Moline's Musings

Kennedy in Midlands Semis

Posted by: Brian Moline

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 7:41 AM

Jimmy Kennedy continues to show why he's one of the very best wrestlers in the country, as he was the lone Illini to advance to the semifinals of the Midlands Wrestling Championships in Evanston last night.  Kennedy picked up solid wins against Larmie Shaffer (Iowa State), Jason Borshoff (American Univ.) and Montell Marion (Iowa) to advance.  He'll face another Hawkeye wrestler, fourth-seeded Daniel Dennis, in the semifinals today.  Kennedy and Dennis were high school teammates at Grant Community High School, near Chicago.

Elsewhere, it was a mixed bag for the Illini on day one of the tournament.  In addition to Kennedy, three of Illinois' five other seeded wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to higher seeded foes.  Roger Smith-Bergsrud (165 lb.), John Dergo (174) and Jordan Blanton (184) are all in the consolation round of 12 after dropping those quarterfinal decisions.

However, seeded Illini Patrick Bond (197) and John Wise (Hwt) both lost early round bouts in upsets, and had to battle their way through the consolation bracket to reach the round of 12.  Bond dropped a 3-1 second round decision to Kyle Simonson of Iowa State, before winning a pair of consolation bouts.  He has a challenging match in the round of 12, as he'll face #8 seed Jesse Strawn of Old Dominion.

Meanwhile, Wise had to win three consolation bouts to advance to the consolation round of 12, as he fell 6-5 to Rider's Ed Bordas in the first round.  Missouri's Dom Bradley is up next for the Illini heavyweight, who entered the tournament as the #4 seed.

Unseeded Eric Terrazas, wrestling at 149 pounds for Illinois this week, is also still alive in his bracket.  Terrazas dropped his first round match to Central Michigan's Steve Brown, but won three straight consolation matches to stay alive.  He'll face Northern Iowa's #8 seeded Charlie Ettelson for a spot in the top 8.

The other four Illini competing this week were eliminated yesterday.  125-pounder B.J. Futrell was eliminated last night in consolation round of 16, while Clint Arlis (157 lb.), Joe Barczak (165) and Jake Norman (197) were eliminated earlier in the day.

In the team standings, the Illini are tied for 9th place with American and Pittsburgh.  But the Illini are in good position to move up, as they still have seven wrestlers alive.  Only four teams (Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri and Central Michigan) have more wrestlers still competing.  Action resumes in Evanston at noon today.

bmoline@wdws.com

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