Feature Stories

By Mike Garofola for the IWCOA

The Rex Lewis Invite trophy will return home to Schaumburg after Mike Levanti’s men held off the field Saturday afternoon in Buffalo Grove.

The Saxons claimed just two individual champions on the day, but another seven top-four medal winners were enough for the Saxons to earn an overall edge in points to hold off runner-up Glenbrook South, 192.5-185.5.

Morris was third with 167, Lake Park next with 145, followed by St. Patrick which collected 137.5 points.

“It truly was a team effort today,” said Levanti, whose club won it all here in 2023.

“Brady (Phelps) at (120) and Callen Kirchner (150) gave us great efforts at their weights and across the weight classes we had guys who helped us earn points throughout the day.

“We are still a very young team, and you saw some of those guys exposed in spots, but that can be addressed and hopefully corrected.”

The Saxons held a 10-point advantage (166-156) just ahead of the final round over Glenbrook South, which earlier in the day was chasing a 17-point deficit before the Titans put on a late charge to run away from Morris for the second place trophy.

The first ever Rex Lewis Invite was held on December 11, 1976, which was also the first dual-meet tournament in Illinois. Dennis Riccio, the first head coach at Buffalo Grove, invited Bloom Township, RIchards, and East Leyden to the inaugural event.

Rex Lewis, his wife Dodie and their eight children lived in Buffalo Grove, his two sons Keith and Kirt wrestled at Wheeling, where Keith was a teammate of the classy long-time head coach at Buffalo Grove, Bob Tipsword. When Buffalo Grove opened in 1973, Rex Lewis became the president of the Booster Club and the voice of Bison wrestling for the next 20-plus years.

In 1991, the format of this tournament would change to the current individual format.

Let’s take a look at each championship match from Saturday’s tournament:

106- Jack Koenig (St. Patrick)

St. Patrick sophomore Jack Koenig continued his early season success when he edged defending Rex Lewis champion Owen Sater (Morris) in a hard fought 6-5 decision to open the final round here on Saturday.

Sater earned a place in the 2024 state tournament with an amazing 41-3 record. 

Koenig (15-2) would deal No. 2 seed Austin Phelps (Schaumburg, 15-1) his first loss of the season in his semifinal, then do the same in his final with Sater (11-1) who entered the weekend as the No. 3-ranked man in 2A.

“I just kept fighting my way back into the match until I was able to get that takedown with just a few seconds left,” said Koenig, No. 6 in state polls.

Sater went out to a 3-0 advantage early in the second period, and it became 4-0 on an escape to start the third period. A takedown made it 4-3, but after Sater added another escape, up popped Koenig with his match-winning takedown with 11 seconds remaining.

Koenig won his first major of the season at Rockford East.

113- Bryce Mensik (Lake Park)

Bryce Mensik kept his early season record spotless after the Lake Park senior recorded a pin at 6:35 to defeat Morris sophomore Paxton Valentine.

Both contestants in this final advanced with ease before the two found themselves level at 4-4 after six minutes, until Mensik, 31-11 a year ago, finished things off with a pin in overtime to win his first Lewis title, after his second-place finish in 2023.

“After losing in the blood round last year at sectionals, I’ve got to put everything into getting downstate this year,” said Mensik, who has plans to be a physical therapist after college.

120- Brady Phelps (Schaumburg)

Three-time state medal winner and the No. 2-ranked man in the state at 120, Schaumburg’s Brady Phelps got a first hand look at future star in Sasha Havrylkiv, and the Schaumburg senior came away impressed following his third-period pin for the win.

Phelps earned the tournament’s outstanding wrestler award after the win.

After a wild first period that had Phelps leading 8-4, the Saxons star increased his advantage to 14-4 after two periods despite a handful of dangerous situations in which Havrylkiv (11-1) came  close to taking a bite out of Phelps’ lead.

“When he gets more match time, he’s going to be a place-winner at state,” Phelps said of Havrylkiv. Phelps tweaked his knee in the third period after the Buffalo Grove freshman registered a takedown to make it 15-7. Phelps then stuck Havrylkiv at the 5:40 mark.

But the freshman earned the respect of Phelps and his coach.

“(Havrylkiv) is good in all positions and you saw just how explosive he can be,” added Saxons head coach Mike Levanti. Havrylkiv came to Buffalo Grove as an under-15 national champion in Ukraine.

126- Brock Claypool (Morris)

Morris sophomore Brock Claypool gave his club its first title of the day and won his second straight Lewis title after his dominating all-day performance, which ended with a 21-5 technical fall victory over Schaumburg senior Adrian Quevedo at 5:03.

“I spent a lot of time training at Izzy Style, doing Freestyle and Greco, and just working out two to three times a day to prepare for this season,” said Claypool, now 12-1 on the season.

Claypool, who entered the weekend as the No. 7-rated 126-pounder in 2A, enjoyed a marvelous rookie season that ended abruptly at sectionals.

“I was able to come back from my first round loss, but it wasn’t enough, so it’s all about getting downstate and on the podium,” said Claypool, 35-4 a year ago.

132- Sergio Hernandez (Lake Park)

Lake Park’s Sergio Hernandez was all smiles just ahead of climbing atop the podium at Buffalo Grove. And why not.

The Lake Park senior would claim the first major title of his career after mashing the competition in all three of his matches, including an impressive effort over Aiden Quevedo (15-2) a sophomore from Schaumburg.

“I was fifth here last year, so this was a big jump up for me,” said Hernandez, now 11-2 overall following his 20-2 tech-fall win on the title mat, which came just seconds before the clock went to zero.

“I did a lot of Freestyle and Greco during the offseason, competed in a few tournaments, and just worked hard so I can make my senior season my best of all,” added Hernandez, who is likely to attend UW-Whitewater in the fall where he will major in business management.

138- Patrick Hulne (St. Patrick)

St. Patrick sophomore Patrick Hulne roared through his first two contests on Saturday to set up his final with top seed Nicholas Merola (8-2) of Lake Park. Once there, Hulne finished on a high note with a pin at 5:00 to win his first major of the season.

“I wanted to open strong, and not let up until the very end,” said Hulne, now 15-3.

Hulne was one of eight Shamrocks to advance to sectionals last February. But the then-rookie fell short in his bid to join teammates Danny Goodwin, Olin Walker, Nikolas Karamaniolas and Van Gasser in Champaign.

“I want to make it downstate this year,” Hulne said. “I feel like playing football and rugby has helped me be stronger, so I spent a lot of time improving my hand fighting, and shot-taking during the offseason.”

144- Carter Skoff (Morris)

No. 10-ranked Carter Skoff is now a two-time Rex Lewis champion after his thrilling 5-4 decision over No. 3 seed Jacob Van Allen (11-1) from Argo.

The Morris junior chased the Argonauts senior all throughout the contest until taking a bite out of a 4-0 deficit with a reversal to start the third period.

“(Van Allen) was a tough opponent so it was important not to panic and to stay composed,” admitted Skoff, who used a three-point takedown with 21 seconds from time to seal the championship.

Skoff (10-1), a sectional qualifier a year ago with a 35-8 overall record, says he was diligent in his offseason training, working on all facets of his game – in particular work on the bottom to help improve his chances of earning a trip to Champaign.

150- Callen Kirchner (Schaumburg)

A key figure in back-to-back regional team championships, a two-time state qualifier, and currently ranked 7th in Illinois – Schaumburg’s Callen Kirchner was in total command en route to his title at 150.

“In the past I paid far too much attention to state rankings – where I was ranked and an opponent’s ranking as well – and that’s something that’s not of any interest to me this year,” began Kirchner, now 16-0 on the season following his pin at 1:11 over Oliver Quiros (12-3) of Niles North.

“It really is all about staying focused, taking it one match at a time in order to get myself back downstate and making a run at a state title,” Kirchner said.

The affable senior possesses a rare advantage in that he stands 6-foot–3, making it possible for him to wrap up his opponents like an octopus putting the final touches on his next meal.

Kirchner was 30-10 at 113 pounds when he qualified to state as a freshman, then went 34-7 in 2023 before going 35-10 last season at 144 pounds, when he earned a second spot in the final 16-man bracket.

157- Dominic Marino (Glenbrook South)

The third time proved to be the charm for Glenbrook South junior Dominic Marino, who erased a pair of early season losses to league rival Ilan Ruderman (13-3) of Glenbrook North to capture the Lewis title at 157.

“I didn’t want to go 0-3 against (Ruderman) so I was talking to my dad beforehand, and asked him what I should do in my final. He said to just go out there and wrestle my match,” Marino said with a smile.

Marino, the No. 3 seed at 157, impressed on his way to the final after opening with a tech-fall victory, followed by consecutive pins, including his pin of second-seeded Logan Wisner (Woodstock) in the semifinals.

“I was too lazy last year, and my fitness wasn’t anywhere near the way it should be in order to compete on the varsity,” Marino said. “So I made a commitment to get better with that part of my game and more.”

165- Henry Downing (Glenbrook South)

Henry Downing followed his GBS teammate onto the top of the podium after his hard-fought 9-7 decision over Buffalo Grove senior and top-seeded Chris Chi (7-2) who was looking to claim his second Rex Lewis title in a row.

“(Chi) was a strong upper-body guy, so I knew it would be a match where I had to fight hard, and get to my shots if I wanted to win,” opined Downing, who in a star-studded 157-pound sectional at Barrington last February was a blood-round victim despite his 34-win season.

“It was a lot of Freestyle and Greco for me during the offseason, and even though I was unable to qualify for Fargo, I felt like there was a lot of improvement in my overall game,” said Downing, now 11-1 overall.

175- Ilia Dvoriannikov (Vernon Hills)

In one of the most highly anticipated finals of the day, two of the very best in the state at 165 pounds met on mat number three to decide the 175-pound championship.

In a tepid but hard-fought six-minute affair, 2A state runner-up Ilia Dvoriannikov from Vernon Hills outlasted No. 3 Van Grasser (11-5) of St. Patrick with a 2-1 decision to nab his second straight Rex Lewis title.

“I was way too defensive in that match,” admitted Dvoriannikov, who lost to four-year standout Nick Mueller of Dunlap by 4-2 decision in their 165-pound state title match a year ago. Mueller’s win also gave Dunlap it’s first-ever state title in wrestling.

The junior Dvoriannikov, ranked No. 2 in Illinois, has enjoyed plenty of success away from the prep scene, and he was level with Grasser after a scoreless chess-like first period.

A late reversal in the second period by Dvoriannikov, and an escape from Grasser mid-way through the third period was all the fans would see, with strong defensive work down the stretch from Dvoriannikov helping him earn his title.

190- Isiah Escobar (Romeoville)

There was no stopping Romeoville senior Isiah Escobar, who pinned his way to the 190-pound title after winning by fall against top seed Adnan Shkeir (10-1) from Maine East.

“This was my first tournament championship of my high school career, and it feels really good right now,” said Escobar.

Escobar was a blood-round victim last year at the Joliet Central regional, sending him home with a 18-10 season record and a desire for bigger and better things in his final year of high school.

“Not qualifying for sectionals did not feel real good, so I put a lot of time in during the offseason. I wanted improve all parts of my game, especially my under-hooks, set-ups and throws, and so far I’m feeling really good about the way things are going.”

215- Samel Morrero (Chicago Horizon/Southwest)

Chicago Horizon/Southwest big man Samel Moreno can rightly say he’s a tournament champion after his terrific performance throughout the day in Buffalo Grove.

Seeded sixth 215, the junior majored the No. 3 seed Salvador Espinoza (St. Patrick) before recording a pin at 2:36 over No. 2 seed Sain Uranbold (Glenbrook South) to send him into his final with No. 1 seed Malachi Congo (9-4) of Morris.

“There is so much to learn right now, but I’m very happy about this championship,” said Marrero, who went 29-3 last season and honed his skills at Frosh-Soph state.

Marrero conceded a reversal to Congo late in the second period to level things at 2-2.

Starting in the neutral position to begin the third period, Marrero would take the lead for good with a takedown at five minutes, then later add to his lead en route to a hard fought 8-4 victory.

285- Jamir Thomas (Romeoville)

Romeoville senior Jamir Thomas got off to flying start in his 285-pound final, and would not slow down en route to his dominating tech-fall effort to capture the first title of his prep career.

Thomas stunned top seed, and No. 9-ranked Mikey Milovich (11-3) of Elk Grove with an all-out attack from the opening whistle. Thomas built an insurmountable 15-2 advantage after one period before turning the Grens senior to his back to end to the contest at 2:35 with a 17-2 lead.

“I knew coming in he was way taller and bigger than me, and he was ranked in the top ten in the state,” began Thomas, now 13-1.

“The plan was to go hard from the very start, get an early lead, and just keep attacking and never letting him get in on me,” added Thomas, who during the offseason spent time training at the Fox Valley Wrestling Club.

Thomas, like his teammate Isiah Escobar, suffered a heart-breaking blood-round defeat at regionals to end his 2023-2024 season with a very respectable 24-8 overall record.

Team scores:
Schaumburg 192.5, Glenbrook South 185.5, Morris 167, Lake Park 145, St. Patrick 137.5, Buffalo Grove 117.5, Romeoville 111.5, Vernon Hills 83.5, Glenbrook North 69.5, Maine East 68.5, Palatine 62.5, Argo 57, Niles North 55, Woodstock 47.5, Elk Grove 43.5, Horizon/Southwest Chicago 29

Rex Lewis results:

106

1st: Jack Koenig (St. Patrick) 15-2, over Owen Sater (Morris) 11-1,  (D 6-5)

3rd: Austin Phelps (Schaumburg) 15-1, over Liam Lovelace (Lake Park) 8-2,  (TF-1.5 3:26 (17-2)

5th: Parker Barry (Morris) 3-1, over Charles Dominguez (Vernon Hills) 9-6,  (D 7-1)

7th: Pedro Hernandez (Romeoville) 10-5, over Duncan Tenezaca (Maine E) 8-5,  (F 0:43)

113

1st: Bryce Mensik (Lake Park) 8-0, over Paxton Valentine (Morris) 12-1,  (F 6:35)

3rd: Diego Arteaga (GB South) 8-4, over Tony Lopez (Vernon Hills) 7-4,  (MD 12-4)

5th: Zander Spatafore (Elk Grove) 10-4, over Jairo Kish (Maine E) 7-7,  (TF-1.5 5:03 (20-3)

7th: Dominic Cimino (Vernon Hills) 7-4, over Nurislam Karybekov (Buffalo Grove) 2-3,  (TF-1.5 4:25 (19-3)

120

1st: Brady Phelps (Schaumburg) 13-0, over Oleksandr Havrylkiv (Buffalo Grove) 11-1,  (F 5:40)

3rd: Calvin Stahl (St. Patrick) 11-5, over Brandon Anderson (Morris) 11-2,  (D 6-2)

5th: Ermuun Urtanasan (GB South) 12-1, over Sevak Ohanyan (Lake Park) 6-4,  (TF 5:08 (16-1)

7th: Charles Dvorak (Summit (Argo) 6-6, over A.J Metallo (GB North) 3-12,  (F 2:37)

126

1st: Brock Claypool (Morris) 12-1, over Adrian Quevedo (Schaumburg) 8-1,  (TF-1.5 5:03 (21-5)

3rd: Mykola Shamray (Buffalo Grove) 11-2, over Munkhtulga Tsendayush (GB South) 8-5,  (D 11-4)

5th: Luca Rutili (Lake Park) 9-5, over Taqi Baker (Woodstock () 13-5,  (D 7-4)

7th: Ammar Khan (GB South) 3-2, over Dean Angelo III (St. Patrick) 6-11,  (F 1:11)

132

1st: Sergio Hernandez (Lake Park) 11-2, over Aiden Quevedo (Schaumburg) 15-2,  (TF-1.5 6:00 (20-2)

3rd: Daniel Deredlyak (Palatine) 8-2, over Dulguun Nyamdavaa (Maine E) 7-6,  (D 12-5)

5th: Roman Ocampo (GB South) 6-3, over Justice Randall Leach (Lake Park) 5-4,  (D 9-4)

7th: Daniel Nilsson (Woodstock () 3-3, over Aidyn Taylor (Morris) 5-10,  (TF-1.5 2:09 (18-3)

138

1st: Patrick Hulne (St. Patrick) 15-3, over Nicholas Merola (Lake Park) 8-3,  (F 5:00)

3rd: Brody Hinkle (Schaumburg) 8-2, over Jordan Mokhtarian (GB North) 9-9,  (MD 11-0)

5th: Aldo Gutierrez (Summit (Argo) 9-5, over Landyn White (Woodstock () 7-8,  (D 10-4)

7th: Mohamed El-Zin (Palatine) 4-4, over Jacob Meloun (Morris) 3-4,  (D 6-5)

144

1st: Carter Skoff (Morris) 10-1, over Jacob Van Allen (Summit (Argo) 11-1,  (D 5-4)

3rd: Justin Cortes-Apolinar (Schaumburg) 5-1, over Kale Schrauth (GB South) 10-4,  (D 6-2)

5th: Bohdan Malaksianov (Buffalo Grove) 10-3, over Dominic Peterka (Lake Park) 5-6,  (F 0:23)

7th: Zachary Hempen (Niles N) 7-4, over Andrew Diaz (Vernon Hills) 10-6,  (TF-1.5 3:37 (17-1)

150

1st: Callen Kirchner (Schaumburg) 16-0, over Oliver Quiros (Niles N) 12-3,  (F 1:11)

3rd: Andrew Rieger (St. Patrick) 10-8, over Aidan Minihane (GB South) 11-3,  (F 3:04)

5th: Tony Klinkas (Buffalo Grove) 9-5, over Andrew Peterson (Morris) 9-5,  (TF-1.5 3:06 (21-5)

7th: Sual Razo (Romeoville) 8-5, over Malsymilian Wala (Lake Park) 6-10,  (D 13-7)

157

1st: Dominic Marino (GB South) 12-1, over Ilan Ruderman (GB North) 13-3,  (F 4:09)

3rd: Logan Wisner (Woodstock () 13-6, over Andrew Garcia (Maine E) 4-5,  (F 4:20)

5th: Alan Allende (Palatine) 4-1, over Andrew Somenek (Elk Grove) 5-7,  (F 3:25)

7th: Jose Sotero (Palatine) 3-2, over Evan Lazik (Niles N) 8-8,  (D 11-8)

165

1st: Henry Downing (GB South) 11-1, over Chris Chi (Buffalo Grove) 7-2,  (D 9-7)

3rd: Ian Wills (Morris) 7-2, over Henry Hafner (GB North) 10-5,  (F 1:24)

5th: Tyler Lewis (Romeoville) 4-4, over Connor Riley (Niles N) 11-5,  (MD 12-1)

7th: Michael Starzyk (Summit (Argo) 5-4, over Shane Bigler (Lake Park) 2-12,  (MD 9-1)

175

1st: Ilia Dvoriannikov (Vernon Hills) 12-1, over Van Grasser (St. Patrick) 11-5,  (D 2-1)

3rd: Shane Onixt (GB North) 12-3, over Sean Christoffel (Schaumburg) 7-5,  (Inj. 1:41)

5th: Trey Widlowski (Palatine) 9-2, over Sonny Tugs (Buffalo Grove) 6-6,  (F 3:57)

7th: Hector Villagrana (Romeoville) 7-5, over Liam O`Rourke (St. Patrick) 8-10,  (F 0:50)

190

1st: Isiah Escobar (Romeoville) 9-1, over Adnan Shkeir (Maine E) 10-1,  (F 5:51)

3rd: Jacob Shamoon (GB South) 6-1, over Antonin Svoboda (Lake Park) 8-7,  (MD 9-0)

5th: Timur Arzumanov (Vernon Hills) 6-7, over Joshua Benson (Schaumburg) 8-9,  (F 5:19)

7th: Ilya Pilshchikov (Palatine) 2-2, over Vincent Romano (Buffalo Grove) 3-5,  (M. For.)

