THE ILLINI WRESTLING BLOG AND FORUM

That's right. The ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond Plus will be a Corporate Sponsor of the 59th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Tournament WHAT :  The 59th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Tournament WHERE :  NOW Arena, Hoffman Estates, ILLINOIS WHEN :  Friday, December 29 at 9:30 am (Central) WHEN2 :  Saturday, December 30 at 11:00 am (Central) WHO :  48 Teams including ILLINOIS, 8 B1G Teams; Women's Tourney TV/STREAMING :  BTN+ (subscription streaming service) BOUT BOARD :  Trackwrestling TICKETS :  Ticketmaster ($102.00 for both sessions) TEAMS ENTERED There are 48 teams heading to the Midlands Tournament this year including these full squads (with their current Wrestlestat.com rankings): THE ILLINI, #13 Rutgers, #19 West Virginia, #22 Penn, #28 Arizona State, #30 Virginia, #33 Princeton, #36 Wisconsin, #39 Michigan State, #43 Cal Poly, #46 Ohio, #49 Cleveland State, #51 Harvard, #52 George Mason, #53 Northwestern, #63 Franklin & Marshall, #64 SIUE, and #65 Buffalo. A

Screengrab from short video provided by FSL ILLINI showing Kannon Webster applying pressure HEADLINE: THE FRESHMEN The only two winners for the ILLINI in the dual against Missouri in St. Louis were the two true Freshmen who wrestled. For Webster, it was a nice ranked win that will move him up in the polls. This was what FightingILLINI.com had about the true Freshmen: "True freshman  Kannon Webster  improved to a perfect 4-0 in his first campaign at 149 pounds. He gave the Illini their first win on the night when he defeated Logan Gioffre (MIZ). The match was tied 1-1 for nearly five minutes and required overtime to decide it. After roughly a minute in overtime Webster's pressure finally granted him access to a single leg and he secured the takedown to win 4-1. Two matches later another true freshman,  Chris Moore , improved to 2-1 in his first season at 165 pounds. Moore went back and forth with James Conway (MIZ) trading escapes and takedowns. Ultimately in the end it was Moo

AI GENERATED IN RENAISSANCE STYLE WITH PROMPT ILLINI WRESTLER VERSUS MISSOURI WRESTLER WHAT:   ILLINI versus Missouri Dual WHEN:   Thursday, December 21, at 7:00 pm (Central) WHERE:   Stifel Theater, St. Louis, Missouri  ALL-TIME SERIES:   ILLINI 21-12 TV/STREAMING: UFC Fight Pass TICKETS:   Ticketmaster ($10-$125) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:    Mizzou to the Lou WHY WE HATE MISSOURI Take the name for this dual. It's "Mizzou to the Lou." I had no idea what the hell they were talking about until I realized "Lou" was supposed to be short for "St. Louis." Now if that isn't the stupidest ******* thing I've ever heard!  Imagine with me the junior assistant athletic director at a meeting with university and city officials, putting that up on the screen and holding his or her breath. And then the higher ups — instead of firing this chode on the spot — say, "That's great," and, "Let's run with it." I hate Missouri.  AI generat

Don't let their tiny size and happy demeanors fool you! These Brawlnagel twins are motivated Olympic Trials qualifiers. After his work on Friday, all Danny needed was one win on Saturday to earn a spot at the OTT. He got two forfeits. That gave him the Bronze and earned his trip to Happy Valley for the Trials.  Thiccc Zac needed one win on Saturday to cement his ticket to the Trials, and he did it with another tech fall over Terrence Zaleski of the Marines. He finished fourth, which means he gets a trip to Happy Valley to earn a spot on the 2024 Olympic Team.  Including Zane Richards, that'll be at least three IRTC athletes at the 2024 Olympic Trials.  On top of that, IRTC-adjacent folk including Kamal Bey and Joe Rau earned spots at the OTT. Bey had a bye all the way to the Finals, where he faced a brash Benji Peak and stuck his shoulders to the mat. It was a sweet step-over defending a gut wrench that did the trick. Joe Rau fought his way through the tournament and lost to Al