Dec. 10, 2003

Illinois placed five wrestlers in the Top-8 as a group of Illinois wrestlers traveled to Cedar Falls, Iowa to compete at the Northern Iowa Open. Leading the way were third-place finishers Cassio Pero at 133 pounds, Anton Dietzen at 149 pounds, Matt Weight at 197 pounds and heavyweight Matt Fletcher. Sophomore Mike Boyd also advanced to the third-place match, but lost, 3-2, to take fourth overall.

Pero (r-Fr., Chicago Heights, Ill.) rolled to the championship semis winning three matches, which included pinning No. 3-seed Pat Garcia of Northern Iowa. He lost to No. 2-seed Mario Galanakis, but defeated both Garcia and Mack Reiter of Minnesota to finish third.

Dietzen (Jr., Elmhurst, Ill.) won three matches in the championship bracket at 149 pounds, including a 5-4 upset over No. 2-seed Matt McIntire of Indiana to advance to the semifinals. He lost his semi match to Minnesota's C.P. Schlatter, but bounced back to take third, defeated McIntire for a second time in the tournament.

At 197 pounds, redshirt-freshman Weight (Batavia, Ill.) entered the tournament as the No. 5-seed and advanced to the semifinals losing only to seventh-ranked Pat DeGain of Indiana to fall to the consolation bracket. With wins over the No. 4-seed Ben Strandberg and No. 7-seed Jim Kassner of Eastern Illinois, he placed third.

Fletcher (LaSalle, Ill.) also lost his only match of the day in the semifinals after winning three bouts in the main bracket. He fell to No. 2-seed Pete Ziminski of Eastern Illinois, 5-2, but then beat No. 5-seed Joel Powers of Indiana and Roger Miller of Lindenwood to finish third.

NORTHERN IOWA OPEN RESULTS
3rd: Cassio Pero (133), Anton Dietzen (149), Matt Weight (197), Matt Fletcher (Hwt)
4th: Mike Boyd (157)