ILLINI & IRTC AT THE US OPEN (DAY ONE -- SENIOR GRECO)

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 in the quarters. He went on to win his first consolation bracket match. As the sixth seed, he'll need to beat the fourth seed from the Marines, then the fifth seed, and then he'd get a Bronze Medal match--perhaps with Tanner Farmer! 

As noted before, Kamal Bey is in the finals at 77 kg after teching his way there. He will face an old dude from a faraway country who wrestled for that faraway place years ago. His name is Kikiniou, a past Olympian and World medalist for Belarus, and he looked pretty strong, but can he handle the Bey Bombs? He's 43-years old. Bey had easily the best five-point throw of the event so far. It was a reverse lift sent straight over his head. (See video below). 

Danny Braunagel at 77 kg won two matches on the championship side of the bracket before running into the #2 seed. He won his first match in the consolation bracket, but he now needs to beat the #3 and #5 seeds to get to the Bronze Medal match. 

Joe Rau, the number one seed at 97 kg, is the other wrestler in the finals. Three wins by a combined score of 24-0 was his day. He will face off with Nicholas Boykin, the number two seed. Boykin won the Bill Farrell at 97 kg Greco, so this will be a test for the Raustler. 

We Rachal at 72 kg had a grand start to his day with a tech fall, but he then ran into the number two seed. 

FLO WRESTLING

I had to watch much of the tournament on my phone, and it was excruciating. At one point, there were three commercials running at the same time. That's ****** up! A commercial at the bottom of the screen for ******* Alabama, a commercial on the top of the screen right after every match, and a commercial for FloWrestling to "get the app." 

Even YouTube doesn't pull that kind of ****. 

They were slightly better than usual at nudging the camera to follow the wrestling, but only slightly. There was plenty of off-camera action because of which the viewer had to guess the outcome. All we ask for is a nudge. A little nudge! 

USA WRESTLING

Wow. Your refs are terrible. And no, I don't mean because of bad calls. (Although you did deny a Medlin challenge, and that makes you evil). I mean that many of them have little or no clue. I was shocked at their limited capabilities. Folks have worked hard to get there and wrestle. They deserve better.  

COACHING

I'm sure I missed some folks there, but I saw Coach Jeremy Hunter and Coach Bryan Medlin guiding the team. 

VIDEO

Here's a video of some of the highlights: