Illinois wrestlers Lucas Byrd and Kannon Webster earned All-America honors on March 20 during the second day of the NCAA Championships held at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. Byrd competed in the 133-pound weight class, while Webster wrestled at 157 pounds.
The recognition is significant as it highlights their achievements in one of the most competitive tournaments in college sports. Both athletes secured their spots among the nation’s top wrestlers after strong performances in their respective divisions.
Head coach Jeremy Hunter said, “I’m proud of Byrd and Webster becoming All-American’s tonight. This is one of the toughest tournaments in all of sports to get on the podium for and they both earned it. They weren’t happy with how they wrestled in the quarterfinals, but bounced back in a big way in the blood round. Kannon’s ready for a rematch in the consolation semifinals tomorrow with top seed PJ Duke and Lucas will leave it all out there in his final college match tomorrow.”
Byrd collected his fourth career All-America honor by defeating Julian Farber from Northern Iowa 5-4 after losing to Ohio State’s Ben Davino earlier that day. He later lost to Drake Ayala from Iowa and will compete for seventh place against Jacob Van Dee of Nebraska.
Webster achieved his first All-America honor by shutting out Kai Owen from Columbia 8-0, following a close loss to Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor. He then defeated Meyer Shapiro from Cornell and is set to face Penn State’s PJ Duke next.
Freshman Colin Kelly narrowly missed earning All-America status at 174 pounds after falling to MJ Gaitan of Iowa State but had earlier victories over Nick Fine (Columbia) and Alex Facundo (Oklahoma State). Illinois finished day two ranked fifteenth overall with 25 points, while Penn State led team standings with 153 points.
The Illinois team will return for the final day of competition on March 21, with session five beginning at 10 a.m. Central Time.
