Previewing the Illinois Matmen Open

HOFFMAN ESTATES • Starting Wednesday, December 29th, Illinois MatMen is proud to provide fans with an event that brings together several top programs from across the country with an opportunity to wrestle. 

The two-day Illinois MatMen Open will be held at NOW Arena, located at 5333 Prairie Stone Parkway in Hoffman Estates. 

Illinois MatMen will be providing a livestream of the entire event on their Rokfin channel, Rokfin.com/ILMatmen, with a one-time $10 pay-per-view price. Subscribe to the Illinois MatMen channel and enjoy the wrestling from anywhere. 

Tickets will also be available at NOW Arena for those who wish to attend in person. The cost is $30 per day.

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Wednesday // December 29th

10:00 a.m. • Session I

   Opening Rounds

6:00 p.m. • Session II

   Quarterfinals and Wrestlebacks 

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Thursday // December 30th

10:00 a.m. • Session III

    Semifinals, Consolations, and 7th place matches

5:00 p.m. • Session IV

    The Finals (1st, 3rd, and 5th place matches)

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Currently, full and partial teams have committed to the Illinois MatMen Open, as well as dozens of unattached wrestlers—some who are out of college and have been away from the Folkstyle circle for a period of time, some still in college, and some from a few regional training centers. The field is a nice mix of all divisions of collegiate wrestling and All-Americans, past and present, from across the board. 

As of now, here is a list of both full and partial teams that will compete in the Illinois MatMen Open: Army, Arizona State University, Aurora University, Bloomsburg College, Brown University, Bucknell University, Cal Poly State University, Campbell University, Franklin and Marshall College, Harvard University, Hofstra University, the University of Illinois, the University of Indiana, Jesus Christ College, Lehigh University, the University of Michigan, North Central College, Northern Illinois University, Northern Iowa, Omega Training Center, Oregon State, the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Regional Training Center, University of Pittsburgh, Princeton University, Purdue University, Rutgers University, Wheaton College, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and the University of Wisconsin. 

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Potentially, here are some of the top wrestlers in each weight class, as well as some unattached wrestlers to watch throughout the tournament:

125 pounds

Dylan Shawver, FR • Rutgers (#25)

Gage Curry, SR • Pittsburg (#26)

Jacob Moran, FR • Indiana (#27)

Justin Cardani, SO • Illinois (#29)

Antonio Lorenzo, FR • Cal Poly (#30)

Anthony Molton, FR • Campbell (#31)

Ryan Miller, FR • Penn (#33)

Richie Figueroa • Unattached (Arizona State)

Aiden Lewis • Unattached (Bucknell)

Blake West • Unattached (Northern Illinois)

// Illinois in the Bracket // Dane Durlacher (Illinois) • Lucian Brink (Northern Illinois) • Bryce West (Northern Illinois) • Drew West (Northern Illinois)

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133 pounds

Lucas Byrd, FR • Illinois (#7)

Sammy Alvarez, SO • Rutfers (#12)

Michael Colaiocco, SO • Penn (#13)

Brock Hudkins, SR • Indiana (#19)

Kyle Burwick, FR • Wisconsin (#23)

Matt Ramos, FR • Purdue (#33)

Dylan Chappell • Unattached (Bucknell)

Julian Farber • Unattached (Northern Iowa)

Joey Olivieri • Unattached (Rutgers)

// Illinois in the Bracket // Mikey Kaminski (Northern Illinois) • Ethan Harstead (Wheaton)

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141 pounds

Sebastian Rivera, SR • Rutgers (#4)

Parker Filius, JR • Purdue (#14)

Cole Matthews, SO • Pittsburgh (#24)

Cayden Rooks, SO • Indiana (#25)

Carmen Ferrante, FR • Penn (#32)

// Illinois in the Bracket // Cam Johnson (Aurora) • We Rachel (Illinois) • Jaivon Jones (Northern Illinois) • Dillon Nichols (Northern Illinois)

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149 pounds

Josh Heil, SR • Campbell (#10)

Austin Gomez, SR • Wisconsin (#11)