215

1st: Sami Marrero (Chicago (Horizon/Southwest) 8-0, over Malachi Congo (Morris) 9-4,  (D 8-4)

3rd: Sain Uranbold (GB South) 10-3, over Matthew Carver (Schaumburg) 6-9,  (M. For.)

5th: Emmanuel Ramirez (Romeoville) 3-2, over Salvador Espinoza (St. Patrick) 4-8,  (F 1:40)

7th: Jonathan Keats (Vernon Hills) 3-4, over Dilan Bustillos (Summit (Argo) 2-8,  (F 0:57)

285 

1st: Jamir Thomas (Romeoville) 10-1, over Mikey Milovich (Elk Grove) 11-3,  (TF-1.5 2:35 (17-2)

3rd: Hunter Johnson (GB South) 9-4, over Jaylen Maiden (Palatine) 6-6,  (F 1:55)

5th: Abraham Bonano (St. Patrick) 7-6, over Christofer Arciniega-Sanchez (Schaumburg) 10-6,  (F 0:47)

7th: Xhevdet Rustemi (Lake Park) 9-4, over Daniel Cisneros (Maine E) 5-6,  (TF-1.5 4:09 (18-3)

By Gary Larsen for the IWCOA

‘The Munch’ Boys Pontiac Invitational

Morton and Olympia went at each other at Pontiac’s 20-team ‘The Munch’ Invitational, and Morton came out on top thanks to a key factor that plays out in every close tournament finish.
“The difference in the tournament was we scored bonus points in 32 matches,” Morton coach Ed Henderson said. “It was a good battle with Olympia, They’re a very strong team with a great tradition.”
Morton’s 246.5-223 edge over Olympia featured 11 Morton wrestlers with top-five finishes, including six in the finals and five individual champions in Harrison Dea (132), Caiden Robison (144), Clay McKee (165), Colton McKee (175) and Ben Chaffer (215).

“I feel all five champs are wrestling well for this time of the year, but are focused on getting better and peaking in February,” Henderson said.
Evergreen Park (160) placed third, JS Morton (140) was fourth, and Springfield (89) took fifth in Pontiac.

1st place: Morton (246.5)
In addition to its five champs, Morton also got a second-place finish from Brody Watson (126), thirds from Evan Bierma (106) and Ryan Siebenthal (113), a fourth from Noah Harris (120), fifths from Joseph Roth (106) and Miles Chaffer (190), and sixths from Lincoln Yerby (138) and Carter Jones (150).
Chaffer (215) won his second tournament title of the season, and Clay McKee (165) and Colton McKee (175) “bonus-pointed their way through the tournament,” Henderson said.
“I was specifically pleased with the way Harrison Dea (132) finished the tournament off with a major decision over a very tough Garrett VerHeecke (of Datur Unity Christian),” Henderson said. “We’re happy with where we are at this point of the season, but our focus is getting better.”

2nd place: Olympia (223)
Olympia matched Morton with five individual champions in Brandon Gaither (106), Tucker Garey (113), Dylan Eimer (120), Kelton Graden (157) and Darian Holloway (285). The Spartans also got a second from Austin Kisner (144), thirds from Cooper Phillips (144) and Kaden Collins (150), fourths from Kayden Thomas (165) and Zach Fry (190),  and a sixth from Kenzer Burrell (132).

3rd place: Evergreen Park (160)
The Mustangs had an individual champion in Adrian Cervantes (126) and four second-place finishers in Jayden Cervantes (120), Chance Woods (138), David Johnson (150) and Ashton Gray (165). Evergreen Park also got a fourth from Brayden Mateja-Bates (106) and a fifth from Christian Ramirez (120).

Other individual champions in Pontiac were Unity Christian’s Clinton VerHeecke (138), Dwight’s Dylan Crouch (150), and Wilmington’s Logan VanDuyne (190).


Team scores:
Morton 246.5, Olympia 223, Evergreen Park 160, JS Morton 140, Springfield 89, Unity Christian 80.5, Macomb 75.5, Illinois Valley Central 72.5, Wilmington 71, Herscher 67, University 66, Kankakee 58, Pontiac 56.5, Prairie Central 51, Springfield Southeast 43, Rantoul 40.5, Dwight 32, Lincoln 31.5, Urbana 27.5, Taylorville 11

“The Munch” Invitational results:

106

1st: Brandon Gaither (Olympia) 11-1 d. Angel Jacobo (JS Morton) 10-6  (TF 4:00 (19-2)

3rd: Evan Bierma (Morton) 6-1 d. Brayden Mateja-Bates (Evergreen Park) 5-3,  (SV-1 4-3)

5th: Joseph Roth (Morton) 8-5 d.  Jayce McMillon (Taylorville) 8-6,  (MD 17-3)
113

1st: Tucker Garey (Olympia) 6-1 d.  David Roldan (JS Morton) 11-5,  (F 1:23)

3rd: Ryan Siebenthal (Morton) 6-5 d.  Nicholas Olson (Illinois Valley Central) 9-6,  (MD 11-0)

5th: Jairon Royer (Macomb) 8-5 d.  Devin Findlay (Wilmington) 1-2,  (D 9-3)
120 

1st: Dylan Eimer (Olympia) 7-1 d Jayden Cervantes (Evergreen Park) 7-1,  (TF 3:35 (18-2)

3rd: Ethan Hoyt (Macomb) 8-1 d Noah Harris (Morton) 10-4,  (D 9-8)

5th: Christian Ramirez (Evergreen Park) 9-1 d Joshua Butler (University) 7-3,  (D 6-0)
126

1st: Adrian Cervantes (Evergreen Park) 6-0, d Brody Watson (Morton) 8-5,  (F 3:44)

3rd: Ruben Rivera (University) 14-2 d Jose Berrios (JS Morton) 7-10,  (TF 1:13 (19-3)

5th: Owen Bollino (Herscher) 12-1, d Drake Clemons (Prairie Central) 9-11,  (MD 16-2)
132

1st: Harrison Dea (Morton) 11-1 d Garrett VerHeecke (Unity Christian) 13-1,  (MD 11-2)

3rd: Emiliano Bedolla (Urbana) 7-1 d John Traub (Prairie Central) 12-5,  (D 5-0)

5th: Lucas Landry (Evergreen Park) 4-1, d Kenzer Burrell (Olympia) 10-5,  (D 14-12)
138

1st: Clinton VerHeecke (Unity Christian) 12-0 d Chance Woods (Evergreen Park) 6-1,  (TF 5:20 (20-5)

3rd: Oakley Rivera (Wilmington) 3-1, d Giovanni Sundeen (Lincoln) 5-6,  (TF 3:35 (15-0)

5th: Anthony Trujillo (JS Morton) 12-5 d Lincoln Yerby (Morton) 8-6,  (MD 12-1)
144

1st: Caiden Robison (Morton) 12-2 d Austin Kisner (Olympia) 12-3,  (MD 14-6)

3rd: Cooper Phillips (Olympia) 9-4 d Devon Stone (Illinois Valley Central) 9-5,  (TF 4:00 (15-0)

5th: Frank Kittrell (Springfield SE) 10-3 d Gavin George (Unity Christian) 3-5,  (MD 11-0)
150

1st: Dylan Crouch (Dwight) 15-0 d David Johnson (Evergreen Park) 8-1,  (TF 3:12 (15-0)

3rd: Kaden Collins (Olympia) 11-4, d Hayden Washum (University) 10-4,  (F 2:46)

5th: Caleb Berg (Unity Christian) 10-4, d Carter Jones (Morton) 9-5,  (F 1:37)

157

1st: Kelton Graden (Olympia) 10-3 d Bryce Bryant (Springfield) 5-3,  (TF 4:08 (15-0)

3rd: Darius Williams (Rantoul) 3-1 d Ethan Ziller (Prairie Central) 8-3,  (M. For.)

5th: Lucas Maier (Pontiac) 5-1, d Joshua Caraballo (University) 12-6,  (MD 13-0)
165 

1st: Clay Mckee (Morton) 12-2 d Ashton Gray (Evergreen Park) 5-1,  (F 0:56)

3rd: Atsard Aplogan (Macomb) 13-4 d Kayden Thomas (Olympia) 6-6,  (F 1:09)

5th: Ryne Metelko (Lincoln) 6-3 d Carlito Lattin (Pontiac) 3-2,  (D 9-7)
175 

1st: Colton Mckee (Morton) 10-1, d Owen Moser (Illinois Valley Central) 12-3,  (F 1:46)

3rd: Keyshaun Harris (Springfield) 3-1 d Brayden Crews (Herscher) 9-4,  (TF 2:26 (16-1)

5th: Santiago Moya (JS Morton) 7-3, d Jeshua McPheeters (Macomb) 9-6,  (F 1:33)
190

1st: Logan VanDuyne (Wilmington) 4-0 d Chris Hull (Springfield SE) 10-4,  (D 8-4)

3rd: Jacob Vinardi (Kankakee ) 9-2 d Zach Fry (Olympia) 13-4,  (F 2:50)

5th: Miles Chaffer (Morton) 7-3 d Oliver Record-Frank (Springfield) 4-4,  (D 7-1)
215

1st: Benjamin Chaffer (Morton) 11-1 d Carlos Arriaza (JS Morton) 9-7,  (MD 8-0)

3rd: Jackson O`Connor (Springfield) 4-2 d Drew Owen (Rantoul) 5-6,  (F 2:53)

5th: Will Wilson (Wilmington) 4-1, d Isai Brito (Kankakee () 3-9,  (F 2:53)
285

1st: Darian Holloway (Olympia) 13-2 d Rogelio Cornejo (Kankakee () 9-1,  (F 2:30)

3rd: Matthew Stone (Herscher) 8-2 d Alex Brown (Macomb) 9-5,  (F 1:40)

5th: Hunter McCullough (Pontiac) 4-1, d Daniel Lopez (JS Morton) 5-8,  (F 1:50)

PORTA’s Rex Avery Invitational

Three individual champions among eight top-six finishers led the way for host PORTA and coach Jeff Hill, whose Bluejays won 207-174 over second-place Kewanee at this year’s 32-team Rex Avery Invitational.
“We were pretty happy with the way we wrestled,” Hill said. “I’m anxious to see how this team does at (Abe’s Rumble) with fourteen wrestlers who know how to wrestle because there are some very good teams at the Rumble with Vandalia, Coal City, Lena-Winslow, and defending champ Marian Central Catholic.”

PORTA will compete at one of Illinois’ premier tournaments at Abe’s Rumble, a dual-team event that will see 60 teams compete at Springfield’s BOS Center on D. 27-28.

LeRoy (173.5) finished a mere half-point behind Kewanee in third place, Canton (169) was fourth, and Mt. Zion (165) rounded out a hotly-contested top-five team finish.
“It was also surprising that heavyweight had the most participants in the field and was also the deepest weight with five state qualifiers,” Hill said.
When the fur stopped flying in a loaded heavyweight division, it was Canton’s Connor Williams taking the top prize in a 3-0 title-mat decision over Shelbyville’s Andrew Townsend.

1st place: PORTA (207 points)
The host Bluejays were led by a trio of individual champions in Kainin Fillbright (113), Zach Bryant (132) and Justin Zimerman (157).
“They helped propel us and separate us from the field,” PORTA coach Jeff Hill said.

Hill also got a second-place finish from Logan Baker (150), a third from Coyt Rademaker (106), a fifth from Dane Jiannoni (190), and sixths from Max King (126) and Jaxson Ferguson (144). Others contributing team points in the win were Hunter King (138), CJ Welbourne (165), JJ Dyson (215) and Hunter Morris (285).

“We were pretty happy with the way we wrestled, with 32 teams in the field,” Hill said. “Most weight classes had 24 wrestlers. Also with Kewanee, Leroy and Mt. Zion in the field, I wasn’t really sure how we were going to finish with five freshmen in the lineup. But our juniors did a great job and carried the team.”

2nd place: Kewanee (174)
Boilermakers coach Charley Eads got a second-place finish from Lain Taylor (138), thirds from Ben Taylor (150) and Alejandro Duarte (215), a fourth from Tyson Currie (113), and fifths from Kingston Peterson (120) and Ace Lafollette (175). Kewanee also had a pair of consolation first-place finishers in Hunter Vancil (126) and Joey McGuire (165).

3rd place: LeRoy (173.5)
Coach Brady Sant Amour got a pair of individual titles from Brady Mouser (120) and Kobe Brent (150), fourths from Jim Chaon (138), Brock Owens (165), Bo Zeleznik (175) and Tate Sigler (285), and a sixth from Austin Pacha (106). LeRoy also got a consolation first-place finish from Matt Helfrich (132).

Team scores:
PORTA 207, Kewanee 174, LeRoy 173.5, Canton 169, Mt. Zion 169, Shelbyville 152.5, Warrensburg 125.5, Lawrenceville 121, Pittsfield 119.5, St. Joseph Ogden 117, Monticello 104, Cumberland 104, Beardstown 93, Litchfield 86.5, Robinson 76.5, Heyworth 61.5, Hillsboro 60.5, Sacred Heart-Griffin 57.5, Farmington 57, Auburn 53, Monmouth-Roseville 39.5, Deer Creek-Mackinaw 38.5, Knoxville 38, West Hancock 33.5, Williamsville 32, Mid-West 31.5, Havana/PORTA 21, Ridgeview 18, Monmouth United 14, Carlinville 9

PORTA’s Rex Avery Invitational results:
106 

1st: Kyler Guercio (Lawrenceville) 7-1, d Ben Wells (SJ Ogden) 9-2,  (TF 3:38 (24-6)

3rd: Coyt Rademaker (PORTA) 12-2, d Kohl Fuller (Hillsboro) 6-3,  (TF 3:52 (19-3)

5th: Jaxsun Owens (Canton) 8-4, d Austin Pacha (LeRoy) 8-3,  (F 1:25)
Consolation 1st: Evan King (Deer Creek Mackinaw) 3-1 d Jaydin Schmider (Farmington) 2-2 (Fall 0:22)
113

1st: Kainin Fillbright (PORTA) 12-2, d Vincent Baker (Mt. Zion ) 9-2,  (TF 5:37 (15-0)

3rd: Jackson Walsh (SJ Ogden) 9-3 d Tyson Currie (Kewanee) 10-3,  (F 2:29)

5th: Peyton Groves (Cumberland) 8-5 d Emmett Roeder (Heyworth) 9-7,  (TF 4:48 (19-2)
Consolation 1st: Rilynn Younker (Litchfield) 13-2 d Delaney Ledbetter (Lawrenceville) 2-2  (MD 13-0)

120 

1st: Brady Mouser (LeRoy) 12-0 d Logan Roberts (Warrensburg) 9-1,  (D 8-3)

3rd: Ezekiel Young (Monticello) 4-1, d Jacob Hardesty (Canton) 11-2,  (D 7-4)

5th: Kingston Peterson (Kewanee) 10-4 d Landon Peterson (Monmouth-R) 6-6,  (F 3:19)
Consolation 1st: Vincent Moore (Litchfield) 13-1 d Colin Wells (Shelbyville) 6-4 (Fall 4:34)
126

1st: Dyllan Steele (Canton) 10-1 d Sammy Toth (Mt. Zion ) 11-1,  (MD 15-2)

3rd: Sawyer Welbaum (Cumberland) 10-1 d Nick Litchfield (Monticello) 8-3,  (F 0:47)

5th: Johnathan Kirkbride (Shelbyville) 7-4, d Max King (PORTA) 7-6,  (F 2:57)
Consolation 1st: Hunter Vancil (Kewanee) 5-1 d Jordan Jones (Farmington) 13-5, . (TF-1.5 2:27 (18-1)
132

1st: Zach Bryant (PORTA) 12-2 d Kaden Roberts (Warrensburg) 6-1,  (F 1:27)

3rd: Bodee Fathauer (Shelbyville) 9-2 d Drayven Hamm (Auburn) 8-4,  (D 6-2)

5th: Gavyn Stevens (Knoxville) 12-6 d Dylan Aten (Lawrenceville) 6-2,  (M. For.)
Consolation 1st: Matt Helfrich (LeRoy) 10-5 d Joel Noble (Pittsfield) 6-6, (Fall 5:58)

138 

1st: Jack Jochums (Canton) 11-2 d Lain Taylor (Kewanee) 10-2,  (MD 11-0)

3rd: Kai Humphry (West Hancock) 7-3  dJim Chaon (LeRoy) 9-5,  (D 12-10)

5th: Chase Frye (Farmington) 10-5, d Cory Hurst (Havana/PORTA) 3-3,  (TF 3:29 (16-0)
Consolation 1st: Cale Seitzinger (Lawrenceville) 8-1 d Luke Andruczyk (Monticello) 6-4 (Fall 1:18)
144 

1st: Bradlee Ellis (Farmington) 14-1, d Hudson Meek (Lawrenceville) 7-2,  (F 2:54)

3rd: Charlie Wittmer (Warrensburg) 10-3 d Luis De La Cruz (Beardstown) 15-4,  (TF 4:40 (17-1)

5th: Clayton Hauter (Litchfield) 13-3 d Jaxson Feagans (PORTA) 10-6,  (TF 2:31 (16-0)
Consolation 1st: Remington Vonderheide (Mid-West) 9-5 d Gage Fox (Knoxville) 15-5 (D 14-8)

150 

1st: Kobe Brent (LeRoy) 13-1 d Logan Baker (PORTA) 11-3,  (MD 9-1)

3rd: Ben Taylor (Kewanee) 14-1 d Matthew Miller (Williamsville) 10-4,  (MD 11-3)

5th: Drayden Smith (Mt. Zion ) 10-3 d Maddox Medrano (Beardstown) 11-9,  (F 5:15)

Consolation 1st: Preston Bassonette (Warrensburg) 7-4 d Levi Pearson (Knoxville) 9-7 (MD 20-7)
157 

1st: Justin Zimmerman (PORTA) 14-0 d Owen McGinnis (Cumberland) 11-1,  (D 8-7)

3rd: Ben Mullins (Robinson) 10-1, d Daniel Kees (Canton) 9-6,  (TF 2:22 (15-0)

5th: Jake Oitker (Pittsfield) 5-5 d Jovonis Lundford (Sacred Heart-Griffin) 3-2,  (M. For.)

Consolation 1st: Hunter Bockelman (Heyworth) 10-6 d Daniel Kiser (Lawrenceville) 7-3 (D 15-9)
165
1st: Ryne Peavler (Shelbyville) 9-1 d Grant Keyser (Cumberland) 10-2,  (F 0:54)

3rd: Waylon White (Pittsfield) 9-3 d Brock Owens (LeRoy) 11-4,  (F 1:11)

5th: Kahne Hyre (Robinson) 8-3 d Kaden Long (Hillsboro) 6-3,  (F 1:38)
Consolation 1st: Joey McGuire (Kewanee) 6-2 d CJ Welbourne (Petersburg PORTA) 9-6 (Fall 3:36)
175 

1st: Tucker Kull (Shelbyville) 9-0 d Gunner Looker (Beardstown) 16-1,  (MD 14-6)

3rd: Jayden Ellinger (Litchfield) 12-2 d Bo Zeleznik (LeRoy) 10-5,  (F 0:51)

5th: Ace Lafollette (Kewanee) 10-4, d Nick Morehead (Lawrenceville) 7-5,  (F 2:53)
Consolation 1st: Garrett Sego (Canton) 10-7 d Fisher McEuen (Pittsfield) 3-2 (TF-1.5 4:00 (24-9)
190 

1st: Bodine Marable (Pittsfield) 10-1 d Kaden Becker (Mt. Zion ) 6-1,  (F 3:52)

3rd: Casen Lyons (Sacred Heart-Griffin) 4-1, d Hunter Romano (Monticello) 4-1,  (M. For.)

5th: Dane Jiannoni (PORTA) 13-4 d Gavan Rhodes (Shelbyville) 8-4,  (F 0:49)
Consolation 1st: Maliki Fitch (Auburn) 10-2 d Jarrod Fulcher (Heyworth) 6-4 (Fall 1:38)
215

1st: Keller Stocks (Mt. Zion ) 7-0 d Tristan Staggs (Litchfield) 12-2,  (F 1:57)

3rd: Alejandro Duarte (Kewanee) 11-2 d Tucker Cook (Pittsfield) 8-3,  (F 4:48)

5th: Nathan Phillips (SJ Ogden) 9-4 d Anthony Beckman (Williamsville) 11-3,  (F 1:22)
Consolation 1st: Alex Gandarilla (Monmouth Roseville) 12-3 d Taven Agney (Shelbyville) 8-3 (Fall 0:49)

285

1st: Connor Williams (Canton) 10-0 d Andre Townsend (Shelbyville) 10-1,  (D 3-0)

3rd: Chunk Dailey (Beardstown) 17-4 d Tate Sigler (LeRoy) 11-3,  (D 6-4)

5th: Joey Humpherys (DC Mackinaw) 4-2, d Dylan Camden (Lawrenceville) 5-3,  (F 1:15)
Consolation 1st: Jack Kerley (Warrensburg) 9-3 d Devin Hansel (Litchfield) 11-5 (Fall 0:41)

Washington Holiday Invitational

Host Washington edged Mount Carmel 244.5-232.5 at this year’s 8-team tournament, with IC Catholic Prep (194) placing third, Hersey (167) in fourth, and Belleville East (157) rounding out the top five, followed by Unity (141), Rock Island (90) and Westville (61).

1st place: Washington (244.5 points)
Panthers coach Nick Miller got individual titles from Symon Woods (106), Noah Woods (126), Wyatt Medlin (157) and Josh Hoffer (215) to lead the host team. Four additional Panthers reached the finals and placed second in Lucas Bach (113), Michael Mendoza (138), Peyton Cox (144) and Sean Thornton (285), and Washington got thirds from Logan Makiney (120) and Wyatt Leman (190), and fifths from Cayden Park (132) and Cruise Brolley (165).

2nd place: Mount Carmel (232.5)
Mount Carmel had 10 wrestlers finish in the top three of their weight classes in Washington. The Caravan had a trio of champions in William Grafton-Hodgetts (113), Seth Mendoza (138) and Jairo Acuna (150), and coach Alex Tsirtsis got seconds from Kavel Moore (120), Justin Wiliamson (132), Liam Kelly (157) and Kevin Kalchbrenner (165), thirds from Sebastian Garcia (106), Sergio Calleros (175), and Leonard Siegel (215), and a sixth from Francis Burke (126).

3rd place: IC Catholic Prep
Knights coach Danny Alcocer got three individual titles from Kannon Judycki (120), Deven Casey (132) and Brody Kelly (175), seconds from Dominic Pasquale (106) and Foley Calcagno (215), thirds from Mike Bird (113) and Anthony Sebastian (285), a fourth from Joey Pontrelli (150), and fifths from Jacob Alvarez (138) and Aidan Arnett (144).

Team scores:
Washington 244.5, Mount Carmel 232.5, IC Catholic Prep 194, Hersey 167, Belleville East 157, Unity 141, Rock Island 90, Westville 61

Washington Holiday Invitational results:

106 

1st: Symon Woods (Washington) 13-2 d Dominic Pasquale (IC Catholic) 10-4,  (D 10-3)

3rd: Sebastian Gracia (Mt. Carmel) 10-2, d Jackson Schadegg (Belleville E) 4-4,  (F 2:55)

5th: Angelo Parker (Rock Island) 7-2, d Kevin Bisonaya (Mt. Carmel) 1-3,  (TF 5:16 (22-2)

113 

1st: William Grafton-hodgetts (Mt. Carmel) 9-2, d Lucas Bach (Washington) 11-5,  (TF 3:23 (15-0)

3rd: Mike Bird (IC Catholic) 6-3, d Tyquez Hudson (Rock Island) 4-4,  (F 5:21)

5th: William Torres (Hersey) 1-2, d Jimmy Obedi (Rock Island) 3-6,  (D 9-5)

120 

1st: Kannon Judycki (IC Catholic) 7-4, d Kavel Moore (Mt. Carmel) 8-3,  (D 6-5)
3rd: Logan Makiney (Washington) 9-6 d Corbin Zeisset (Belleville E) 2-5,  (MD 16-2)

126

1st: Noah Woods (Washington) 14-0 d Riddick Variano (Hersey) 10-4, . (D 4-2)

3rd: Anthony Orozco (Hersey) 3-1 d Merrick Stockwell (Rock Island) 6-2,  (MD 21-12)

5th: Delane Mosley (Belleville E) 6-4 d Francis Burke (Mt. Carmel) 4-8,  (MD 23-14)

132 

1st: Deven Casey (IC Catholic) 15-2 d Justin Williamson (Mt. Carmel) 6-3,  (D 4-3)

3rd: Elijah Garza (Hersey) 11-3, d Hunter Shike (Unity) 8-3,  (F 0:58)

5th: Cayden Park (Washington) 6-6, d Micheal Gibson (Belleville E) 0-5,  (TF 3:34 (15-0)

138

1st: Seth Mendoza (Mt. Carmel) 11-1 d Michael Mendoza (Washington) 9-5,  (F 1:16)

3rd: Taylor Finley (Unity) 9-1, d Braden Kelly (Belleville E) 3-2,  (D 11-7)

5th: Jacob Alvarez (IC Catholic) 7-4, d Nolan Variano (Hersey) 8-6,  (TF 5:19 (18-3)
144

1st: Maksim Mukhamedaliyev (Hersey) 11-3, d Peyton Cox (Washington) 8-3,  (D 8-7)

3rd: Antonio Parker (Rock Island) 8-1 d Kaden Inman (Unity) 10-2,  (D 3-2)

5th: Aidan Arnett (IC Catholic) 9-4, d George Hollendoner (Mt. Carmel) 7-7,  (MD 16-3)
150

1st: Jairo Acuna (Mt. Carmel) 8-2 d Rodrigo Arceo (Hersey) 8-2,  (D 7-1)

3rd: Holden Brazelton (Unity) 11-1 d Joey Pontrelli (IC Catholic) 6-4,  (F 1:25)

5th: George Tate (Rock Island) 4-5 d Myles Greenfield (Belleville E) 4-7,  (SV-1 11-8)

7th: Sebastian Howe (Washington) 3-5, d Devon Irvin (Westville) 2-6,  (F 0:41)
157

1st: Wyatt Medlin (Washington) 17-2 d Liam Kelly (Mt. Carmel) 9-3,  (D 4-2)

3rd: Killian Rauch (Belleville E) 7-3, d Gabriel Kiddoo (Westville) 7-2,  (D 14-9)

5th: Keegan Germano (Unity) 2-2, d Luke Koclanis (Hersey) 7-6,  (D 7-5)

7th:  Ben Czarnowski (IC Catholic) 1-4 d Conner Coppage (Belleville E) 0-4,  (MD 13-4)
165

1st: Terence Willis (Belleville E) 9-1 d Kevin Kalchbrenner (Mt. Carmel) 9-2,  (F 3:46)

3rd: Abram Davidson (Unity) 8-3 d Grant Moga (Hersey) 9-6,  (F 4:18)

5th: Cruise Brolley (Washington) 11-4 d Logan Mahaffey (Westville) 6-4,  (TF 3:38 (18-3)

7th: Daniel Htoo (Rock Island) 2-6,  () , . (Bye)
175 

1st: Brody Kelly (IC Catholic) 12-2 d Ryan Rink (Unity) 8-3,  (F 3:24)

3rd: Sergio Calleros (Mt. Carmel) 3-1, d Eliot Dahm (Belleville E) 5-5,  (F 1:07)

5th: Connor Moga (Hersey) 6-6 d Josh Heath (Unity) 1-3,  (F 2:58)

7th: Justin Nose (Westville) 10-7 d Braden Brown (Washington) 9-8,  (F 2:30)
190

1st: Hunter Eastin (Unity) 3-0 d Ethan Miller (Westville) 10-1,  (MD 18-6)

3rd: Wyatt Leman (Washington) 12-5 d Cedric King (Belleville E) 8-3,  (F 2:41)

5th: Jonathan Slump (Hersey) 2-2 d Julyan Mayares (Rock Island) 3-4,  (F 1:33)

7th: Kenneth Seggerson (Mt. Carmel) 0-3,  () , . (Bye)
215

1st: Josh Hoffer (Washington) 17-3 d Foley Calcagno (IC Catholic) 11-3,  (D 7-2)

3rd: Leonard Siegal (Mt. Carmel) 9-3 d Nick Larsen (Hersey) 5-6,  (TF 4:00 (16-1)

5th: Rowan Stockwell (Rock Island) 4-2, d Chason Daly (Unity) 1-3,  (F 4:18)

7th:  Antwon Brown (Belleville E) 2-3 d Bleighten Irelan (Westville) 3-6,  (F 0:48)
285

1st: Jonathan Rulo (Belleville E) 10-0 d Sean Thornton (Washington) 12-5,  (F 3:03)

3rd: Anthony Sebastian (IC Catholic) 7-2, d Harrison Lacaeyse (Hersey) 6-7,  (D 1-0)

5th: Emilio Guzman (Rock Island) 6-3 d Josiah Sedlacek (Westville) 9-5,  (F 4:35)

7th: Landin Carter (Mt. Carmel) 1-3 d Jaden Dene (Unity) 0-4,  (F 1:27)

Marion Wildcat Duals

The team from Paducah Tilgham, Kentucky finished at the top of the heap of this year’s 21-team field in Marion. Host Marion placed second, Waterloo was third and Carbondale finished fourth.
Paducah (6-0) won 72-12 over Breese Central, 60-21 over Red Bud, 54-17 over Harrisburg, and 59-24 over Mt. Vernon to reach the semifinals, where Paducah Tilgham won 44-35 over Waterloo and 57-24 over Marion to take the team title.
Host Marion (5-1) took second thanks to wins over Pinckneyville (77-0), Effingham (57-24), Kennett, MO (72-6), Caldwell County (60-11) and Carbondale (49-29).
Third-place Waterloo (5-1) topped Centralia (66-17), Johnston City (57-23), Benton (48-36), McCracken County, KY (53-24) and Carbondale (45-35), while fourth-place Carbondale (4-2) beat Sparta (54-24), Fort Campbell, KY (61-15), Carmi-White County (53-24) and West Frankfort (48-33) to reach the championship round.

Championship dual results:
1st place: Paducah Tilgham, KY 57, Marion 24
3rd place: Waterloo 45, Carbondale 35

1st place dual:

Paducah Tilghman defeated Marion 57-24

106 – Jake Pulliam (Paducah) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

113 – Christian Prietto-Bottoms (Paducah) over Rigdon Meacham (Marion) Fall 0:36

120 – Case Simmons (Paducah) over Juelz Elliott (Marion) Fall 0:40

126 – Jeremiah Pulliam (Paducah) over Hunter Detrick (Marion) Fall 0:30

132 – Jordynn Davis (Paducah) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

138 – Zach Bell (Marion) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

144 – Jaylin Bellamy (Paducah) over Nate Page (Marion) TF 19-4

150 – Brady Lamoureux (Paducah) over John Walters (Marion) Fall 1:20

157 – Ethan O`Malley (Paducah) over Justin Murphy (Marion) Fall 5:12

165 – Tate Miller (Marion) over Titan Henderson (Paducah) Fall 0:20

175 – Grayson Sanders (Marion) over Phoenix Marshall (Paducah) Fall 4:52

190 – Ben Hall (Paducah) over Evan Francis (Marion) Maj 12-2

215 – Bryan Madinger (Marion) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

285 – Prosper Livingston-Holmes (Paducah) over Logan Black (Marion) Fall 1:03

3rd place dual:

Waterloo defeated Carbondale 45-35

144 – Ty Kinzinger (Waterloo) over Joe Prideaux (Carbondale) Maj 13-2

150 – Tyshawn Welch (Carbondale) over Kadyn Brewer (Waterloo) TF 28-11

157 – Jon Martin (Carbondale) over Jackson Hock (Waterloo) Fall 0:57

165 – Thomas Imboden (Carbondale) over Austin Goddard (Waterloo) Fall 0:02

175 – Vince Goodman (Waterloo) over Jeramiah Walden (Carbondale) Fall 0:21

190 – Mason West (Waterloo) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

215 – Jaxson Mathenia (Waterloo) over Connor Daly (Carbondale) Fall 0:30

285 – Drew Glowacki (Waterloo) over Jordyn Lomax-Brown (Carbondale) Fall 0:32

106 – Matthew Deutch (Waterloo) over Dajuan Anderson (Carbondale) Fall 0:00

113 – Ian Holzmueller (Carbondale) over Jackson Wirth (Waterloo) Fall 0:00

120 – Bradley O`dell (Carbondale) over Carter Marshall (Waterloo) Fall 0:00

126 – Konnor Stephens (Waterloo) over Ayden Swan (Carbondale) TF 15-0

132 – Kurt Ford (Carbondale) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

138 – Jaxon Mifflin (Waterloo) over Xavier Toliver-Cook (Carbondale) Fall 0:00

By Gary Larsen for the IWCOA

Eight seniors won individual titles at Richmond-Burton’s 18-team Tom DuBois Invitational on Saturday, and almost to a man they each talked about evolving from timid freshmen to bold seniors who are hungry for state finals hardware.

Nobody put that senior-year confidence and hunger into words better than Grayslake North’s Owen Anderson, after he won a DuBois title at 150 pounds.

“I take offense when people stand on the line against me,” Anderson said. “You’ve got to be mean on the mat. He’s disrespecting me by standing on that line; that’s the mentality I have now.”

Results in the finals of this year’s DuBois suggested that there were plenty of offended wrestlers at Richmond-Burton. In all, individual DuBois champions post five pins, four tech falls, and three major decisions on the title mat.

When the dust cleared, host Richmond-Burton hoisted the team title plaque thanks to five champions, one runner-up, one third-place finish, two fourths, and two fifths.

And the Rockets pulled if off while wrestling without a few key members of their lineup in Kyan Gunderson and Dane Sorensen.

“It’s just been awesome watching everyone grow,” Richmond-Burton senior heavyweight Colin Kraus said. “I knew we had guys coming in that were really, really good and we all showed up today.”

Thirteen of the Rockets 14 wrestlers scored team points in a 235.5-154 win over second-place Oregon. Johnsburg (145) placed third, followed by Prairie Ridge (138) and Union Grove (126.5) to round out the top five team finishes.

“I’ve been waiting nine years for this team,” Richmond-Burton coach Tony Nelson said. “We’ve known all these kids coming up and this is what we’ve been working for. So if we can all mesh…but I’m just happy because these guys are just awesome together and they have so much fun. Whatever happens, happens, but it’s going to be a great year no matter what.”

Winning titles for the Rockets were Lelan Nelson (106), Emmett Nelson (144), Blake Livdahl (175), Breckin Campbell (190) and Kraus (285). Shane Falasca (215) took second and the Rockets got a third from Clayton Madula (126), fourths from Kristian Gersch (113) and Adam Glauser (120), and fifths from Dalton Youngs (150) and Dylan Falasca (165).

Nelson applauded all of his wrestlers’ contributions, and was tickled by another strong performance by Falasca (11-4) — a freshman wrestling mainly against upperclassmen at 215 pounds.

“Last week at Rockford East he lost his second match and then went 7-1 for third place,” Nelson said. “He’s been wrestling for the Richmond Wrestling Club his whole life, he’s a two-time IESA state champ, and (a tournament title) is going to happen for him by the end of the year.”

Second-place Oregon was led by a trio of second-place finishes from Josiah Perez (113), Isaiah Perez (120) and Briggs Sellers (285). Third-place Johnsburg got a title from Landon Johnson (138) and seconds from Kainoa Ancog (150) and Duke Mays (175); fourth-place Prairie Ridge had two champions in Jake Lowitzki (120) and Mikey Meade (126); and fifth-place Union Grove was led by individual champs Camden Rugg (113) and Cole Dummer (157).

Other individual DuBois champions were Crystal Lake South’s Nate Randle (132), Grayslake North’s Owen Anderson (150), Wheaton Academy’s Tyler Jones (165), and Lake Forest’s Yaree Sandifer (215).

Tom DuBois individual champions:

106: Lelan Nelson, Richmond-Burton
After one period, the Rockets’ freshman trailed 6-1 in the finals to Stillman Valley’s Michael Pannarale (6-1). Nelson (10-1) then outscored Pannarale 10-2 the rest of the way, getting three takedowns and showing some mettle beyond his years in an 11-8 decision.
“He just kept wrestling,” coach and father Tony Nelson said of Lelan. “He wrestled in the off-season against some of the toughest kids in the country and that was a good win for him. Lelan just works. He showed a lot of composure against a good senior kid (in Pannarale).”
Lelan’s older brother is Emmett Nelson, who likes what he’s seeing from his kid brother.
“I see a lot of myself in him, in terms of pace,” Emmett said. “It’s been great to see and I hope I can inspire him a little bit, and push him to work hard. Sometimes I feel like I’m a little hard on him but I hope it’s worth it.”
Lelan Nelson placed second at 106 at last week’s 29-team Giardini Invitational at Rockford East.
Crystal Lake South’s Christopher Talbert took third in Richmond, Alden Hebron’s Riley Krumsee was fourth, Winnebago’s Cam Whitehead was fifth and Johnsburg’s Kai Surdick placed sixth at 106.

113: Camden Rugg, Union Grove WI
Top-seeded Rugg (8-0) wrestled the title match at 113 like a hungry man late for dinner. Of the four tech falls posted in the championship bouts, Rugg’s tech fall in 2:19 was the fastest of the group, against Oregon’s previously unbeaten junior Josiah Perez (7-1). Perez swept into the finals with a pin and a tech fall of his own.
The sophomore Rugg placed third in Wisconsin at 106 pounds last year. Johnsburg’s Chase Vogel placed third Saturday, Richmond-Burton’s Kristian Gersch was fourth, North Boone’s Drew Patel took fifth and Prairie Ridge’s Johnny Cabano placed sixth at 113.

