Full Illinois Results

ST. CHARLES, MO – Zane Richards (7-0) and Kyle Langenderfer (9-1) each notched individual titles at the Joe Parisi Open on Saturday, November 19 for the Fighting Illini. In total, the Illini grapplers had seven place finishes, as well as five others by unattached Illinois wrestlers.

Richards (8-0) racked up four wins on the day in route to his second individual crown in as many weeks. After winning the 133-pound bracket last Saturday at the Kaufman Brand Open, the second-ranked grappler outscored his opponents 73-23 on his path to the title, highlighted by a 21-5 domination of John Erneste (Missouri) in the final.

Also taking home top honors today was Kyle Langenderfer at 157 pounds. After receiving an opening round bye, Langenderfer pinned Dalton Moran of Oklahoma State, followed by an 18-3 technical fall of Keegan McCormick of Missouri to reach the semifinal round. Langenderfer secured his final two wins of the day with back-to-back decisions, outscoring his opponents 17-4 in the two matches. After dropping his opening match of the season, Langenderfer has reeled off nine wins in a row.

For the second week in a row, redshirt freshman Xavier Montalvo had another strong showing, placing runner-up at 174 pounds for the second straight tournament. After losing to teammate Zac Brunson in the Kufman Brand title bout, Montalvo again reached the title match with three consecutive decisions, including a 3-1, sudden victory over Jake Residori in the semifinal round. In the title bout, Montalvo dropped a 3-2 decision to Oklahoma State's Jacobe Smith.

After opening the 174-pound bracket with an 18-0 shutout of Joe Northrup of Iowa, Zac Brunson was pinned by Jacobe Smith of Oklahoma State (6:00). Brunson quickly rebounded, earning his second pin of the season, and then followed it up with a 16-2 major decision. After grinding out a 6-4 decision to advance to the third-place match, the senior from Eugene, Oregon rolled to a 10-0 major decision in the consolation bracket final to place third overall. 

After going undefeated on his way to the 184-pound crown last weekend, Emery Parker showed some resolve today as he battled back after an opening round defeat to place third. Despite dropping a tough 4-3 decision to open the day, Parker earned bonus points in three of his next four victories to wrestle back to the third-place bout where he won by a 6-4 decision.

After dropping an opening round decision, Andre Lee followed navigated his way back by way of a pin (0:58) and two decisions in next three rounds of the consolation bracket. After an 11-3 major decision in the semifinal round, Lee used a 4-3 decision in the third-place match to finish 5-1 in the tournament.

Like Parker, Brock Ervin spent most of the afternoon in the consolation round, scrapping his way back after an 11-9 loss to Jonce Blaylock of Oklahoma State in the second round. Ervin dominated the following three matches, pinning each of his opponents with an average fall time of 1:02. Ervin dropped his consolation semifinal match by fall (2:52), but rebounded to win 6-2 in the fifth-place match.

Among the 10 Illinois wrestlers competing unattached from the team today, as four true freshman wrestled back to the third-place match.

 At 125 pounds, Jake Silzer and Travis Piotrowski both dropped their opening matches of the day, but fought back to set up an all-Illini third-place bout. In the consolation title match, Silzer edged out his fellow freshman, 2-1.

At 133 pounds, Dylan Duncan impressed for the second week in a row, as he advanced to the semifinal of the gold division championships bracket by way of a 16-0 technical fall and 11-2 major decision. After dropping the semifinal to John Erneste of Missouri, 5-4, Duncan used a 7-6 decision and a 19-1 technical fall to place third. Duncan has now placed in each of the first two open tournaments of the season.  

Also placing in the freshman and sophomore division was Ryder Punke (fourth) at 157 pounds and Wesley Kibler (fifth) at 197 pounds.

Up next, the Illini will travel to the Northern Iowa Open on December 3 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The meet is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. central time.