BEST OF THE U23 WORLD TEAM TRIALS

The placers, aka All Americans

There were 86 men wrestling in the 86kg bracket. There were 95 in the 79kg bracket, and over 100 in the 65kg bracket. Above, you see the ILLINI placers. Ed Ruth and Danny Braunagel in the U23 Freestyle tournament and Joey Braunagel in U20 Greco.

Some of these weights had triple the number of an NCAA tournament bracket. Also, unlike the Big Dance, there were some folks here who were out of NCAA eligibility.

I've seen folks on social media call placers All Americans, and I can dig that. 

The most fun I had as an ILLINI fan was getting to see the new guys wrestle, watching the match between Edmond Ruth and Danny Braunagel, predicting a comeback from Danny Braunagel in his match against Cael Valencia, but then observing that comeback become something beyond immortal, watching Zac Braunagel's run through the Championship side of the bracket, seeing Caden Ernd back from injury, and having to scroll between ILLINI matches because there were so many of them wrestling. 

What a show!

The newest of the new, Edmond Ruth and Jake Harrier, both wrestled extremely well. Ruth placed, and Harrier also won a number of matches. The newish guys also looked great, including Maximo Renteria (You won't see leg laces in the Big Ten, Maximo, as there is a rule about riding on the legs), Joey Braunagel, also a placer in U20, and Caden Ernd, who won a match in the U23 tourney and gave the #2 seed a go. The bad news with the newish guys was an injury to Isiah Pettigrew. His leg was already taped in two places before his first match, then the #1 seed decided to run leg laces. 

I've had it with leg laces. 

First, there was the Isaiah Martinez injury, and now Isiah Pettigrew. At a minimum, the rule should be amended to allow for one leg lace at a time, then a new grip has to be established. With folks worried about losing their match so abruptly, they are more likely to injure themselves. 

The battle between Ruth and Braunagel was very cool, especially because Edmond was wearing a Zac Braunagel singlet, and the match lived up to the hype. There was also an anticipation factor, as the wrestlers had to wait for the predetermined time after their last matches. Were they going to wrestle or not? 

Danny's earlier comeback against Cael Valencia was epic because he was down 1 to 12 when Coach Poeta threw a brick and got back a couple of points. Valencia looked like a good two weight classes bigger than the smallest Brawlnagel--like the Sears Tower standing next to the Empire State building--but Danny wore him down in the second period for the win. 

Zac had the longest run on the Championship side, but it ended with an injury default. He had been having a remarkable tournament. Finally, as most ILLINI fans know, Lucas Byrd has taken the Summer off to rehab a hamstring injury at the NCAA tournament. Here's to excellent recoveries!