120: Jake Lowitzki, Prairie Ridge
Top-seeded, two-time state qualifier Lowitzki (10-0) buzzed through the competition to reach the finals with two tech fall wins, then won a 13-1 major decision in a battle between two previously unbeaten wrestlers on the title mat, against Oregon’s Isaiah Perez (8-1).
Lowitzki also won a Giardini Invitational title last week and senior-year urgency has the varsity veteran focused on an upward plane towards a shot at Illinois’ ultimate prize.
“I’m excited. All the work I’ve put in — I want to win the (state) title,” Lowitzki said. “I came up short two years, losing in the blood round, and this year I want to win the whole thing.”
The senior piled up points on Saturday in helping his team to its fourth-place finish.
“When I felt guys were starting to break, I pushed the pace,” Lowitzki said. “I want to push the pace the whole year. We were good on our feet all day and we all wrestled through the whistle, the whole time. We never stopped wrestling.”
Lake Forest’s Charlie Biddell took third, Richmond-Burton’s Adam Glauser was fourth, Johnsburg’s Chase Davis took fifth and Woodstock North’s Anthony Motejzik placed sixth at 120.

126: Mikey Meade, Prairie Ridge
To be a wrestler is to be temporarily content but permanently discontented, where a win allows you to be briefly happy with the understanding that you can always be better.

Not 30 seconds after second-seeded Meade completed a dominant day of wrestling with a major decision win for the title at 126, two of his coaches took turns instructing him on a few minor things he might have done differently.
Like a good wrestler, even after posting a 14-0 major decision to win a tournament title, Meade happily took their advice.
“I love being corrected,” Meade said. “It only makes me better.”

Meade (10-1) won by major for the title against North Boone’s Gavin Ekberg (10-2), who won a tournament title at 126 at last week’s Giardini Invitational, where Meade placed third at 132. Meade (10-1) is a two-time state qualifier in 2A and Ekberg (10-2) finished sixth in 1A at 138 last year.
“Last year I was a good wrestler and I’ve always been a defensive wrestler, but this year I’m wrestling more offensive,” Meade said. “I’m not holding back. I stepped in the room after football season and started wrestling with Jake (Lowitzki) — a tough kid who’s been training all four years, every day — and that’s when it started clicking. I want to wrestle in matches the same way I’m training in the room, and give it my all.”

Richmond-Burton’s Clay Madula placed third, Lake Forest’s Tommy Demetrio was fourth, Johnsburg’s Tanner Hansen was fifth and Union Grove’s Paul Keeku took sixth at 126.

132: Nathan Randle, Crystal Lake South
The Gators’ junior placed second in Illinois two years ago for Wauconda at 113 but after missing out on a state medal last season, Randle (14-0) is hungrier than ever now that he’s settled in at Crystal Lake South.
Randle learned an invaluable lesson in the process.
“I wasn’t there mentally last year but this year I’ve got my mind right,” Randle said. “After being second in state my freshman year I thought I was unbeatable my sophomore year, but I got beat a couple times and it brought my mental game to an all-time low. I was overconfident. This year I know I can beat anyone but I also know that it’s okay to take a loss as long as you’re out there trying your hardest.”
Randle and Wheaton Academy junior Lincoln Hoger (12-4) – who placed 5th in 2A at 126 last year — locked horns in the closest finals match of the day in Richmond. Randle’s 4-2 decision win gave him the title; Randle led 3-2 after a period and escaped in the third en route to his 4-2 decision win.
It was Randle’s third tournament title of the year, having won at 132 at Vernon Hills and at last week’s Giardini Invitational at Rockford East. Hoger won a DuBois title in 2022 at 120 pounds. This year, Hoger won a title at Seneca’s 20-team tournament, and placed third at this year’s 24-team Ted DeRousse Invitational.
“I wrestled (Hoger) last year and was able to get to my takedowns. I know if I get the first takedown I have a good chance at winning,” Randle said. “I’m just trying to put everything out there this year, win or lose.”
Oregon’s Nelson Benesh placed third, Marengo’s Hayden Beebe was fourth, Prairie Ridge’s Christian Pease took fifth and Winnebago’s Chase Whitehead finished sixth at 132.

138: Landon Johnson, Johnsburg

One of three Johnsburg wrestlers to reach the finals, Johnson (15-2) won his first tournament title of the year for the Skyhawks with a tech fall win against Lake Forest’s Tony Telos (6-5) in the finals. Third-seeded Telos battled his way to the finals with a pair of decision wins in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, while Johnson ticked off two pins to reach the title mat.

Johnson also placed second at 138 at Vernon Hills’ 17-team tournament and third at last week’s Giardini invite in Rockford.

“Since then he has been on fire,” Johnsburg coach James Sylvanus said. “We’ve broken down film and worked through his missed opportunities, and I’m confident we will continue to see this same kid throughout the ’24-’25 season.

“Landon had a dominant performance, not allowing any earned points the entire (DuBois) tournament. He has a goal of standing on the podium at the end of the year and he’s working toward it every day in the practice room.”

Oregon’s Jackson Messenger placed third, Wheaton Academy’s Zion Willitts was fourth, Rockford Jefferson’s Antonio Flood took fifth and Grayslake North’s Huerta Rodriguez finished sixth at 138.

144: Emmett Nelson, Richmond-Burton
A 3-time Illinois state medalist, Nelson feels like a different wrestler to start his senior season for the Rockets. And it’s been high-level training that has him more ready to win a state title than he’s ever been.

“I was fortunate to spend a lot of time at Askren Wrestling Academy (in Wisconsin) and that has really helped me elevate my game,” Nelson said. “Believing in yourself is a huge part of it and my chain wrestling has improved.”

Nelson (8-0) won the fourth Tom DuBois title of his career and earned the DuBois’ outstanding wrestler award for the lower weights, after his tech fall win on the title mat against Crystal Lake South’s Aiden Marrello (15-3).

The two got in a wild scramble to start the match and Marrello only trailed 3-0 after a period before Nelson broke the match open. Marrello won a tournament title at 144 at Vernon Hills this year and placed third at Rockford East’s Giardini Invitational.

“He was a good opponent,” Nelson said. “I feel like I was able to score in a lot of places but it’s nice to see what I can do against a really good kid. I always feel like the longer a match goes on, the better I am. I was able to push my pace at the end and I think I tired him out.”
Oregon’s Levi Benton took third, Winnebago’s Jaxon Gustafson was fourth, Crystal Lake South’s Ethan Phillips was fifth and Union Grove’s Lucas Wright finished sixth at 144.

150: Owen Anderson, Grayslake North
Senior-year urgency is a real thing, and Grayslake North senior Owen Anderson feels it.
“I’m not going to get this opportunity again so I have to make sure not to waste it,” Anderson said. “I’ll miss this a decade from now so I have to make the most of it right now.”
Top-seeded Anderson (14-0) remained unbeaten and added a DuBois title to the title he won at Vernon Hills on Nov. 30. Anderson won a major decision and then a fall in his semifinal before winning by second-period fall in the final against Johnsburg’s Kainoa Ancog (11-7).
Anderson believes that his conversion from hesitancy to aggression on the mat is directly correlated to his decision to ignoring rankings.
“That mentality definitely grew this year,” Anderson said. “My junior and sophomore year I was looking too much at guys’ records on TrackWrestling, and I’d get intimidated. This year, I haven’t checked once.”
The lanky senior is also bringing the funk this year.
“I’ve always been taller and a little weaker than guys so I had to get really good in funky positions,” Anderson said. “I drill with (teammate) Jacob Ronsman and in all of these funky positions I can freeze people, because they don’t know what to do. I need to work on my feet a little bit but I couldn’t be happier with my defense.”
Stillman Valley’s Henry Hildreth took third, Woodstock North’s Trenton Combs was fourth, Richmond-Burton’s Dalton Youngs was fifth and Prairie Ridge’s Matt Moritz placed sixth at 150.

157: Cole Dummer, Union Grove WI
Seeded fifth, Cole Dummer from Union Grove, Wisconsin let the field know in no uncertain terms who the big dog at 157 was on Saturday. Dummer posted two pins and two tech falls in blazing his way to a DuBois title.
“I never heard of any of these guys so I just rely on my coaches’ information, but mostly it’s just attack, attack, attack and score a lot of points,” said Dummer, who placed third at 144 in Wisconsin last year. “I’m good on my feet, and I’ve been working on my turns. Third-place (in Wisconsin) won’t be good enough this year.”
Dummer’s attack mentality earned him the tournament’s outstanding wrestler award for the upper weights in Richmond. Dummer was also a training partner during the off-season at Wisconsin’s Askren Wrestling Academy with Richmond-Burton’s Emmett Nelson, who won the OWA for the lower weights on Saturday.
After winning by tech fall over top-seeded Chasen Kazmierczak of Wheaton Academy, Dummer did the same on the title mat against Grayslake North’s third-seeded Jacob Ronsman.
Kazmierczak finished third, Alden-Hebron’s Caleb Linneman was fourth, Oregon’s Ethan Mowry took fifth and Marengo’s Owen Ostler placed sixth at 157.

165 Tyler Jones, Wheaton Academy
Jones (13-1) won a title at Seneca’s 20-team Irish Invite and placed third at this year’s 24-team DeRousse Invitational at Lakes. The Wheaton Academy junior secured his second tournament title of the year with a third-period fall against Grayslake North’s Kacper Nalezny (4-2).
Second-seeded Jones opened with a fall in the quarterfinal round before winning 4-1 in his semifinal against Union Grove’s Evan Petrick.
Petrick went on to place third, Stillman Valley’s Ethan Waugh was fourth, Richmond-Burton’s Dylan Falasca took fifth and Johnsburg’s Aaron Alvarez placed sixth at 165.

175: Blake Livdahl, Richmond-Burton
Richmond-Burton sophomore Blake Livdahl placed second at 175 at last week’s Giardini Invitational and on Saturday he got over the hump to secure his first tournament title of the season. Top-seeded Livdahl (11-1) posted a tech fall and a fall before pinning third-seeded Duke Mays (8-4) of Johnsburg in the finals.
Livdahl led 3-0 after a period on a single-leg takedown, then turned Mays twice in the second period before turning him in the third and winning by fall.
“Blake has always had that ability and in the finals today, he opened up more than he has this season,” coach Tony Nelson said. “A lot of it is confidence. We don’t wrestle in a Thanksgiving tournament so a lot of our guys are just starting to hit their stride and Blake is one of them.”
Prairie Ridge’s Aiden Rodriguez placed third, Union Grove’s Kyle Sorensen was fourth, Grayslake North’s Gavin Cafferkey took fifth and Marengo’s Gavin Baros finished sixth at 175.

190: Breckin Campbell, Richmond-Burton
Just like fellow sophomore and teammate Livdahl, Richmond-Burton’s Breckin Campbell won the first tournament title of his young season. Third-seeded Campbell (11-4) won by fall in the second period in his title match against Alden-Hebron’s top-seeded Logan Crowell (5-1).
Campbell had a pair of decision wins to reach the finals, while Crowell posted two pins to reach the title mat.
“That kid just started wrestling two years ago,” Rockets coach Tony Nelson said of Campbell. “He looks like he’s 20 years old with that frame and he’s just getting better every week. I like that he can mix it up more like a middle-weight or a light-weight at 190 pounds. His leg attacks are so effective. And he finishes.”

Prairie Ridge’s Frank Matviychuk took third, Woodstock North’s David Randecker was fourth, Stillman Valley’s Brady Stewart took fifth and Marengo’s Devin Storti finished sixth at 190.

215: Yaree Sandifer, Lake Forest

Lake Forest’s top-seeded Yaree Sandifer used a pair of first-period falls to reach the title mat, where a 14-2 major decision win over Richmond-Burton freshman Shane Falasca (11-4) earned him the title.
Sandifer improved to 11-1 with the win.

“Yaree has been wrestling well and is looking to bounce back this year and make a run at state,” Lake Forest coach Nick Kramer said. “He put in work this offseason and so far this season his only loss is up at heavyweight against (Anthony) Soto from Warren. He is starting to put things together and looked great at Richmond-Burton. He was able to stay composed and beat a talented freshman from Richmond Burton in the finals.”

Wheaton Academy’s Jeremy Johanik took third, Marengo’s Owen Bills was fourth, Prairie Ridge’s Walter Pollack placed fifth and North Boone’s Nick Davis finished sixth at 215.

285: Colin Kraus, Richmond-Burton

Richmond-Burton senior heavyweight Colin Kraus wasn’t quite sure what to expect Saturday. After winning a DuBois title in the way he did, those expectations have unavoidably risen.
All Kraus did as the fifth seed was gut out a 1-0 quarterfinal decision against third seeded Austin Waidal of Union Grove, before pining Wheaton Academy’s top-seeded Hezekiah Garcia in the semifinals.
Staying in the moment keyed Kraus’ mentality all day long.
“I wasn’t expecting to take first place,” Kraus said. “I always go out there thinking about winning and losing, but today I just thought about wrestling and what I had to do out there. I wasn’t thinking about winning or losing.”

A fall over Oregon’s Briggs Sellers, mid-way through the third period of a hard-fought match, gave Kraus his first tournament title.

“Colin is the best kid,” coach Tony Nelson said. “He shows up to practice early, washes mats for us, and it’s always whatever he can do for everybody else. So for him to have that success with all eyes on him today was just fantastic.”

Winnebago’s Josh Cowman took third, Wheaton Academy’s Hezekiah was fourth, Union Grove’s Austin Waldal finished fifth and Lake Forest’s Rusian Martin placed sixth at 285.

Winnebago’s Josh Cowman finished with the most pins (3) in the least time (2:59) of any wrestler in the tournament, and Grayslake North’s Jacob Ronsman finished with the most tech falls (3) in the least time (9:07). Oregon’s Maxx George had the fastest fall in 12 seconds, and Prairie Ridge’s Jake Lowitzki posted the fastest tech fall in 1:52. Union Grove’s Cole Drummer scored the most team points (29), Union Grove’s Braxton Storbeck had the most single-match points (24), and Prairie Ridge’s Frank Matviychuk scored the most total match points (60).

Team scores: Richmond-Burton 235, Oregon 154, Johnsburg 154, Prairie Ridge 138, Union Grove, WI 126.5, Wheaton Academy 116.5, Grayslake North 107.5, Lake Forest 106, Crystal Lake South 72, Marengo 72, Stillman Valley 69, North Boone 65, Winnebago 55.5, Alden-Hebron 52.5, Woodstock North 42, Rockford Jefferson 22, Genoa Kingston 13, Durand 3

Richmond-Burton’s Tom Dubois Invitational results

106

1st: Lelan Nelson (Richmond-B) 10-1 def. Michael Pannarale (Stillman Valley) 6-1,  (D 11-8)

3rd: Christopher Talbert (CLSouth) 12-6 def. Riley Krumsee (Alden-Hebron) 4-2,  (F 1:33)

5th: Cam Whitehead (Winnebago ) 10-3 def. Kai Surdick (Johnsburg) 13-7,  (TF-1.5 2:57 (16-0)
113

1st: Camden Rugg (Union Grove) 8-0 def. Josiah Perez (Oregon) 7-1,  (TF-1.5 2:19 (16-0)

3rd: Chase Vogel (Johnsburg) 15-4 def. Kristian Gersch (Richmond-B) 9-5,  (F 4:24)

5th: Drew Patel (N Boone) 10-3 def. Johnny Cabano (P Ridge) 3-7,  (D 8-6)

120 

1st: Jake Lowitzki (P Ridge) 10-0 def. Isaiah Perez (Oregon) 8-1,  (MD 13-1)

3rd: Charlie Biddel (Lake Forest) 8-2, . def. Adam Glauser (Richmond-B) 11-4,  (For.)

5th: Chase Davis (Johnsburg) 15-5 def. Anthony Motejzik (Woodstock N) 14-7,  (F 5:29)

126 

1st: Mikey Meade (P Ridge) 10-1 def. Gavin Ekberg (N Boone) 10-2,  (MD 14-0)

3rd: Clayton Madula (Richmond-B) 11-2 def. Tommy Demetrio (Lake Forest) 10-4, . (F 2:30)

5th: Tanner Hansen (Johnsburg) 12-5 def. Paul Keeku (Union Grove) 4-5,  (MD 11-2)

132

1st: Nathan Randle (CLSouth) 14-0 def. Lincoln Hoger (Wheaton Ac) 12-4,  (D 4-2)

3rd: Nelson Benesh (Oregon) 6-2 def. Hayden Beebe (Marengo) 5-3,  (TF-1.5 5:57 (17-1)

5th: Christian Pease (P Ridge) 5-4 def. Chase Whitehead (Winnebago ) 8-3,  (M. For.)

138

1st: Landon Johnson (Johnsburg) 15-2 def. Tony Telos (Lake Forest) 6-5, . (TF-1.5 2:59 (18-3)

3rd: Jackson Messenger (Oregon) 4-3 def. Zion Willitts (Wheaton Ac) 1-11,  (F 1:39)

5th: Antonio Flood (Rockford Jefferson) 2-1 def. Emilio Huerta Rodriguez (Grayslake N) 3-10,  (F 2:51)

144 

1st: Emmett Nelson (Richmond-B) 8-0 def. Aiden Marrello (CLSouth) 15-3,  (TF-1.5 5:37 (19-4)

3rd: Levi Benton (Oregon) 8-1 def. Jaxon Gustafson (Winnebago ) 6-4,  (TF-1.5 3:58 (17-0)

5th: Ethan Phillips (CLSouth) 5-4 def. Lucas Wright (Union Grove) 4-5,  (MD 16-8)

150

1st: Owen Anderson (Grayslake N) 14-0 def. Kainoa Ancog (Johnsburg) 11-7,  (F 3:30)

3rd: Henry Hildreth (Stillman Valley) 4-2 def. Trenton Combs (Woodstock N) 6-10,  (F 1:04)

5th: Dalton Youngs (Richmond-B) 5-7 def. Matt Moritz (P Ridge) 5-6,  (D 5-0)

157 

1st: Cole Dummer (Union Grove) 8-1 def. Jacob Ronsman (Grayslake N) 12-2,  (TF-1.5 4:57 (17-2)

3rd: Chasen Kazmierczak (Wheaton Ac) 14-2 def. Caleb Linneman (Alden-Hebron) 5-2,  (F 1:25)

5th: Ethan Mowry (Oregon) 7-4 def. Owen Ostler (Marengo) 4-3,  (F 5:21)

165 

1st: Tyler Jones (Wheaton Ac) 13-1 def. Kacper Nalezny (Grayslake N) 4-2,  (F 5:23)

3rd: Evan Petrick (Union Grove) 6-2 def. Ethan Waugh (Stillman Valley) 3-2,  (F 1:23)

5th: Dylan Falasca (Richmond-B) 8-7 def. Aaron Alvarez (Johnsburg) 2-2,  (D 10-3)

175
1st: Blake Livdahl (Richmond-B) 11-1 def. Duke Mays (Johnsburg) 8-4,  (F 5:41)

3rd: Aiden Rodriguez (P Ridge) 9-6 def. Kyle Sorensen (Union Grove) 4-4,  (D 7-2)

5th: Gavin Cafferkey (Grayslake N) 10-7 def. Gavin Baros (Marengo) 6-3,  (D 6-5)

190

1st: Breckin Campbell (Richmond-B) 11-4 def. Logan Crowell (Alden-Hebron) 5-1, . (F 2:24)

3rd: Frank Matviychuk (P Ridge) 7-3 def. David RanDker (Woodstock N) 8-4,  (D 8-6)

5th: Brady Stewart (Stillman Valley) 4-4 def. Devin Storti (Marengo) 5-3,  (F 1:36)

215

1st: Yaree Sandifer (Lake Forest) 11-1, . def. Shane Falasca (Richmond-B) 11-4,  (MD 14-2)

3rd: Jeremy Johanik (Wheaton Ac) 12-3 def. Owen Bills (Marengo) 4-3,  (F 5:24)

5th: Walter Pollack (P Ridge) 10-3 def. Nick Davis (N Boone) 7-6,  (F 2:07)

285

1st: Colin Kraus (Richmond-B) 8-3 def. Briggs Sellers (Oregon) 5-5,  (F 5:16)

3rd: Josh Cowman (Winnebago ) 9-6 def. Hezekiah Garcia (Wheaton Ac) 10-5,  (F 1:25)

5th: Austin Waldal (Union Grove) 7-3 def. Ruslan Martin (Lake Forest) 3-2, . (D 4-2)

By Curt Herron – for the IWCOA

With three of the top eight teams in Class 2A and a total of five top-25 teams on hand,  Rockford East’s E-Rab Giardini Invitational figured to be a good early measuring stick for teams like Geneseo, Rochelle and Mahomet-Seymour that have competed in the IHSA Class 2A Dual team Finals in recent years and for St. Patrick, Rockford East and Class 1A Richmond-Burton who haven’t been to the state duals for a while but would like to be in the mix this season.

