Friday, December 6
Indianapolis, Ind.
5:00 PM
Indiana University
vs
#11 Illinois
No. 28 Indiana to Face No. 11 Illinois in Indianapolis
12/4/2024 7:00:00 PM | Wrestling
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––– No. 28 Indiana Wrestling will compete in the first-ever Big Ten Takedown event on Friday at the Indiana Convention Center against No. 11 Illinois in Indianapolis.
The Hoosiers and Fighting Illini will open their conference dual schedule center of Big Ten Fan Fest presented by Dr Pepper at the Indiana Convention Center in conjunction with the 2024 Discover Big Ten Football Championship Game.
BORDER BATTLE:
-No. 28 Indiana will open its Big Ten dual schedule against No. 11 Illinois for its biggest matchup of the season to this point and the first ever Big Ten Takedown event.
-The dual will take place in a first-of-its-kind setting at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. The event is in conjunction with the Big Ten Championship football game on Saturday featuring Oregon and Penn State.
-This will also be first Big Ten dual of the season for any teams in the conference.
-The two teams are both undefeated as Indiana sports a 4-0 dual record while Illinois is 5-0.
-This will be Indiana's first ranked test while Illinois sports wins over No. 21 Arizona State, No. 6 Missouri and No. 23 North Carolina.
-There are a multitude of ranked wrestlers across both lineups with Indiana having eight ranked and Illinois with 10.
-Illinois' top wrestlers include No. 2 Lucas Byrd (133) who is back after redshirting in 2023-24 and No. 12 Edmond Ruth (184) who was the 2024 Big Ten Champion at 174 lbs. last season.
-The match will mark the first time that Indiana has wrestled in the state's capital since 2010.
CLEVELAND STATE TRIP:
-Following The Big Ten Takedown, Indiana will have six wrestlers compete in the Cleveland State Open on Saturday, Dec. 7.
-The Hoosiers are only sending freshmen to compete in the tournament, including: Chris Crawford, Chase Leech, Joey Buttler, Lucas Peters, Matt Hart and Caleb Marzolino.
-For Leech, Peters, Hart and Marzolino, this will be their first collegiate competition.
NAVY CLASSIC NEWS:
-Indiana had a successful outing in the Navy Classic on Saturday, Nov. 23 at the U.S. Naval Academy.
-Indiana had 15 wrestlers compete and 10 of them finished on the podium.
-No. 26 Angelo Rini (133) and No. 25 Jacob Bullock (285) each won their respective weight class' bracket.
-Rini defeated No. 14 Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) by decision, 3-2, to clinch his title in the final match.
-Bullock defeated Nebraska's Harley Andrews in a dominant 9-2 decision in the final match to win the 285 lbs. bracket.
-No. 23 Jacob Moran (125) finished in third place with his only loss being a 2-1 decision to No. 3 Caleb Smith of Nebraska.
-The Hoosiers took fourth place in the team standings with 94.0 total points, finishing only behind Nebraska, Oregon State and Navy.
CLOSE WIN OVER COLUMBIA:
-On Nov. 21, Indiana won 23-21 in a rollercoaster of a road dual at Columbia.
-The Hoosiers opened the match wins at 125 and 133 lbs. before Columbia won five straight to lead 21-8.
-From there, Indiana's lineup combination of DJ Washington (184), Gabe Sollars (197) and Jacob Bullock (285) each earned bonus points to lift Indiana 23-21.
-Washington won by tech fall, Sollars by pin and Bullock defeated his opponent by major decision to clinch the match.
HIGH-LEVEL RECRUITING:
-Indiana brought in eight freshmen this fall to bolster the team's roster.
-The freshmen include Chris Crawford, Ryan Garvick, Sam Goin, Matt Hart, Chase Leech, Caleb Marzolino, Nick Pavlechkko and Lucas Peters.
-InterMat ranked it the 14th best recruiting class in the 2024 cycle.
-Seven of Indiana's eight freshmen were ranked in the MatScouts' Senior Big Board which charts the top 250 recruits in the country.
-The class includes two in-state Hoosiers in Goin and Leech as well as wrestlers from five other states (Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, New York and Wisconsin).
TRANSFER TUNE-UP:
-As part of Indiana's ten new wrestlers, two of them are transfers.
-The transfers include Angelo Rini from Columbia and Logan Frazier from Virginia Tech. Both wrestlers will compete this year at 133 lbs.
