|
Wrestling
Poeta Wins Back-to-Back Titles; Illini Finish 2nd at Big Tens
March 8, 2009
Final Big Ten Tournament Brackets UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Top-seeded and second-ranked Mike Poeta finished off his quest for a second-straight Big Ten title, becoming just the 12th Illinois wrestler to win two Big Ten crowns and first since Alex Tirapelle at 157 pounds in 2004-05. Illinois finished second as a team with 113.5 points, its best finish since also placing second in 2006, and the point total was the fourth-highest in school history. "This was as good of a team performance as we've had at the Big Ten Championships," Illinois head coach Mark Johnson said. "This rivals our team in 2005 that won the tournament because we were so strong top-to-bottom. We had nine guys who equaled or exceeded their seed, which is incredible, and we qualified nine guys for the NCAA Tournament." In addition to Poeta's victory, third-seeded and third-ranked Jimmy Kennedy took third at 133, as did fourth-seeded Patrick Bond (197) and fourth-seeded and eighth-ranked John Wise (HWT). Fifth-seeded John Dergo finished fourth at 174, fourth-seeded and 12th-ranked Jordan Blanton finished fourth at 184, fourth-seeded Roger Smith-Bergsrud took sixth at 165 and eighth-seeded B.J. Futrell took sixth at 125. Seventh-seeded Ryan Prater rounded out Illinois' automatic NCAA qualifiers with a seventh-place finish at 141 and freshman Eric Terrazas wrestled to his seed with an eighth-place finish at 149. Poeta scored the first takedown against Northwestern's second-seeded and 14th-ranked Jason Welch 43 seconds into the bout and rode him for over a minute for a 2-1 lead after a period. Poeta started down in the second and escaped in 33 seconds then won a 25-second scramble with a takedown nine seconds before the horn to go up 5-1 after five minutes. Welch started down in the third and escaped in five seconds, but Poeta won a final scramble with a takedown at 20 seconds and rode out the Wildcat, adding the riding-time point for an 8-2 victory. "It feels great to win another Big Ten title," Poeta said. "Now I just have to put everything together in St. Louis in a week-and-a-half." In the third-place bout at 133, Kennedy got a leg on Minnesota's fourth-seeded and sixth-ranked Jayson Ness near the mat edge with just over a minute left in the first and rolled into a takedown with 58 seconds left. He rode out Ness and started down in the second. He escaped in 24 seconds to go up 3-0 then blocked a shot by Ness, grabbed an ankle, pulled him back into the center of the mat and jumped on top for the takedown with 55 seconds left, taking a 5-0 lead and Ness escaped before the period ended. The Gopher started down in the third and Kennedy went back to work on top. Ness escaped with 26 seconds left Kennedy blocked a shot and circled behind for the final score, placing third with an 8-2 win. Fourth-seeded and eighth-ranked John Wise fought to a scoreless first period with second-seeded and 18th-ranked Ben Berhow (Minnesota) in their third-place bout at heavyweight. Berhow started down in the second and Wise rode him for 52 seconds before Berhow escaped to go ahead 1-0. Berhow was awarded a penalty point to go up 2-0, but Wise blocked a shot, circled behind and dropped Berhow for the takedown with 14 seconds left in the period before riding him out. Wise started down in the third and escaped in eight seconds, but that was a long enough ride to clear Wise's riding time advantage. Wise blocked another shot with 21 seconds to ice the bout and take third with a takedown, winning 6-3 with the riding-time point. Eighth-seeded freshman B.J. Futrell took sixth after medically forfeiting his fifth-place bout at 125 to Minnesota's fifth-seeded and ninth-ranked Zach Sanders, out-wrestling his seed by two spots and automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships in St. Louis. No. 4 seed and 15th-ranked Roger Smith-Bergsrud dropped a 3-1 decision to Purdue's fifth-seeded and 16th-ranked Luke Manuel to take sixth at 165 and fifth-seeded John Dergo was pinned by second-seeded and fourth-ranked Jay Borschel of Iowa in their third-place bout to finish fourth. In the third-place match at 184, second-seeded and No. 2 Mike Pucillo (Ohio State) registered a takedown with 13 seconds left in the first period against fourth-seeded and 12th-ranked Jordan Blanton, then Pucillo started down in the second and escaped off the whistle to go up 3-0. Blanton was warned for stalling with 25 seconds left in the second and after no further scoring, the Illini started down in the third. He escaped with 49 seconds left but couldn't finish any of his shots in the final seconds as Pucillo won, 4-1, after the riding-time point. FINAL TEAM STANDINGS 1. Iowa 141.0 2. ILLINOIS 113.5 3. Michigan 92.5 4. Wisconsin 88.0 5. Minnesota 86.0 6. Ohio State 80.0 7. Penn State 79.5 8. Northwestern 73.5 9. Indiana 67.5 10. Purdue 52.0 11. Michigan St. 45.5 WEIGHT-BY-WEIGHT RESULTS
133: No. 3 seed, #3 Jimmy Kennedy (Jr., 29-4)
141: No. 7 seed, Ryan Prater (So., 11-15)
149: No. 8 seed Eric Terrazas (Fr., 14-18)
157: No. 1 seed, #2 Mike Poeta (Sr., 13-0)
165: No. 4 seed, #15 Roger Smith-Bergsrud (Sr., 19-10)
174: No. 5 seed, John Dergo (Jr., 14-8)
184: No. 4 seed, #12 Jordan Blanton (Fr., 27-9)
197: No. 5 seed Patrick Bond (Jr., 16-13)
HWT: No. 4 seed, #8 John Wise (Sr., 21-7)
|
