The Illinois wrestling team takes five qualifiers to the NCAA meet, which opens today at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena. Staff writer Bob Asmussen caught up with the five Illini this week:
Isaiah Martinez
Weight: 165
Record: 14-0
Class: Redshirt senior
Hometown: Lemoore, Calif.
What would winning another national title mean to you? "It's everything. It's my hard work. It's the payoff for my sacrifice. To see everything I've done the past 18 years come to fruition. That's how important it is to me."
When did you first know you loved wrestling?