MIDLANDS RECAP AND PHOTO DIARY
HEADLINE: THE WINNER
EDMOND RUTH had to win six matches to earn his second Midlands crown. To win the NCAA tournament, you need to win five matches in a row. On top of that, he won the alt-Midlands during the Covid plague. He's now 11-1 on the season. Ruth is 15-0 in Midlands or alt-Midlands matches. That's pretty crazy.
And it makes him a CERTIFIED MIDLANDS BEAST!
In the semifinals and the finals, he faced tough and tricky East-coast wrestlers in Nick Incontrera of Penn (2-1 for Ruth in the semis) and Philip Conigliaro of Harvard (13-4 win for Ruth in the Finals). Edmond was tougher and trickier. The semifinal match between the ILLINI and the Quaker was actually a rematch of last year's title bout won by Ruth 4-1. In this go-round, Edmond built his 2-1 lead and held on until the end.
It was fascinating to watch Incontrera working for points during the last minute of that match that you just knew weren't going to happen. The lesson for the kids is that you don't give Ruth a lead in the third period.
During the finals, Harvard's Conigliaro wasn't smart enough to avoid upper body with Edmond.
When Ruth has the double unders or a bear hug or a body lock, he is virtually unique among folkstyle wrestlers in that he is very patient with these holds. Most folkstylers will put in maximum effort to flee the hold, and a majority of the remainder just get it over with much too quickly. Ruth cedes an advantage to nobody. He makes his move when he has the leverage/body position advantage. He moves his feet before he lifts with his arms and legs.
FRONT PAGE ABOVE THE FOLD: THE PLACERS & OTHER WINNERS
The big guy in the middle, LUKE LUFFMAN was only :07 or one point from sending his championship match into sudden victory, but it was LUKE LUFFMAN who came away with a Silver. Isaac Trumble from NC State won that match 2-1. Trumble is a stud who beat Zac Braunagel in the dual last year.
To get to his finals match, Luuuke hit for the cycle with a pin, a tech, a major and a decision. Besides Ruth's upper-body work, the ILLINI heavyweight also had two of the best moves in the tournament. My personal favorite was the leg sweep to pin against Jacob Christensen of NIU. But that was a tough call after Luffman's Flying Squirrel, which he used to get the tech fall in the first round against Delsanter of Penn.
The true Freshman KANNON WEBSTER wrestled unattached and took third. He had three major decisions during his march to Bronze. Of course, the big issue was the takedown in his 2-4 loss that the ref awarded, then took back, then was supposed to review on video, then said there was no video. Ten video cameras around the mats, one roving video camera and no freaking video.
In the third-place match, Kannon beat Intermat #14 Corbyn Munson of Central Michigan 6-2 to complete "the Full Parker," which is what we call winning everything on the backside in honor of Emery Parker.
DANNY PUCINO had five wins and a bye on his way to fourth place. One win was by tech, another was by major. Danny scored an amazing 63 match points during the tournament. He still had time to attend the Final Session pre-show during which his high school coach Dale Eggert of Libertyville was honored. Pucino defeated wrestlers from Purdue, Ohio State, Central Michigan, Virginia and Princeton.
The ILLINI improved on his 7th-place podium finish from last year, and he now has a total of 9 wins at the Midlands in two years.
Another true Freshman Chris Moore stacked up some crazy good wins on his way to sixth place. He won five in a row at one point, including victories over NCAA qualifier Anthony White of Rutgers and current Intermat #24 Joshua Kim of Harvard. Perhaps even more amazing than that was his loss in the fifth-place match to a really good #10 by Intermat Caleb Fish of Michigan State by the score of 0-1.
Other match winners included Kole Brower (making Mom and Pop happy, see below), Will Baysingar, Logan Swaw (with a nice cradle and pin of his Purdue opponent), Joe Roberts, Dylan Connell (but he also got hurt again!), Sunyup Ryu (who won four in a row at one point and might be the most aggressive and violent ILLINI since IMAR), and Isiah Pettigrew (won three in a row, including a nice win over a ranked Penn wrestler). Unfortunately, it appeared that Braeden Scoles was injured in his match.