-Rini arrives in Bloomington after spending five years at Columbia. He follows suit from Dan Fongaro who did the same thing last year after doing five years at Columbia before spending a sixth season at IU.
-A Kirtland, Ohio native, Rini was an NCAA Qualifier in 2023 after finishing third at the EIWA Championships. He went 1-2 at NCAAs.
-His 2023-24 campaign ended early due to a season-ending injury after starting 8-2.
-He had wins over No. 14 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State), No. 7 Chris Cannon (Michigan) and No. 17 Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) and was ranked as high as No. 11 prior to injury.
-Frazier went 10-7 in his redshirt season at Virginia Tech with one win by tech fall and three pins.
-The transfer to IU brings Frazier back to his home state as he is a Crown Point, Ind. native.
ATTENDANCE GROWTH:
-Since Angel Escobedo took over, Indiana has seen tremendous growth in its attendance at home duals.
-Last season, averaged 2,111 fans per dual which ranked No. 16 by the National Wrestling Media Association.
PROMOTED:
-C.J. Red was promoted to a full-time assistant coach role in the offseason after serving as a volunteer assistant coach the previous two seasons.
-Red was a three-time All-American and five-time NCAA Qualifier at Nebraska.
-He also was a four-time, undefeated state champion at New Palestine High School.
OFFSEASON WORK:
-The Indiana Wrestling team had a number of wrestlers compete in offseason competition to get better and chase international goals.
-Twelve student-athletes competed in the U20 World Team Trials and U23 National Tournament last June at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
-There were Hoosier wrestlers competing in both Greco-Roman and Freestyle competition with six finishing on the podium across bothstyles.
-Derek Gilcher (74 kg), Tyler Lillard (79 kg), Nick South (79 kg), DJ Washington (86kg) and Jacob Bullock (125 kg) all were All-Americans in Freestyle while Blaine Frazier (61 kg) was one in Greco-Roman.
-Gilcher, South and Bullock each finished in fifth place.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISPERSION:
-Indiana's roster features wrestlers everywhere across the country.
-Twelve wrestlers on the team are home grown, in-state Hoosiers. Three of them went to high school together at Crown Point and all graduated in 2023 (Bahl, L. Frazier, Goin).
-Of the 29 wrestlers on the team, there are 12 different states represented.
-The states represented on Indiana's roster include Indiana, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.
The Hoosiers and Fighting Illini will open their conference dual schedule center of Big Ten Fan Fest presented by Dr Pepper at the Indiana Convention Center in conjunction with the 2024 Discover Big Ten Football Championship Game.
BORDER BATTLE:
-No. 28 Indiana will open its Big Ten dual schedule against No. 11 Illinois for its biggest matchup of the season to this point and the first ever Big Ten Takedown event.
-The dual will take place in a first-of-its-kind setting at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. The event is in conjunction with the Big Ten Championship football game on Saturday featuring Oregon and Penn State.
-This will also be first Big Ten dual of the season for any teams in the conference.
-The two teams are both undefeated as Indiana sports a 4-0 dual record while Illinois is 5-0.
-This will be Indiana's first ranked test while Illinois sports wins over No. 21 Arizona State, No. 6 Missouri and No. 23 North Carolina.
-There are a multitude of ranked wrestlers across both lineups with Indiana having eight ranked and Illinois with 10.
-Illinois' top wrestlers include No. 2 Lucas Byrd (133) who is back after redshirting in 2023-24 and No. 12 Edmond Ruth (184) who was the 2024 Big Ten Champion at 174 lbs. last season.
-The match will mark the first time that Indiana has wrestled in the state's capital since 2010.
CLEVELAND STATE TRIP:
-Following The Big Ten Takedown, Indiana will have six wrestlers compete in the Cleveland State Open on Saturday, Dec. 7.
-The Hoosiers are only sending freshmen to compete in the tournament, including: Chris Crawford, Chase Leech, Joey Buttler, Lucas Peters, Matt Hart and Caleb Marzolino.
-For Leech, Peters, Hart and Marzolino, this will be their first collegiate competition.
NAVY CLASSIC NEWS:
-Indiana had a successful outing in the Navy Classic on Saturday, Nov. 23 at the U.S. Naval Academy.
-Indiana had 15 wrestlers compete and 10 of them finished on the podium.
-No. 26 Angelo Rini (133) and No. 25 Jacob Bullock (285) each won their respective weight class' bracket.
-Rini defeated No. 14 Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) by decision, 3-2, to clinch his title in the final match.
