March 19, 2010

OMAHA, Neb. - The Fighting Illini crowned their latest two All-Americans Friday evening at the Qwest Center as second-seeded John Dergo (184 pounds) and tenth-seeded Jordan Blanton (174) both went 2-0 in the consolation bracket at the NCAA Championships to reach the consolation semifinals and guarantee themselves at least sixth place. Dergo topped third-seeded Dustin Kilgore (Kent State) in the consolation quarterfinals as the Illini boast at least two All-Americans for the third-straight year. It is the first career All-America honor for both Dergo and Blanton.

"This morning was rough but tonight was great," Illinois head coach Jim Heffernan said. "The round to become an All-American is probably the toughest round in any wrestling tournament and Dergo and Blanton did everything right. It's a big deal for both of them. Dergo had a huge win over the three-seed and Jordan had to beat a couple of tough guys. It's a huge deal at this tournament to out-perform your seed and this is a great learning experience for Jordan to go through this tournament's consolation bracket. That way he can see that it's much easier to wrestle five matches in the championship bracket instead of eight in the consolation. He'll definitely benefit from it next year."

Blanton went to work quickly against Ohio's Jacob Ison, scoring a takedown with 1:58 left in the first period. He rode out Ison for the 2-0 lead after a period. Blanton started down in the second and escaped quickly, and had a single-leg that he was lifting as the period ended with the Illini sophomore leading 3-0. Ison started down in the third and got out but not after Blanton rode him for 43 seconds, making the score 3-1. But Blanton got the decisive takedown with 47 seconds left and held on for the 6-1 win after adding the riding-time point.

"It means a lot to be an All-American," Blanton said. "It's a lot of hours of work to reach this success but there's still work to do. I just have to look at it as I have 14 minutes of wrestling left this year so I have to give it my all."

Dergo also came out firing against Cornell's Steve Bosak, scoring takedowns in each of the first two minutes for a 4-2 lead after a period. Dergo started down and reversed Bosak 29 seconds into the period to go up 6-2. Bosak escaped for the final scoring in the period. Bosak started down in the third and got out in 18 seconds but Dergo finished a takedown with a minute left for the finishing touch. Bosak escaped with 13 seconds but Dergo added the riding-time point as time expired for the 9-5 win.

"It's a big deal to get those wins after my loss this morning," Dergo said. "It's great to win but like the coaches said, at this point it's all about being tough. We're all sore, nobody feels great, but it's just about trying to be the toughest guy out there and fight through it."

In his second match of the night, Blanton gave up an early takedown but escaped in 51 seconds and blocked a shot by Penn's Scott Giffin before circling for the takedown. He then got a leg and covered for another takedown to go up 5-3. Blanton rode him out then started down in the second and escaped in 50 seconds to go up 6-3 but give Giffin 57 seconds of riding time. The pair wrestled scoreless through the rest of the period and Giffin started down in the third before escaping in eight seconds to make it 6-4. Blanton blocked a couple of shots by Giffin and finished one of his own to go up 8-4. He rode out Giffin to win by that score.

Dustin Kilgore scored the first two takedowns against Dergo but the Illini senior escaped twice and fought back with a takedown of his own before riding out Kilgore to end the first period tied 4-4. Dergo started down in the second and escaped quickly, then shot a double-leg and finished it on the edge for a takedown to go up 7-4. Kilgore kicked out with 15 seconds left in the period and they finished neutral with Dergo up 7-5. Kilgore started down in the third and escaped quickly to cut Dergo's lead to one. Dergo blocked a sloppy shot by Kilgore and turned the corner for a big takedown to make it 9-6, then Kilgore escaped and took another bad shot, allowing Dergo to get his legs and go up 11-7. Dergo gave up a reversal on the edge but was able to keep Kilgore from scoring any back points and took the 11-9 win to advance to the consolation semifinals.

174: Jordan Blanton (No. 10 seed), So., Richmond, Ill., 24-8
First Round: Dec. Duke Burk (Iowa State), 4-3
Second Round: Dec. No. 7 seed Ben Bennett (Central Michigan), 5-2
Quarterfinals: Dec. by No. 2 seed Jay Borschel (Iowa), 3-0
Consolation Round of 12: Dec. Jacob Ison (Ohio), 6-1
Consolation Quarterfinals: Dec. Scott Giffin (Pennsylvania), 8-5
Consolation Semifinals: vs. No. 4 seed Stephen Dwyer (Nebraska)

184: John Dergo (No. 2 seed), Sr., Morris, Ill., 35-3
First Round: Dec. Zac Thomusseit (Pittsburgh), 6-1
Second Round: Tech. fall over Andrew Saunders (UNC Greensboro), 21-5 (6:27)
Quarterfinals: Dec. by No. 7 seed Joe LeBlanc (Wyoming), 10-8 SV1
Consolation Round of 12: Dec. Steve Bosak (Cornell), 9-5
Consolation Quarterfinals: Dec. No. 3 seed Dustin Kilgore (Kent State), 11-9
Consolation Semifinals: vs. No. 4 seed Mike Cannon (American)

197: Patrick Bond (No. 11 seed), Sr., Chesapeake, Va., 24-14
First Round: Dec. by Matt Wilps (Pittsburgh), 2-0
Consolation First Round: Dec. Matt Powless (Indiana), 6-4
Consolation Second Round: Dec. Riley Orozco (Cal State Bakersfield), 7-5
Consolation Third Round: Dec. by Alan Gelogaev (Oklahoma State), 6-5
Bond eliminated