HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - Junior Travis Piotrowski, freshman Justin Cardani (unattached), redshirt sophomore Dylan Duncan and redshirt junior Eric Barone will wrestle in fifth-places matches tonight during the fourth and final session of th 56th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships. This will be the second consecutive fifth-place match at 133-pounds for Duncan, after he defeated Colin Valdivez of Northwestern to claim fifth-place at the 2017 Midlands Championships.  Redshirt junior Joey Gunther placed seventh during Session III this afternoon after besting Jacen Petersen in a 6-5 decision in the 165-pound seventh-place bout. Session IV will begin at 7:05 p.m. CT, and fans can watch the bouts with a subscription to either BTN + or FloWrestling. 

Illinois wrestlers Travis Piotrowski and Justin Cardani are set to make their first appearances in the Midlands 125-pound fifth-place match. This will be Piotrowski's best finish at the Midlands tournament thus far in his career. After advancing through his first match of the day after a medical forfeit by opponent Joseph Melendez, Piotrowski was strong in his next consolation match, blanking Kyle Biscolglia in a 5-0 decision. Piotrowski was defeated by Connor Brown of Wisconsin his next consolation bout in an 8-4 decision, which sent him to this evening's fifth-place matchup in which he is scheduled to be opposed by teammate Justin Cardani. 

Cardani meets Piotrowski in the 125-pound fifth-place match after also going 2-1 during Session III. He started his afternoon by defeating a pair of Big Ten opponents, first Brandon Cray of Maryland in a 2-1 decision, and then Elijah Oliver of Indiana in a 3-2 decision. After losing to FloWrestling No. 14 Pat Glory in the next round, Cardani heads to this evening's fifth-place match against Piotrowski.

Redshirt sophomore Dylan Duncan and redshirt junior Eric Barone both reached the Midlands semifinals in the 133 and 157-pound brackets, respectively, but came up short in their bids at finals appearances. Duncan was disqualified in his semifinal match in the second period after receiving multiple stalling calls. In the 157-pound semifinal, Barone tested Midlands No. 1 seed and FloWrestling No. 2 Ryan Deakin early but dropped the match in a 9-3 decision. After losing their next consolation matchups, Barone and Duncan eye fifth-place finishes this evening. Duncan, who is looking for his second-consecutive fifth-place finish, will meet Pat Glynn of Iowa in the 133-pound bout. Barone, who has already locked in the best finish of his Midlands career, is set for a rematch against Mike D'Angelo (unattached), whom Barone defeated yesterday to advance to the semifinal. 

Redshirt junior Joey Gunther concluded his first Midlands tournament as a member of the Illini with a seventh-place finish at 165-pounds. Gunther, who went 2-1 on the day, achieved both of his victories in exciting fashion. In his first matchup of the day, he defeated Purdue's Emil Soehnlen in Tiebreaker-1, 2-1. After losing his next match wrestlebacks to Jonathan Viruet of Brown, Gunther regrouped and bested Jacen Petersen of Arizona State in a thrilling seventh-place match. Gunther took the initial 2-0 lead with a takedown in the first period, but an escape by Petersen cut Gunther's lead to 2-1 heading into the second period. Gunther headed into the third with a 3-1 lead after tacking on a point for an escape in the second. However, Petersen recorded an escape and a takedown early in the period to take a 4-3 lead. Gunther responded with an escape to tie the match, and then a takedown with 43 seconds left to regain the lead 6-4. Petersen added an escape point in the closing seconds, but Gunther's late takedown proved to be the difference, giving Gunther a 6-5 decision victory and seventh-place at 165-pounds.

Redshirt junior Carver James (174) and redshirt senior Andre Lee (197) were eliminated after losing their first consolation matchups of the day. James finishes the tournament 2-2 and moves to 11-5 on the season. Lee posts a 3-2 mark in his final appearance at Midlands and pushes his season-record to 14-6, with his 14 wins being the most on the team. 

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Illini in Fifth-Place Matches

125: #12 Travis Piotrowski (Jr.) // 4-2

Champ. Round 1 - Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) received a bye () (Bye)
Champ. Round 2 - Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) won by decision over Ryan Hetrick (Army West Point) (Dec 8-1)
Champ. Round 3 - Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) won by decision over Jacob Schwarm (Northern Iowa) (Dec 5-1)
Quarterfinal - Pat Glory (Princeton) won by tech fall over Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) (TF 17-1)
Cons. Round 6 - Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) won by medical forfeit over Joseph Melendez (North Carolina - UNAT) (MFF)
Cons. Round 7 - Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) won by decision over Kyle Biscolglia (Northern Iowa - UNAT) (Dec 5-0)
Cons. Semi - Connor Brown (Wisconsin) won by decision over Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) (Dec 8-4)

