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Futrell, Walker Win Titles at Northern Iowa Open
CEDAR
FALLS, Iowa -- Two Illini wrestlers captured titles at the Northern
Iowa Open on Saturday while 10 others finished in the top five of their
respective weight classes. Redshirt-senior B.J. Futrell (141) and
senior Pat Walker (HWT) both earned tournament titles during their
second open of the season.
"Overall we wrestled alright,"
assistant coach Jeremy Hunter said. "B.J. had a great tournament. He
still has room for improvement but he dominated most of the guys here.
Pat had a great off season and has been training hard, which has lead
to his great start to the year. The results as a team were there, but
it wasn't what we wanted. There is a lot of stuff we need to work on to
get better. This helped us for the Midlands in a few weeks. We had
decent competition, but it showed us what we truly need to focus on
moving forward."
Futrell went 5-0 on Saturday, winning his first
two matches with pins over Scott Moody of Iowa State in 3:51 and Rylan
Lubeck of Wisconsin in 5:30. He then defeated Purdue's Nick Lawrence by
a 12-5 decision, Gunnar Wolfensperger of Northern Iowa 10-4 and took
the tournament title by defeating Joey Lazor of Northern Iowa 8-2.
Walker
also went undefeated, capturing two wins by falls, two by decisions and
took the open title by defeating Cody Krumwiede of Northern Iowa in a
8-0 major decision. The senior now has five pins so far this season and
has won 13 total matches, both being a new career best.
Four
other Illini took second, including All-Americans Jesse Delgado (125)
and Conrad Polz (165). Delgado won his first four matches by tech fall,
major decision, a pin and a decision to move into the championship
bout, but fell to Iowa State's Connor Clarke by a 6-1 decision. Polz
advanced to the first-place match by pinning three opponents, which
gives the senior four pins on the year, a new career best. The Orland
Park, Ill., native fell to Iowa State's Michael Moreno 3-1 in the
championship bout. Freshman Zane Richards (133) and Matt Nora (157)
also placed runner-up.
In other action, redshirt-sophomore Logan
Arlis (133), redshirt-freshman Caleb Ervin (141), redshirt-freshman
Steven Rodrigues (141) and freshman Zac Brunson (157) each took third.
Redshirt-freshman Jeff Koepke (184) placed fourth and redshirt-freshman
Christopher Lopez (HWT) finished fifth.
Three other Illini
competed in the Dan Gable Open in Oshkosh, Wisc., as John Fahy (149)
and Jake Kaminsky (157) wrestled unattached and won titles in their
respective weight classes while Brian Cullen (133) placed third. All
three wrestlers won at least one match by fall.
The Fighting
Illini will have two weekends off before they travel north to Evanston,
Ill., to compete in the 50th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships from Dec.
29-30.
Illinois Placewinners - UNI Open
1. B.J. Futrell (141), Pat Walker (HWT)
2. Jesse Delgado (125), Conrad Polz (165), Zane Richards (133), Matt Nora (157)
3. Logan Arlis (133), Caleb Ervin (141), Steven Rodrigues (141), Zac Brunson (157)
4. Jeff Koepke (184)
5. Christopher Lopez (HWT)
Illinois Placewinners - Dan Gable Open
1. John Fahy (149), Jake Kaminsky (157)
3. Brian Cullen (133)
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