March 18, 2003
Illinois WRESTLING at the 2003 NCAA Championships
Kansas City, Mo., March 20-22
ESPN2 on March 22 6 p.m. CT/March 24 2:30 p.m. CT
* Illinois will send eight to the 2003 NCAA Championships as it makes a run for its seventh Top-10 finish under Mark Johnson.
* Matt Lackey was named the No. 1-seed at 165 pounds and is looking for his first NCAA Title. He would be the seventh under Johnson and first since the 2001 Championships.
* Lackey is one of four Illini to earn seeds in the preliminary brackets released Monday.
* The Big Ten Conference qualifies 72 of the 330 participants for the NCAA Championships.
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Illinois Looks for Fourth Straight Top-10 Finish with Eight Qualifiers
Illinois will head to the 2003 NCAA Wrestling Championships with eight qualifiers looking to place among the nation's Top-10 for the seventh time under head coach Mark Johnson. The squad will send three freshmen, three sophomores and two seniors to the championships, four of which will be making a return appearance. To earn All-America status, a wrestler must finish in the Top-8 at his respective weight class. With two wins (three if wrestling a rat tail match) in the championship bracket, a wrestler is guaranteed to be a placewinner.
The Illini will be led by senior Matt Lackey who is currently 33-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation at 165 pounds, earning the top-seed. Lackey was the runner-up last season, falling to Joe Heskett of Iowa State 4-2 in the finals, while also taking third in 2001. Should he win, Lackey will become the 20th NCAA Champion in the school's history and seventh in the last 10 years. He has been bracketed with No. 4-seed Jacob Volkmann of Minnesota, who he has defeated twice this year, and No. 5-seed Tyron Woodley of Missouri, also 2-0 against this season. His tough competition on the opposite side of the bracket will come from No. 2-seed Troy Letters, who Lackey downed 6-3 at Midlands and No. 3-seed Tyrone Lewis of Oklahoma State, who was unbeaten until suffering a loss at the Big 12 Tournament.
Also looking to do some damage at the championships will be three other seeded wrestlers for the Illini. In the pre-seeds announced on Monday, sophomores Mark Jayne (133) and Brian Glynn (174) earned the eighth seeds and freshman Alex Tirapelle drew a No. 9-seed at 157 pounds. All three wrestlers will be positioned on the top portion of the bracket with the No. 1 seed (which could be faced after two wins in the championship bracket).
Jayne is the only Illini that drew a rat tail match and will wrestle Bernard Gardner of Army and then Joe Alexander of Virginia if he wins his first bout. If he wins both matches, Jayne could face Shawn Bunch of Edinboro, who he beat earlier in the season 8-6, for All-America status. Glynn drew Erik Wince of Garner-Webb in his opening round match and then could face No. 9-seed Blake Kaplan of Ohio State, who he lost to in the dual meet during the season, 12-5. To become an All-American as a freshman, Tirapelle would need a win in his first match over the winner of the Tim Foley (UVa.)/George Carter (Bloomsburg) match then avenge his early season loss to Joe Johnston of Iowa, who drew the No. 8-seed.
Illinois has four wrestlers not seeded in the tournament in senior Twan Pham (125), freshman Tony Pedrosa (149), freshman Pete Friedl (184) and sophomore Tyrone Byrd (197). Pham will face Bobby Stinson of Rider and with a win will advance to meet undefeated Travis Lee of Cornell who is the No. 2-seed. Pedrosa is also positioned to face the No. 2-seed, Jared Lawrence of Minnesota, immediately if victorious over his first round opponent, Justin Giovinco of Pitt.
At 184 pounds, Friedl is thrown into the fire immediately with a match against No. 11-seed Travis Frick of Lehigh and a win would potentially pit him against No. 6 Josh Lambrecht of Oklahoma. Byrd also has a tough road ahead of him with Chris Jones of Drexel and No. 2-seed Muhammed Lawal of Oklahoma State if a winner over Jones.
First Round Opponents:
125: Twan Pham (ILL) vs. Bobby Stinson (Rider)
133: #8-seed Mark Jayne (ILL) vs. Bernard Gardner (Army) Out-bracket match
149: Tony Pedrosa (ILL) vs. Justin Giovinco (Pitt)
157: #9-seed Alex Tirapelle (ILL) vs. Tim Foley (UVa.)/George Carter (Bloomsburg) winner
165: #1-seed Matt Lackey (ILL) vs. Leighton Brady (Boston U)
174: #8-seed Brian Glynn (ILL) vs. Erik Wince (Garner-Webb)
184: Pete Friedl (ILL) vs. #11-seed Travis Frick (Lehigh)
197: Tyrone Byrd (ILL) vs. Chris Jones (Drexel)
Recapping the 2003 Big Ten Championships
The Illini entered the tournament with eight seeded wrestlers and all eight left the tournament as NCAA qualifiers, but only a fifth-place finish as a team. The championships were highlighted by senior Matt Lackey winning his second straight Big Ten title at 165 pounds in a 5-3 decision over Jacob Volkmann of Minnesota. He became the 64th Big Ten Champion in school history.
Sophomores Brian Glynn (174) and Mark Jayne (133) and freshman Pete Friedl (184) took fourth, while freshman Tony Pedrosa (149) placed fifth. Freshman Alex Tirapelle (157), senior Twan Pham (125) and sophomore Tyrone Byrd (197) all won their seventh-place matches to qualify for nationals.
Looking Back at the 2002 NCAA Championships
The Illini entered the 2002 tournament with nine qualifiers, lacking only a representative at 141 pounds. Six of those nine were rookies in the Illinois lineup and made huge strides to turn in a Top-10 finish, the sixth of the Johnson era. Highlighting the tournament for Illinois was junior Matt Lackey as he battled to the finals, meeting three-time finalist Joe Heskett of Iowa State. Lackey and Heskett were locked in a 2-2 tie until the final seconds of the third period when Heskett got a takedown to win 4-2 over the Illini. Lackey was one of three Illinois wrestlers to earn All-America honors. Heavyweight John Lockhart became a three-time All-American with his third-place finish in an overtime win over Jake Vercelli of Purdue. Senior Griff Powell won a match over Matt Anderson of Iowa to advance to the seventh-place match and took eighth after a loss to Gray Maynard of Michigan State at 157 pounds. Twan Pham (125), Chad Hay (133), Brian Glynn (174), Jason Potter (184) and Tyrone Byrd (197) all won matches for the Illini, but failed to place among the Top-8.
Illinois in the NCAA Competition
The University of Illinois has seen much success at the NCAA level, especially in the last decade under head coach Mark Johnson. The Illini have qualified an average of eight wrestlers a year since Johnson took over the program in 1993. In 1995 and 2000, the Illini took a full squad to nationals and have travelled nine on four different occasions.
Last season, the Illini earned All-America honors in three weight classes (Griff Powell, 157; Matt Lackey, 165; and John Lockhart, Hwt) to bring the total number to 85. The school has also crowned 19 NCAA Champions, with six during the Johnson era. The last national titles went to 149-pounder Adam Tirapelle and heavyweight John Lockhart in 2001. The Illini also had a pair in 1995 in Ernest Benion at 158 and Steve Marianetti at 150. Current assistant coach Carl Perry won his title in 2000 at 141 pounds and Eric Siebert was a national champion at 150 pounds in 1998.
Although Illinois has never won a national team title in wrestling, the school has finished second twice back in 1930 and 1939. The highest finish under Johnson was its fifth-place mark in 2001, which is the best since 1948 when the squad took third.
Six Top-10 Finishes -- 10 Years
After a 10th-place finish at the 2002 NCAA Championships, Mark Johnson's record at Illinois looks phenomenal. In 10 years at the helm, he has led the Illini to six Top-10 finishes and has crowned six national champions. Both those feats rank in the Top-10 nationally over the last 10 years. Illinois' ranks seventh with six Top-10 placings and the six national titles are the fourth-best, behind only Iowa, Oklahoma State and Iowa State.
Top-10 Finishes (over the last 10 years)
1. Iowa 10
2. Iowa State 9
Oklahoma State 9
4. Minnesota 7
Oklahoma 7
Penn State 7
7. Illinois 6
Nebraska 6
9. Arizona State 5
10. Michigan 4
Oregon State 4
National Champions (over the last 10 years)
1. Iowa 21
2. Oklahoma State 11
3. Iowa State 8
4. Illinois 6
Penn State 6
6. Minnesota 5
7. Ohio State 4
8. Arizona State 3
Fresno State 3
Nebraska 3
North Carolina 3
Oklahoma 3
Wisconsin 3
Lackey Among Unbeaten Wrestlers
Top-ranked Matt Lackey will be one of only six undefeated wrestlers heading to the 2003 NCAA Championships this weekend. Lackey is 33-0 at 165 after recording his second straight Big Ten Title. Lackey joins other wrestlers with unblemished records - 125: Chris Fleeger, Purdue; Travis Lee, Cornell; 149: Eric Larkin, Arizona State; 174: Greg Jones, West Virginia; and Hwt: Steve Mocco, Iowa.
