3/7-No. 8 Illini wrestlers stand in 2nd at Big Ten Championships

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Top-seeded and second-ranked Mike Poeta will defend his Big Ten title against Northwesterns second-seeded and 14th-ranked Jason Welch at 157 pounds on Sunday, and six Illini have already earned automatic berths to the NCAA Championships with three more Illini needing one more win to lock up an automatic bid. As a team, No. 8 Illinois is currently in second place with 85 points, behind top-ranked Iowas 110. No. 14 Wisconsin is in third with 83 points. Sundays action begins with consolation semifinals and seventh-place matches at 11 a.m. CT and the first-, third- and fifth-place matches will begin at 1 p.m. CT and will be televised live by the Big Ten Network. In addition to Poeta (157) as the six Illini to have already punched tickets to St. Louis are No. 3 Jimmy Kennedy (133), No. 12 Jordan Blanton (184), No. 15 Roger Smith-Bergsrud (165), B.J. Futrell (125) and John Dergo (174). No. 8 John Wise (HWT) needs one win in two matches on Sunday to lock up an automatic spot, Patrick Bond (197) needs to defeat Purdues Logan Brown in their consolation semifinal bout and Ryan Prater (141) will wrestle for the final automatic bid in his weight class in his seventh-place bout on Sunday. The eighth-seeded Futrell started the second session of the day by staying alive in the consolation bracket with a 7-2 win over No. 7 seed and 18th-ranked Michael Watts (Michigan). After a scoreless first period, Watts started down in the second and escaped quickly, but Futrell picked his ankle out of a tie-up for a takedown with 1:30 left. Watts escaped 13 seconds later but Futrell countered a shot by Watts and hiptossed him for another takedown and a 4-2 lead. The pair started neutral in the third and Futrell countered Watts last-gasp attempt at a lateral drop and scored a takedown with three seconds left, added the riding time point and won, 7-2. The third-seeded Kennedy also moved through the wrestlebacks with a 9-2 win over Northwesterns Eric Metzler. Kennedy led 2-1 after the first period then tacked on a point when Metzler was called for stalling for the second time in the bout and finished the second period by adding a takedown with 33 seconds left. Kennedy started down in the third and escaped quickly, then finished a double-leg with six seconds left for the 9-2 win. Fourth-seeded and 15th-ranked Smith-Bergsrud got a takedown on Dominic Marella with 1:44 left in the first but Marella escaped 21 seconds later. After no further scoring, Marella started down in the second and escaped in 11 seconds to tie the bout at 2. Smith-Bergsrud tried a throw-by takedown but Marella blocked it and smothered the Illini for the takedown, but Smith-Bergsrud quickly escaped. The Illini senior stacked up Marella and finished the double-leg takedown with two seconds left to take a 5-4 lead after two periods. Smith-Bergsrud started down in the third and quickly escaped then held off Marella throughout the period to salt away the 6-4 win. With the victory, Smith-Bergsrud qualified for the NCAA Championships since the worst he can finish is eighth and the top eight finishers from the Big Ten at 165 go to the national tournament. Futrell started fast against Wisconsins Drew Hammen in the pairs consolation quarterfinal bout, scoring three takedowns in the first period for a 6-2 lead with 1:18 of riding time. After a neutral start in the second, Futrell worked into another takedown with 1:02 left and put Hammen on his back before recording the fall in 4:27 to punch his ticket to the NCAA Championships. Futrell will take on fourth-seeded and 14th-ranked Brad Pataky in the consolation semifinals. Kennedy scored a takedown on Michigans seventh-seeded Zac Stevens with 1:49 left in the first and rode him out for a 2-0 lead after three minutes. Kennedy started down in the second and escaped quickly and got another takedown with 15 seconds left for a 5-0 lead with 1:59 of riding time after two periods. Stevens started down in the third and escaped after two seconds, but Kennedy got a takedown with 1:38 left and tilted Stevens for a two-point near-fall and a 9-1 lead. Kennedy rode him out and added the riding-time point for the 10-1 major decision. Kennedy will face top-seeded and top-ranked Daniel Dennis in the consolation semifinal. At 141, the seventh-seeded Prater and sixth-seeded Keith