Jan. 31, 2003

The 10th-ranked University of Illinois wrestling team won six of 10 matches to defeat the No. 19 Purdue Boilermakers, 20-15, Friday night in West Lafayette, Ind. Illinois senior Matt Lackey remains unbeaten with his win over No. 6 Oscar Santiago.

For the third straight dual, Illinois (7-3) started at the 133-pound weight class and jumped on the board with four points following a 15-4 major decision by No. 11 Mark Jayne (So., Elyria, Ohio) over Rene Hernandez. Jayne got his first takedown at the 1:55 mark of the first period and never looked back as he scored on five takedowns during the match. He took a 9-3 lead into the third period and added three near fall points at 1:24 to improve to 12-3 and a final takedown at 19 seconds capped the scoring.

No. 17 Cal Ferry (Fr., Machesney, Ill.) shut out Doug Withstandley, 4-0, to improve Illinois' team lead to 7-0. Ferry scored the match's first takedown with only one second remaining in the first period. After choosing down to start the second, Withstandley rode Ferry for 54 seconds before being reversed for what would be the end of the scoring at 141 pounds. At 149 pounds, freshman Tony Pedrosa (Oregon, Ill.) led No. 19 Dan Jankowski 5-2 heading into the third, but gave up two takedowns in the final minute, which gave Purdue a 7-6 lead. Pedrosa was able to escape in the final second of the match to send the bout to sudden victory overtime, but Jankowski quickly took Pedrosa down for the 9-7 decision, cutting the Boiler deficit to 7-3.

Seventh-ranked Alex Tirapelle (Fr., Clovis, Calif.) won his 24th match of the season in an 8-2 decision over Brad Harper at 157 pounds. After no scoring in the first period, Tirapelle rode Harper for 1:18 before a Purdue escape, but followed up with a takedown in the final 10 seconds for a 2-1 lead. Tirapelle escaped eight seconds into the third and scored two takedowns in the third, including one at the :08 mark of the match.

Senior, No. 1-ranked, Lackey (Moline, Ill.) posted his third straight major decision as he dominated No. 6 Santiago, 12-4, to increase his winning streak to 25 matches. Lackey didn't allow an offensive point in his five-takedown performance. He scored two in the first, including one in the final second of the period, added another two in the second for a 8-3 lead heading into the third. Lackey chose down and escaped at the 1:56 mark and scored the final takedown with 25 seconds to go in the match. Illinois suffered its second loss of the night at 174 pounds as Purdue's sixth-ranked Ryan Lange upset No. 5 Brian Glynn (So., Orland Park, Ill.) in a 5-3 decision. All the scoring came in the second period as Lange got two takedowns, at the 1:46 and 0:44 marks.

Freshman Pete Friedl (Orland Park, Ill.) gave up only one takedown an accumulated over two minutes riding time in his 8-4 decision over Ben Wissel. Friedl scored at 1:54 in the first and then again at 1:06 in the second, riding Wissel out the rest of the period. He tacked on another 58 seconds of riding time before cutting Wissel loose and immediately taking him down again. Wissel scored a takedown in the third, but Friedl was able to reverse him for a 10-5 decision.

At 197, Tyrone Byrd (So., Clinton, Ill.) rode out Bryan Kapp in both the second and third periods to rack up four minutes of riding time, during which time he turned Kapp twice for six near fall points after a scoreless first period. Illinois led the match 20-6. Chris Little (Fr., Mahomet, Ill.) gave up a takedown to Isreal Blevins with 20 seconds remaining in the match to lose a 3-1 decision at heavyweight. The Boilermakers earned six points for a Chris Fleeger win at 125 pounds as he won by forfeit, due to injuries to both freshman Kyle Ott and senior Twan Pham of Illinois.

Illinois will be back in action on Friday, Feb. 7 at Huff Hall against Northwestern in a 7 p.m. matchup, the match was previously scheduled for this Sunday.

#10 Illinois (7-3, 2-2*) def. #19 Purdue (11-3, 0-2)         Team

133: #11 Mark Jayne (ILL) major dec. Rene Hernandez (PU), 15-4       4-0
141: #17 Cal Ferry (ILL) dec. Doug Withstandley (PU), 4-0            7-0
149: #19 Dan Jankowski (PU) dec. Tony Pedrosa (ILL), 9-7 SV          7-3
157: #7 Alex Tirapelle (ILL) dec. Brad Harper (PU), 8-2             10-3
165: #1 Matt Lackey (ILL) major dec. #6 Oscar Santiago (PU), 12-4   14-3
174: #6 Ryan Lange (PU) dec. #5 Brian Glynn (ILL), 5-3              14-6
184: Pete Friedl (ILL) dec. Ben Wissel (PU), 10-5                   17-6
197: #15 Tyrone Byrd (ILL) dec. Bryan Kapp (PU), 7-0                20-6
HWT: #14 Isreal Blevins (PU) dec. Chris Little (ILL), 3-1           20-9
125: #1 Chris Fleeger (PU) won by forfeit                          20-15
* - win over Penn State came at Virginia Duals