Feb. 13, 2000

EVANSTON, Ill. - The sixth-ranked University of Illinois wrestling team rebounded from its first dual loss of the season to dominate Northwestern 36-3 Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston. The win marks the Illini's fourth consecutive dual victory over the Wildcats with the last NU win coming back in 1993. Illinois holds the advantage in the all-time series between the two schools with a 33-29-2 mark, and Illini head coach Mark Johnson is now 4-1-1 against the Wildcats. With today's win, the Illini improved to 13-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten Conference. Northwestern falls to 6-10-1 overall and 1-5 in the league.

The dual started with a glimpse of things to come for the Fighting Illini. Bill Zeman of Illinois earned a major decision over NU's Will Marcantel 13-2 to put the Illini up 4-0. The Illini's Ben King then staged the lone upset of the dual with a 9-3 decision over No. 7 Mark Bybee. King has now earned three consecutive victories over ranked opponents which includes wins over No. 14 Will Hill of Michigan State and No. 15 Gabe McMahon of Iowa. He has won 11 consecutive matches and 12 of his last 13 to improve to 15-7 on the year after starting the season 3-6.

The Illini went on to win seven of the final eight matches. No. 5 Nate Patrick of Illinois earned a 6-2 decision over No. 17 Tom Ciezki, No. 11 Pat Quirk beat NU's Matt Huebner 5-1, No. 5 John Lockhart needed overtime but picked up a 3-1 win over Josh Saul of Northwestern to put Illinois up 16-0. The Illini's Ryan Escobar, ranked 12th, earned one of the Illini's two pins during the afternoon at 125 pounds. He pinned Steve Cordova at 4:56 for six team points extending the Illini margin to 22-0.

Northwestern picked up its only win of the afternoon at 133 pounds. NU's John Giacche defeated Dave Stoltz 5-3 for the Wildcats' only team points and to cut the Illini lead to 22-3. Carl Perry, ranked No. 8 in the nation for Illinois, followed with a technical fall over Matt Edelstein at 2:58 of the first period. Adam Tirapelle then earned the Illini's second pin of the day pinning Nick Scacco at 1:36. No. 12 Griff Powell rounded out the scoring for the Illini with a 7-3 win over Drew Pariano.

No. 6 Illinois 36, vs. Northwestern 3
February 13, 2000 - Welsh-Ryan Arena -- Evanston, Illinois

Wt. Decision
125 No. 12 Ryan Escobar (ILL) pinned Steve Cordova (NU), 4:56
133 Josh Giacche (NU) defeated Dave Stoltz (ILL), 5-3
141 No. 8 Carl Perry (ILL) technical fall Matt Edelstein (NU), 15-0, 2:58
149 No. 2 Adam Tirapelle (ILL) pinned Nick Scacco (NU), 1:36
157 No. 12 Griff Powell (ILL) defeated Drew Pariano (NU), 7-3
165 No. 19 Bill Zeman (ILL) major decision Will Marcantel (NU), 13-2
174 Ben King (ILL) defeated No. 7 Mark Bybee (NU), 9-3
184 No. 5 Nate Patrick (ILL) defeated No. 17 Tom Ciezki (NU), 6-2
197 No. 11 Pat Quirk (ILL) defeated Matt Huebner (NU), 5-1
Hwt No. 5 John Lockhart (ILL) defeated Josh Saul (NU), 3-1 (ot)