Sulzer (Northwestern) battled through a scoreless first period. Sulzer started down in the second and recorded the reversal with 10 seconds left in the period, then was given a penalty point, to take a 3-0 lead with Prater holding 1:42 of riding time. Prater started down in the third and Sulzer managed to tilt him for a three-point near-fall and a 6-0 lead. Sulzer rode him out for the 6-0 win, sending Prater to the seventh-place match where the Illini sophomore will need to beat Penn States Frank Molinaro to earn a trip to the NCAA Championships. Eighth-seeded Eric Terrazas took on fifth-seeded and seventh-ranked Jake Patacsil (Purdue) and Patacsil got a takedown on the edge with 2:38 left, turned the Illini rookie and pinned Terrazas in 49 seconds. Terrazas will wrestle for seventh against Michigan States David Cheza. Only the top five placers at 149 pounds will earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. In the semifinals at 157, Poeta gave up a takedown to Minnesotas fourth-seeded and No. 20 Tyler Safratowich with 2:39 left in the first but Poeta escaped in 16 seconds and the period ended with the Gopher leading 2-1. Poeta started down in the second and escaped in 18 seconds to tie the bout at 2. Poeta shot in on a single with 1:18 left and rolled through to finish it with 1:10 left in the period. Safratowich escaped with 49 seconds remaining and needed injury time after Poeta blocked one of his shots and nearly turned the corner for the takedown at the 14-second mark. Poeta took a 4-3 lead to the third, where Safratowich started down. The Gopher escaped quickly but Poeta fired through and landed a double-leg on the edge with 1:21 left for the 6-4 lead. Safratowich escaped but was hit with a stalling warning at the one-minute mark. Always the aggressor, Poeta shot in on a single-leg and finished it on the edge with eight seconds left to seal his 8-5 win and head to the championship bout against Northwesterns second-seeded and 14th-ranked Jason Welch. At the 165-pound consolation quarterfinals, Smith-Bergsrud used a pair of first-period takedown to grab a 4-1 lead after three minutes. Michigans Justin Zeerip started down in the second and escaped to cut Smith-Bergsruds lead 4-2 after two periods. The pair started neutral in the third and Zeerip was hit with a stalling warning with 1:32 left in the bout. After no further scoring, Smith-Bergsrud advanced to the consolation semifinals with a 4-2 win, where he will face second-seeded and third-ranked Colt Sponseller (Ohio State). Fifth-seeded John Dergo gave up an early takedown to top-seeded and top-ranked Steve Luke (Michigan) and escaped quickly, but Luke connected on a double-leg with 1:35 left and Dergo escaped to make it 4-2 in the Wolverines favor after three minutes. Dergo started down in the second period and escaped in eight seconds to cut Lukes lead to 4-3, which is where the bout stood at the end of the period. Luke started down in the third and escaped in five seconds, and Dergo got a leg on the edge but the wrestlers went out of bounds before control was established. Dergo once again got a leg on the edge but Luke was able to fight of the attack and force a stalemate. Neither wrestler managed to score the rest of the bout, giving Luke the 6-3 win after adding the riding-time point. Dergo will face Indianas sixth-seeded and No. 18 Trevor Perry in the consolation semifinals. In the semifinal at 184, No. 1 and top-ranked Jake Herbert shot off the whistle and got a takedown on fourth-seeded and 12th-ranked Jordan Blanton five seconds into the match. Herbert rode him out but wasnt able to turn the Illini freshman, taking a 2-0 lead to the second period. Herbert started down in the second and escaped in three seconds then scored the takedown on Blanton with 46 seconds left. The Illini started down in the third and escaped and after no further scoring, Herbert tacked on the riding-time point for the 6-1 win. Blanton will face Michigans sixth-seeded and 14th-ranked Anthony Biondo (Michigan) in the consolation semifinals. Blanton already has qualified for the NCAA Championships, as he can finish no worse than sixth and six Big Ten wrestlers receive six automatic bids at 184. Fifth-seeded Patrick Bond and top-seeded and third-ranked Dallas Herbst wrestled a scoreless first period in the 197-pound semifinal and Herbst started down in the second. Herbst escaped in 12 seconds and that was the