For Illinois Prep Wrestling Stars, There Is No Place Like Home

Andrew Tanker/Northwestern Sports Information

EVANSTON, Ill.– From Oklahoma to Minnesota to North Carolina, Illinois natives are dominating the college-wrestling scene.

With more than 200 wrestlers from the state of Illinois now populating the country’s wrestling teams, Illinois has become a state to reckon with as far as high school wrestling goes. A total of 30 wrestlers from University of Illinois’ roster are homegrown, while at Northwestern, 12 student-athletes decided to stay in state for college.

Among those wrestlers are former state champions, NCAA All-Americans and 2008 NCAA Championship contenders.

At Illinois, there are none better than Mike Poeta and Jimmy Kennedy.

Poeta brought home two state championships in high school and did not slow down once he became an Illini wrestler. As a redshirt freshman, he won the Missouri Open and finished the year 9-1 in open competition. From there, he qualified for the NCAA Championships, finished 7-1 in the Big Ten and placed second at the Midlands. His sophomore season, Poeta wrestled to an 18-0 start to the season, holding the No. 1 spot in the nation for nine-straight weeks before sustaining his first loss of the season to C.P. Schlatter (Minnesota) in the semifinals at Big Tens. A title at the 44th annual Midlands Championships also highlighted his season. This season, Poeta has gotten off to an unbeaten start in the first month of the season and holds the No. 1 ranking yet again. On Dec. 5, he was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week.