CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Current Illini, and two-time NCAA champion, Isaiah Martinez and former Illini B.J. Futrell, Jimmy Kennedy and Jesse Delgado compete this weekend at the U.S. men's freestyle World Team Trials in Lincoln, Nebraska. Martinez will compete in the 74kg (163lbs) division after earning a spot in the field at Last Chance Trails Qualifier two weeks ago. Futrell and Kennedy will both wrestle in the 65kg (143lbs) bracket, while Delgado competes in the 57kg (125.5lbs) division.
With 11 qualifiers at each weight class, the U.S. Open champions receive automatic byes to the best-of-three finals on Saturday. The remaining 10 wrestlers in each division will wrestle in a bracket-style competition beginning at 10 a.m. central time. The winner advances to finals against the U.S. Open champion, beginning at 6 p.m. All the action can be streamed live on FloWrestling.
Now at 74kg, Martinez is up a weight class from last fall when he wrestled at the Bill Farrell Invite where he competed in the 70kg (154lbs) division and took third place. Two weeks ago at Last Chance Trials in Rochester, Minnesota, the Illini redshirt junior overpowered the field with three technical falls, including a 10-0 shutout of Nick Wanzek in the title match. Martinez is coming off a runner-up finish at NCAA Championships and holds a 98-2 career NCAA record with two NCAA titles and three Big Ten crowns.
A pair of former Illini teammates will be among the 10 grapplers at 65kg (143lbs), as B.J. Futrell and Jimmy Kennedy represent Illinois in Lincoln. Futrell, a two-time All-American at Illinois, qualified for Trials as the highest placing U.S. medalist at the 2016 Bill Farrell Invite last fall. Also a two-time All-American, Kennedy is down to 65kg this spring after defeating Martinez in the Bill Farrell 70kg bracket last fall. Kennedy qualified for Trials at the end of April when he placed fourth at the U.S. Open.
In his first year back competing since taking two years off following his graduating from Illinois, Jesse Delgado (57kg) earned a bronze medal at the Cerro Pelado in Havana in February and then took seventh place at the U.S. Open in April to qualify for this weekend's Trials. Like Martinez, Delgado was a two-time NCAA champion at 125 pounds, winning in 2013 and 2014.
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