The University of Illinois wrestling team, ranked No. 10 nationally, completed its participation in the 61st Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships in Evanston, Illinois on December 30. Two wrestlers from the Illini squad, Michael Gioffre and Chris Moore, secured second-place finishes in their respective weight classes.
Gioffre, seeded sixth at 149 pounds, reached the finals after a semifinal win against Ethen Miller of Virginia Tech. The match was tied after regulation and went into tiebreakers. Gioffre escaped in 23 seconds and maintained control for the remaining period to secure his spot in the championship bout. In the final against Collin Gaj of Virginia Tech, Gioffre lost 4-1 in sudden victory overtime.
Moore entered as the second seed at 184 pounds and advanced to the finals with a decision over Michigan’s Joseph Walker. However, Moore suffered an injury during that match and medically forfeited the final against Shane Cartegena-Walsh of Rutgers.
Dylan Connell also placed for Illinois by finishing seventh at 197 pounds following a technical fall win over PJ Casale from Rutgers. Connell rebounded after losing his opening round match and won five consecutive matches through consolation rounds before securing seventh place.
Overall, Illinois finished twelfth out of thirty teams with a total score of 45.5 points.
The next event for Illinois wrestling is scheduled for January 10 at Huff Hall where they will begin Big Ten conference duals against Minnesota.
“Michael Gioffre and Chris Moore both left Ryan Fieldhouse as silver medalist.”
“Gioffre escaped in 23 seconds then rode Miller out for the full 30 seconds to punch his ticket to the 149-pound finals.”
“However, Gioffre couldn’t get out of nearly a minute long scramble and was taken down to fall 4-1 in sudden victory for second place.”
“Moore…advanced to the finals with his 5-2 decision win over Michigan’s [19] Joseph Walker…However, he sustained an injury…and medically forfeited in the finals…”
“Connell dropped his first bout in the championship round but didn’t falter and wrestled all the way back through five rounds of consolations to get to the seventh-place match…”
Illinois had several other participants across multiple weight classes but did not advance additional wrestlers into placement positions beyond Gioffre, Moore, and Connell.