PHILADELPHIA, PA • The University of Illinois wrestled themselves into a Top 10 finish on the wings of a Byrd, the additional experience of five redshirt seniors, an wunderkind redshirt junior, and the hunger of two redshirt freshman—all led by a head coach who has rechanneled the culture of the Fighting Illini and a staff that pulled a core of wrestlers into one focused group that fights for one another day in and day out.
In what is now Mike Poeta’s fourth season at the helm of the Illini program, the Orange and Blue have achieved a finish that could very easily catapult the program forward as a number of young and talented wrestlers have now witnessed and been part of the excitement and all of the energy that goes into the magic of wrestlers making deep runs into the national tournament and having their training affirmed through the crowning of a national champion.
Where Poeta has shined is taking this group, making believers out of them, and making believers in those he has recruited. Poeta has been able to keep some of Illinois’ most prolific talent in state, and they are mixed in with some other talented wrestlers from around the country, and next year the roots of his recruiting will begin to take hold as a younger, hungrier, and extremely excitable team will take the mat for Illinois.
But this season, it was marked by an older group of men who were trying to leave their mark—and leave their mark they did. They left something very special: something for the program to build on.
At 133 pounds, Lucas Byrd had a magical season that ended in a national championship. In that run, his teammates were able to see the work and efforts and care that it takes to get to that level, as well as the adversities and multitude of strengths to achieve such a goal.
And, if nothing else, the way the Illini team always gathered around each other in celebration showed exactly the makeup of what Poeta and his staff have been able to pull together.
Outside of Byrd, Illinois had four additional redshirt seniors who were looking to make the podium. Unfortunately, those four came up short. However, what they did do is accumulate a strong number of points that contributed to Illinois’ team success at the championships.
Outside of Byrd’s twenty-two total team points scored, all seven of the other wrestlers scored team points along the way. At 165, redshirt freshman Braeden Scoles collected seven points through his run to the Blood Round. After an early loss in the second round after a first-round win by fall, Scoles won two more matches in the wrestlebacks, both being bonus-point victories, to help his team’s total.
In addition to Scoles, four other Illinois wrestlers would score a total of three team points: redshirt junior Danny Pucino (141), redshirt freshman Kannon Webster (149), and redshirt seniors Edmond Ruth (184) and Zac Braunagel (197).
The final team points came through redshirt seniors Danny Braunagel (174) and Luke Luffman (285).
Now, had Illinois won one of those Blood Round matches, they probably place ninth; two matches, potentially seventh. In this, Illinois was closer to a Top Five finish than most may recognize. They would have been too far behind fourth place Iowa to trophy, but Illinois closer than some may realize.
In fact, this Top 10 finish should be extremely encouraging for the Poeta era and create a great deal of excitement and offseason work for the Illini as they continue to build and wrestle themselves into trophy contention.
Here is a look at the Top 10 team scores at the tournament’s end:
01 • 177.0 • Penn State
02 • 117.0 • Nebraska
03 • 102.5 • Oklahoma State
04 • 081.0 • Iowa
05 • 051.5 • Minnesota
— • 051.5 • Ohio State
07 • 050.0 • Cornell
08 • 046.5 • Cornell
09 • 045.5 • Northern Iowa
10 • 044.5 • Illinois
Below is a look at the top performances for the Illinois in this past weekend’s championships.
The Orange and Blue crowned their first national champion since 2016, and after his B1G Championship fall of Drake Ayala of Iowa, it was only fitting that Byrd would once again control and dominate the championship match against the Hawkeye to capture his title.
133 • Lucas Byrd (1) Illinois • Redshirt Senior, La Salle, Cincinnati, Ohio
The final four Illinois wrestlers lost in the Blood Round and were one match away from earning All-American honors.
149 • Kannon Webster (7) Illinois • Redshirt Freshman, Washington
165 • Braeden Scoles (11) Illinois • Redshirt Freshman, Kewaskum, Wisconsin
184 • Edmund Ruth (10) Illinois • Redshirt Senior, Susquehanna Township, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
285 • Luke Luffman (8) Illinois • Redshirt Senior, Urbana
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• TC LIFONTI / LEAD WRITER FOR ILLINOIS MATMEN / tclifonti.com
