FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 3, 2012
SID Contact: Taylor Thomas (765-730-6766 or tbthomas@illinois.edu)
Link
http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-wrestl/recaps/030412aaf.html
Fighting Illini Wrestling
Gonzalez
Advances to Big Ten Finals at 197
Illini sit in fourth place after day one of the conference championships
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The University of Illinois wrestling team, led by
head coach Jim Heffernan, ended the first day of the2012 Big Ten Wrestling Championships with Mario Gonzalez advancing to tomorrowÂ’s Big Ten Championship finals at 197 along with securing seven NCAA qualifiers to date with a chance of two more. The Illini
finished the day in fourth place with 81.5 points.
“It’s been a really difficult day,” Heffernan said. “However our guys responded great. We are wrestling aggressive and finding ways to win against really good opponents.
We’ve turned around a lot of matches that the guys who’ve beaten us previously, we’re beating them now. I think our guys are really competing hard and they’re excited.”
The Illini were lead by performances from Gonzalez as well as Tony Dallago (184), with both wrestlers winning their final bouts of the day by pins. In the championship
semifinals, Gonzalez defeated PurdueÂ’s No. 8 seed A.J. Kissel by fall in 2:44 to advance to tomorrowÂ’s championship match against the No. 2 seed, Matt Powless of Indiana. Dallago scored bonus points in each of the matches he wrestled in during the evening
session, defeating WisconsinÂ’s Timmy McCall by an 11-2 major decision and pinning PurdueÂ’s Braden Atwood (No. 6) in 23 seconds. Dallago will take on IowaÂ’s Grant Gambrall in tomorrowÂ’s session and looks to take third place in the 184-bracket.
174-pounder Jordan Blanton also won his two bouts in the later session with wins over No. 7 Tyler Koehn of Nebraska by a 8-2 decision and a 3-2 victory over No. 4
seedJustin Zeerip of Michigan. Blanton will face Ethen Lofthouse (No. 3) of Iowa in tomorrowÂ’s action. Daryl Thomas wrestled his way into the consolationsemifinals after defeating Colin Shober of Northwestern by a 15-5 major decision and then Brandon Nelsen
of Purdue by a 13-9 decision. Thomas will wrestle against No. 4 Nick Dardanes of Minnesota in his next match. At 149,Eric Terrazas moved past Michigan StateÂ’s Dan Osterman by a 3-1 decision, but was defeated by Taylor Walsh of Indiana by a 2-0 decision.
Jesse Delgado (125), B.J. Futrell (133) and Conrad Polz (165), three of the four IlliniÂ’s semifinalists dropped their bouts. Delgado was defeated by top-seeded Matt
McDonough of Iowa by a 4-3 decision while Tony Ramos of Iowa moved past Futrell with a 6-1 decision. Polz was defeated by Penn StateÂ’s David Taylor by a 12-0 major decision. Delgado will wrestle Camden Eppert of Purdue, Futrell will take on Chris Dardanes
of Minnesota while Polz looks to Cody Yohn of Minnesota in their next round matches.
At 157, Jackson Morse defeated Danny Zilverberg of Minnesota by a 10-4 decision to advance to the consolation bracket quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Josh Demas
of Ohio State pinned the Illini in 6:04. Pat Walker (HWT), dropped both of his matches in the Saturday evening session, losing 4-0 to NebraskaÂ’s Tucker Lane and then to MichiganÂ’s Ben Apland by a pin.
Minnesota is in first place with 117.0, Iowa second with 112.5 and Penn State is third at 111.0. Session three begins at 1 p.m. tomorrow with the championship finalsstarting
at 3 p.m. The Finals will be aired live on the Big Ten Network. For all the scores and information, please see the attached bracket.
Team Standings After Day 1
1. Minnesota – 117.0
2. Iowa – 112.5
3. Penn State – 111.0
4. ILLINOIS – 81.5
5. Ohio State – 76.0
6. Northwestern – 61.5
7. Nebraska – 56.5
8. Michigan – 50.0
9. Purdue – 47.5
10. Indiana – 35.5
11. Michigan State – 35.5
12. Wisconsin - 9