Full Results
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Redshirt junior [3] Edmond Ruth is an All-American at 174 pounds after the second day of the NCAA Championships on Friday (March 22). He becomes the program's fifth individual All-American at 174 pounds and first since Zac Brunson in 2017.
Ruth began the day with his quarterfinal matchup against Ohio State's [6] Rocco Welsh. He's beaten Welsh twice already this season, but this time around Welsh bested Ruth in sudden victory 4-1. This was a reverse from their matchup a few weeks ago at the Big Ten Championships where Ruth won in overtime, SV-1 4-1. He was set to begin the road to becoming an All-American in the blood round against Iowa State's [15] MJ Gaitan.
After giving up a takedown in the first minute Ruth was able to get away quickly and go into the second period trailing the match, 3-1. Gaitan escaped quickly, but Ruth kept the pressure on him and was awarded with his first takedown to tie the match at four. Roughly 20 seconds later Gaitan escaped and took a 5-4 lead into the third period.
Ruth escaped fast in the beginning of the third period to tie the match at five. With under a minute left, Ruth got in on a single leg at the edge of the circle and threw Gaitan down with what was the winning takedown. Gaitan escaped, but Ruth's defense kept him afloat to get the decision win 8-6.
His next consolation match was against South Dakota State's [2] Cade DeVos. Ruth fell behind 4-1 at the end of the of the first two periods giving up a takedown and an escape. He began to make a third period comeback with a quick escape and forced DeVos to take two stall calls to trail 4-3.
Ruth was able to get to his underhooks late and began to take DeVos down, but the buzzer sounded and he was out of time. Ruth lost via decision 5-3 since DeVos already had the riding time point locked up. This sets the stage tomorrow for a seventh-place match against Army's [18] Benjamin Pasiuk.
UP NEXT
Ruth returns to action tomorrow (March 23) for the final day of the NCAA Championships with the seventh-place matches starting at 10 a.m. CT.
ILLINI RESULTS
174: Edmond Ruth – 3 seed
Round 1: [3] Edmond Ruth (ILL) over [30] Myles Takats (BUCK), dec. 4-1.
Round 2: [3] Edmond Ruth (ILL) over [19] Alex Cramer (CMU), dec. 2-1.
Quarterfinal: [6] Rocco Welsh (OSU) over [3] Edmond Ruth (ILL), SV-1 4-1.
Cons. Round 4: [3] Edmond Ruth (ILL) over [15] MJ Gaitan (ISU), dec. 8-6.
Cons. Round 5: [2] Cade DeVos (SDSU) over [3] Edmond Ruth (ILL), Dec. 5-3.
141: Danny Pucino – 24 seed
Round 1: [9] Brock Hardy (NEB) over [24] Danny Pucino (ILL), TF 20-4 (6:35).
Cons. Round 1: [25] Cleveland Belton (ORST) over [24] Danny Pucino (ILL), MD 20-8.
Pucino eliminated.
165: Chris Moore – 28 seed
Round 1: [5] Dean Hamiti (WIS) over [28] Chris Moore (ILL), fall (2:22).
Cons. Round 1: [21] Caleb Fish (MSU) over [28] Chris Moore (ILL), SV-1 8-1.
Moore eliminated.