Not surprisingly, things were very competitive throughout and Geneseo led Rochelle 165-162 for top honors with Richmond-Burton third at 158.5 heading into the place matches. But that’s when coach Jon Murray’s Maple Leafs began to pull away from coach Alphonso Vruno’s Hubs as Geneseo built up a 205-184 cushion over Rochelle heading into the championship matches.

In response to coaches’ suggestions, E-Rabs coach Gene Lee and his staff moved the championship matches from the fieldhouse to the classic 1940 gymnasium where the tournament had been contested in its entirety throughout much of its nearly 40-year history. And the finals on adjacent mats featuring half of the weight classes going up from 106 and half coming down from 285 didn’t disappoint. 

When the competition was complete, longtime entrant Geneseo won the title with 215 points while Rochelle was second with 192 points and Richmond-Burton took third with 171.5 points. Mahomet-Seymour (150.5), St. Patrick (150), Belmont/Platteville, Wisconsin (136) and Rockford East (135) rounded up the top seven teams of the competition, which featured 29 schools.

The first-place Maple Leafs had two title winners, Zachary Montez (165) and Izaac Gaines (150). Montez made history by becoming one of the few individuals to capture four-straight championships in the invitational. Other top finishers for Geneseo were Devan Hornback (second at 138), Landen Vincent (third at 120), Grady Hull (third at 157), Kye Weinzierl (third at 175), Tim Sebastian (fourth at 132), Colten Mooney (fifth at 215) and Brycen Fahnestock (sixth at 106).

“It was our first tournament for the season, so it was a good start,” said Murray, a 2023 IWCOA Hall of Fame Inductee. “There was good competition and we exposed some weaknesses which is what we need to go back to the drawing board and get ready for the more important things toward the end of the season. They’ve up the competition at this tournament, as well, so that was great and we were happy to see that. We’ve been here quite a while and we  were coming here before the fieldhouse existed and everything was in this gym, so it was kind of nostalgic to come back to this gym, it reminded me of the good old days. We had a double win today for Geneseo for the boys and girls, so it was a good day for Geneseo wrestling. We have decent leadership out of these seniors and they’re stepping up and being there for each other, so that makes a big difference.”

The runner-up Hubs received title wins from Kaiden Morris (215) and Brenden Voight (157). Other teams with two champions were Mahomet-Seymour and St. Patrick. Title winners for the Bulldogs were Marco Casillas (175) and Brock VanDeveer (190) and first-place finishers for the Shamrocks were Jack Koenig (106) and Danny Goodwin (113).

Others who won titles were Prairie Ridge’s Jake Lowitzki (120), North Boone’s Gavin Ekberg (126), Crystal Lake South’s Nathan Randle (132), Rockford East’s Donald Cannon (138), Belmont/Platteville, WI’s Dylan Weigel (144) and Zion-Benton’s Isaiah Tellado (285).

Tellado led all competitors with 32 team points while Lowitzki was next with 31.5 points and Goodwin ranked third with 31 points. Cannon scored 30.5 points, Richmond-Burton’s Shane Falasca, a third-place finisher at 215, and Gaines both scored 30 points, VanDeveer, Voight and Weigel each had 29 team points, Ekberg collected 28.5 points and Morris finished with 28 team points.

The tournament is named for the Giardini family. Gary, a 2008 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee, spent his entire 36-year educational career at the school as teacher, head wrestling coach, assistant football coach and athletic director. Perry coached the E-Rabs football team to a 1985 IHSA Class 5A title with Gary assisting him and also led the wrestling program to a third-place finish in Class AA in 1998. And Terry has been a wrestling official for nearly 50 years, with most of that time in the NCAA and he also evaluates officials. 

106 – Jack Koenig, St. Patrick

Jack Koenig has big hopes as he begins his sophomore season after going 24-14 in 2023-2024 and falling one win shy of advancing to the sectional. He’d like to do what his teammate Daniel Goodwin achieved last season, which was qualifying for the IHSA 2A Finals and placing there. 

The sophomore is off to a good start after finishing third at Marmion Academy and second at Antioch in the opening week and then preceding Goodwin as a champion at the E-Rab Giardini Invitational. Koenig (12-2), who took second in this tournament a year ago, kicked off the lower weights in the finals with an 11-2 major decision over Richmond-Burton’s Lelan Nelson at 106. After opening with a win by technical fall in the quarterfinals, he became one of two of coach Dominic Angelo’s Shamrocks to reach the finals after winning a 23-9 major decision over Freeport’s Treyden Diduch in the semifinals.

“I knew going into it what I had to do for me to win the tournament,” Koenig said. “I knew that I was well-prepared so I just had to be physical with him, and it paid off. The brotherhood here is like no other. We all come in ready to work and that creates a good environment for good practice and in the end it all pays off because everyone wants to get better and that’s the most important thing.”

Nelson (4-1), a freshman, became the first of the four finalists for coach Tony Nelson’s Rockets. He opened with two falls, with the second coming in 1:01 in the semifinals over Geneseo freshman Brycen Fahnestock. Diduch (5-1), a freshman whose sister Cadence is one of four three-time IHSA champions, claimed third place with a win by technical fall in 2:00 over Crystal Lake South sophomore Christopher Talbot (8-4). For fifth place, Winnebago freshman Cam Whitehead won by technical fall in 4:29 over Fahnestock (4-4). And in the seventh place, Johnsburg freshman Kai Surdick (8-5) won by fall in 5:23 over Rockford East junior Tyler Gentry.

285 – Isaiah Tellado, Zion-Benton

Isaiah Tellado obviously has bigger plans for his senior year after going 19-14 and being unable to advance from the Class 3A Libertyville Regional last season. And while he might not have had the kind of start that he would have liked after finishing seventh at Antioch last weekend, he definitely had a different perspective on things after winning by fall in 5:36 over Hampshire’s Knox Homola in the 285 championship at the E-Rab Giardini Invitational.

Tellado, the lone finalist and one of three medal winners in the tournament for coach Hal Lunsford’s Zee-Bees, competed in five matches over the two days. He opened with three-straight falls, with the quickest of those coming in 1:17 in the quarterfinals. The senior earned his spot on the title mat with a 7-1 decision over Sun Prairie West, WI senior Corbin Smith.

“The competition, they really put me through a loop, these are some good wrestlers,” Tellado said. “We wrestled in one (tournament), and I didn’t do so well. It feels really good but like my coach told me, that even though I won, there’s still things that I have to change and that I have to work on. I’m excited just to showcase my skills. I’ve been hitting the weight room hard and I played football and play defensive line and that’s helped me.”

Homola (6-4), a freshman who only won one match a week earlier at Barrington, became one of two finalists for coach Matthew Todd’s Whip-Purs when he won by fall in 4:32 over Harlem junior Chandler Jack in the semifinals. He opened with a win by technical fall before getting another pin in the quarterfinals. Dakota junior Randy McPeek (6-1) won by forfeit over Smith (4-1) for third place. Jack (7-3) claimed fifth place with a fall in 1:23 over Winnebago senior Josh Cowman (4-3). And for seventh place, Belmont/Platteville, WI’s Rusty Wruck (4-2) won with a pin in 4:19 over Rockford East senior Eddy Esguerra (8-3).

113 – Danny Goodwin, St. Patrick

Danny Goodwin capped a successful sophomore year by being one three individuals from St. Patrick to medal at the IHSA Class 2A Finals when he took fifth place at 106 to cap a 40-11 season. Now he hopes to join fellow 2024 medalist Van Grasser to become the fourth and fifth Shamrocks to win two or more medals and also the third and fourth to reach the state title mat. 

After opening this season with a fifth-place effort at Marmion Academy, Goodwin (10-2) added to a title at Antioch by winning the 113 championship at the E-Rab Giardini Invitational when he followed teammate Jack Koenig’s title at 106 with one of his own at 113 as he captured a win by technical fall in 3:36 over Rochelle junior Freddie Hernandez in the finals to claim top honors in the invite for the second-straight year. One of two champions and three finalists for coach Dominic Angelo’s Shamrocks, he followed a fall and then a win by technical fall with a pin in 1:58 over Richmond-Burton senior Kristian Gersch in the semifinals.

“Marmion was definitely a tough tournament to start the year and I ended up taking fifth there but I really turned it around at Antioch and I won the tournament there,” Goodwin said. “We’ve really turned it around. We had about five seniors leave from last year, so our junior core, with me as a team captain and our 120-pounder Calvin Stahl and Van Grasser, who’s also in the finals, we decided that we wanted to change the culture around the place and we really want people to know St. Pat’s for wrestling. Our head coach, Dom Angelo, when he came in last year, we were really able to turn it around. We have a great coaching staff. I think I’m a natural shooter, so I just need to keep shooting and get to my attacks and just have fun out there.”

Hernandez (4-2), became one of four finalists for coach Alphonso Vruno’s second-place Hubs when he captured an 11-9 decision over Dakota junior Brandon White in the semifinals. That followed another decision in his first match and a major decision in the quarterfinals. White (4-1) claimed third place with a fall in 0:43 over Hampshire junior Deegan Kirschke (9-5). Gersch (5-2) took fifth after winning a 6-4 decision over Mahomet-Seymour sophomore Gideon Hayter (6-4). And for seventh, Johnsburg freshman Chase Vogel (10-3) won by forfeit over Rochelle junior Colten Manning.

215 – Kaiden Morris, Rochelle

Kaiden Morris became one of six individuals from Rochelle to compete in a title match at the IHSA Finals last season and settled for second at 215 after getting pinned in 2:12 by IC Catholic Prep’s Michael Calcagno to finish with a 41-4 record. Now the senior hopes that he can become the second to win a state championship, joining Pat Brownson, who won Class AA titles at 189 in both 2002 and 2003.  

Morris (6-0) started his season off on a good note as he won the 215 title at the E-Rab Giardini Invitational when he captured a 12-5 decision over Sun Prairie West, WI senior Jaxon Johnson to become one of two champions for Rochelle, with Brenden Voight the other at 157. After opening the competition with two falls, Morris, who also took first in this invite a year ago, won another decision in the semifinals, this time 4-2 over Geneseo sophomore Colten Mooney, to become one of the four finalists for coach Alphonso Vruno’s Hubs, who took second place in the invite and advanced to quarterfinals of the IHSA Class 2A Dual Team Finals last season.

“(Jaxon Johnson) He was on a team that this was their first year first coming here so I haven’t seen him in the past,” Morris said. “He’s a Wisconsin guy and it’s great to see other competition and it’s also great competition early in the year and I really like that. We came in here with a goal of 200, and we ended up at 192, so we’re really close, we’re right there. Coach has been preaching to us that we’re a great team and we can bang with these guys and we showed it. We’re just like a family and I think with this close-knit group, we push everybody to be better, and that just makes the team better as a whole. It’s a mindset thing. I know that I have to believe in myself and that I can win this and I can beat anybody in the state and I can be a champion. When it comes down to that, you win the match even before you step out there if you have that mindset.” 

Johnson, who placed fourth last season in the WIAA Finals and competes for a program that had a co-op with Sun Prairie West for two years, was one of two individuals from Wisconsin to advance to the finals. He recorded first-period falls in his other three matches, pinning another competitor from north of the border, Belmont/Platteville, WI’s Mason Mandurano, in 27 seconds in the semifinals. Richmond-Burton freshman Shane Falasca (8-2) won by fall in 0:59 over Prairie Ridge senior Walter Pollack (6-2) to claim third place while Mooney (7-2) took fifth place by forfeit over Mandurano. For seventh, Mahomet-Seymour senior Hayden Hart (8-3) won a 13-7 decision over North Boone sophomore Nick Davis (3-3).

120 – Jake Lowitzki, Prairie Ridge

Jake Lowitzki qualified for the IHSA Class 2A Finals last season as a junior but came up a bit shy of a medal to finish with a 35-10 record. He’s looking forward to bigger and better things in 2024-2025 and is off to a good start after winning a title in his initial tournament, the E-Rab Giardini Invitational, capturing the 120 championship by injury forfeit in 1:30 over Richmond-Burton’s Adam Glauser.

Lowitzki, the lone finalist and one of four medal winners for coach Ross Ryan’s Wolves, followed a fall with a win by technical fall in the quarterfinals before earning his spot on the title mat with another first-period pin, this time in 0:46, over Geneseo freshman Landen Vincent in the semifinals.

“It’s super exciting with all of the hard work that I’ve put in leading up to this tournament,” Lowitzki said. “I’m a senior and it’s exciting since it’s one last run and I’m preparing for a state run. I worked out every single day and I lifted and I had two practices working on technique. I have great coaches who are pushing me to be my best. I want my mindset to be as strong as it possibly can be. This feels great.”

Glauser (5-2), a freshman who was one of four second-place finishers for coach Tony Nelson’s third-place Rockets, got a fall in his first match, followed that with a win by technical fall and a pin in the quarterfinals before winning a 6-2 decision in the semifinals over St. Patrick junior Calvin Stahl. Vincent (8-1) claimed third place with a fall in 1:36 over Stahl (8-5). Rochelle freshman Aidan Lopez (6-2) took fifth with an 11-5 decision over North Boone freshman Gabe Marella (6-3) and Hampshire junior Lou Jensen (6-5) won by fall in 4:37 over Woodstock North senior Anthony Motejzik (9-5) to finish in seventh place.

190 – Brock VanDeveer, Mahomet-Seymour

Brock VanDeveer had a successful junior year by going 36-16 in 2023-2024 but fell a bit shy of qualifying for the IHSA Class 2A Finals from his own sectional, Mahomet-Seymour, before competing with his team in the IHSA Class 2A Dual Team Finals. With his sights set on making a trip to Champaign to cap off his senior season, he’s off to a good start after opening with a third-place showing at Antioch’s DeRousse Invite in week one with a championship at 190 at the E-Rab Giardini Invitational. 

He’s off to an 8-1 start after being one of two champions and finalists for the Bulldogs, who are coached by 2011 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee Rob Ledin, with Marco Casillas the other. VanDeveer opened with a win by technical fall and then recorded a pin in the quarterfinals before advancing to the 190 title mat with a 4-2 decision over Rochelle junior Roman Villalobos in the semifinals. He got another win by technical fall in the finals, needing just 2:21 to defeat Elgin senior Fabian Ramirez.

“It was a great tournament,” VanDeveer said. “I had a good semifinals match and I like getting those good matches to get some experience. Obviously the title match could have gone either way, but it went my way, and that’s great. Marco is a freshman and he’s going to be great. I’ve practiced with the Casillas, Marco and Mateo, and being able to practice with them is a privilege. Coach Ledin is a great coach and he treated me like family the day I got here. Dan Casillas and coach (Craig) Acree have been great to me and they’ve helped me to become such a better wrestler.”

Ramirez (7-1), a Class 3A state qualifier last season who finished with a 20-6 record, was the lone medalist for coach Brandon Massey’s Maroons. He advanced to the title mat with three first-period falls, recording a pin in 2:00 over Prairie Ridge sophomore Frank Matviychuk in the semifinals. Villalobos (6-1) claimed third place with an 8-0 major decision over Zion-Benton senior Tyson Poyer (10-4). For fifth place, Matviychuk (3-2) won by fall in 0:45 over Richmond-Burton sophomore Breckin Campbell. In the seventh-place match, Woodstock North junior David Randecker (4-2) won by fall in 1:07 over Woodstock sophomore Jaxson Hansen.

126 – Gavin Ekberg, North Boone

Gavin Ekberg made history last season at North Boone after he became just the fourth individual from his program to place at state and the first to do so since four-time IHSA Class 1A finalist and two-time champion Brandon Briggs wrapped up his career in 2015. Now he hopes that he can follow up on his 39-9 junior year where he finished sixth at 126 in Class 1A to join Briggs as the lone individuals from the Poplar Grove school to win more than one state medal.

Ekberg (6-0), who did not place in this tournament a year ago, was the lone finalist for coach Jason Mamer-Cox’s Vikings. He won the E-Rab Giardini championship at 126 with a 7-0 decision over Richmond-Burton’s Clay Madula. After opening with a fall, he added a major decision and earned his spot on the title mat with a win by technical fall in 4:00 over Harlem sophomore Jaydee Doke.

“I’m going for the title this year, that’s the plan,” Ekberg said of his state goals. “I practiced a little with Dalton Bullard and we ironed a lot of things out. I don’t think that a lot of people were expecting me to go down to state so that definitely changed a lot of things. I need to be wrestling smarter than a lot of people, minimizing mistakes and trying to be faster and just taking it one match at a time. This was the championship, but I treated every match through this tournament like it was the last one.”

Madula (5-1), a senior who took second in this tournament a year ago, was one of four finalists for coach Tony Nelson’s Rockets. He opened with a win by technical fall before recording two pins, with the second of those in 3:53 over Belvidere North junior Bryson Tuenissen in the semifinals. Woodstock junior Taqi Baker (10-3) took third place with an 11-8 win by sudden victory over Tuenissen (7-2). Rockford East sophomore Victor Onofre (8-4) claimed fifth place after winning by technical fall in 5:58 over Doke (7-3). And for seventh place, Freeport sophomore Thomas Olson (6-3) won by fall in 1:04 over St. Patrick sophomore Dean Angelo.

175 – Marco Casillas, Mahomet-Seymour

Marco Casillas hopes to follow in his brother Mateo’s footsteps, and for good reason. Mateo won the IHSA Class 2A title at 195 after placing third at that weight in 2022 and took second at 195 in the IWCOA Open Finals in 2021. His title in 2023 was the first for Mahomet-Seymour since Andrew Brewer took top honors in Class 2A at 171 in 2009. His brother also was a standout athlete in football and baseball, and is now competing in baseball in college. 

Casillas (8-1) is off to a good start in his freshman season, bouncing back from a second-place finish at Antioch’s DeRousse Invite one week earlier with a title at 175 in the E-Rab Giardini Invitational when he captured a 7-5 decision over Richmond-Burton’s Blake Livdahl. He claimed wins by technical fall in his first two matches before joining 190 title winner Brock VanDeveer as one of two champs and finalists for the Bulldogs, who are coached by 2011 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee Rob Ledin.

