Illinois wrestling: Illini remain in top 10 as latest polls released

On the heels of back-to-back Big Ten losses, Illinois wrestling remained in the top 10 in the national rankings.

The Fighting Illini are ranked No. 4 in WIN Magazine's and No. 6 in InterMat's Tournament Power Index (TPI).  In dual meet rankings, the Illini fell one spot to No. 10 in InterMat and moved up one spot to No. 8 in WIN's rankings. The Illini are one of 11 Big Ten Conference teams to have a national ranking.

Illinois (8-3, 2-2 Big Ten) suffered a 25-12 loss to then-No. 2 Iowa in Iowa City this past Friday before falling 20-19 to then-No. 1 innesota in Minneapolis.

Nebraska, which Illinois will wrestle Friday at Huff Hall, is at No. 13 by NWCA, No. 11 in TPI and No. 12 in dual by InterMat and No. 12 in both polls by WIN. Illinois will wrestle Northwestern, who is also ranked (24/13/22/10/18).

Other Big Ten teams in the polls include Michigan, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Purdue and Wisconsin.

Seven Illini wrestlers made the polls.

125: Jesse Delgado, No. 1 ahead of Alan Waters of Missouri, Nahshon Garrett of Cornell, Joey Dance of Virginia Tech and Thomas Gilman of Iowa. Delgado is slated for his return against Northwestern. If he were to return against Nebraska he would wrestle Tim Lambert (No. 11 InterMat/No. 10 WIN)

133: Zane Richards, moved up one spot in the InterMat rankings to No. 4 and to No. 2 in WIN rankings after defeating Iowa's Cory Clark. Richards is not scheduled to wrestle a ranked opponent this week.

141: Steven Rodrigues, also moved up one spot to No. 12 in InterMat rankings. He is at No. 13 by WIN. Rodrigues will wrestle Anthony Abidin (No. 10 InterMat/No. 12 WIN) this weekend.

157: Isaiah Martinez, moved up one spot to No. 4 in InterMat rankings and stayed at No. 3 by WIN. Martinez was scheduled to grapple No. 1 Dylan Ness of Minnesota this past weekend, but Ness came down with the flu. The redshirt freshman did technical fall top 20-ranked wrestler Mike Kelly of Iowa last Friday. Martinez will wrestle Nebraska's James Green (No. 3 InterMat/No. 4 WIN) this Friday.

165: Jackson Morse, is ranked No. 8 by both polls for the third straight week. He wrestles Northwestern's Pierce Harger (No. 6 InterMat/No. 5 WIN) this Sunday.

174: Zac Brunson, fell three spots in both polls to No. 8 by WIN and No. 9 by InterMat, after being pinned with one second left against an unranked Alex Meyer of Iowa. Brunson will wrestle Nebraska's Robert Kokesh, who is ranked No. 1 in both polls, this Friday.

184: Nikko Reyes remained at No. 15 by WIN and No. 20 by InterMat. He will wrestle Nebraska's T.J. Dudley (No. 18 InterMat/No. 17 WIN) this Friday.

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