Chambana Sun

The Illinois wrestling team is set to conclude its regular season with two away duals against Purdue and Northwestern. The match against Purdue is scheduled for Friday, February 16 at 6 p.m. CT in Holloway Gymnasium, West Lafayette, Indiana. The dual against Northwestern will take place on Sunday, February 18 at 2 p.m. CT in Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois. Originally planned for January 20 in Huff Hall, the Northwestern match was postponed due to a medical issue within the Northwestern team.

In recent competitions, three Illinois wrestlers remained undefeated over the past weekend's matches against Minnesota and Nebraska. Redshirt junior Edmond Ruth secured victories over Andrew Sparks from Minnesota and Max Maylor from Wisconsin. Graduate student Tony Madrigal also claimed wins against Tyler Wells of Minnesota and Nicolar Rivera of Wisconsin. Additionally, redshirt sophomore Danny Pucino achieved success with an upset over Vance VomBaur from Minnesota and a technical fall win over Felix Lettini from Wisconsin.

Illinois will face a Purdue team that holds a 6-9 overall record and is 1-6 in Big Ten duals. Historically, Illinois leads the series against Purdue with a record of 59-30-2 since their first encounter in 1916. Their last meeting resulted in a win for Illinois on January 14, 2023.

Northwestern enters the upcoming dual with an overall record of 0-7 and a Big Ten record of 0-6. Illinois has historically led their series as well, holding a record of 49-35-2 since they first competed in 1922. In their most recent meeting on January 20, 2023, Northwestern narrowly defeated Illinois in tiebreakers.

Head coach Mike Poeta is currently leading his third season with an overall coaching record of 12-23 and a Big Ten record of 5-17. This season, Illinois has recorded an overall performance of 3-9 and remains winless in conference duals.

Among individual performers this season:

Edmond Ruth boasts a season record of 16-2 at the weight class of No.8 (174 lbs.), leading the team in dual points and major decisions while maintaining a four-match winning streak without conceding any bonus points during losses.

Danny Pucino stands at No.25 (141 lbs.) with an overall season scorecard showing him second on the team for dual points accumulated.

Tony Madrigal maintains a position as No.24 (133 lbs.) this year while sharing a similar ongoing four-match winning streak alongside his teammates.

Joe Roberts rounds out notable contributions by having participated actively through overtime across several matches this year while securing fourth place concerning individual point scores during duals thus far this season.