“It motivates me to be better because I want to be better than he was,” Marco said of his brother Mateo. “Brock and I are always pushing each other and we’re just trying to get better. (His teammates) They’re really fun to hang out with, I have a great time. I want to get experience by wrestling tougher guys and always keep working.”

Livdahl (5-1), a sophomore who was one of four finalists for coach Tony Nelson’s Rockets, opened with a win by technical fall and then won a pair of two-point decisions, prevailing 6-4 over Rockford East junior Malachi Cannon in the semifinals. Geneseo junior Kye Weinzierl (8-1) took third place with a 13-3 major decision over Sun Prairie West, WI sophomore Niko DeZiel (6-2). Belmont/Platteville, WI senior Kadyn Davis (5-2) captured a 16-8 major decision over Cannon (4-3) to finish fifth and Belvidere junior Juan Cervantes (6-2) claimed seventh place when he won 7-6 by ultimate tiebreaker over Harlem sophomore Charles Faulkner (5-5).

132 – Nathan Randle, Crystal Lake South

Nathan Randle went 35-11 and qualified for the IHSA Class 2A Finals at 126 and was a member of a Wauconda team that qualified for the Dual Team Finals in 2024. The previous season, he took second place in 2A at 113 in 2023 after falling 3-2 to Glenwood’s Drew Davis in the title match and he also was a member of a Bulldogs team that finished third at Dual Team State. After enjoying success for two seasons under coach Trevor Jauch, the junior decided to move to a new setting, Crystal Lake South, which is where Jauch, a three-time IHSA Class 2A champion from 2009-2011 at Crystal Lake Central, is the new head coach of the Gators’ program.

So far, so good for Randle (9-0) as he followed up on a title at Vernon Hills with one at the E-Rab Giardini Invitational after rallying from an early 7-0 deficit to capture a 9-8 decision over Rochelle’s Xavier Villalobos in the 132 championship match. The Gator’s lone finalist, he won his opener by technical fall, claimed a 9-3 decision in the quarterfinals and earned his spot on the title mat with another win by technical fall, in 5:52, over Geneseo senior Tim Sebastian.

“Me and him kind of have the same back story,” Randle said. “Freshman year we both placed pretty high, sophomore year we both DNP. He’s a senior and in his junior year, he came back and placed so I’m trying to be back up there again junior year. I’m super fired-up. Last year was really mental for me and I just wasn’t there. So this year, I’ve been working on my mental game since I feel like I have all of the physicals to be there. I just transferred from Wauconda and my coaches came here, so we moved and I decided to come to Crystal Lake South to be with them because they’re the greatest coaches out there.”

Villalobos (5-1), a senior who went 44-4 a year ago and claimed fifth place at 126 in the IHSA 2A Finals and also was on a team that competed in the Dual Team Finals after finishing second at 113 in 2022 as a freshman, was one of four finalists for coach Alphonso Vruno’s runner-up Hubs. A defending champion in this tournament, Villalobos had falls in his first two matches before capturing a 7-2 decision in the semifinals over Prairie Ridge senior Mikey Meade (6-1), who took third place with a 10-9 decision over Sebastian (7-2), who also was a state qualifier last season. Belmont/Platteville, WI freshman Briggs Weigel won by fall in 3:12 over Harlem junior Izayah Olejniczak (6-3) to finish fifth and Zion-Benton senior Luis Medina (9-4) claimed seventh place with a pin in 1:33 over Johnsburg junior Jared Lopez (7-7).

165 – Zachary Montez, Geneseo

Zachary Montez accomplished something that few have achieved at the E-Rab Giardini Invitational, and that is winning the tournament championship for the fourth year in a row. Now the Geneseo senior, who went 42-3 and placed third in the 2024 IHSA Class 2A Finals at 150 a year ago, hopes to become the first Maple Leaf to be a four-time state medalist and also join the program’s other three-time medalists, 

Hunter Grau and Adam Sheley, as state champions. He also took third place at 132 in 2023 and finished fourth at 113 in 2022.

Montez (8-0) won his fourth championship in the competition by claiming a 12-3 major decision over St. Patrick’s Van Grasser in the 165 title match. He followed a fall with a 5-3 decision in the quarterfinals before becoming one of four finalists for the champion Maple Leafs when he captured a 7-1 decision over Rochelle’s Grant Gensler. He joined Izaac Gaines, the 150 champion, as one of two title winners for Geneseo, who’s coached by 2023 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee Jon Murray.

“It’s special getting that four times,” Montez said. “That was a pretty tough bracket. (Being a state champion) That’s the goal and that’s what I’ve been looking forward to. My goals are not just to get that individual title but it’s also to get that team title. We want to get top two and hopefully get that championship. Every day we’re in the room trying to get better. Everyone is trying to get better and we’re helping each other and we’re doing all of the extra stuff that we’re supposed to be doing to be a top team.”

Grasser (8-4), a junior who went 39-17 last season and claimed sixth in the Class 2A Finals at 157, was one of three finalists for coach Dominic Angelo’s Shamrocks. He opened the season with a second-place finish at Marmion Academy before finishing fourth at Antioch’s DeRousse Invite. Grasser recorded falls in his first three matches, earning his spot on the 165 finals with a pin in 2:42 over Rockford East juniorTy Smart. Gensler (6-1), a senior, took third with a 4-0 decision over Northridge Prep senior Adam Haddad (4-2). In the fifth-place match, Mahomet-Seymour  junior AJ Demos (7-4) won by forfeit over Smart (7-3). And for seventh, Belvidere North junior Andrew Bucci (6-3) won by fall in 2:37 over Freeport senior Maddox Olson (4-4).

138 – Donald Cannon, Rockford East

Donald Cannon has two big opportunities to make history at Rockford East as he concludes his career this season. One is to become the second E-Rab to be a three-time IHSA medalist, which has only been done by Jordan Kolinski from 2002-2004. The other is to become a state champion, which only four other E-Rabs have been able to accomplish, including just one since 2000, which was Aydin Guttridge, who claimed first place at 285 in Class 3A in 2019. 

A year ago, he capped a 37-3 season by finishing fourth in Class 2A at 132 and in 2022 as a freshman, he took fifth at 126 in 2A. A runner-up in the E-Rab Giardini Invitational a year ago, he’s off to a good start this season with a 6-0 record after recording a fall in 2:40 over Geneseo’s Devan Hornback in the 138 title match to be the only champion and one of two finalists for coach Gene Lee’s E-Rabs. Cannon opened his title run with a fall, followed with a major decision and won by technical fall in 4:07 over United Township junior Xavier Marolf in the semifinals.

“I really think that I can finish off on a good note,” Cannon said. “I want to thank my mom and dad because they really help me out and my dad is always there for me and trying to encourage me to do better. We’re all working as a team to improve each other and everybody wants to improve on the team.”

Hornback (7-2), a senior who won 26 matches last season but fell a bit short of a state trip, opened the tournament with two falls and earned his spot on the 138 title match by claiming a 5-4 decision over Belmont/Platteville, WI senior Cam Spensley in the semifinals. Johnsburg senior Landon Johnson (10-2) captured third place with a 12-1 major decision over Mahomet-Seymour junior Justus Vrona (7-4). In the fifth-place match, Marolf (7-2) won by fall in 3:30 over Spensley and for seventh place, Harlem senior Owen Recoy (5-2) recorded a pin in 3:19 over Woodstock sophomore Landyn White (6-6).

157 – Brenden Voight, Rochelle

Brenden Voight fell a bit short of qualifying from the Class 2A Sycamore Sectional a year ago, but he went 32-10 and got the chance to compete for Rochelle in the IHSA Class 2A Dual Team Finals as the program made its second appearance the competition and first since 2018, when it took fourth place in Class 2A. The Hubs junior is hoping for another appearance at team state as well as earning a trip to Champaign prior to that and he’s off to a good start with a 7-0 record after claiming a 9-7 decision over Hampshire’s Aric Abbott in the 157 championship match of the E-Rab Giardini Invitational, where Rochelle finished second to champion Geneseo.

Voight, one of four finalists and two champions for coach Alphonso Vruno’s Hubs, competed in five matches during the two-day event, opening with two wins by technical fall before recording a pin in the quarterfinals and earning his spot on the 157 title mat with a 7-4 win by sudden victory over Geneseo junior Grady Hull.

“We only really lost two of our guys from last year and we had a lot of people fill in for them so we have a lot of the guys that have been in the lineup for the past three years,” Voight said. “Coach Vruno has been running the program great and we do the same things every year and we get a lot of help from our other coaches. The coaches’ focus on us is good and they get a lot of 1-on-1 time with us. Our coaching staff is great and I think our team is going to be great this year, too. We have a great bond with all of us guys being on the team together for the past three years. And we have a great bond with the coaching staff, too, we’re all a family out there. I have a good partner in Grant (Gensler), he helps me a lot. The big thing for me is my partner and my coaches. I definitely love the competition here, there’s a lot of good schools. I thought it was a great tournament and it’s been a tough tournament every year.”

Abbott (8-4), a junior who went 16-10 last season and fell one win shy of Class 3A sectional trip, joined 285-pounder Knox Homola as the two finalists for coach Matthew Todd’s Whip-Purs. He got his first win by technical fall in his opener and followed with two pins before earning his spot on the 157 title mat with a victory by technical fall in 4:17 over Freeport junior Sajjad Abdulrazzaq in the semifinals. Hull (8-1) took third place with a fall in 3:00 over United Township junior Brody Oppendike (8-2). For fifth place, Woodstock junior Logan Wisner (10-4) recorded a pin in 5:11 over Abdulrazzaq (6-3). And in the seventh-place march, North Boone senior Maysen Smith (6-2) captured a 10-7 decision over LaSalle-Peru senior Zach Pocivasek (7-4).

144 – Dylan Weigel, Belmont/Platteville, Wisconsin

Dylan Weigel qualified for the WIAA D2 Individual Finals in each of the last two seasons and is looking to have a breakthrough season by placing there this time. The junior from Belmont/Platteville, WI was the lone champion from the three out-of-state teams at the E-Rab Giardini invitational with another being from Wisconsin and the other from Mississippi.  Weigel (4-0) captured the title at 144 with an 11-3 major decision over Belvidere North’s Dominick Girardin. The lone finalist for his team, he also had two wins by technical fall and a major decision, winning by technical fall in 5:30 over Belvidere junior Landon VanAcker in the semifinals.

Girardin (8-1), a senior who went 25-8 last season but was unable to advance from the Class 3A Barrington Sectional, was the lone finalist for coach Ronald Hamilton’s Blue Thunder. He opened with two wins by technical fall before capturing a 9-7 decision over Metamora junior Connor Graham in the semifinals. In the third-place match, Crystal Lake South sophomore Aiden Marrello (11-2) won a 10-3 decision over VanAcker (5-2). St. Patrick sophomore Pat Hulne (12-3) claimed an 11-9 decision over Graham (7-3) for fifth. For seventh place, Rochelle sophomore Joshua Lassiter (5-3) won by fall in 4:49 over United Township freshman Caleb Flint (6-3). 

150 – Izaac Gaines, Geneseo

Izaac Gaines made an impressive debut last season as he finished his freshman season with a 21-6 record and was one five state qualifiers for Geneseo and got a victory in his first match in Champaign. He’d obviously like to build on that success and not only get back to the IHSA Finals but also place there. And a bonus would be helping to get the Maple Leafs back to the IHSA Class 2A Dual Team Finals for the second time in three years and hopefully get a trophy, as they did in 2023 when they claimed fourth place. 

Gaines (8-0) was one of three finalists and joined four-time E-Rab Giardini champion Zachary Montez as one of the two title winners for the Maple Leafs, who captured top honors in the 29-team competition and are coached by 2023 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee Jon Murray. Gaines secured one of the last titles of the tournament when he won a 10-0 major decision over Rockford East’s Dana Wickson for the 150 championship. The sophomore got wins by technical fall in his first and third matches and also had a first-minute pin in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals he won by technical fall in 4:49 over Metamora sophomore Grady Neal.

“I just really wanted to go out there and put up a lot of points and just wrestle my best,” Gaines said. “We wrestled really good and a lot of our guys competed very well. A couple of guys didn’t make it to the finals but they came back and wrestled hard. We all get along well and it’s like a family. I’ve been putting a lot of work in and I’m excited to see what happens this year.”

Wickson (8-1), a junior who was one of two finalists for coach Gene Lee’s E-Rabs, also was a state qualifier last season who won his first match in Champaign to cap a 38-12 season. He opened his run to the finals with two wins by technical fall before capturing a 10-0 major decision over Freeport freshman Blake Slusser in the semifinals. In the third-place match, Belmont/Platteville, WI junior Tyler Kisamore (7-1) was a winner by technical fall in 4:55 over Mahomet-Seymour sophomore Talon Decker (5-2). Neal (7-3) recorded a fall in 1:29 over Slusser (5-3) to claim fifth place and Hampshire senior Chris Napiorkowski (9-5) was a winner by fall in 1:24 over Johnsburg junior Kainoa Ancog (8-5) to take seventh place. 

E-Rab Giardini Invitational place matches 

106

1st Place Match

Jack Koenig (St. Patrick) 12-2, So. over Lelan Nelson (Richmond-Burton) 4-1, Fr. (MD 11-2)

3rd Place Match

Treyden Diduch (Freeport) 5-1, Fr. over Christopher Talbert (Crystal Lake South) 8-4, So. (TF-1.5 2:00 (18-2))

5th Place Match

Cam Whitehead (Winnebago) 4-2, Fr. over Brycen Fahnestock (Geneseo) 4-4, Fr. (TF-1.5 4:29 (15-0))

7th Place Match

Kai Surdick (Johnsburg) 8-5, Fr. over Tyler Gentry (Rockford East) 3-5, Jr. (Fall 5:23)

113

1st Place Match

Danny Goodwin (St. Patrick) 10-2, Jr. over Freddie Hernandez (Rochelle) 4-2, Jr. (TF-1.5 3:36 (19-3))

3rd Place Match

Brandon White (Dakota) 4-1, Jr. over Deegan Kirschke (Hampshire) 9-5, Jr. (Fall 0:43)

5th Place Match

Kristian Gersch (Richmond-Burton) 5-2, Sr. over Gideon Hayter (Mahomet-Seymour) 6-4, So. (Dec 6-4)

7th Place Match

Chase Vogel (Johnsburg) 10-3, Fr. over Colten Manning (Rochelle) 2-3, Jr. (For.)

120

1st Place Match

Jake Lowitzki (Prairie Ridge) 6-0, Sr. over Adam Glauser (Richmond-Burton) 5-2, Fr. (Inj. 1:30)

3rd Place Match

Landen Vincent (Geneseo) 8-1, Fr. over Calvin Stahl (St. Patrick) 8-5, Jr. (Fall 1:36)

5th Place Match

Aidan Lopez (Rochelle) 6-2, Fr. over Gabe Marella (North Boone) 6-3, Fr. (Dec 11-5)

7th Place Match

Lou Jensen (Hampshire) 6-5, Jr. over Anthony Motejzik (Woodstock North) 9-5, Sr. (Fall 4:37)

126

1st Place Match

Gavin Ekberg (North Boone) 6-0, Sr. over Clay Madula (Richmond-Burton) 5-1, Sr. (Dec 7-0)

3rd Place Match

Taqi Baker (Woodstock) 10-3, Jr. over Bryson Tuenissen (Belvidere North) 7-2, Jr. (SV-1 11-8)

5th Place Match

Victor Onofre (Rockford East) 8-4, So. over Jaydee Doke (Harlem) 7-3, So. (TF-1.5 5:58 (27-11))

7th Place Match

Thomas Olson (Freeport) 6-3, So. over Dean Angelo (St. Patrick) 3-8, So. (Fall 1:04)

132

1st Place Match

Nathan Randle (Crystal Lake South) 9-0, Jr. over Xavier Villalobos (Rochelle) 5-1, Sr. (Dec 9-8)

3rd Place Match

Mikey Meade (Prairie Ridge) 6-1, Sr. over Tim Sebastian (Geneseo) 7-2, Sr. (Dec 10-9)

5th Place Match

Briggs Weigel (Belmont/Platteville, WI) 5-2, Fr. over Izayah Olejniczak (Harlem) 6-3, Jr. (Fall 3:12)

7th Place Match

Luis Medina (Zion-Benton) 9-4, Sr. over Jared Lopez (Johnsburg) 7-7, Jr. (Fall 1:33)

138

1st Place Match

Donald Cannon (Rockford East) 6-0, Sr. over Devan Hornback (Geneseo) 7-2, Sr. (Fall 2:40)

3rd Place Match

Landon Johnson (Johnsburg) 10-2, Sr. over Justus Vrona (Mahomet-Seymour) 7-4, Jr. (MD 12-1)

5th Place Match

Xavier Marolf (United Township) 7-2, Jr. over Cam Spensley (Belmont/Platteville, WI) 2-3, Sr. (Fall 3:30)

7th Place Match

OWEN RECOY (Harlem) 5-2, Sr. over Landyn White (Woodstock) 6-6, So. (Fall 3:19)

144

1st Place Match

Dylan Weigel (Belmont/Platteville, WI) 4-0, Jr. over Dominick Girardin (Belvidere North) 8-1, Sr. (MD 11-3)

3rd Place Match

Aiden Marrello (Crystal Lake South) 11-2, So. over Landon VanAcker (Belvidere) 5-2, Jr. (Dec 10-3)

5th Place Match

Pat Hulne (St. Patrick) 12-3, So. over Connor Graham (Metamora) 7-3, Jr. (Dec 11-9)

7th Place Match

Joshua Lassiter (Rochelle) 5-3, So. over Caleb Flint (United Township) 6-3, Fr. (Fall 4:49)

150

1st Place Match

Izaac Gaines (Geneseo) 8-0, So. over Dana Wickson (Rockford East) 8-1, Jr. (MD 10-0)

3rd Place Match

Tyler Kisamore (Belmont/Platteville, WI) 7-1, Jr. over Talon Decker (Mahomet-Seymour) 5-2, So. (TF-1.5 4:55 (18-3))

5th Place Match

Grady Neal (Metamora) 7-3, So. over Blake Slusser (Freeport) 5-3, Fr. (Fall 1:29)

7th Place Match

Chris Napiorkowski (Hampshire) 9-5, Sr. over Kainoa Ancog (Johnsburg) 8-5, Jr. (Fall 1:24)

157

1st Place Match

Brenden Voight (Rochelle) 7-0, Jr. over Aric Abbott (Hampshire) 8-4, Jr. (Dec 9-7)

3rd Place Match

Grady Hull (Geneseo) 8-1, Jr. over Brody Oppendike (United Township) 8-2, Jr. (Fall 3:00)

5th Place Match

Logan Wisner (Woodstock) 10-4, Jr. over Sajjad Abdulrazzaq (Freeport) 6-3, Jr. (Fall 5:11)

7th Place Match

Maysen Smith (North Boone) 6-2, Sr. over Zach Pocivasek (LaSalle-Peru) 7-4, Sr. (Dec 10-7)

165

1st Place Match

Zachary Montez (Geneseo) 8-0, Sr. over Van Grasser (St. Patrick) 8-4, Jr. (MD 12-3)

3rd Place Match

Grant Gensler (Rochelle) 6-1, Sr. over Adam Haddad (Northridge Prep) 4-2, Sr. (Dec 4-0)

5th Place Match

AJ Demos (Mahomet-Seymour) 7-4, Jr. over Ty Smart (Rockford East) 7-3, Jr. (For.)

