Lemoore's Martinez up for 'Heisman Trophy' of NCAA wrestling, and national title

Martinez, as of Saturday, was on the verge of winning the NCAA 157-pound wrestling championship, winning his first three matches as he heads into Saturday night’s final. He is 33-0 with 20 bonus point wins, including a NCAA Division I leading 11 technical falls.

Martinez won the 157-pound title at the Big Ten championships a week ago Sunday. Martinez, the tournament's top-seeded wrestler, finished the championships 3-0 with a 12-5 victory over No. 2 Dylan Ness of Minnesota in the final. He was also named the conference's Freshman of the Year.

h the win, Martinez earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, where he was the No. 1 overall seed at 157 pounds. If Martinez does win a national championship, he will be the third Illini wrestler behind Matt Lackey (2003) and Eric Siebert (1998) to finish an undefeated season.

In addition to defeating Ness, Martinez has defeated Nebraska All-American James Green, Rutgers' All-American Anthony Perrotti and pinned Kent State's Ian Miller. His 1-0 victory over then-No. 4 and 2014 NCAA third-place Green is the only match this season with a margin of victory less than two points. Martinez also won the Midlands championship in December where he recorded one technical fall and two major decisions.

Illinois has never had a Hodge Trophy winner.

The other three finalists are three-time NCAA champion and four-time Big Ten champion senior Logan Stieber of Ohio State (24-0, 20 bonus-point wins) at 141 pounds, Nebraska's two-time All-American senior Robert Kokesh at 174 pounds (33-0, 19 BPW) and Oklahoma State's 2014, 157 pound NCAA champion Alex Dieringer, (26-0, 23 BPW) who has moved up to 165 pounds this season.

The award is named after three-time Oklahoma national champion (1955-57) Dan Hodge, who never allowed a takedown in his college career. He also pinned 36 of his 46 opponents.

The official Hodge Trophy Voting Committee is comprised of former Hodge winners, retired college coaches from different regions of the country, representatives of national wrestling organizations and a panel of national wrestling media members. In addition, wrestling fans also cast a vote. Following, the NCAA finals on March 21 in St. Louis, Mo., a voting page will be placed on WIN's website. The composite winner of the fan vote will receive two official votes.

The winner will be announced the week following the March 19-21 national tournament.