Updated Brackets | Photo Gallery

BLOOMINGTON, IND. – Fighting Illini 165-pounder Isaiah Martinez finished 3-0 on day one of 2017 Big Ten Wrestling Championships to advance to Sunday's final against Michigan's Logan Massa. Six other Illini remain alive in the consolation bracket and have clinched an automatic bid to NCAA Championships: Travis Piotrowski (125), Zane Richards (133), Eric Barone, Kyle Langenderfer (157), Zac Brunson (174) and Emery Parker (184). Illinois sits sixth in team score competition with 71.0. 

"A lot of ups and downs during the first day, as usual," said Head Coach Jim Heffernan. "Travis Piotrowski got on a roll early and had a fantastic day. Isaiah has looked good and had a solid win in the semis.  [We] still have a lot of wrestling left to do and our guys need to answer the bell tomorrow.  The competition only gets tougher as we get in to the placing matches."

In Saturday night's semifinal, Martinez defeated No. 4 seed Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) for the second time this season. After beating the Nittany Lion freshman 5-2 in State College a month ago, Martinez again overpowered Vincenzo, beginning with two takedowns in the first period. A third takedown in the final period stretched the lead to 8-3 and the two-time conference champ held on for an 8-5 decision.

The redshirt junior reached the semifinals with a pair of bonus-point victories in session earlier today, defeating Johnny Sebastian (24-13) by major decision and pinning No. 8 seed Drew Hughes (0:58).

Martinez improves to 12-0 all-time at Big Ten Championships and will look to become just the third Illini to ever win three Big Ten titles and the fifth Illini to win a conference crown at two different weight classes.

174-pounder Zac Brunson also reached the semifinal round, but dropped his match to No. 2 seed Mark Hall (Penn State). Brunson will wrestle Alex Meyer in the consolation semifinals tomorrow during session three. The Illini senior defeated Meyer 9-5 at Midlands this season and pinned the Iowa wrestler (2:00) at Big Ten Championships last year.

A trio of Illini battled back with two victories in the consolation bracket during session two to reach tomorrow's consolation semifinal round: Travis Piotrowski (125), Zane Richards (133) and Emery Parker (184).

Using guts and grit to win two overtime matches this evening, Piotrowski became the first Illini true freshman to reach NCAA Championships since Jackson Morse (157) reached the national meet in 2011 after placing seventh at Big Ten Championships. In round two of the consolation bracket, the Crystal Lake native used a pin in sudden victory against No. 6 seed, and 19th-ranked, Johnny Jimenez (7:34). Piotrowski clinched the NCAA bid in the next round with a reversal in the first tiebreaker, defeating Ben Thornton of Purdue 5-4. The Illini 125-pounder will get a rematch of his opening-round loss against No. 5 seed Conor Youtsey tomorrow.

After dropping his quarterfinal match today, Richards bounced back with a technical fall against Jason Ipsarides (Northwestern), and then forged a comeback to defeat Scott Delvecchio, 5-3, in sudden victory to reach tomorrow's consolation semifinal against Minnesota's Mitch McKee. The three victories on Saturday moved him into a tie for 16^th on Illinois all-time list with Jon Llewellyn (1988-91) and Jackson Morse (2010-15).

The third Illini still in contention for third place is Emery Parker at 184 pounds after two pins in the second session. Parker first pinned Shwan Shadaia (Michigan State) in 2:36. The Illini redshirt sophomore followed it up with a 5:36 fall against Bobby Steveson (Minnesota) in round three. Parker will wrestle top seed Bo Nickal (Penn State) tomorrow afternoon after Nickal was upset by No. 4 seed Myles Martin (Ohio State).

Kyle Langenderfer and Eric Barone will wrestle once more tomorrow in seventh-place matches wrestling John Van Brill (Rutgers) and Shayne Oster, respectively. 

Illini Notes:

• Isaiah Martinez advanced to his third straight Big Ten Championships final. Martinez is 12-0 all-time at Big Ten Championships with two titles at 157 pounds.
• Travis Piotrowski's becomes the first Illini true freshman to clinch a bid to NCAA Championships since Jackson Morse did so in 2011.
• Zane Richards earned three victories on day one, moving into a tie for 16^th on Illinois' all-time list with 106 career victories.
• Brunson's opening round pin (0:16) of Braxton Cody (Northwestern) tied the Big Ten Championships record for fastest pin. The 16 seconds ties Robert Kokesh's pin of Taylor Massa (Michigan) in the 174-pound quarterfinals in 2015.
• The fall is Brunson's 19^th of his career, putting him one pin outside of the top-10 on Illinois' all-time list. Troy Tirapelle (2006-09) is 10^th in school history with 20 pins.
• Brunson's second victory of the day passed Jesse Delgado (2011-15) for 23^rd on Illinois' all-time wins list.

Team Scores:

1.Ohio State – 117.0
2.Penn State – 98.5
3.Iowa – 95.0
4.Minnesota – 81.0
5.Nebraska – 79.5
6.ILLINOIS – 71.0
7.Michigan – 60.5
8.Wisconsin – 59.0
9.Rutgers – 55.5
10.Michigan State – 37.5
11.Maryland – 29.0
12.Purdue – 25.0
13.Indiana – 23.5
14.Northwestern – 16.0

Match-By-Match Results (number in parentheses indicates seed)

125 // Travis Piotrowski // Freshman // 3-1

133 // (4) #6 Zane Richards // R-Senior // 3-1

141 // Mousa Jodeh // Sophomore // 0-2 - Eliminated

149 // (7) #20 Eric Barone // R-Freshman // 1-2 

157 // (5) #13 Kyle Langenderfer // R-Junior // 2-2

165 // (1) #1 Isaiah Martinez // R-Junior // 3-0

174 // (3) #11 Zac Brunson // R-Senior // 2-1

184 // (6) #11 Emery Parker // R-Sophomore // 3-1

197 // Andre Lee // R-Sophomore // 0-2 - Eliminated 

HWT // (6) #16 Brooks Black // R-Junior // 0-2 - Eliminated