7th Place Match

Andrew Bucci (Belvidere North) 6-3, Jr. over Maddox Olson (Freeport) 4-4, Sr. (Fall 2:37)

175

1st Place Match

Marco Casillas (Mahomet-Seymour) 8-1, Fr. over Blake Livdahl (Richmond-Burton) 5-1, So. (Dec 7-5)

3rd Place Match

Kye Weinzierl (Geneseo) 8-1, Jr. over Niko DeZiel (Sun Prairie West, WI) 6-2, So. (MD 13-3)

5th Place Match

Kadyn Davis (Belmont/Platteville, WI) 5-2, Sr. over Malachi Cannon (Rockford East) 4-3, Jr. (MD 16-8)

7th Place Match

Juan Cervantes (Belvidere) 6-2, Jr. over Charles Faulkner (Harlem) 5-5, So. (TB-1 7-6)

190

1st Place Match

Brock VanDeveer (Mahomet-Seymour) 8-1, Sr. over Fabian Ramirez (Elgin) 7-1, Sr. (TF-1.5 2:21 (17-2))

3rd Place Match

Roman Villalobos (Rochelle) 6-1, Jr. over Tyson Poyer (Zion-Benton) 10-4, Sr. (MD 8-0)

5th Place Match

Frank Matviychuk (Prairie Ridge) 3-2, So. over Breckin Campbell (Richmond-Burton) 6-3, So. (Fall 0:45)

7th Place Match

David Randecker (Woodstock North) 4-2, Jr. over Jaxson Hansen (Woodstock) 6-5, So. (Fall 1:07)

215

1st Place Match

Kaiden Morris (Rochelle) 6-0, Sr. over Jaxon Johnson (Sun Prairie West, WI) 3-1, Sr. (Dec 12-5)

3rd Place Match

Shane Falasca (Richmond-Burton) 8-2, Fr. over Walter Pollack (Prairie Ridge) 6-2, Sr. (Fall 0:59)

5th Place Match

Colten Mooney (Geneseo) 7-2, So. over Mason Mandurano (Belmont/Platteville, WI) 3-2, Sr. (For.)

7th Place Match

Hayden Hart (Mahomet-Seymour) 8-3, Sr. over Nick Davis (North Boone) 3-3, So. (Dec 13-7)

285

1st Place Match

Isaiah Tellado (Zion-Benton) 10-3, Sr. over Knox Homola (Hampshire) 6-4, Fr. (Fall 5:36)

3rd Place Match

Randy McPeek (Dakota) 6-1, Jr. over Corbin Smith (Sun Prairie West, WI) 4-1, Sr. (M. For.)

5th Place Match

Chandler Jack (Harlem) 7-3, Jr. over Josh Cowman (Winnebago) 4-3, Sr. (Fall 1:23)

7th Place Match

Rusty Wruck (Belmont/Platteville, WI) 4-2, Sr. over Eddy Esguerra (Rockford East) 8-3, Sr. (Fall 4:19)

Team scores

1. Geneseo 215, 2. Rochelle 192, 3. Richmond-Burton 171.5, 4. Mahomet-Seymour 150.5, St. Patrick 150, 6. Belmont/Platteville, WI 136, 7. Rockford East 135, 8. Hampshire 116, 9. Prairie Ridge 104.5, 10. Harlem 97, 11. Zion-Benton 95.5, 12. Johnsburg 90, 13. Crystal Lake South 81, 14. Sun Prairie West, WI 80.5, 15. United Township 80, 16. Freeport 78, 17. Belvidere North 73.5, 18. Woodstock 69, 19, Dakota 66, 20. North Boone 64.5, 21. Winnebago 47.5, 22. LaSalle-Peru 37, 23. Metamora 34, 23, Oak Grove, MS 34, 25. Elgin 32, 26. Belvidere 28, 27. Northridge Prep 27, 28. Woodstock North 27, 29. Metea Valley 6.

By Curt Herron – for the IWCOA

Kaneland’s Gochis receives OWA at Girls Dan Gable Donnybrook

Kaneland’s Angelina Gochis not only was the lone Illinois champion at the prestigious Girls Dan Gable Donnybrook in Coralville, Iowa but she was also selected as the recipient of the event’s Outstanding Wrestler Award after recording four wins by technical fall as well as a pin to capture the title at 110 with a win by technical fall in 3:50 over Lincoln-Way co-op’s Zoe Dempsey in a matchup of the only two individuals from Illinois who advanced to the title mat.

Gochis (8-0), a sophomore who went 47-5 last season and won the IHSA championship at 105, tied two others for second place for the most team points with 48, which was just one point behind the leader, Fort Dodge, Iowa’s Mariaha Benedict  and she also the second-highest total of match points with 84, which was four behind the leader, Raccoon River-Northwest Iowa’s Cassidy McCallister. Her four wins by technical far were twice as many as the next-best mark of two, which was achieved by five competitors.

Gochis opened with a win by technical fall, followed with a first-minute pin and then won two more times by technical fall to reach the 110 title match. Herfirst three wins by technical fall were all completed in the opening period, with her win in 1:13 over Basehor-Linwood’s Delaney Locke in the semifinals assured her of her matchup with Dempsey for the championship.

Kaneland, coached by Josh West, had five placewinners to help it tie for 13th place with 150 points and Lincoln-Way co-op, coached by Joshua Napier, placed six individuals to finish 15th with 145.5 points. 

Other top finishers for Kaneland were Brooklyn Sheaffer (third at 130), Sadie Kinsella (fourth at 190), Dyani Torres (eighth at 145) and Carly Duffing (11th at 235). Sheaffer (9-1) advanced to the semifinals while Kinsella (5-2), Torres (6-4) and Duffing (6-4) all lost in the quarterfinals. Sheaffer finished sixth at 120 in the 2023 IHSA Finals.

“We brought six girls out of 14 weight classes and finished in 13th place,” Kaneland coach Josh West said. “I am very proud of our girls and their effort. We have a solid team. They are a great group of girls. I believe we were a top 10 team with our full lineup at Donnybrook. We placed five of our six wrestlers. 

“Angelina has taken her wrestling to another level this year. She did not give up a single offensive point the entire tournament. She was named tournament outstanding wrestler voted on by the 45 coaches in attendance. I know I’ve said this before, but she really is something special on the wrestling mat. I love that the girls sport of wrestling is growing so much here in Illinois. I hope some of our young lady wrestlers look at her or emulate her style. She works hard, does all the little things. Angelina is a good teammate, a good student and really just a great person.  

“Dyani wrestled really well finishing seventh and Sadie lost a close one for third place. We will fix a few positions moving forward with both Dyani and Sadie and I think they both can make the IHSA State Tournament. Brooklyn finished third and she had a good tournament. Our goal is to get her to wrestle her match, be on the offense and attack more,  I believe this tournament is the start of that mindset. Carly stepped in at 235 giving up over 50 pounds and placed 11th, she was one win away from making the podium. I’m very proud of her tournament.”  

Dempsey (11-1), a junior who went 20-7 last season and placed fifth at 105 in the IHSA Finals, won her first three matches by fall and then captured a 10-3 decision over Mount Vernon, IA’s Kiersten Swart in the semifinals.  

Additional top performers for Lincoln-Way co-op were Riley DePolo (7th at 235, 9-4), Riley Cooney (10th at 125, 10-6), Ella Giertuga (10th at 140, 10-6), Emily Peyton (11th at 105, 8-6) and Aubrey Barnes (12th at 115, 8-7).

DeKalb had three finishers in the top 10. The Barbs were led by Alex Gregorio-Perez (fourth at 105, 9-2), Reese Zimmer (sixth at 125, 7-3) and Aarianna Bloyd (ninth at 235, 7-2). Zimmer advanced to the semifinals while Gregorio-Perez and Bloyd lost in the quarterfinals. At last year’s IHSA Finals, Gregoria-Perez went 33-9 last season and took sixth at 105 in the IHSA while Zimmer was 35-3 last season and placed sixth at state at 115.

Lockport Township also had three individuals who placed in the top 10. The Porters top finishers were Rebekah Ramirez (sixth at 235, 7-5), Veronica Skibicki (ninth at 110, 9-3) and  Sophie Kelner (ninth at 190, 7-4). 

Huntley had two medalists, Aubrie Rohrbacher (fourth at 135, 11-3) and Natalie Aguirre (eighth at 170, 9-5). Rohrbacher, who went 45-5 last season and placed third at 130 in the IHSA Finals, lost in the semifinals while Aguirre fell in the quarterfinals

The other top two finishers from Illinois schools were Montini Catholic’s Katelyn Bell (third at 100, 9-1) and Joliet Catholic Academy’s Grace Laird (fifth at 130, 5-2). Bell, who went 25-9 last season and placed sixth at 100 in the IHSA Finals, lost in the semifinals while Laird fell in the quarterfinals.

Cassioppi champion, Andrew/Carl Sandburg co-op fifth at the Women’s Ironman 

Two individuals from Illinois schools reached the title mat in the Women’s Ironman, which was held at Walsh Jesuit in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Hononegah’s  Angelina Cassioppi won the championship at 120 while Loyola Academy’s Harlee Hiller took second place at 115.

Cassioppi won a 7-0 decision over Olentangy Orange, OH’s Mackenzie Carder in the 120 title match. She also won a pair of close decisions, including by a 2-1 score in the semifinals over Tulsa Union, Oklahoma’s McKenna Wilson after recording a pin in the quarterfinals.

The Hononegah senior who went 17-1 last season and won the IHSA title at 120 and placed first at 120 in 2023 and first at 100 in 2022, is one of the four girls who have won three-straight IHSA titles. The others are Batavia’s Sydney Perry and Freeport’s Cadence Diduch, who are now in college, and Glenbard North’s Gabby Gomez, who’s not competing this season.  

Hiller lost a 12-3 major decision to Blair Academy, NJ’s Marie Sharp in the 115 finals. She won her first three matches by fall, including one in 5:33 over Canon-McMillan, PA’s Marlee Solomon in the semifinals. The Ramblers senior is a three-time IHSA medalist, going 24-9 and taking second at 115 in 2024, winning the title at 105 in 2023 and placing third at 105 in 2022.

Andrew/Carl Sandburg co-op scored 80 points to claim fifth place. Four competitors for coach Liz Short’s team finished in the top seven, Emma Akpan (third at 190), Alyssa Keane (fifth at 135), Nola Obon (sixth at 155) and Jade Hardee (seventh at 100).

Akpan is a two-time IHSA medalist, went 34-8 and took fourth at 190 in 2024 and sixth at 235 in 2023 while Keane finished third at state at 135 in 2023. Akpan, Obon and Hardee all fell in the quarterfinals while Keane lost her opener and then won four of her next five matches.

Lockport Township’s Claudia Heeney also competed in the event, but lost in the quarterfinals at 135 and then fell to Keane in her next match. The Porters junior went 21-1 and won the IHSA title at 130 last season after placing second at 125 in 2023.

Wardlow wins title, Joliet Catholic Academy fourth at Dan Gable Donnybrook

Lockport Township’s Justin Wardlow won the 150 championship while Joliet Catholic Academy’s Kane Robles placed second at 106 and Luke Hamiti took second place at 165 and Marmion Academy’s Mateusz Nycz was the runner-up at 285 in the Dan Gable Donnybrook, which was held at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa.

Joliet Catholic Academy placed eight individuals in the top 10 to help it claim fourth place at the 38-team competition. The Hilltoppers finished with 326.5 points, which was six behind third place Don Bosco, IA. Bettendorf, IA won the title with 366.5 points while Staley, MO took second place with 352.

Top finishers for coach Ryan Cumbee’s fourth-place Hilltoppers were runners-up Robles (106) and Hamiti (165) while Nicholas Ronchetti (190) took third and Jason Hampton (126) finished fourth. JCA also received seventh-place finishes from Elias Gonzalez (144), Nolan Vogel (150) and Vince Tindal (157) while Issac Clauson (175) took 10th and Aiden Bishop (215) was 12th.

Robles lost by fall in 3:14 in the 106 finals to Waukee Northwest, IA’s Carew Christensen and Hamiti dropped a 5-4 decision to Don Bosco, IA’s Kyler Knaack in the 165 title match.

Last season, Hamiti went 36-20 and finished fifth at 157 in the Class 3A Finals. Ronchetti went 36-12 and placed sixth at 190 after taking second at 182 in 2A in 2023. And Hampton had a 35-16 record last season and finished second at 120 in 3A after taking fourth at 113 in 2A in 2023.

“Great start to the year at our first tournament!” Cumbee said. “There’s still a lot of work to do, but I’m really proud of the effort from the entire team and how they supported each other along the way.”

Marmion Academy finished 13th with 185.5 points, Lincoln-Way West took 16th with 173.5 points and Lockport Township was 18th with 162 points. DeKalb placed 22nd with 152 points, Montini Catholic took 23rd with 138 points and Huntley placed 25th with 136 points. Other Illinois teams that scored were Mount Carmel (31st, 107), Antioch (32nd, 91) and Marian Central Catholic (36th, 67).

The top performer for Marmion was runner-up Nycz, who lost by fall in 0:25 to Freedom, WI’s Hunter Vander Heiden in the 285 finals. Others in the top-12 were Demetrios Carrera (5th, 126), Preston Morrison (9th, 106), Colton Wyller (10th at 106), Andrew Haritos (10th, 157), Vincenzo Testa (11th, 175), Grayson Garcia (12th, 132) and Luke Boersma (12th, 190).

Lincoln-Way West was led by a seventh-place finish from Jimmy Talley (190) and ninth-place showings from Max Munn (120) and Nate Elstner (215) while Shane Stream (10th, 126), Jakob Siwinski (11th, 138) and DJ Freeman (11th, 165) were next in line.

Leading the way for Lockport Township was champion Wardlow (150) and Liam Zimmerman (5th, 132). Wardlow won the 150 title match 4-1 in sudden victory over Iowa City West, IA’s Justin Avila. He also had three wins by technical fall as well as a decision to give him a total of 50.5 team points. Wardlow went 42-7 last season and took second at 138 in Class 3A after also placing second at state at 120 in 2023.

DeKalb’s best showings were turned in by Hudson Ikens (6th, 150), Sean Kolkebeck (7th, 165) and Kaden Klapprodt (8th, 120). Top performers for Montini Catholic were Eric Klichurov (3rd, 106), Jack Bell (6th, 106), Jeremy Huf (6th, 132) and Isaac Mayora (12th, 126).

Huntley was paced by Radic Dvorak (6th, 157), Colin Abordo (7th, 113) and Jesse Lovell (11th, 190). Leading the way for Mount Carmel were Justin Williamson (4th, 132), who placed sixth at 113 in Class 3A last season and Sebastian Gracia (5th, 106). The top performers for Antioch were Owen Shea (5th, 285) and Ben Vazquez (9th, 175). Marian Central Catholic was led by Austin Hagevold (6th, 113), who took fourth place at 106 in Class 1A last season.

Noble claims championship, Mendoza, Denny runners-up at Ironman

Three individuals from Illinois advanced to the title mat at Walsh Jesuit’s Ironman in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio with Warren Township’s Caleb Noble winning the title at 106 while Mount Carmel’s Seth Mendoza finished second at 138 and Marist’s Will Denny was the runner-up at 157.

Noble won the 106 championship 4-1 by sudden victory over Malvern Prep, PA’s Justin Farnsworth. However, that wasn’t his only close call in his title run. He won 16-13 in sudden victory in his second match, prevailed 11-10 in the quarterfinals and earned his spot on the title mat with a 6-2 win over Edmond North, OK’s Turner Ross in the semifinals. Noble went 42-3 last season and won the IHSA 3A title at 106.

Mendoza dropped a 4-1 decision to Perrysburg, OH’s Marcus Blaze in the 138 title match. He opened with three-straight wins by technical fall before capturing a 4-0 decision in the semifinals over Sunnyside, AZ’s Sergio Vega. Mendoza, a three-time defending IHSA 3A champion, won at 126 last season when he went 46-2, took first at 113 in 2023 and was first at 106 in 2022.

Denny lost a 12-4 major decision to Edmond North, OK’s Kody Routledge in the 157 title match. After opening with a win by technical fall and a major decision, he won 4-1 in the quarterfinals and captured a 5-4 decision over Bishop McCort, PA’s Devon Magro in the semifinals. Denny won the IHSA 3A title last season at 150 when he went 42-4 after placing fourth at 145 in 2023.

Eight others from Illinois also finished in the top eight in the competition which featured competitors from more than 120 schools . 

St. Charles East’s Dom Munaretto finished third at 120 and Marian Central Catholic’s Jimmy Mastny took third at 190. Munaretto took second at 113 in Class 3A last season after winning the title at 106 in 2023.Mastny was the Class 1A champion at 157 last season.

IC Catholic Prep’s Deven Casey placed fifth at 132, Fremd’s Evan Gosz finished fifth at 144 and Washington’s Wyatt Medlin took fifth at 150. Casey was the Class 2A champion at 120 last season after taking third at 113 in 2023 and third at 106 in 2022. Medlin took first at 138 in the IHSA 2A Finals last season after placing third at 126 in 2023. And Gosz was second at 144 in 3A last season after taking third at 126 in 2023 and third at 113 in 2022.

Warren Township’s Aaron Stewart placed sixth at 175, Marmion Academy’s Zach Stewart was seventh at 132 and Washington’s Josh Hoffer took eighth at 215. Aaron Stewart won the 3A title at 157 last season after taking third at 152 in 2023. Zach Stewart was the IHSA Class 3A champion at 138 last season. Hoffer placed fourth at 190 in 2A last season after taking sixth at 195 in 2023.

Edwardsville wins Francis Howell North Tournament

Edwardsville had five champions and nine finalists to help it score 81.5 points and win the title of the 10-team Francis Howell North Tournament by 38 points over the hosts in Saint Charles, Missouri. 

Title winners for coach Eric Pretto’s champion Tigers were Bryson Nuttall (113), Ryan Richie (138), Blake Mink (150), Roman Janek (215) and Riley Steinkuehler (285).

Michael McNamara (106), Levi Wilkinson (126), Tyler Perry (132) and Simon Schulte (190) took second place. Claiming third place were Logan Hiller (144), KJ Jamison (157), and Brendan Landau (175) while Colin Waddington (120) and Jack Cloud (165) took fourth. Edwardsville also won the junior-varsity invite with 222 points to finish four points ahead of Jackson, Missouri. 

Granite City also took part in the competition and took seventh with 19.5 points. Leading the Warriors was champion Eli Miller (175) and third-place finisher Braxton Tolley (138).

Erie/Prophetstown has two champs at Willard Howell Invite

Erie/Prophetstown co-op was the lone Illinois team in the 60th Willard Howell Invitational in Wapello, Iowa. The Panthers had two champions and three finalists to take fifth in the 13-team tournament with 104.5 points.

Champions for Erie/Prophetstown were Wyatt Goossens (157) and Caleb Reymer (285) while Jordae Crow (175) took second and Noah Wetzell (144) and Tristan Hovey (150) were fourth.

