THE ILLINI WRESTLING BLOG AND FORUM

Just when you thought the news couldn't get better. Strike that. Of course, it couldn't get any better than a National Championship for Zane Richards. Still, some pretty dadgum fantastic news for the ILLINI and IRTC on day four of the US Open.  Two more in the Finals!  Joey Braunagel went big with a headlock throw and pin in the semis. (IMAR and Jeremy were happy as can be)! Kannon Webster with the decision over Jesse Mendez in the same round. A counter-takedown followed by a gut wrench did it for the ILLINI recruit.  For those of you who thought that Danny and Zac Braunagel were quite enough Braunagels, well, mister, there's another Brawlnagel, and he loves to toss people on their heads. He has a total Lucas Byrd attitude in that regard. Look for him to battle for the 197 spot after Zac graduates.  Kannon Webster is still in high school, and he's already beaten NCAA qualifiers. Now, he's beaten an All American. He's the #10 recruit in the class according to I

ZANE ************* RICHARDS!   The ILLINI and the IRTC are having a spectacular US Open. This is the biggest tournament in years, and ILLINOIS is just rolling. Of course, the big news is that Zane Richards is your Senior US Open Freestyle National Champion at 57 kg! He will wrestle in Final X for the top spot on the World Team.  It couldn't have happened to a better, more hard-working guy! When Zane was down by two with a half-minute left, I knew he could do it. In fact, it was Nick Suriano who cracked under pressure. With little time left, the defensive-minded Suriano tried a double leg takedown, and Zane went to work.  You know that Zane and Coaches Medlin and Hunter scouted that double. That has always been a big weapon for Suriano when he goes on offense. He used it in this tournament.  This is what the counter and Zane's takedown looked like story board fashion: Check out the video below for the bad FloWrestling camera angle of the counter and takedown sequence. You will a

I like to say that, as a fan of ILLINI Wrestling, I can enjoy at least four Christmases every year. Those are multi-day (or at least full-day) events chock full of ILLINI Wrestling. The MSU Open is one Christmas, The Midlands is another, and the conference and NCAA tournaments are three and four.  This year we also had the Tiger Style Invite.  But with the way the ILLINI and the ILLINI RTC have shown in the last couple of US Opens and World Team Trials, there are even more Christmases. In fact, this particular tournament is like a Hannukah, as there are many days of delight.  On day two of the US Open, we received a lot of nice gifts.    In the picture above, you see one of the nice presents we received. That is Zane Richards using a wily veteran move in winning his semifinal match in Freestyle. I thought this takedown was especially clever because Zane used his arm and hand like fingers grasping Camacho's leg. But it was his foot that acted like a thumb so that he could not only g

It was a huge day in Las Vegas for the ILLINI, for the ILLINI RTC and for ILLINI-adjacent wrestlers. They took to the mat in Greco, and we saw matches from We Rachal, Danny Braunagel, Kamal Bey, Joe Rau, Zac Braunagel, Luke Luffman and Tanner Farmer.  THE WRESTLERS At this point, Kamal Bey and Joe Rau are in the finals, but Zac Braunagel reached the semifinals at 87 kg before a loss against the number one seed, so he has one match to win to get to the Bronze Medal match. Since he already beat the #4 seed, that match will be against the winner of a bout between two fellows who are seeded below him.   Tanner Farmer  at 130 kg also has one match to win to wrestle for Bronze. He had two tech falls into the semis where he ran into Adam Coon and a slight problem with his leg. Farmer continued to wrestle after that, but he was hobbled and can hopefully wrestle today. His first match would be against the winner of two unseeded wrestlers.  Luuuke Luffman at 130 kg ran into that Adam Coon ogre

You walk past a dark alley in Chicago and hear a voice, "Hey, buddy, want some Folkstyle?" You know you shouldn't. You start shaking. It's been two weeks since you scored a riding time point. You need to score bad. You haven't been able to focus at work. It's getting hard to sleep at night. And when you do catch a few zzz's there are the nightmares, nightmares about half-nelsons and claw rides. You give in. It shouldn't have to be this way. We gave up arm bars and granby rolls for whatever that thing is when the other guy grabs both of your legs and laces them together and then thrashes around like an alligator on a wildebeest. Those are back points? **** you! But you know the deal, the reality is that Folkstyle's gone. Gone forever. Except here in dark alleys in Chicago, in small-town Pennsylvania, and in Iowa City. You step into the alley. You smell the sweat of a thousand riding time points, and your adrenaline goes through the ******* roof! You

  KANNON WEBSTER And the Winner is ... Kannon Webster, of course. He is the Dave Schultz Excellence in Wrestling recipient for ILLINOIS. He is now part of a proud tradition of Hall of Fame winners to attend the University of ILLINOIS. That list includes Mike Poeta, Matt Lackey, Jason Potter, Mike Behnke, Jimmy Kennedy, Sean Reynolds, Conrad Polz, Luuuke Luffman, Zane Richards and the first ever, David Stoltz.  Kannon won't have long to celebrate, as he'll be needed in Las Vegas for the US Open starting on April 26.  ILLINI RTC AT BTS The IRTC and the ILLINI have been very supportive of Beat the Streets . Seeing former ILLINI like the Rachals, Baan, We and the Deuce-- who is perpetually on the loose--Emery Parker, Josh Contreras and Mousa Jodeh and others giving back and teaching the wee people about wrestling and life means they are getting the absolute best possible education.  Add guest clinicians like Mike Poeta, Ed Ruth, IMAR, Jeremy Hunter, Bryan Medlin, Zane Richards and

