PHILADELPHIA – The eight Illinois wrestlers finished the second day of the NCAA Championships on Friday (March 21) from the Wells Fargo Center. No. 1 seed Lucas Byrd punched his ticket to the NCAA Finals at 133 pounds with a 2-0 decision win over No. 4 seed Zeth Romney of Cal. Poly.
Byrd becomes the first Illinois wrestler in seven years to wrestle for a national title since assistant coach Isaiah Martinez did in 2018 at 165 pounds. He started his day off with a quarterfinals win over No. 8 seed Braeden Davis of Penn State in a dominant 12-1 major decision. His semifinals match was low scoring but he pitched a shutout of Romney 2-0 riding him out the whole third period.
This sets the stage for the third matchup of the season against No. 2 seed Drake Ayala of Iowa. Ayala won the first matchup in a 4-2 decision on Jan. 17 in Iowa City, Iowa and Byrd won the second matchup in the Big Ten Championships finals with a pin in 3:16.
Danny Pucino, Kannon Webster, Braeden Scoles, Danny Braunagel, Edmond Ruth, Zac Braunagel and Luke Luffman all saw their season's come to an end in their consolation brackets. Â
[28] Pucino pinned [11] Dylan Cedeno (UVA) in 4:15 after trailing 10-2 in the second period before dropping his next bout [14] Sergio Lemley (MICH) in sudden victory. [11] Scoles beat [28] Mac Church (VT), 10-1, and [19] Jack Thomsen (UNI), fall (2:01) before dropping his blood round bout to [8] Cameron Amine (OKST), SV-1 4-1.
[9] Z. Braunagel major decisioned [26] Brock Zurawski (RIDER), 10-2, in his first matchup today before falling to [15] Joseph Novak (WYO) in 5:30. [8] Luffman beat [26] Peter Ming (STAN), 7-6, and [16] Yaraslau Slavikouski (RUT), in sudden victory 4-1, before he dropped a tough bout to [6] Joshua Heindselman (MICH) in tiebreakers, 2-1.
TEAM SCORES
1. Penn State – 169.0
2. Nebraska – 109
3. Oklahoma State – 94.5
4. Iowa – 77.0
5. Minnesota – 51.5
6. Cornell – 50
7. Ohio State – 47.5
8. Northern Iowa – 45.5
9. NC State – 42.5
10. Virginia Tech – 41.0
11. Illinois – 40.5
Â
UP NEXT
Byrd returns to action tomorrow (March 22) for the final day of the NCAA Championships with the finals at 6 p.m. CT.
ILLINOIS RESULTS
133: Lucas Byrd – 1 seed
Champ. Round 1: [1] Lucas Byrd (ILL) dec. [32] Hunter Leake (CBU), 3-2.
Champ. Round 2: [1] Lucas Byrd (ILL) major dec. [16] Ryan Miller (PENN), 9-0.
Quarterfinals: [1] Lucas Byrd (ILL) major dec. [8] Braeden Davis (PSU), 12-1.
Semifinals: [1] Lucas Byrd (ILL) dec. [4] Zeth Romney (CALPOLY), 2-0.
141: Danny Pucino – 28 seed
Champ. Round 1: [5] Cael Happel (UNI) over [28] Danny Pucino (ILL), fall (5:51).
Cons. Round 1: [28] Danny Pucino (ILL) dec. [12] Sam Latona (VT), 12-8.
Cons. Round 2: [28] Danny Pucino (ILL) over [11] Dylan Cedeno (UVA), fall (4:15).
Cons. Round 3: [14] Sergio Lemley (MICH) dec. [28] Danny Pucino (ILL), SV-1 4-1.
Pucino eliminated.
149: Kannon Webster – 7 seed
Champ. Round 1: [7] Kannon Webster (ILL) major dec. [26] Kal Miller (MD), 8-0.
Champ. Round 2: [7] Kannon Webster (ILL) dec. [10] Colin Realbuto (UNI), 8-3.
Quarterfinals: [2] Ridge Lovett (NEB) major dec. [7] Kannon Webster (ILL), 12-0.
Cons. Round 4: [22] Gavin Drexler (NDSU) dec. [7] Kannon Webster (ILL), 4-0.
Webster eliminated.
165: Braeden Scoles – 11 seed
Champ. Round 1: [11] Braeden Scoles (ILL) over [22] Enrique Munguia (RIDER), fall (4:27).
Champ. Round 2: [6] Beau Mantanona (MICH) dec. [11] Braeden Scoles (ILL), 8-5.
Cons. Round 2: [11] Braeden Scoles (ILL) major dec. [28] Mac Church (VT), 10-1.
Cons. Round 3: [11] Braeden Scoles (ILL) over [19] Jack Thomsen (UNI), fall (2:01).
Cons. Round 4: [8] Cameron Amine (OKST) dec. [11] Braeden Scoles (ILL), SV-1 8-1.
Scoles eliminated.
174: Danny Braunagel – 20 seed
Champ. Round 1: [13] Cade DeVos (SDSU) dec. [20] Danny Braunagel (ILL), 5-4.
Cons. Round 1: [20] Danny Braunagel (ILL) major dec. [29] Jackson Turley (RUT), 18-9.
Cons. Round 2: [14] Matthew Singleton (NCST) major dec. [20] Danny Braunagel (ILL), 14-6.
D. Braunagel eliminated.
184: Edmond Ruth – 10 seed
Champ. Round 1: [10] Edmond Ruth (ILL) major dec. [23] Aidan Brenot (NDSU), 10-2.
Champ. Round 2: [10] Edmond Ruth (ILL) dec. [7] Isaac Dean (RIDER), TB-2 (RT) 3-2.
Quarterfinals: [2] Parker Keckeisen (UNI) major dec. [10] Edmond Ruth (ILL), 13-5.
Cons. Round 4: [22] Donnell Washington (IND) dec. [10] Edmond Ruth (ILL), 8-4.
Ruth eliminated.
197: Zac Braunagel – 9 seed
Champ. Round 1: [24] Gabe Sollars (IND) dec. [9] Zac Braunagel (ILL), 6-5.
Cons. Round 1: [9] Zac Braunagel (ILL) major dec. [8] Luke Surber (OKST), 14-3.
Cons. Round 2: [9] Zac Braunagel (ILL) major dec. [26] Brock Zurawski (RIDER), 10-2.
Cons. Round 3: [15] Joseph Novak (WYO) over [9] Zac Braunagel (ILL), fall (5:30).
Z. Braunagel eliminated.
285: Luke Luffman – 8 seed
Champ. Round 1: [8] Luke Luffman (ILL) dec. [25] Luke Rasmussen (SDSU), 8-2.
Champ. Round 2: [9] Cohlton Schultz (ASU) dec. [8] Luke Luffman (ILL), 7-0.
Cons. Round 2: [8] Luke Luffman (ILL) dec. [26] Peter Ming (STAN), 7-6.
Cons. Round 3: [8] Luke Luffman (ILL) dec. [16] Yaraslau Slavikouski (RUT), SV-1 4-1.
Cons. Round 4: [6] Joshua Heindselman (MICH) dec. [8] Luke Luffman (ILL), TB-1 2-1.
Luffman eliminated.
