The ILLINI Wrestling Season Ends

 

This post will not be tweeted or put on Instagram. It's just a private/public place to express our feelings about the end of the ILLINI Wrestling season and the beginning of 2023-2024. A time to remember the great wins, the upsets, the losses and the fact that the MSU Open, the Tiger Style Invite and the Midlands were multi-day Mardi Gras and Carnival festivals for ILLINI fans. 

The Orange and Blue had a great first day at the NCAA tournament, with four of the five wrestlers moving on, and two of them (Lucas Byrd and Zac Braunagel) still on the championship side of the bracket. 

Except for a couple of Friday morning wins from Edmond Ruth in the wrestlebacks, though, yesterday sucked. The ILLINI ended up with three wrestlers in the Blood Round, and all three lost close matches. 

It should also be noted that Lucas Byrd lost a disputed match with Daton Fix in the quarters, while Zac Braunagel was a three-inch placement of his hand to the left or to the right (depending upon your perspective) from winning his quarterfinal with Ethan Laird. 

So, we mourn a season that came up a day short.

But also look forward to next year. The ILLINI Wrestling team showed noticeable improvement in duals this season. It also had a really good day one at the NCAA tournament. Both of those are something to build on. 

The team will lose starter Matt Wroblewski, part-time starter Mikey Carr, as well as Jake Reicin and Michael Gunther. Coming back to the squad are the injured Luke Luffman and Justin Cardani and the redshirted Joe Roberts. The team had a number of first-year starters on the squad this season, including Dylan Connell, Danny Pucino, Jake Harrier, Anthony Federico, Luke Odom, Maximo Renteria and Kole Brower. 

That's a lot of new lads. 

They will now have a chance to gain size and strength and hone the skills that can set them apart from the rest of the conference. Next year, the team can set their sights on being bigger and stronger and more experienced, and they can set realistic goals of winning more dual meets, placing higher during in-season tournaments, and having a second day at the NCAA tournament like their first day this year. 

On top of all that, there is one of the nation's best recruiting classes coming in with numerous State Championships, Fargos, Ironmans and even a couple of Who's Number One to their names. 

So, yes, it is a time to mourn the end of the season and the goals that weren't met, but also a time to look forward to the next season and set new, even higher goals. Keeping Danny Braunagel healthy for an entire season has to be one of them.