 34-10 on Jan. 18, 1992.

• Injuries have plagued the Illini all season as they have yet to field their full starting lineup. Mario Gonzalez has wrestled once since suffering a rib injury at the Midlands Championships on Dec. 30, while Steven Rodrigues missed over a month of action with a hand injury.

ILLINOIS’ HISTORY AT THE NATIONAL DUALS

This will be the third consecutive year the Illini have competed at the National Duals, and the fourth overall. Last season, the Illini lost to top-seeded Oklahoma State in the first round. At the 2012 National Duals, Illinois won its first two matches to advance to the Final Four before falling to top-ranked Oklahoma State to place fourth.

-FightingIllini.com-