The ILLINI Pull Out of the Mountaineer Invitational Due to Stupid Covid

This is from FightingILLINI.com:

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Fighting Illini wrestling team has withdrawn from a scheduled appearance at the Mountaineer Invitational in Boone, North Carolina, on Sunday, Nov. 14, due to COVID-19 issues within the Illinois program. This decision was made out of an abundance of caution surrounding the health and safety of the tournament's participants.

This is good news for Arizona State University. 

The ILLINI are 3-0 against ASU. The last two times the ILLINI wrestled them, the O&B came out on top in a big way, even when ASU was favored to win the match. For example, there was this 26-9 shellacking in 2017:

125: Travis Piotrowski (ILL) dec Josh Kramer (ASU), 6-4 SV-2
133: #6 Zane Richards (ILL)­ tech fall Ted Rico (ASU), 18-1
141: Nikko Villarreal (ASU) decision Mousa Jodeh (ILL), 5-4
149: Eric Barone (ILL) dec. Josh Maruca (ASU), 4-2
157: #18 Kyle Langenderfer (ILL) dec. #6 Josh Shields, 6-5
165: #1 Isaiah Martinez (ILL) fall #9 Anthony Valencia (ASU), 6:49
174: #3 Zahid Valencia (ASU) dec. #12 Zac Brunson (ILL), 7-2
184: #12 Emery Parker (ILL) dec. Jacen Petersen (ASU), 13-9
197: Andre Lee (ILL) dec. Austyn Harris (ASU), 4-2
HWT: #7 Tanner Hall (ASU) dec. #15 Brooks Black (ILL), 4-3 TB-2

Then, there was this 27-9 win by the ILLINI back in 2015:

125: Ares Carpio (ARST) over Francis Edelen (ILLI) (Dec 8-6) 
133: Zane Richards (ILLI) over Cordero Coronado (ARST) (TF 22-6 5:47) 
141: Brock Ervin (ILLI) over Robert Mathers (ARST) (Dec 10-5) 
149: Matthew Kraus (ARST) over Kyle Langenderfer (ILLI) (SV-1 7-5) 
157: Isaiah Martinez (ILLI) over Gene `Oliver` Pierce (ARST) (Dec 2-0) 
165: Steven Rodrigues (ILLI) over Jacen Petersen (ARST) (MD 17-5) 
174: Zac Brunson (ILLI) over Zachary Smith (ARST) (Fall 2:21) 
184: Blake Stauffer (ARST) over Jeffrey Koepke (ILLI) (Dec 5-4) 
197: Andre Lee (ILLI) over Joshua Dasilveira (ARST) (Dec 3-1) 
285: Brooks Black (ILLI) over Tanner Hall (ARST) (Dec 4-3)

Note the upsets from Langenderfer and Black. In 2017, IMAR had already beaten Valencia 10-1 at the Midlands. Also in 2017, that was the #99 career win for Zane Richards. He would win a bunch more. 

I'm bummed out because this would've been the first time for me to see the ILLINI in person at a dual in about 10 years. I'd even doubled my workouts so that I could go mountain climbing in the Blue Ridge and Appalachian systems. I guess we won't be seeing this headline: 

"Stupid Man Rescued After Three-Hour Ordeal Atop Mount Mitchell in Slightly Chilly Weather"

My friends, the important thing is to look after the kids, and that means the ILLINI guys and also the kids from App State, Kent State, ASU and the other teams. With any luck, all will be well for the Lindenwood Open. We hope to have a "roving reporter" to provide updates and help with a "Review of the Open" video when it's over. 

Thoughts and/or Prayers for the affected!