ILLINI Wrestle-off Results, Seth Mendoza and Baby Wrestlers!
THE REASON FOR THE WRESTLE-OFFS
The ILLINI had their first wrestle-off in years yesterday at Huff Hall. The likely reasons for this are discussed in a preceding post here. The long and short of it is that the Brawlnagels are likely going to use the Olympic Redshirts that they earned over the Summer. Additionally, 2xAA Lucas Byrd is still injured.
In fact, Byrd is the Wyrd was at Super 32.
What a great ambassador for the ILLINI! He's instantly recognizable and relatable and fun and you can bet the kids love him. Since the image below was on IMAR's instagram account, can we assume that he led this expedition?
RESULTS OF THE WRESTLE-OFFS
We don't have the full results for the wrestle-offs but were told that the ultimate winners included the following: Justin Cardani at 125; it was reported that Anthony Madrigal looked great, and that Kole Brower looked tough, but it was Madrigal who came out on top for the 133 spot.
Danny Pucino won; while Kannon Webster beat Jake Harrier 2-0. Braeden Scoles was a big 12ish to 3ish winner over Joe Roberts. Luke Odom was a 2-1 winner over (we think) Caden Ernd (or was it) Chris Moore, who reportedly looked very good as a true freshman, as the win came by riding time point.
Since Dylan Connell and Edmond Ruth are basically locks as starters, they wrestled an exhibition match that Connell won. At 197, there were a number of competitors but it was Isiah Pettigrew who came out on top. Finally, Luke Luffman won at heavyweight.
It was noted that the crowd totaled about 500 people, which is quite a good showing for wrestle-offs.
EARLY LINEUP LOOK
One fellow who knows much more about wrestling and the team than we do thinks the lineup might look like this for the November 2 dual with SIU-E: Cardani, Madrigal, Pucino, Harrier (with Webster getting 5 "free" matches during the season), Joe Roberts (with Scoles getting his 5 matches), a combination of Odom and Ernd at 165, with Chris Moore helping out at 165 and 174 but keeping his shirt, Ruth, Connell, Pettigrew and Luffman.
This wise man also noted that the Freshmen looked REALLY GOOD, and that Kole Brower was tough.
SETH MENDOZA
A top recruit for the ILLINI is Mt. Carmel's Seth Mendoza. He was in action at Super 32 where he looked fantastic! Stuck in Myrtle Beach, we watched Super 32 on FloWrestling. It continues tomorrow. We're partial to those slow Fireman's carries that the defender thinks he can stop, but no he can't. Mendoza hit one of them and a bunch of other slick takedowns. He also tilted some really good wrestlers, while teching everybody that he didn't pin except for one lucky fellow.
His bracket started with a Round of 256!
Other quarterfinalists for ILLINOIS included Caleb Noble, Rocco Hayes, Dom Munaretto, Ben Davino, Will Denny, Matty Jens and the big guy, Marko Ivanisevic. On the backside, you have Bryce Griffin, Colin Young, Collin Carrigan, Eddie Enright, Jimmy Mastny, Nicholas Garcia, Noah Wenzel, Rocco Cassioppi and Tyler Guerra.
BABY WRESTLERS
We want to start a new recurring spot involving Baby Wrestlers. No, it's not going to be babies wrestling because it would be too easy to beat them. There's no sport in that. Many of them can't even walk! You could just nudge them onto their back, gently, and they'd pin themselves!
This spot will deal with wrestler's babies.
We know that our audience includes all the tough guys and girls wrestling in IKWF, junior high, high school and college in ILLINOIS, but we also have to show some love to the Moms and Dads. And although babies are cute and cool as a group, there's nothing like baby wrestlers.
Today's spotlight shines on former ILLINI Wrestler Dan Stelter's little PUMPKIN/CHEERLEADER! Go ILLINI Baby Wrestlers!
We will go out of character for a minute to note the following: Adorbs!
The update on Seth Mendoza is that he medaled at 126 at Super 32, up a weight from 120. The fellow he wrestled in the semifinals, McComas of Oklahoma, looked twice his size. Still, it was a match that came down to one move as the clock expired. It looked like Mendoza had hit the move, and the ref even gave him the points, but then took them away. It was one of those situations where the balance between two fates rested on one erg either way. Exciting!
ReplyDeleteWe already lost out on hometown Davino, getting Seth in the Orange and blue singlet would be huge. C'mon Seth stay home!!!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Huff! Would be a good fit in the lineup as well. Not just personality, but also timing as far as scholarships go. Then, there is Coach Hunter, and now Coach Jesse Delgado is in town. How perfect is that? Cheers!
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