Illinois wrestlers Lucas Byrd and Kannon Webster were named All-Americans on March 20 during the second day of the NCAA Championships in Cleveland. Both athletes secured their honors after strong performances in their respective weight classes.
The recognition is significant as it highlights the achievements of Illinois wrestlers at one of the most competitive tournaments in college sports. The event, held at Rocket Arena, brings together top collegiate wrestlers from across the country.
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, competing at 133 pounds as a seventh seed, achieved his fourth career All-America honor after defeating Julian Farber from Northern Iowa 5-4 in the blood round. Earlier, he lost to Ohio State’s Ben Davino and later fell to Iowa’s Drake Ayala but will compete for seventh place against Jacob Van Dee of Nebraska.
Webster, also seeded seventh at 157 pounds, earned his first All-America distinction by shutting out Columbia’s Kai Owen 8-0 before defeating Meyer Shapiro from Cornell 8-1 in the consolation quarterfinals. He narrowly lost to Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor earlier but is set to face Penn State’s PJ Duke next.
Freshman Colin Kelly missed out on All-America status at 174 pounds after losing to MJ Gaitan of Iowa State but recorded wins over Nick Fine (Columbia) and Alex Facundo (Oklahoma State) earlier that day.
Illinois currently stands fifteenth overall with 25 points heading into the final day of competition. The team will return for session five and finals on March 21.