Eight Illini seeded for Big Ten Championships
By: Aaron Bennett
Updated: March 4, 2013
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (UI Release) -- Eight
University of Illinois wrestlers have earned pre-seeds for the Big Ten
Championships as voted by the conference coaches, the
Big Ten office announced Monday. Conrad Polz (165) earned the No. 2
seed, while Jesse Delgado (125) and Mario Gonzalez (197) notched the No.
3 seed. Senior Daryl Thomas (133) grabbed the No. 5 spot while Jordan
Blanton (174) and Tony Dallago (184) earned the
No. 6 seed. Redshirt-freshman Caleb Ervin earned the No. 7 spot while
Christopher Lopez (HWT) grabbed the No. 11 seed at heavyweight.
Delgado
posted a 6-1 record against the 125-pound Big Ten field, with his only
loss coming from the No. 2 seeded wrestler Nico Megaludis (Penn State).
The sophomore
defeated the No. 1 seeded wrestler Matt McDonough during the regular
season to give the Hawkeye his only loss in the conference season.
Delgado also posted wins over the No. 5 seed Nikko Triggas (Ohio State),
No. 7 David Thorn (Minnesota) and No. 8 Dom Malone
(Northwestern).
Thomas
has 4-3 record against the field at 133, with wins over two seeded
wrestlers including No. 7 Chris Dardanes (Minnesota) and No. 8 Shawn
Nagel (Nebraska).
The senior lost a close match to the No. 4 seed Jordan Conaway just a
few weeks ago.
Ervin
is 3-4 against the field at 149, with wins over No. 2 seed Dylan Ness
(Minnesota) as well as No. 10 Dylan Marriott (Northwestern) and Preston
Keiffer (Indiana).
Polz
holds a 6-1record against the 165-pound group, with his only loss
coming from the top-seeded David Taylor of Penn State. The senior has
defeated six of
the seeded conference foes coming into the championships. The No. 2 seed
is a career-high for the Illini grappler.
Blanton
posted a 5-5 record against the Big Ten 174-pound group, with victories
over No. 7 Lee Munster (Northwestern), No. 9 Scott Liegel (Wisconsin),
No. 10
Chad Welch (Purdue) and No. 12 Cheney Dale of Indiana. The senior
dropped one point matches to top-seeded Logan Storley (Minnesota) and
No. 2 Mike Evans of Iowa.
Dallago
is 3-4 against the field, with wins over No. 7 Luke Sheridan (Indiana),
Cody Magrum (Ohio State) and one unseeded wrestler. Two of his losses
came against
top-seeded top-seeded Ed Ruth (Penn State) and No. 2 Kevin Steinhaus
(Minnesota).
Gonzalez
is 4-2 against the field at 197 with both of his losses coming from the
top-two wrestlers in the conference championship. His four wins came
over all
seeded wrestlers, including No. 5 Braden Atwood (Purdue), No. 6 Nathan
Burak Iowa), No. 9 Alex Polizzi (Northwestern) and Caleb Kolb
(Nebraska).
Lopez posted a 1-6 record against the heavyweights in the Big Ten, with his win coming against Purdue's Alex White (No. 12).
Seeds
will be finalized at the coaches' meting on March 8, with brackets
being finalized that afternoon. The Big Ten Championships will be hosted
by the Illini
and held March 9-10 at Assembly Hall.
Session
one of the Big Ten Championships will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday,
March 9. A weight-by-weight breakdown of the Big Ten's qualifiers show
the conference
getting seven for 125, seven for 133, six for 141, eight for 149, seven
for 157, eight for 165, eight for 174, six for 184, eight for 197 and
nine for heavyweight.
