by Larry Hawley
Daily Illini sports reporter

At the St. Louis Open on Saturday night, the Illini proved why this team is different from those in the past.

In Forest City on Saturday night, the Illini completed their most successful St. Louis Open with four wrestlers winning their respective weight classes.

"We won so many matches during the tournament. Our second stringers were beating starters on other teams, which shows how much talent this team really has," head coach Mark Johnson said.

Sophomore Ben King, ranked 16th in the country in the 174 pound weight class, won by injury default over Mark Bybee of Northwestern, the No. 2 wrestler in that class. Fellow sophomore Adam Tirapelle defeated Iowa State’s Billy Maldanado in a major decision to win the 149 pound class title and maintain his No. 3 ranking in the country at that weight.

Other Illini wrestlers also experienced success in their respective weight classes. Junior co-captain Carl Perry, who was unable to wrestle due to forfeit in Illinois’ 33-3 victory over Missouri last weekend, made the most of his chance to wrestle by placing second in the tournament at 141 pounds. Fellow captain and senior Karl Roesler also placed second in the tournament at the heavyweight division, losing because of a double disqualification in the finals. Junior Bill Zeman (165), sophomore Pat Quirk (197) and freshman Griff Powell (157) all collected third-place finishes in their respective weight classes. King feels the preparation put in by the wrestlers helped put them in a position to succeed.

"We put in extra time in training by doing extra workouts and runs, which really paid off in this tournament with all of our wins," King said

The Open, which is one of the largest open collegiate wrestling tournaments in the Midwest, saw all but three Illini wrestlers compete. Because this was an open event, true freshman wrestlers were allowed to compete without losing their redshirt status, and they did not disappoint. In the special freshman/sophomore division at the tourney, two Illini wrestlers were able to capture first place in their weight classes. True freshman Ryan Berger defeated fellow Illini wrestler Wesley Romine to win the 141 pound weight class. Adding to the win total was another true freshman, Matt Lackey, who captured the title at 157 pounds.

"Freshman and sophomores have struggled in the past at this tournament, but this year we had a good bunch of kids who had great days. It was the best freshman/sophomore performance ever (at the tournament),"Johnson said.

The Illini, who as a team are 1-0 after a win against the Missouri Tigers on Nov. 14, will not be competing during the Thanksgiving holiday. The wrestlers next hit the mats in two weeks when they travel to Las Vegas to participate in the Las Vegas Open, to be held on Dec. 4-5.