Updated Brackets

ST. LOUIS – Two of the most successful wrestlers in Illini history, seniors Zac Brunson and Zane Richards concluded their Illinois careers on Saturday with All-America honors. Brunson placed sixth at 174 pounds, while Richards earned a seventh place finish at 133 pounds. The two seniors finish their Illini careers with a combined eight NCAA Championships appearances, three All-American honors and 218 combined victories.

Zane Richards earned his second All-American finish at NCAA Championships, winning the seventh-place match on Saturday morning with a 14-4 major decision against No. 9 seed Scotty Parker (Lehigh). After a hard-fought 7-6 decision in sudden victory in round two, Richards exposed the Lehigh grappler on Saturday with six takedowns and a point for riding time.

"I'm not satisfied with seventh, but that's what I got," said Richards after the seventh-place victory. "My college career, I'm happy but I'm not satisfied. I'm proud of the things I've done, but I always think there's a lot more things that I can give. There are a couple of situations where if I wrestle a little smarter, or do things a little differently, I'm in the finals."

Richards won his opening two matches of the championships with wins a forfeit win against Alex Madrigal (Old Dominion) and Scotty Parker (Lehigh). After dropping a hard-fought match to top seed Nathan Tomasello (Ohio State), Richards defeated Mitch McKee (Minnesota) by a 14-6 major decision in the blood round to clinch a spot on the podium. Richards' dropped his second match of the tournament on Friday night, a 6-5 loss to No. 5 seed Stevan Micic (Michigan), to move him into the seventh-place match.   

A native of Carbondale, Illinois, Richards finishes his Illini career with the 12^th most wins in Illinois history (111) and the 12^th best win percentage in school history (.810). Qualifying for NCAA Championships all four years, Richards earned All-America honors each of the last two seasons.  

"I'm proud of where I've come from. I'm an in-state kid and I'm proud that I've kept it going. I'm honored and very proud of what this university has done for me."

Brunson earned his first All-America honor by placing sixth at 174 pounds with two wins on Thursday, and then two more on Friday. On Thursday, Brunson defeated Purdue's Jacob Morrissey (12-1) and SIU-Edwardsville's Jake Residori (6-2) to advance to the quarterfinal round. After losing to No. 2 seed Brian Realbuto (Cornell) in the quarterfinals, Brunson won his blood round match against Jadaen Bernstein (Navy) by a 12-2 decision to clinch the All-America honor, and then defeated No. 7 seed Kyle Crutchmer (Oklahoma State) to advance to the consolation semifinal round. On Saturday, Brunson dropped matches to No. 1 seed Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) and No. 2 seed Brian Realbuto (Cornell) in the consolation semifinal and fifth-place matches, respectively.

Brunson concludes his Illinois career tied with Pat Quirk for the 15^th most wins in Illinois history (107) and nearly cracked the top-10 career pins list with 19 total falls. The Eugene, Oregon native saved his best season for last, as the four-time NCAA qualifier tallied a career-best 32 wins in 2016-17 on his way to earning his first All-American honor this weekend.

Up next, Isaiah Martinez wrestles Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State in the 165-pound title bout tonight at 7 p.m. The championship round came be seen live at 7 p.m. on ESPN and in the Watch ESPN app. The championship round will begin with the 197-pound match and conclude with the 184-pound title.

For complete coverage of Fighting Illini wrestling, go to FIGHTINILLINI.com and follow @IlliniWrestling on Twitter and Instagram.

Illini Championships Notes

• Zac Brunson is the 55^th Illini to earn All-American honors since Coach Heffernan came on staff in 1992
• Brunson finishes his Illini career with 107 wins, tied with Pat Quirk for 15th most in Illinois history.
• The Illini have three All-Americans for the second straight season, as Isaiah Martinez, Zane Richards and Zac Brunson each clinched spots on the podium on Friday. Martinez, Richards and Steven Rodriguez were All-Americans last year for Illinois.
• Zane Richards concludes his Illinois career with 111 career victories and a .810 win percentage (111-26), both of which rank 12^th in Illinois history.
• Richards and Brunson have combined for 218 wins in their wrestling careers

Match-By-Match Results (number in parentheses indicates seed)

125 // Travis Piotrowski // Freshman // 1-2 - Eliminated

133 // (8) Zane Richards // R-Senior // 4-2 - Richards Places 7th

149 // Eric Barone // R-Freshman // 0-2 - Eliminated

157 // Kyle Langenderfer // R-Junior // 2-2 - Eliminated

165 // (1) Isaiah Martinez // R-Junior // 4-0

174 // (10) Zac Brunson // R-Senior // 4-3 - Brunson Places 6th

184 // (11) Emery Parker // R-Sophomore // 2-2 - Eliminated