Surprise, Surprise: Illinois Rolls to Junior Freestyle Dual Crown

Willie Saylor, Editor

Just looking over the roster, pre-tournament, one had to peg Illinois as the frontrunner to win the USAWrestling’s Junior Freestyle Duals in Oklahoma City. But had the Land of Lincoln brought a less credentialed group, you’d be hard-pressed to bet against them regardless. Heck, the international-style powerhouse had won four of the last five duals.

And on Monday, they polished off the competition to make it five of six.

As the nation’s top seed, Illinois romped their way through Pool A, losing just eight bouts in posting a perfect 7-0 mark. Then, in the Championship Pool, they beat Wisconsin (33-25) and Minnesota (42-18), before meeting Iowa in a dual pitting last year’s team finalists.

In the IL-IA dual, a virtual All-Star affair, bout after bout featured ranked wrestlers going head-to-head.

At 119, #6-Jerad Cortez (IL) beat #10-Eric Devos in two periods. Next, #4-Eddie Klimara (IL), last year’s Fargo Champion, stormed out for a 6-0 first period win over #6-Corey Clark. But Clark, a 3x state champion who has been on fire lately, rebounded to win a thrilling final two periods, 3-1, 1-1.

However, that would be the last gasp for the Hawkeye State, as Illinois won five of the next six bouts.
Amongst the wins were high profile bouts of #8-Brian Murphy (IL) beating #4-Gabe Moreno, and #3-Edwin Cooper (IL) winning over #6-Justin Koethe.

At 171, #10-Cody Caldwell, a Wisconsin signee, stopped the bleeding for Iowa as he beat #18-Dylan Reel. But it was too little, too late for Iowa. When Illinois’ #1-Gage Harrah won at 189 over #18-Travis Mallo, the dual was sewn up.
Illinois moved on to face Oklahoma, who was a surprise finalist.

The Sooner State contingent won by just 1pt. in their Championship Pool match with California. They then trailed by16pts with just five bouts to go against New Jersey. But Oklahoma would take all five, posting a 35-30 win. In their last hurdle to get to the finals, Oklahoma won on criteria (31-31) when a Michigan wrestler was dinged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The result was a finals match-up that was in little doubt, as Illinois had beaten Oklahoma in pool competition handily, 43-19, winning 12 of 15 bouts.

In a showing of dominance, Illinois had 10 wrestlers, with at least six matches wrestled, post undefeated records. Additionally, their 215lber, #1-ranked Austin Marsden, recorded a 5-0 mark.

Next up on the big stage is none other than the Fargo Freestyle and Greco-Roman National Championships, the largest wrestling tournament in the world, in mid-July.

Following the results from the Cadet and Junior Duals, TOM’s individual rankings will be updated later this week.

Full results from TrackWrestling.com