only scoring in the period. Bond started down in the third and also escaped in 12 seconds to tie the bout at 1. Bond got a leg with five seconds left but couldnt do anything with it and the bout went to overtime. Neither wrestler scored in sudden-victory time, taking the match to the tiebreak periods. Herbst rode out the Illini junior in the first tiebreak and Herbst rolled through to a reversal off the whistle in the second tiebreak but was warned for stalling with 17 seconds left. Bond couldnt score as Herbst took the 3-1 victory. Bond will wrestle Purdues seventh-seeded Logan Brown in the consolation semifinals. In the heavyweight semifinal, Iowas top-seeded and seventh-ranked Dan Erekson shot off the whistle and scored a takedown just eight seconds into the bout. Wise escaped 37 seconds later but Erekson got both ankles and finished the takedown with 1:45 left in the first. Wise was warned for stalling with 47 seconds remaining and the period ended with Erekson up 4-1. Wise started down in the second and escaped with 1:03 left in the period. Erekson took a 4-2 lead and over three minutes of riding time into the third, where he started down. Erekson escaped with 1:32 left in the bout and after Wise got a takedown just before time ran out, the Hawkeye took the 6-4 win after adding the riding-time point. Wise will face Penn States unseeded Cameron Wade, who he pinned in the pigtail round, in the consolation semifinal. TEAM STANDINGS (through session 2) 1. Iowa 110.0 2. ILLINOIS 85.0 3. Wisconsin 83.0 4. Michigan 77.5 5. Penn State 71.5 6. Northwestern 69.5 7. Minnesota 64.5 8. Indiana 59.5 9. Ohio State 58.0 10. Purdue 41.0 11. Michigan St. 36.5 WEIGHT-BY-WEIGHT RESULTS 125: No. 8 seed, B.J. Futrell (Fr., 24-11) Pigtail: Pinned by Eric Olanowski (MSU), 4:01 Consolation 1st Round: Dec. No. 7 seed, #18 Mike Watts (MICH), 7-2 Consolation Quarterfinals: Pinned Drew Hammen (WIS), 4:27 Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: vs. No. 4 seed, #14 Brad Pataky (PSU) 133: No. 3 seed, #3 Jimmy Kennedy (Jr., 27-4) Pigtail: Pinned Tom Kelliher (WIS), 4:41 Quarterfinals: Dec. by No. 6 seed, #9 Jake Strayer (PSU), 3-2 Consolation 1st Round: Dec. Eric Metzler (NU), 9-2 Consolation Quarterfinals: Maj. dec. No. 7 seed Zac Stevens (MICH), 10-1 Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: vs. No. 1 seed, #1 Daniel Dennis (IOWA) 141: No. 7 seed, Ryan Prater (So., 10-15) Quarterfinals: Dec by No. 2 seed, #2 Kellen Russell (MICH), 5-4 Consolation 1st Round: Bye Consolation Quarterfinals: Dec. by Keith Sulzer (NU), 6-0 Up Next - 7th-place: vs. Frank Molinaro (PSU) 149: No. 8 seed Eric Terrazas (Fr., 14-17) Quarterfinals: Pinned by No. 1 seed, #1 Brent Metcalf (IOWA), 2:31 Consolation 1st Round: Bye Consolation Quarterfinals: Pinned by No. 5 seed, #7 Jake Patacsil (PUR), 0:49 Up Next - 7th-place: vs. David Cheza (MSU) 157: No. 1 seed, #2 Mike Poeta (Sr., 12-0) Quarterfinals: Tech. fall Ben Jordan (WIS), 19-4 (6:50) Semifinals: Dec. No. 4 seed, #20 Tyler Safratowich (MINN), 8-5 Up Next - Championship: vs. No. 2 seed, #14 Anthony Welch (NU) 165: No. 4 seed, #15 Roger Smith-Bergsrud (Sr., 19-8) Quarterfinals: Dec by No. 5 seed, #16 Luke Manuel (PUR), 2-0 Consolation Round 1: Dec. Dominic Marella (NU), 6-4 Consolation Quarterfinals: Dec. Justin Zeerip (MICH), 4-2 Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: vs. No. 2 seed, #3 Colt Sponseller (OSU) 174: No. 5 seed, John Dergo (Jr., 13-7) Quarterfinals: Dec. No. 4 seed Dave Rella (OSU), 3-2 Semifinals: Dec. by No. 1 seed, #1 Steve Luke (MICH), 6-3 Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: vs. No. 6 seed, #18 Trevor Perry (IND) 184: No. 4 seed, #12 Jordan Blanton (Fr., 26-8) Quarterfinals: Maj. dec. Sonny Yohn (MINN), 11-3 Semifinals: Dec. by No. 1 seed, #1 Jake Herbert (NU), 6-1 Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: vs. No. 6 seed, #14 Anthony Biondo (MICH) 197: No. 5 seed Patrick Bond (Jr., 14-13) Quarterfinals: Dec. No. 4 seed Gordon Bierschenk (MINN), 5-2 Semifinals: Dec. by No. 1 seed, #3 Dallas Herbst (WIS), 3-1 Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: No. 7 seed Logan Brown (PUR) HWT: No. 4 seed, #8 John Wise (Sr., 19-7) Pigtail: Pinned Cameron Wade (PSU), 6:57 Quarterfinals: Dec. No. 5 seed Nate Everhart (IND), 4-1 Semifinals: Dec. by No. 1 seed, #7 Dan Erekson (IOWA), 6-4 Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: vs. Cameron Wade (PSU)