Michigan State University
Illinois
No. 12 Wrestling Falls to No. 6 Illinois, 25-6
2/6/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 6, 2000
EAST LLANSING, Mich. - The No. 12 Michigan State wrestling team lost to No. 6 Illinois, 25-6, Sunday afternoon in Champaign, Ill. The loss drops the Spartans to 7-3-1 overall, 3-2-1 in the Big Ten, while the Illini remain undefeated at 12-0, 5-0.
Illinois jumped out to a 3-0 lead after Ben King defeated 14th-ranked senior Will Hill (Indianapolis, Ind.) at 174 pounds, then increased the lead to 6-0 on the strength of No. 5 Nate Patrick's 8-4 win over junior Joe Cotant (Bloomfield, Mich.) at 184.
Senior Nick Muzashvili (Unatego, N.Y.), the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 197, pulled MSU to within 6-3 with an 8-2 win over No. 11 Pat Quirk. Muzashvili will represent Michigan State on Monday, Feb. 7 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Meet at 7:30 p.m. in Jenison Field House.
Illinois then got decisions from John Lockhart at heavyweight and Ryan Escobar at 125 to extend their lead to 12-3. MSU answered with it's final victory of the afternoon, a 4-2 win by No. 3 Pat McNamara (Jordan, Minn.) over Dave Stoltz at 133. McNamara will also participate in the NWCA All-Star Meet.
The Illini closed the dual with four straight wins, including a major decision by No. 2 Adam Tirapelle at 149, to push the final score to 25-6.
Michigan State returns home to host the NWCA All-Star Meet Monday, Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Jenison Field House. The Spartans will then wrestle four straight home dual meets, beginning with a Feb. 11 contest at 7:30 p.m. against Wisconsin at Saline High School in Saline, Mich.
Match/Score MSU UI174 - Ben King (UI) dec. No. 14 Will Hill (MSU) 2-1 (2ot) 0 3184 - No. 5 Nate Patrick (UI) dec. Joe Cotant (MSU) 8-4 0 6197 - No. Nick Muzashvili (MSU) dec. No. 11 Pat Quirk (UI) 8-2 3 6HWT - No. 5 John Lockhart (UI) dec. No. 17 Matt Lamb (UI) 4-2 3 9125 - No. 12 Ryan Escobar (UI) dec. Chris Williams (MSU) 5-2 3 12133 - No. 3 Pat McNamara (UI) dec. Dave Stoltz (UI) 4-2 6 12141 - No. 8 Carl Perry (UI) dec. Mike Castillo (MSU) 3-2 6 15149 - No. 2 Adam Tirapelle (UI) dec. Karl Nadolsky (MSU) 17-6 6 19157 - No. 12 Griff Powell (UI) dec. No. 7 Gray Maynard (MSU) 3-1 (ot) 6 22165 - No. 19 Bill Zeman (UI) dec. No. 13 Greg DeGrand (MSU) 6-5 6 25
