Illinois wrestling places 15th at NCAA Championship

Illinois placed 15th at this weekend’s NCAA Wrestling Championships with two Fighting Illini earning All-American honors. Kannon Webster placed fifth at 157lb and former NCAA champ Lucas Byrd finished eighth at 133lb. Byrd wrapped up his illustrious Illini career by adding “four time All-American” to his resume, and his 2025 national title run is easily the highest point for Fighting Illini wrestling since Isaiah Martinez graduated in 2018.

Illinois has now produced an All-American for three consecutive seasons and produced multiple AA winners for the first time since 2021. Despite this, they fell short of last year’s 10th-place effort at NCAA’s, which was bolstered by Byrd’s title run. Of the eight men Illinois sent to nationals, four, including Byrd and Webster but also Chris Moore at 184 and Spencer Moore at 125, won their opening round matches.

Only Byrd and Webster advanced further. Michael Gioffre (149) and Colin Kelly (174) were able to win multiple matches in the blood rounds after their championship bracket losses, but did not make it far enough to place. Illinois will turn over at least six of its starting ten wrestlers, including Byrd, S.

Moore, Gioffre and NCAA qualifier Luke Luffman (285). Webster, Braeden Scoles (165), Kelly and C. Moore will give the Illini some experience at the middle to upper weights next year, but expect to see a mostly new crop of wrestlers when the 2026-27 season kicks off.