THE ILLINI WRESTLING BLOG AND FORUM

Okay, they're pre-ILLINI, but still, these animals lit up the scoreboard in Tulsa at the Junior Duals. They kept the Team ILLINOIS win streak going in Greco, and demolished the competition. It was an absolute delight to watch them wrestle.  Except for what happened to Nick Nosler.  It looked bad on the video screen, and later, the announcers in the final said it was a broken ankle. He was a warrior about it. Best wishes for a speedy recovery! The ILLINI recruits and commit (Anthony "Joey" Ruzic) were sharp and on point during a total of 16 duals. This is who wrestled in Tulsa: And how'd they do?  As a whole, how did Team ILLINOIS do in Greco?  What about Freestyle? Joey Ruzic made the All-Greco team with a spotless record. He only wrestled one match in Free and won it. The rest of the future ILLINI were able to do spot duty in Greco, sharing with other teammates at the same weight. They did have to step it up in Freestyle, as we counted 8 matches for Kannon Webster in

During this off-season, it has become readily apparent that there is no off-season for ILLINI and IRTC wrestling. There's **** going down all the time. We want to put out videos, but between watching ILLINI and IRTC athletes and ILLINI recruits and commits wrestle, and catching the latest news on social media, there's barely enough time to write.  AUSTIN O'CONNOR A seismic change occurred yesterday as Coaches Poeta and Medlin announced the arrival of Austin O'Connor as an Assistant Coach--and as an IRTC athlete? Here was the announcement on Twitter: The Lockport native won a couple of National Championships for North Carolina in 2021 at 149 and in 2023 at 157 and was a five-time All American along the way. Of course, he was a four-time IHSA Champion for St. Rita.  There might be an MMA future as well with Austin inking a deal with American Kickboxing Academy, which has fronted such fighters as Daniel Cormier and Khabib Nurmagomedov. This is another bullseye for Head Coa

I've heard it said that sports are 90% mental and 10% physical. That is wrong and stupid. If that were the case, Stephen Hawking would have teched Jordan Burroughs at the 2012 Olympics instead of spending the afternoon in his London flat working out fiendishly difficult equations. The famous soccer player Mia Hamm said that the most important attribute a player must have is "mental toughness." Of course, soccer players with mental toughness also writhe around on the ground after another player touches them. They're running a 10k with a ball! Soccer players should not speak unless spoken to, in my opinion.  But what about physical capabilities? It has been said that in sports, there are four physical traits an athlete must use: Strength, speed, conditioning, and positioning. Yet, the race doesn't always go to the swiftest, and the fight doesn't always go to the strongest.  No. There must be something else.  I've spent twelve years researching the relationsh

The ILLINI Wrestling team and the ILLINI RTC had a lot to celebrate at Final X 2023. The World Team was won or lost at this wrestling tournament, and all three IRTC athletes made the World Team! Additionally, ILLINI RTC-adjacent Joe "The Wraustler" Rau won his matches and became a World Teamer. In this video you see Kamal Bey do his patented Back Flip Superman, Zane Richards busts out a culturally appropriate dance in honor of his people, and Zac Braunagel almost cracks a smile. The latter was not given much of an opportunity to celebrate at Final X, so his win at the US Open is depicted in the video. Bey is shown at both the US Open and Final X. Zane is shown in color and in black and white (credit to Ermak Kardanov). Credit for that video goes to USA Wrestling, FloWrestling, TYT Sports and Ermak Kardanov. Intro and outro music by Audio Beats. Additional audio from the University of ILLINOIS Marching Band, Gary Smith, Conductor. Photo credits in the intro and outro seq

Since at least IMAR and Delgado's Championships, for sure, and maybe since the 2005 Big Ten Championship team. The ILLINI and IRTC went absolutely SAVAGE at Final X. Between Zane Richards, Kamal Bey, Zac Braunagel and Joe Rau, that group won four championships, became four World Team members, won eight matches and lost only once.  That's an 88.889% winning percentage.  Only IMAR and Matt Lackey had better winning percentages in college, although Coach Poeta was close. And then there were the storylines: Zane working diligently for years for his day, Zac Braunagel reaching the highest plateau while still in college with both of them beat the oddsmakers and the naysayers, Kamal Bey defeating a two-time Olympian, and Joe Rau returning to the Senior World Team.  If it hadn't been for a cast on his hand, we bet that Lucas Byrd would be joining that group as a World Teamer.  ZANE RICHARDS At intermatforums.com, eleven people predicted Thomas Gilman, World Champ and Olympic Medali