125: Justin Cardani (Unattached) (Fr.) // 5-2

Champ. Round 1 - Justin Cardani (Illinois - UNAT) won by injury default over Ryan Millhof (Arizona State) (Inj. 3:56)
Champ. Round 2 - Justin Cardani (Illinois - UNAT) won by decision over Perez Perez (Iowa) (Dec 4-2)
Champ. Round 3 - Justin Cardani (Illinois - UNAT) won by decision over Brandon Courtney (Arizona State) (Dec 8-7)
Quarterfinal - Connor Brown (Wisconsin) won by decision over Justin Cardani (Illinois - UNAT) (Dec 7-0)
Cons. Round 6 - Justin Cardani (Illinois - UNAT) won by decision over Brandon Cray (Maryland) (Dec 2-1)
Cons. Round 7 - Justin Cardani (Illinois - UNAT) won by decision over Elijah Oliver (Indiana) (Dec 3-2)
Cons. Semi - Pat Glory (Princeton) won by major decision over Justin Cardani (Illinois - UNAT) (Maj 10-0)

133: #15 Dylan Duncan (r-So.) // 3-2

Champ. Round 1 - Dylan Duncan (Illinois) received a bye () (Bye)
Champ. Round 2 - Dylan Duncan (Illinois) won by decision over Lukus Stricker (Harvard) (Dec 6-2)
Champ. Round 3 - Dylan Duncan (Illinois) won by decision over Bobby Jordan (Johnson & Wales) (Dec 11-5)
Quarterfinal - Dylan Duncan (Illinois) won by decision over Colin Valdivez (Northwestern) (Dec 9-6)
Semifinal - Austin Desanto (Iowa) won by disqualification over Dylan Duncan (Illinois) (DQ)
Cons. Semi - Zachary Sherman (North Carolina - UNAT) won by decision over Dylan Duncan (Illinois) (Dec 8-5)

157: #12 Eric Barone (r-Jr.) // 3-2

Champ. Round 1 - Eric Barone (Illinois) received a bye () (Bye)
Champ. Round 2 - Eric Barone (Illinois) won by decision over Joe Oliva (Penn) (Dec 9-8)
Champ. Round 3 - Eric Barone (Illinois) won by decision over Adam Whitesell (Maryland) (Dec 6-0)
Quarterfinal - Eric Barone (Illinois) won by decision over Mike D`Angelo (Unattached) (Dec 10-3)
Semifinal - Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) won by decision over Eric Barone (Illinois) (Dec 9-3)
Cons. Semi - Jeren Glosser (Iowa) won in sudden victory - 1 over Eric Barone (Illinois) (SV-1 3-1)

Illinois in Consolation Brackets:

165: #16 Joey Gunther (r-Jr.) // 5-2

Champ. Round 1 - Joey Gunther (Illinois) won by major decision over Neil Antrassian (Penn) (Maj 13-4)
Champ. Round 2 - Joey Gunther (Illinois) won by major decision over Dillion Hoey (Indiana) (Maj 8-0)
Champ. Round 3 - Joey Gunther (Illinois) won by decision over Phil Spadafora (Maryland) (Dec 9-7)
Quarterfinal - Joshua Shields (Arizona State) won by tech fall over Joey Gunther (Illinois) (TF 17-2)
Cons. Round 6 - Joey Gunther (Illinois) won in tie breaker - 1 over Emil Soehnlen (Purdue) (TB-1 2-1)
Cons. Round 7 - Jonathan Viruet (Brown) won by decision over Joey Gunther (Illinois) (Dec 3-0)
7th Place Match - Joey Gunther (Illinois) won by decision over Jacen Petersen (Arizona State) (Dec 6-5)
Joey Gunther Places Seventh.

174: Carver James (r-Jr.) // 2-2

Champ. Round 1 - Carver James (Illinois) received a bye () (Bye)
Champ. Round 2 - Carver James (Illinois) won by major decision over Brian Krasowski (Penn) (Maj 14-4)
Champ. Round 3 - Carver James (Illinois) won by medical forfeit over Joe Grello (Rutgers) (MFF)
Quarterfinal - Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa) won by fall over Carver James (Illinois) (Fall 5:37)
Cons. Round 6 - Andrew Morgan (Campbell) won by decision over Carver James (Illinois) (Dec 3-2)
Carver James is eliminated.

197: Andre Lee (r-Jr.) // 3-2

Champ. Round 1 - Andre Lee (Illinois) won by major decision over Austin McNeill (Campbell) (Maj 12-2)
Champ. Round 2 - Andre Lee (Illinois) won by fall over Tyler Hall (Penn) (Fall 4:28)
Champ. Round 3 - Andre Lee (Illinois) won by decision over Martin Mueller (South Dakota State) (Dec 10-5)
Quarterfinal - Patrick Brucki (Princeton) won by decision over Andre Lee (Illinois) (Dec 10-5)
Cons. Round 6 - Brett Perry (Buffalo) won by decision over Andre Lee (Illinois) (Dec 3-1)
Andre Lee is eliminated.