Legend Lamer, SO • Cal Poly (#18)

Mike Van Brill, SR • Rutgers (#19)

Anthony Artalona, JR • Penn (#27)

Dillon Pousson • Jesus Christ

Adam Allard • Unattached (Northern Iowa)

Tony White • Unattached (Rutgers)

// Illinois in the Bracket // Christian Kanzler (Illinois) • Anthony Cheloni (Northern Illinois)

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157 pounds

Kendall Coleman, SO • Purdue (#10)

Doug Zapf, JR • Penn (#20)

Elijah Cleary, SR • Pittsburg (#28)

Robert Kanniard, FR • Rutgers (#29)

Alex Carida, JR • Bloomsburg (#33)

Grant Zamin • Unattached (UW-LaCrosse)

// Illinois in the Bracket // Jake Reicin (Illinois) • Joseph Roberts (Illinois) • Anthony Gibson (Northern Illinois) • Alec Rees (Northern Illinois) • Munktulga Zuunbayan (Northern Illinois)

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165 pounds

Jake Wentzel, SR • Pittsburgh (#8) 

Phil Conigliaro, SO • Harvard (#14)

Zach Hartman • Bucknell (#15)

Dean Hamiti, FR • Wisconsin (#17)

Izzak Olejnik, SO • Northern Illinois (#18)

Danny Braunagel, SO • Illinois (#21)

Lucas Revano, SO • Penn (#29)

Michael Caliendo • Unattached (North Dakota State)

// Illinois in the Bracket // Eddie Ordonez (Illinois)

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174 pounds

Luke Silva, JR • Aurora (#10, DIII)

Jackson Turley, SO • Rutgers (#16)

Nick Incontrera, FR • Penn (#21)

Gerrit Nijenhuis, FR • Purdue (#25)

Joshua Kim, SO • Harvard (#29)

Mason Kauffman, JR • Northern Illinois (#30)

Ed Ruth • Unattached (Illinois Assistant Coach) 

Cael Valencia • Unattached (Arizona State)

// Illinois in the Bracket // DJ Shannon (Illinois) • Trey Sizemore (Illinois)

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184 pounds

Myles Amine, SR • Michigan (#2)

John Poznanski, FR • Rutgers (#5)

Bernie Truax, JR • Cal Poly (#6)

Brit Wilson, JR • Northern Illinois (#7)

Donnell Washington, FR • Indiana (#9)

Trey Munoz, FR • Oregon State (#16)

Zach Braunagel, SO • Illinois (#19)

Max Lyon, SR • Purdue (#22)

Chris Weiler, SR • Wisconsin (#24)

Gregg Harvey, SR • Pittsburg (#31)

Dylan Connell • Unattached (Illinois) 

Mark Hall • Unattached (PRTC)

Cole Rees • Unattached (Campbell) 

// Illinois in the Bracket // Nikita Nepomnyashchiy (Illinois)

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197 pounds

Nino Bonaccorsi, JR • Pittsburgh (#2)

Cody Baldridge, SR • North Central (#3, DIII)

Greg Bulsak, SR • Rutgers (#12)

Braxton Amos, FR • Wisconsin (#26)

Gabe Christenson • Unattached (Virginia) 

Kolby Franklin • Unattached (Wyoming Seminary) 

Conor Maslanek • Unattached (Campbell) 

// Illinois in the Bracket // Tristin Guaman (Northern Illinois) • Colin Jagielski (Northern Illinois) • Matt Zuber (Northern Illinois)

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285 pounds

Trent Hillger, JR • Wisconsin (#5)

Luke Luffman, SO • Illinois (#17)

Boone McDermott, SO • Rutgers (#26)

Jake Slinger, SO • Pittsburgh (#28)

Mike Bosco • Unattached (Illinois) 

Christian Carroll • Unattached (Penn)

Peter Christensen • Unattached (Wisconsin) 

Ethan Laird • Unattached (Rider)

// Illinois in the Bracket // Cam’ron Harper (Aurora) • Terrese Aaron (Northern Illinois)

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*Rankings courtesy of InterMat as of December 22, 2021

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