ILLINI WRESTLE-OFF THOUGHTS


 

The BIG MATCH was All American Edmond Ruth over National Qualifier and 4x ILLINOIS State Champ Dylan Connell. Lot's of respect shown in that match. Lucas Byrd was mean against his own teammates. Wait'll he gets ahold of the stinky noisy guys from other teams! Kannon Webster versus Jake Harrier was a one-point match last year. Jake was the starter the year before. 

A match that we really wanted to see was Zac Braunagel versus Isiah Pettigrew. Isiah started last season while Zac was on his Olympic redshirt. The match did not disappoint! Luke Luffman is somehow quicker than he has ever been. He's always been agile, but WOW! 

We would give outstanding wrestler awards to two ILLINI: Jason Kraisser and Braeden Scoles. 

Scoles convincingly beat last year's true Freshman starter and National Qualifier Chris Moore and a really tough spot starter in Caden Ernd. Jason Kraisser pinned both his opponents, including Logan Swaw who got the start at B10's after the injury to Joe Roberts. We expect both to shoot up the rankings once the real matches start. 

The Most Improved Award goes to Antonio Alvarado. Kid's got moxy. He'll be a starter and win some matches one day. For match-by-match descriptions and video, check out this link. Thanks to Poeta Training Center for the videos! 

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