THE ILLINI WRESTLING BLOG AND FORUM

IRTC FUNDRAISER The IRTC can celebrate an unbelievable year! They also need to fundraise for the next one. They help themselves each year with a golf outing at Mahomet's Lake of the Woods course, which we have to say is hard and treacherous, but they have big pavilions for food and rejoicing afterwards.  It's never too late to donate to the ILLINOIS Regional Training Center .  The IRTC had support from individuals and companies for the outing, and had a bunch of sponsors last year as you can see on this page. The sponsors for the 2024 event included this pair recognized Dan Stelter: It seems that there were a lot of new faces along with the veterans. Legends walk among those at the IRTC! Here are some pictures courtesy of Friends of ILLINOIS Wrestling: TOM JONES CHALLENGER LEAGUE One of our favorite things ILLINI Wrestling does (besides beat Iowa) is the Tom Jones Challenger League. Giving back is so important. And it looks like the guys gave some kids a day they won't soo

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The ILLINI had two incoming Freshmen in Anthony "Joey" Ruzic and Marko Ivanisevic, along with Wyatt Medlin, wrestling both styles at Fargo this year. Their best results were in Greco, so we'll start with those.  ANTHONY "JOEY" RUZIC This is what USA Wrestling wrote about Ruzic in an article on their main website: Illinois was led by individual champion  Michael Rundell  (100) and  Anthony Ruzic  (126), both who have won previous Junior titles. ... Ruzic, who is heading to the University of Illinois this fall, shut out Jackson Heslin of Connecticut, 6-0 in the finals. It is Ruzic’s third Fargo title, having won the Junior Greco-Roman crown in 2022 and a 16U Greco-Roman title in 2021. At this link , Ruzic explains in his post-match interview how you have to get matches to jump levels, which is what he wants to do to be able to face tough Big Ten opponents. In talking about the University of ILLINOIS, he said that "I wanted to wrestle there since I was a littl

  ILLINI Wrestling legend Alex Tirapelle is the top-of-the-ladder career winner at the University of ILLINOIS. He was an NCAA Finalist, 2x All American and a 2x Big Ten Champion. He discusses his wrestling career and his coaching career. Tirapelle is currently coaching at American University in Washington, D.C., where a lot of lucky young wrestlers are learning life and sport lessons from one of the great technicians. Video credits to Marvel Entertainment, FloWrestling, stardust9094 and Dirrudy. Intro and outro music by Audio Beats. Photo credits in the body of the video to ILLINOIS Athletics, National Wrestling Hall of Fame, American University Athletics, California Wrestling Hall of Fame, ESPN, Stanford University, The Daily Pennsylvanian, Twitter, Photo credits in the intro and outro sequences to FightingILLINI.com, NCAA.com, uiaa.org, wrestlingchangedmylife.com, ILLINOISMatmen.com, flowrestling.com, intermatwrestle.com. This video is not to be monetized. This is the trailer

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MAD IVAN'S INTENSIVE WRESTLING CAMP If you can't get to an official ILLINI Intensive Wrestling Camp, or at least a camp staffed with ILLINI coaches or wrestlers, I suggest Mad Ivan's.  IRTC FUNDRAISER: GOLF AT LAKE OF THE WOODS! Fun golf course, great people, worthy cause! I lost a lot of balls on this course, but I also got to teach the wee one how to golf there. On another note, this graphic is a favorite of mine because it looks so good and reminds me of Caddyshack:  ILLINI WRESTLING CAMPS The video above is a parody. That's Stevo Poulin in the lower right by the way. He's an inspiration for the video. But if you want a real wrestling experience, why not real ILLINI wrestlers and coaches?  ILLINI SCHOLARS Nothing better than a Poet-Warrior, somebody smart enough to stay out of fights but strong enough to win them. Here are your ILLINI Big Ten Scholars: