The Best Day to Be an ILLINI/IRTC Fan Since ... ?

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 Medalist, to win the World Team spot. Zero picked Zane Richards. Can't say we didn't try to warn them. Not only did Zane win, but he shutout the Champ 2-0, winning the first match 4-3 and then the second at 8-6. 

In our minds, there were three extra special take-aways from the match mechanics: First, Zane's snaps and throw-bys followed by his go-behinds were diamond-plated world class. One of his throw-bys was so good, Richards had to fly to Gilman to cover him for the takedown. 

Second, how 'bout those big brains on Zane, and Coaches Poeta and Medlin? They decided that the best strategy against Gilman pushing forward would be, as the Mafia says, "To go to ground." 

That strategy benefited Zane because it kept Gilman from scoring, and it wore him the **** out. We were reminded of a reverse tractor pull. The weight gets harder and harder to push as Zane digs into the mat. The longer it goes, the more the engine overheats and cannot perform. 

It was a brilliant strategy. 

Third, there were plenty of jump-out-of-your-seat moments, but at number one has to be the delicious arm throw that Zane pulled out of nowhere to score in a tight match and basically seal the deal. Again, there were benefits to the move besides the additional points. Zane was able to avoid a passivity call, and he put the fear of pushing forward into Gilman's mind. 

Of course, the over-arching storyline is that Zane Richards paid his dues, worked his butt off, kept getting better and better, until nobody could stop him. Finally, if Zane can finish top five in this year's World Championships, he will receive a bye to the final round of qualifying for the Olympic team. 

That seems to be Zane's destiny. 

Aliaksandr Kikiniou tries a throw, but it was a trap.

KAMAL BEY

Except for Kamal Bey, Aliaksandr Kikiniou had destroyed everybody on the domestic scene. He had even split matches with Alan Vera up a weight. The former Belarussian Olympian and World Champ had a unique style that was both potently offensive and deadly defensive. 

Not only did Kamal unlock the puzzle, but he did it brilliantly, outscoring his opponent 14-1. 

Our main fear was for Bey to be put down and have to defend a gut wrench that was 90% effective. Not only did he get put down, but Kamal was savvy enough to give up zero points. That had to be deflating. 

The Army must be proud of the Bellwood native, as he won 2-0, with a 9-0 victory in the first match, while the second ended 5-1. He wrestled smart, strategic matches interrupted only by his calculated bursts of jaw-dropping athleticism. 

Besides the brilliant gut defense, Bey also neutralized Kikiniou's special tricep lock and arm throws. We recall once, maybe twice, during the matches when the 43-year-old arm throw expert glommed onto his patented tricep lock, but in each case, Kamal was able to break away. 

There is little doubt that he is now ready to take on the world. 

ZAC BRAUNAGEL

Another person who got the short end of the stick from the "experts" at intermatforums.com was the Brawlnagel. Nobody would even give him one match against Alan Vera. You see, Vera was older, he was more practiced and wiser in the ways of Greco, he had an unstoppable gut wrench, and he had made World Teams for the United States and Cuba in previous years. 

The matches at Final X were to be a formality. 

In their lone meeting, which was in April's US Open semifinals, Vera won 9-0. We looked at Vera's recent matches closely and quickly recognized that powerful gut wrench, but also noted that domestic competition hadn't challenged his gas tank. 

Well, Zac Braunagel challenged his gas tank. 

Hard. But it wasn't all champagne and show girls. There was to be a major bump in the road. That was the first match, which Vera won handily 11-0. It started out with Zac going 3x speed, an 87 kilogram Flash, but after the ILLINI seemed to question a call by the ref, there was a phantom finger-grabbing call, and that eventually led to him being put down in par terre for passivity (though what Brawny was doing was anything but passive). 

Still, even in that high-scoring win in match one by Vera, the seeds of his destruction were sown. 

The Cuban expat had to put a lot of effort into it. Zac pushed him so hard that, in the second match, Brawny was able to push him out of bounds not once for a Caution and Two, but a second and then a third time. The ref cautioned Vera out of that second contest with the ILLINI winning 6-5.

The rubber match didn't happen because Vera failed to show up. A forfeit. The way for Zac to win the World Team spot was to turn it into a brawl, a tough man contest. 

And that's what he did. 

Christian Dulaney in a bad spot.

JOE "THE WRAUSTLER" RAU

Like Braunagel, Joe Rau met his opponent for the first time at the US Open. Unlike Zac, Joe teched his opponent there. He did it by virtue of a masterful use of the 2-on-1 tie. With it, he was able to walk his foe all over the mat and off of it. 

It was as if the Wraustler had invented the 2-on-1. But there was Censored History to prove us wrong:

Joe used a number of techniques in the first match to win 3-2. In the second, he really put on a 2-on-1 clinic and got the 8-0 tech fall. Christian Dulaney is a big dude, but he had neither the strength nor the technical expertise to challenge the Chicago St. Patrick High School and Elmhurst University wrestler at Final X. 

Is Joe going to work his way into the next Olympics? 

We hope so. It's not too far away, and he set himself up with another World Team spot. He now has another Final X win to add to his Pan Am Championship Gold Medals and US Open Championships. 

One of the poignant storylines around Rau was his redemption after an Olympic Team Trials fiasco which saw Greco referees and tables forget what front headlocks and front head pinches were, penalizing the IRTC athlete right out of his spot. 

So, will it be Improv Comedy in Chicago, a call up to SNL and then movies -- or the Olympics? What a dilemma! 

Joe was the big winner last night, and he was redeemed. 

CONCLUSION

It was a great day of wrestling. The ILLINI and ILLINI RTC-adjacent athletes put on a show that rivaled even the NLWC. 

Congratulations to the athletes who worked their butts off, and congratulations to the Coaches who provided wisdom and training goals and strategies. It was great to see Coaches Poeta and Medlin in the corners. 

We at The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond couldn't be happier. If you think the IRTC is heading in the right direction, you can donate at this link. Free shirt! Finally, thanks to the big donors who have made the IRTC possible.