-Bullock defeated Nebraska's Harley Andrews in a dominant 9-2 decision in the final match to win the 285 lbs. bracket.
-No. 23 Jacob Moran (125) finished in third place with his only loss being a 2-1 decision to No. 3 Caleb Smith of Nebraska.
-The Hoosiers took fourth place in the team standings with 94.0 total points, finishing only behind Nebraska, Oregon State and Navy.
CLOSE WIN OVER COLUMBIA:
-On Nov. 21, Indiana won 23-21 in a rollercoaster of a road dual at Columbia.
-The Hoosiers opened the match wins at 125 and 133 lbs. before Columbia won five straight to lead 21-8.
-From there, Indiana's lineup combination of DJ Washington (184), Gabe Sollars (197) and Jacob Bullock (285) each earned bonus points to lift Indiana 23-21.
-Washington won by tech fall, Sollars by pin and Bullock defeated his opponent by major decision to clinch the match.
HIGH-LEVEL RECRUITING:
-Indiana brought in eight freshmen this fall to bolster the team's roster.
-The freshmen include Chris Crawford, Ryan Garvick, Sam Goin, Matt Hart, Chase Leech, Caleb Marzolino, Nick Pavlechkko and Lucas Peters.
-InterMat ranked it the 14th best recruiting class in the 2024 cycle.
-Seven of Indiana's eight freshmen were ranked in the MatScouts' Senior Big Board which charts the top 250 recruits in the country.
-The class includes two in-state Hoosiers in Goin and Leech as well as wrestlers from five other states (Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, New York and Wisconsin).
TRANSFER TUNE-UP:
-As part of Indiana's ten new wrestlers, two of them are transfers.
-The transfers include Angelo Rini from Columbia and Logan Frazier from Virginia Tech. Both wrestlers will compete this year at 133 lbs.
-Rini arrives in Bloomington after spending five years at Columbia. He follows suit from Dan Fongaro who did the same thing last year after doing five years at Columbia before spending a sixth season at IU.
-A Kirtland, Ohio native, Rini was an NCAA Qualifier in 2023 after finishing third at the EIWA Championships. He went 1-2 at NCAAs.
-His 2023-24 campaign ended early due to a season-ending injury after starting 8-2.
-He had wins over No. 14 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State), No. 7 Chris Cannon (Michigan) and No. 17 Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) and was ranked as high as No. 11 prior to injury.
-Frazier went 10-7 in his redshirt season at Virginia Tech with one win by tech fall and three pins.
-The transfer to IU brings Frazier back to his home state as he is a Crown Point, Ind. native.
ATTENDANCE GROWTH:
-Since Angel Escobedo took over, Indiana has seen tremendous growth in its attendance at home duals.
-Last season, averaged 2,111 fans per dual which ranked No. 16 by the National Wrestling Media Association.
PROMOTED:
-C.J. Red was promoted to a full-time assistant coach role in the offseason after serving as a volunteer assistant coach the previous two seasons.
-Red was a three-time All-American and five-time NCAA Qualifier at Nebraska.
-He also was a four-time, undefeated state champion at New Palestine High School.
OFFSEASON WORK:
-The Indiana Wrestling team had a number of wrestlers compete in offseason competition to get better and chase international goals.
-Twelve student-athletes competed in the U20 World Team Trials and U23 National Tournament last June at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
-There were Hoosier wrestlers competing in both Greco-Roman and Freestyle competition with six finishing on the podium across bothstyles.
-Derek Gilcher (74 kg), Tyler Lillard (79 kg), Nick South (79 kg), DJ Washington (86kg) and Jacob Bullock (125 kg) all were All-Americans in Freestyle while Blaine Frazier (61 kg) was one in Greco-Roman.
-Gilcher, South and Bullock each finished in fifth place.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISPERSION:
-Indiana's roster features wrestlers everywhere across the country.
-Twelve wrestlers on the team are home grown, in-state Hoosiers. Three of them went to high school together at Crown Point and all graduated in 2023 (Bahl, L. Frazier, Goin).
-Of the 29 wrestlers on the team, there are 12 different states represented.
-The states represented on Indiana's roster include Indiana, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.
Players Mentioned
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
IUVB vs. Michigan: Highlights
Saturday, October 11
FB: Under the Hood with Indiana Football - Week 7 (at Oregon)
Thursday, October 09
IUWBB at 2025 Big Ten Media Day
Wednesday, October 08
FB: Aiden Fisher Media Availability (10/7/25)
Tuesday, October 07