Midlands Tournament Notes

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. –  The Fighting Illini get their final tune up before Big Ten competition at the 53^rd Midlands in Evanston, Illinois. The two-day event will be broadcast live on BTN Plus beginning Tuesday, December 29 at 9 a.m. and concluding on Big Ten Network with the live broadcast of the championship round Wednesday, December 30 at 8 p.m. central time.

• Isaiah Martinez added four technical falls at the Reno Tournament of Champions to give him a team-high nine on the season through 14 matches. Martinez led all of NCAA Division I in technical falls last season with 11.
• Junior Zac Brunson (174) grabbed three more pins at the Reno Tournament of Champions, winning his weight class, to give him eight on the season, surpassing his career total entering the season.
• Senior Jeff Koepke recorded four pins in his five matches in Reno (12/20) after never recording more than two pins in a season during his first three seasons.  
• The Fighting Illini enter Midlands with six wrestlers ranked in the top-20 in their respective classes, four of whom are ranked inside the top-10. No. 1 Isaiah Martinez (14-0), No. 3 Zane Richards (13-0), No. 9 Steven Rodrigues (13-0) and No. 4 Zac Brunson (13-0) have combined for a perfect 53-0 record through the season's first two months.
• Steven Rodrigues (#6) and Zac Brunson (#4) enter Midlands with the highest ranking of their careers with both of them holding claim to perfect records through the first month of the season.

125: Five of the top-10 wrestlers in the country are probable, headlined by No.2 Thomas Gilman (Iowa) who finished fourth at last year's NCAA Championships

133: Five of the top-10 wrestlers in the weight class will compete, including defending NCAA Champion Cody Brewer (Oklahoma) and runner-up Cory Clark (Iowa)

141: No. 3 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) and No. 17 Anthony Abidin (Nebraska) are the ranked Big Ten competitors, while No. 2 Kevin Jack (N.C. State) enters as the favorite.

149: Three of the top-four ranked wrestlers in the country will battle it out, including No. 2 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) and No. 3 Jason Tsirtsis (Northwestern).

157: Six ranked Big Ten wrestlers will be in the bracket along with No. 2 Ian Miller (Kent State)

165:  Wisconsin's Isaac Jordan (No. 3) enters as the favorite, but No. 7 Chad Welch (Purdue) also enters with high expectations.

174: No. 3 Alex Meyer (Iowa) is the highest ranked wrestler in the bracket, but eight other ranked foes will look to surpass him

184: No. 8 T.J. Dudley (Nebraska) and No. 7 Sammy Brooks (Iowa) will look to take down favorite No. 3 Jack Dechow (Old Dominion)

197: With 9 wrestlers ranked in the top-20, the bracket is sure to be a hard-fought battle with All-American No. 4 Nathan Burak (Iowa) as the favorite to take home the crown

HWT: The heavyweight bracket features defending NCAA Champion No. 1 Nick Gwiazdowski (North Carolina State), as well as three other wrestlers in the top-10.

The Orange and Blue had five individual champions at the Reno Tournament of Champions with Zane Richards (133), Isaiah Martinez (157), Steven Rodrigues (165), Zac Brunson (174) and Jeff Koepke (184) all besting their respective weight classes. The dominance, paired with three second-place finishes, spurred the Illini to a first place team finish, besting second-place Central Michigan by 33 points.

No. 1 Isaiah Martinez received the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week award after he notched wins 6-8 in New York on November 29.  He recorded 16 total points scored against Maryland, Drexel, and No. 25 Princeton, but his biggest moment came with the Illini down 9-5 against Princeton. Martinez sparked a 15-0 run with a 17-2 technical fall against Francesco Frabozzi to regain the lead for the Orange and Blue. This is the second time Martinez's has received this honor.

The Fighting Illini improved to 8-0 on the season with three victories as part of the Grapple at the Garden, beating a Big Ten foe and a top-25 opponent. After beating Maryland (34-9) and Drexel (31-9) at the Garden, the Orange and Blue took down No. 25 Princeton at the NY Athletic Club. Trailing 9-5 entering 157 pounds, Martinez, Rodrigues, Brunson, and Koepke combined for 15 points to put away the Tigers 20-15, the team's second top-25 win on the season.

The Fighting Illini opened the home slate of the season with two dual victories over Arizona State and SIU Edwardsville. The victory over the Sun Devils was a back-and-forth battle for the first half of the duals, but Rodrigues (MD) and Brunson (Fall) put away the match , combining for 11 points as Illinois won 28-9. The Orange and Blue disposed of SIUE 41-3, a match that featured falls from Martinez, Brunson, and Black.

The Fighting Illini swept their opening weekend of competition, defeating Olivet College, Utah Valley, and Clarion by scores of 42-3, 32-6, and 34-6. The team combined for a 108 dual points, with the team combining for eight pins on the day.

The Orange and Blue moved up to No. 9 in the latest W.I.N Magazine top-25 poll after beginning the season at No. 10. Seven Illini are in the top-20 at their respective weight classes, with Richards (133), Martinez (157), and Brunson (174) in the top-10.

After wrestling at 141 pounds for most of his career, Steven Rodrigues will make the jump up to 165 pounds for his senior season. Jeff Koepke also makes a switch this season, moving from 197 pounds to 184.

Illinois is led by defending 157-pound champion, Isaiah Martinez after his undefeated redshirt-freshman season. Joining him are Zane Richards (133), Kyle Langenderfer (149), Steven Rodrigues (165), Zac Brunson (184), Jeff Koepke (184), and Brooks Black (HWT). 

In July, the NCAA approved drop-down, neutral position stalling rules after they were experimented with last season.  The rule states that:

 "The referee will immediately begin a five-second count for stalling once the offensive wrestler positions himself with one or both hands below the buttocks of the defensive wrestler. The referee will stop the count when the offensive wrestler improves his position, moves his hold above the buttocks of the defensive wrestler or releases the hold. If the referee reaches a five-count, the offensive wrestler will be called for stalling. Additionally, if the offensive wrestler lifts the defensive wrestler's leg off the mat and both wrestlers reach the standing position, the referee will stop the five-second count. But if the offensive wrestler does not continue to attempt to return the defensive wrestler to the mat, the referee can call stalling, as in the past, without the five-second count."

For near falls, the offensive wrestler will be awarded two points if the referee gets to a two-count and four points if the referee reaches a four-count.

The Big Ten Conference enters the 15-16 campaign with ten teams inside the top-25 across multiple polls. The conference is coming off a year where Ohio State and Iowa tied for the Big Ten title, and then Buckeyes brought home the national title as well. The defending champs enter the season ranked as high as fifth (USA Today) with Iowa as high as second (W.I.N.) Joining the reigning champs will be Penn State and Michigan, both ranked among  the top-five in Intermat and USA Today to begin the season, after they posted top-five team finishes at Big Ten Championships last March. Wisconsin and Nebraska also don a top-10 ranking to begin play this year, with Illinois just behind them. The Orange and Blue will face off against eight of the nine other ranked Big Ten foes this season, five of which will come at Huff Hall.

With a veteran squad, the Fighting Illini will play host to a Big Ten Conference slate that is one of the best in recent memory. The home schedule begins with consecutive top-10 matchups against 2015 Co-Big Ten and NCAA Champion Ohio State (Jan. 3) and Co-Big Ten Champion Iowa (Jan. 8). Later in the month the Orange and Blue will welcome in top-ranked Penn State for a January 23 dual on Big Ten Network. The Illini wrap up the regular season with home meets against preseason top-25 Northwestern and Minnesota, Feb. 7 and 12 respectively.