OVERVIEW We're not sure Kamal Bey and Joe Rau are still with the ILLINI RTC. We think so, but we do know they are at least IRTC-adjacent. Like Zane, the Wraustler receives additional assistance from Titan Mercury, and like Max Nowry, Kamal has the Army (WCAP). We also know that we love'em. These young fellows are the excitement!  As noted in the Brawlnagel preview, we are not Greco experts. These Moneyball posts are presented for the fan who wants to know what to expect from the opponents of Bey and Rau. The fact of the matter is that Kamal and Joe live Greco wrestling 24/7 besides an occasional salute, parade rest and improvisational comedy. They know what they're doing and have excellent coaching, including being able to lean on Coach Medlin for some wisdom.  KAMAL BEY Kamal has been a mainstay for the US Greco team, winning a Junior World Gold in 2017. That same year he won a Silver in the Senior US Open followed by Golds the next two years. Bey won a US National Champi

IMPORTANT CAVEAT:   We are ignorant about Greco. Zac Braunagel and Bryan Medlin know exponentially more about it, so with that in mind, let's take a Moneyball look at the Brawlnagel's Final X opponent, Alan Vera. Everybody in the listening audience knows that Vera is a transplanted Cuban.  He lives in New Jersey, and at least last year, trained by himself with a practice dummy as a partner. Being so close to home, he will enjoy home bed advantage.  PRIOR MEETING:   The two met in the semifinals of the US Open back in late April. The result was a 9-0 win for Vera. What transpired was a strong hand-fighting battle for about 90 seconds, then with no score on the board, the ref elected to put Zac down. Vera lifted and threw for four. He maintained the hold and threw again for five.  LAST YEAR:   Alan Vera won 2-0 over Timothy Young of Army (WCAP) to wear the Final X crown. This is the same wrestler that Brawny beat 8-0 in the third-place match of this year's US Open. The video

THE MONEYBALL LOOK In this post, we take a deep dive into the characteristics of Zane Richards' Final X opponent. This is our Moneyball look at Thomas Gilman. What stances and ties will he favor? What kind of shots does he take? What percentage does he convert?  There are a couple of caveats about this project. Most importantly, we looked at only quality opponents. What Gilman does against a guy from Guatemala or Spain or Columbia isn't important for this analysis because he will wrestle differently against those popsicles.  Instead, we reviewed and analyzed 10 matches against credible opponents to include Daton Fix (x2), current World Champion Zelimkhan Abakarov, Joe Colon, Vito Arujau, Udit Udit of India, Alireza Sarlak of Iran, Wanhou Zou of China, current World Bronze Zanabazar Zandanbud, and Horst Lehr of Germany.  These matches span three years, but the NLWC wrestler's style really hasn't changed much in that time. He starts with a slap on the head to get his rig

The ILLINI sent a strong squad to the Greco World Team Trials, including Edmond Ruth, Danny Braunagel, Joey Braunagel and commit Anthony "Joey" Ruzic. Just finishing up his Junior year in high school, Ruzic challenged himself against older wrestlers in the U20 Greco event and still placed fifth. Danny Braunagel and Edmond Ruth faced each other in the third place match for 82 kg in Greco, and you can see how they decided that winner in the video. Good times! Joey Braunagel finished with a Silver at 97 kg in the U20 division. He may have had the best throw of the competition. Credit for the source video goes to Flo Wrestling and USA Wrestling. Intro and outro music by Audio Beats. Photo credits in the intro and outro sequence to FightingILLINI.com, NCAA.com, uiaa.org, wrestlingchangedmylife.com, ILLINOISMatmen.com, flowrestling.com, intermatwrestle.com. This video is not to be monetized. COMING TOMORROW: A Moneyball Look at Zane Richards' Final X Opponent.

U20 & U23 TEAM TRIALS To say that we're excited for the team trials this weekend would be an understatement. Nobody at The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond has gotten any work done this week. Everybody is calling in sick from June 2 to 4. Can you blame them?  These are the University of ILLINOIS student-athletes scheduled to compete: Joey Braunagel is coming off of two appearances in the Greco and Freestyle US Open finals, Danny Braunagel had an excellent showing at the Senior US Open in Greco, Luuuuke as well, Edmond Ruth is in shape and ready to go, Luke Odom had part of his season cancelled last year because of emergency surgery making this a great wellness check, and then there's wily veteran Jake Reicin, a graduate of the University of ILLINOIS and a spokesperson for Fiesta Cafe.  That may be the main course, but there's also a tantalizing appetizer in store for ILLINI fans.  Two blue chip recruits and a blue chip commit are registered for the U20 team tr