FRONT PAGE BELOW THE FOLD: THE TEAM FINISH
With only nine scoring athletes, as well as an injury during the tournament, the ILLINI still managed a fifth-place finish with 82 points. Leading the way was Edmond Ruth with 25, followed by Luke Luffman with 20.5, Danny Pucino at 18, Chris Moore with 9.5, Isiah Pettigrew with 3, Dylan Connell with 3 (before his injury), Joe Roberts with 2 and Kole Brower with 1.
Justin Cardani and Anthony Madrigal were there but in street clothes. If Kannon Webster's 19.5 points were added, the ILLINI finish in third, just three points back of second. The question raised is whether Kannon is going to redshirt for the season. Other mysteries include the status of Cardani, Madrigal and Connell.
The ILLINI will need to be fully healed up by January 12, 2024, as they face the stupid Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio.
PAGE TWO: THE COACHES AND THE FAMILIES
It was a wonder watching the coaches prepare their wrestlers for matches, then continue the coaching after the final whistle, win or lose. The ILLINI attached wrestlers had some combination of Coaches Poeta, Hunter, IMAR, or O'Connor in their corner, while IRTC Coach Medlin would often offer advice on the side.
The unattached wrestlers might have World Teamers Zane Richards or Zac Braunagel and a Mongolian World Championships medalist. Or, a coach from Washington Community high school.
That is an immense amount of firepower!
Jay (aka FSL_ILLINI from Twitter) and I were fortunate to meet some of the parents and family members of the wrestlers. What a great group of people! Not a Ferrari among them! There was a lot of spirit in the stands rooting for each of the ILLINI. In fact, before the ILLINI started their finals and placement matches, we decided to wait until an ILLINI scored to locate the group in the stands. Echo-location!
[EDITOR'S NOTE: While rewatching the tournament on B1G+ for a forthcoming Midlands video recap, it was wonderful to hear the support from the ILLINI crowd, and especially being able to identify all the folks cheering -- by their voices. Very cool!]
We caught up with Kevin and Jackie Brower in the NOW Arena right after their son Kole had won his match. Of course, we had to let them know that they were living the dream in this interview:
We also learned that the University of ILLINOIS not only hired Mike Poeta to become head coach, but they also ended up with the whole Poeta family working logistics for the ILLINI team. Then, they support the team in the stands.
PAGE THREE: THE PRODUCTION
Things ran on time. They started when they were supposed to start, and they ended about when they were expected to end. Hotels were close, the NOW Arena is easy to find and then to navigate once you got inside. Except for two of Kannon's matches, we had no major problems with the refs. Since we were there, the constant calling for Trackwrestling assistance on mat #whatever didn't bother us.
We do think they needed a semi-trailer load of Febreze® air freshener. The place doesn't have to smell like a West Virginia rest area urinal, and the arena seating should fit an ex-college heavyweight comfortably. The bout board also occasionally had glitches, but no real complaint about that, though, because it meant they'd show The ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond sponsorship on the big screen.
OPINION PAGE: HOW CAN YOU SAY NO?
I've had the chance to speak to Head Coach Mike Poeta on the phone and interview him. Nothing compares to meeting him in person. So much energy, charisma and intelligence. The ILLINI are in the hands of a winner. My question for recruits is this: How can you possibly say no?
LIFESTYLE SECTION: THE CHRIS MOORE HANDSHAKE
Have you noticed "The Chris Moore Handshake"? We love it! Try it yourself:
1. Hold your fingers as wide apart as possible.
2. Keep your hand perfectly straight.
3. Throw your hand in front of your opponent.
4. Grab your opponent's hand like you would crush a soda can.
I'm going to be doing the Chris Moore handshake from now on. You should too.
COMMUNITY INTEREST: OUR CHRISTMAS WISH
We had one Christmas Wish. That was to have the Brawlnagels, Danny & Zac Braunagel, wrestle Greco at the Midlands as unattached wrestlers. They would only use Greco holds in the tournament. NO LEG ATTACKS!
That Christmas Wish almost came true.
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