The ILLINI RTC got on the board in, of all places, the European Championships when Ermak Kardanov won the Bronze at 92 kg! Kardanov represented Slovakia and the IRTC in Zagreb and went 3-1 on the day, winning his bronze match against Matthew Finesilver of Israel (and Michigan).  Sure, it was nice to see Sean Bormet disappointed. But it was better to see Ermak celebrate! He took a 1-0 lead in the first period, grabbing a single and running Finesilver across the mat and out of bounds. In the second, Finesilver shot in on a single, and the IRTC athlete used a crotch lift to expose for two, making the score 3-0.  Bormet challenged and lost. With the score 4-0 for the good guy, the bad guy took another lunging shot, which Ermak defended and then turned into his own single, converting it for the final score of 6-0. Kardanov then celebrates! It can be seen here in this handy video: Now, wasn't that fun! If you don't follow Ermak Kardanov on Instagram, you're missing out. He's

KANNON WEBSTER   We have another ILLINI registered for the US Open. Kannon Webster is now listed at 65 kg in the U20 division. This weight is going to be massive, as there are already 104 wrestlers registered for it. Moreover, registration doesn’t close for another week.  There aren’t that many college wrestlers listed so far, although the ILLINI have Kole Brower and Charlie Fifield making the trip at 65 kg. Whomever wins this weight will have faced and conquered a ridiculous obstacle to make a world team. Every high school-age wrestler near the weight who has made a name for himself has signed up. This should be a gourmet feast for ILLINI wrestling fans.      ZANE RICHARDS vs. SPENCER LEE Smash on head. Sweep single to the right. Leaning hard. Afraid of space. That’s how Spencer Lee’s semifinal match with Matt Ramos began. Everybody remembers what happened at the end of the match, but many have forgotten that, in the first period, Lee was reaching and leaning in so much

Welcome to the world premiere of "The Greatest Scramble" starring Ryan Prater along with co-star Cartice Lloyd. I was reminded of this most unbelievable of scrambles on Twitter and rewatched it. Once you see it, you will agree that it deserves the star treatment.  This video shows the very end of the 2007 IHSA State Championship bout at 135 between Ryan Prater (Plainfield Central) and Cartice Lloyd (Bremen). They battled to a 2-2 tie in regulation, went into overtime, then magic. "The Scramble" is about thirty uninterrupted seconds of reaction time: Most of the match can be seen here on YouTube . When I asked Prater (pronounced "Pray-tur") a number of questions about that incredible finish, he was kind enough to reply as follows: "When it comes to 'the scramble' I’ll just say it’s crazy what two kids can do or the show they can put on when they both have the will to win. Neither one giving an inch and battling the entire scramble, unfortunate

There will be a huge ILLINI presence at the US Open that will include current ILLINOIS wrestlers, IRTC athletes and even recruits. The lists below include only those who have registered so far. There might be additional registrations because the US Open is set for April 26-30 in Las Vegas and registration closes on April 23.  At this time, here are your heroes: Senior US Open (Freestyle) 57kg    Zane Richards 97kg    Josef Rau (Formerly IRTC) SENIOR FREESTYLE We start off with World Team member and World Cup hero Zane Richards . The Lion of the IRTC will want to win this tournament to get a shot at Final X against Thomas Gilman. I expect him to be the top seed. That would be perfect as it would likely put Nick Suriano and Patrick Glory in a semifinal. Another person to keep an eye on is Jakob Camacho. That's the fellow that Zane needed to beat (and did beat) in his final match to make the World Team.  Zane won that match comfortably.  At this point, there is no Spencer Lee entered

THE BIG BOARD Intermat has released its final Big Board for incoming recruits, and the ILLINI did exceptionally well. Of course, I think some of the guys were criminally under-valued, and there are two others who should've made the rankings. If you have a Rokfin sub, you can read the entire list here .  Here is the list of ILLINOIS recruits: 10.    Kannon Webster   (They have him at 149, but the lad's still growing!) 30.    Braeden Scoles (At 174? Seems high, but weight room? Wisconsin 4-timer and WNO wrestler) 60.    Will Baysingar (At 141, but isn't he growing as well?) 111.    Chris Moore (At 165. Maybe. We'll see.) 177.    Logan Swaw (At 165/174) 178.    Brandon Morvari (125) INJURED Peter Marinopoulos   (probably at 197, maybe 285?) INJURED Hudson Goebel   (perhaps at 141?) As you can see, the ILLINI have a very nice class even with some criminally under-valued wrestlers, and two wrestlers who should be on the list but were injured. Peter Marinopoulos and Huds