By Mike Garofola for the IWCOA

Wrestling fans were able to get a close look at five teams that will be a part of the first ever dual-team state championship later this month, when Schaumburg hosted eight clubs at the 2024 Schaumburg Girls Invite on Saturday.

There was some terrific competition jammed nicely into a neat little round-robin package that gave all of those on hand a guaranteed three matches.

“Girls wrestling continues to grow leaps and bounds, and in a few weeks it’s going to be an exciting day of wrestling at Hoffman Estates, at the dual-team state championships,” Schaumburg head coach Matt Gruszka said.

Gruszka has been one of the biggest advocates for the sport, and one who continues to be a positive voice for all involved.

“Today you were able to see five of the 16 teams who will be a part of that historic Saturday at Hoffman Estates, plus another good group of wrestlers from the other teams we invited here today,” Gruszka said.

The host Saxons, along with Hoffman Estates, Homewood-Flossmoor, Minooka, and West Aurora will compete in the dual-team  state finals on December 28.

East Aurora, Oak Park-River Forest and Yorkville were present in Schaumburg as well, bringing with them wrestlers who competed in groups of four wrestlers for both the JV and varsity level.

Here’s a closer look at each club that was on hand:

East Aurora

Ryan Mick considers himself the luckiest wrestling coach around, thanks in part to quartet of seniors he enjoys on his East Aurora varsity roster.

Ruby Becerra, Brittany Chavarria, Yoheadi Contreras and Brenda Escobedo came in as freshmen, and immediately impressed Mick, and his staff.

“(Those) four are just incredible young women, who excel both in the room, and the classroom, as each comes to practice each and everyday ready to work hard, and lead by example – it’s like having four assistant coaches in the room,” said Mick, who admits to getting emotional when speaking of his quartet.

Escobedo is fully enjoying her senior season.

“We all want to have better results, but all of us enjoy this sport so much, our teammates, and just being together in the room each day,” said Escobedo, who was 19-8 a year ago.

Escobedo (140) who is likely on her way to Aurora University next fall, says getting better shots, and being more confident in herself were two things she worked on during the offseason.

Chavarria, an IWCOA fifth-place medal winner in freestyle, wants to increase the number of take-downs in her matches and, like Escobedo, says her mental game has improved since last season.

“We have a list of goals as individuals and as a team,” said Chavarria (125-130), who also plans to attend Aurora University.  “We want to win another conference title; I do as well, and making it to state is very important to me.” 

Contreras, who will compete at 155 this season, would claim the best record for the Tomcats last season at 20-10.

“After losing in the blood-round at regionals last year, my obvious goal was to get out of regionals and wrestle well enough to make it to sectionals and possibly state in my final year of high school,” said Contreras.

Last but not least is Becerra, who on Monday received the best news of her young life when she was accepted to attend Northwestern University, where she plans to major in neuroscience.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself at times last year, but I feel so much better about that part of my game,” Becerra said. “With regionals not going very well last year, I know I will be better prepared for this year.” Becerra went 14-11 last season.

Mink is overseeing a program that reflects the growth explosion of girls wrestling in Illinois.

“We have a terrific group of wrestlers, with numbers that have consistently improved with each season to where we stand with over fifty right now,” Mink said.

“I give everything that I can, both on and off the mats, because these girls give so much of themselves back to our program.”

Hoffman Estates

Seniors Sophia Ball and Anjali Gonzalez led a contingent from Hoffman Estates that enjoyed a terrific day at the home of division and league rival Schaumburg.

Ball, the 2024 state runner-up at 120, and Gonzalez, fifth a year ago at 235, were a perfect 3-0 on the day, as were teammates Roselyn Comier, and Jennifer and Judy Soto.

“This is a good team we have, we’re getting better with each day in the room, and we have some girls who are ready to step up this season,” said Ball, who suffered her lone defeat last season in her state final against Angela Cassioppi.

Ball is a two-time state medalist.

Gonzalez, who would like to wrestle in college while pursuing a degree in art, hopes to make her third trip to the state tournament her most memorable one.

“I was dealing with an injury during the offseason which required some physical therapy, but I am feeling so much better now,” Gonzalez said. “I feel if I stay healthy, continue to work, stay hungry and mentally strong, I’ll be able to make a run at a state title.” Gonzalez had three pins Saturday, which required just over two minutes to record.

“I am a lot stronger and tougher than last year, so I know I’ll be able to handle my opponents at 235 pounds,” said Gonzalez (32-7) who is a two-time state qualifier.

The Hawks will be at Conant this week along with Schaumburg, then take some time off in advance of hosting the dual-team state tournament on December 28.

Homewood-Flossmoor 

Vikings head coach Scott Aronson admits he’s having more fun than ever with a program that continues to see more success come its way as the numbers continue to grow in the room.

“It’s an absolute blast coaching this sport,” Aronson said. “It’s just amazing to see how it’s growing all around the state and at Homewood-Flossmoor.”

Aronson was named the 2023-2024 Coach of the Year in Illinois by the 

National Wrestling Coaches Association.

“It’s exciting to see a wrestler like London Gandy come along to become such an outstanding talent so quickly, and to have others starting to make a name for themselves as well,” added Aronson, who was the man in charge of the boys program at H-F for eight years.

As a sophomore last year, Gandy advanced to the state tournament at 110 pounds and finished with a respectable 22-16 record.

“Physically and mentally London has grown so much since a year ago, and she has the confidence of a lion now,” Aronson said.

Gandy was unstoppable in her three matches Saturday, and points to an invaluable experience in the off-season.

“(Fargo) was such a great experience for me,” said Gandy, who was 2-2 there. “It taught me a lot about myself, and what I have to do in order to be the best that I can.

“I did not do well under pressure, and panicked a little, but now I feel that my confidence is so much better and that I have a stronger mental approach to everything with this sport. There’s always a lot to learn, and I am willing to do whatever it takes.”

In addition to a glowing report on Gandy, Aronson highlighted a trio of Vikings as the day drew to a close.

Senior Nina Hamm, who lost in the blood round at the Evanston sectional, was 27-11 last year, and a state qualifier as a sophomore.

Makayla Marr qualified for state last season as a sophomore, and Aronson said she is as tough as they come, and he believes the improvement from sophomore Amara Nwoye (135) will lead to plenty of victories before the season comes to an end.

Minooka

It was another solid day on the mats for the Minooka Indians, who look to repeat as regional champions and go even further in the postseason.

The Indians lost just four from its championship club, including state qualifiers Eva Beck (27-13) and Peyton Kuetlzo (34-13). But Minooka returns a solid core beginning with a pair of seniors in Palmer Calvey and Beth Castro.

“This team has been working hard and we are all confident in each other,” Calvey said. “If we continue to work, this will be a very good year for us. I worked a lot on my set-ups, and my position on top during the offseason, so I am confident that will help me this season.”

Calvey lists Loras College as one of a handful of colleges she’s considering, but fellow senior Beth Castro will take a different route following her graduation this spring.

“I want to go into the trades as a welder,” said Castro, “There’s a shortage in a lot of the trades, and welding is something that I am very interested in.”

Castro is also considering college where a business management degree would provide the skills needed for a role in team management as well.

For now, her focus is set squarely on the wrestling season.

“I am asking for a lot more help from our coaching staff this year – trying to be as open minded as I can to whatever they help me with,” Castro said.

Juniors Sabina Charlevoix and Ezra Rodriguez are ready to make their mark on the season and for head coach Minooka coach Paige Schoolman.

“I’ve been in this sport for three and a half years, and I really feel like the work I’ve put in will have me ready for this season,” Charlevoix said. “Last year I wrestled at the Clash, and that experience helped me a lot also.”

Charlevoix will compete at either 125 or 130 for the Indians.

As a sophomore last year, Rodriguez sent 16-10 and advanced into the Geneseo sectional, where she lost her opener, 2-0.

“I was happy with the way my things went for me in just my second year of being in the sport,” Rodriguez said. “Being able to have success in regionals, and get into sectionals gave me a lot of confidence headed into this year.

“I really think we’ll do well this year as a team, and with some really good freshmen, we should be even better than last year.”

Minooka will host its own mega-dual on Saturday.

Oak Park-River Forest

Although not at full strength, Oak Park and River Forest head coach Patrick Woulfe nonetheless was quite pleased with the effort his club put forth.

“We were a little down today, but we performed well, especially Pearl Lacey and Lariyah Apollo, who both finished second in their group,” Woulfe said. “Pearl is a senior and leader of our program.

“I felt like she is doing a great job or wrestling in her positions, and competing to make her opponent wrestle where she wants the match to be.”

Lacey recorded pins in her first two matches, needing just under two and a half minutes to do so on her way to a 2-1 day.

“(Pearl) is having fun, and trying hard, and as a coach that’s all you can ask for,” Woulfe said.

Apollo made quick work of her first two opponents as she used all of 1:52 to register pins before running into 2024 fifth-place state medalist Anjali Gonzalez from Hoffman Estates.

“Lariyah is just a two year wrestler, and I was really proud of her fight today,” said Woulfe.

“(Her) final match was a great wrestler (Gonzalez) – so we got to see how Lariyah stacked up against an All-State wrestler, and I am excited to see she can close the gap as the season progresses.”

Teammates Alessandra Pina and Isabella Miller were 1-2 on the day, with each recording a pin.

The Huskies are away for their league opener against Downers Grove North, before taking part in the Homewood-Flossmoor quad on Saturday.

Schaumburg

Reigning MSL and regional champion Schaumburg once again saw its top wrestler Madeline Zerafa-Lazarevic overwhelm a trio of opponents, while receiving plenty of help from teammates Maya Brzosko, Aubree Jones and 2024 state qualifier Madyson Meyer.

All four posted 3-0 records on Saturday.

“I am really excited about this season, and the year that we can have,” said Zerafa-Lazarevic, who was second last year at state with a 37-3 overall record to give her a pair of state medals.

“Obviously my goal is to get on the top of the podium in Bloomington this year; of course that’s one of my goals. But I want to see our team win another conference title, and go on from there to win state as a team after finishing fourth last year.”

“We lost an amazing wrestler when Valeria Rodriguez graduated (Rodriguez was a three-time state medal winner), but we have a lot of depth this year, with some freshmen who came in with club experience.

“The new girls, along with those of us back will give us a great mix of wrestlers.”

Zerafa-Lazarevic will attend Illinois State University in the fall, which does not currently have a women’s program. But the affable Saxons senior will look to start a club program with the hope it will lead to a full-fledged D-1 collegiate program.

Not to be forgotten was the work from Alya and Nadia Razzak, who together were 3-0 at the end of the day.

The Saxons will be at Conant on Wednesday, then travel to Glen Ellyn on Saturday to compete in a quad at host Glenbard West.

West Aurora

West Aurora, was second a year ago at regionals and is one of the 16 teams that will take part in Hoffman Estates’ dual-team state tournament. Several of its wrestlers hope to do well in their group play, beginning with Kameyah Young, who went 21-4 last year and finished second in state at 100 pounds.

The Blackhawks star was 3-0 on the day, as was teammate Vicki Stackowicz.  Aiyanah Sylvester and Giselle Marin-Carrasco also earned plenty of praise from assistant coach Kayla Krieger.

“I was very proud of how the team wrestled today,” began Krieger, filling in for head coach Charles Graves. “A lot of our girls have been working hard in the room, and today they were able to see that pay off with some nice individual wins.

“Aiyanah has been consistent in her wrestling to start the season. She has a great attitude, absorbs as much information as she can, and is very competitive in the room and on the mat.

“Giselle (Marin-Carrasco) is another incredibly hard working wrestler. She comes to the room ready to work every day, and is gritty on the mat. We saw that today with her getting some good wins against tough opponents.”

Young continues to show an enormous amount of composure according to Krieger when giving a new move or two a try, while it’s the experience she’s gathered along the way that provides the type of leadership her teammates look up to.

Young was a preseason nationals champion during the offseason.

West Aurora is at Larkin this week before competing at the East Aurora Invite on the weekend.

Yorkville

Sophia Martin, Addison Tooley and Lauren Trotter all enjoyed a perfect day in Schaumburg, as the trio combined for five pins and a tech-fall (by Trotter) to lead Yorkville.

“(Overall) we were happy with the girl’s performance throughout the day, with many of our newer girls getting their feet wet at both the JV and varsity levels,” opined Yorkville head coach Kevin Roth.

“In just the few years of our existence, we feel this is the strongest group of freshmen we’ve ever had, with some coming here with prior experience from middle school.”

Janiah Murray earned praise from Roth after another solid day on the mats for the junior.

“Janiah is really coming into her own after building on her past success the last two seasons,” Roth said. “She was a bit undersized for the 190-pound bracket, but her quickness and strength makes her a force to be reckoned with.”

Murray feels like a different person on the mat this season.

“Last year wasn’t the greatest,” she said. “I felt like I could have been better. But I did a lot of extra work during the offseason to improve my fitness and strength, and my participation in Olympic Power lifting made me much stronger than a year ago.

“I really changed my diet also which is more of a high calorie diet, which includes fasting on Saturday for eight hours, and having my ‘cheat’ day on Sunday.”

Returning state qualifier Danielle Turner (30-13) and sectional qualifier Brooke Coy were unavailable for Yorkville. Roth expects both to return soon as his club prepares to host Batavia and Metea Valley on Wednesday in advance of competing at the East Aurora Invite this coming weekend.

By Chris Walker For the IWCOA

As the weather was beginning to warm up and days became longer this spring, Yorkville Christian coach Mike Vester was looking ahead towards winter as he pieced together the team’s competitive schedule. 

As he considered options for the Mustangs, he reached out to Joliet Central to inquire about the McLaughlin Classic

“I had reached out about the McLaughlin before, but it was full,” Vester said. “I inquired again this year and they graciously let us attend. Very good tournament, well run, great hospitality and competition.”

And it was a great Saturday for Yorkville Christian as a whole as the Mustangs walked away as team champions as their 214 points were tops among the 24-team field.

“We told the kids what we thought they were capable of doing if we all made the weight we were supposed to make, and then focused on some stuff,” Vester said. “We had some up and down matches that should’ve gone a different way, but then we had some guys step up and do some things that maybe we weren’t expecting so that was cool.”

Aiden Larsen (120) and Jackson Allen (190) won titles at their respective weights to lead the Mustangs.

“We do have a solid squad this year,” Larsen said. “We’re really tough this year and I don’t think people know that. I think that people are underestimating us as a team as a whole and today a statement was made. I know there are tough kids out at Ironman (held at Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Dec. 6-7) right now. Whatever we did, we had to do today and we’re hoping to keep this momentum going into the next tournaments. We have the Plano Reaper Classic next weekend and then we’re at West Chicago. So we just got to keep this momentum going into the next week and keep the train moving.”

Larsen needed 3:00 on the dot to pin Joliet Central’s Aleck Allende in the quarterfinals. Larsen took care of his other opponents in similar fashion but didn’t need as much time to do it. He needed just 51 seconds to win his semifinal match and only 42 seconds to pin St. Rita’s Jack Hogan in his title bout, handing Hogan his first loss of the year.

“I just went in wanting to attack,” Larsen said. “Just offense, offense, offense. He fell out of position. He’s a tough kid. I caught my cradle and there it was.”

Allen also was dominant, earning four straight pins, including over Belleville East’s Cedric King in 5:00 during the final. 

“There were a lot of good guys at the Ironman and other tournaments this weekend so it was a good little preview of what we’re going to face this season,” Allen said. “I woke up around five o’clock (Saturday morning), got to the school, drove out here and got a little warmup in and some stretching and wrestled. We started off the tournament and got to our offense, good defense and scored when we could and got bonus points.”

Vester continues to be impressed with Larsen and Allen.

“Aiden (Larsen) is a beast and just ran through people today and Jackson Allen is at another level this year so I’m happy for him,” he said. “And it was good to see other guys improving and you know where they can be in February.”

The Mustangs had 12 wrestlers place overall. They certainly needed all those points to outscore runner-up Normal Community by 18 points. 

John Gray (157) took second while Tiras Lombardo (150), Robby Nelson (165) and Xander Oliver (215) each won their third-place matches.

“Tiras (Lombardo) came back after he almost made finals,” Vester said. “He lost 4-3 in the semifinals so to come back and get a pin was a big deal. And we had Christian Sandoval, who is just kind of finding himself. It’s his first time on varsity and he fought in the fifth place match. He was really tough.”

Sandoval dropped a 14-13 decision to take sixth place at 113. Ryan Festerling Jr. (106), and Tyler Gleason (175) also took sixth place while Adrian Wadas-Luis (138) and Garrett Tunnell (285) won fifth-place matches. Ryan Alaimo (126) took fourth place.

Without a doubt, it was a total team effort from the Mustangs.

“We’ve been up for 14 hours now so it’s been a long day,” Larsen said. “Even with Antioch (on Nov. 26) we had to wake up at 4am and drive all the way up there and weigh in. It’s long days and you just got to stay focused and keep the energy going. We tried to cheer and keep the momentum going and install energy throughout.”

Positivity and noise provided quite a combination for the Mustangs, creating an environment for success.

“Noise and positivity go a long way,” Larsen said. “Even when I’m wrestling you get a takedown and you have your team next to you cheering and it instills energy and you want to keep going. You don’t think about being tired when that happens. You’re electric. You’re ready to go and it’s just go go go and get to your offense.”

Normal Community had three champions and a couple second-place finishes to earn second place overall with 196.

Caden Correll (113) became a two-time champion after his tech fall win over Marist’s Colin Phelan to give the Ironmen their first championship of the day.

Cole Gentsch (126) and Carter Mayes (157) also celebrated championship days in the City of Stone and Steel.

Gentsch (8-0) remained perfect on the young season with a major decision over Deerfield’s Adrian Cohen. His three earlier wins included two by fall and another by tech fall.

“There’s not a whole lot to be said – I stuck to my guns,” Gentsch said. “I stuck to what I knew I could do. I knew (Cohen) was going to come out of a headlock right away so I just based my offense off of that and I adjusted and reinforced it and I was able to get to a 13-1 major, you know. That’s a true blessing. It’s my senior year and I just give all things to God and Jesus. He’s my Lord and Savior and all glory to him.”

Gentsch isn’t one to shy away from his spiritual life. 

“I attended Catholic school all the way until seventh grade and I’ve always been that spiritual, but just recently the past two years I’ve really opened up my spirituality and I’m not afraid to show it like I used to.  I’m just giving thanks and I’m living life day to day. Thanks to this sport I’m committed right now to UW-Lacrosse. It is a blessing being able to compete at such a prestigious program and you know and give all things to Him.”

Last year Gentsch lost in the 120-pound championship match here at Joliet. 

“In high school I’ve really developed my skills,” he said. ‘I’ve figured myself out. Last year I was kind of battling an injury and was figuring out my wrestling and what I truly want to do with myself, and this year I figured out I can’t hide under a rock anymore. I have come short the last couple years in the state tournament but you know this year I’m ready to let it fly and let it show and give everything I have.”

Last December, Carter Mayes took third place at the McLaughlin while wrestling at 138. The junior won at 157 this time.

“I think I wrestled ok,” he said. “Obviously I have some things I need to work on – we all do, If I want to achieve my goals at the end of the season I’m going to have to work a little harder in practice and sharpen up the stuff that I got scored on today so I’ll go back and watch my matches and figure out what I need to do different to not get scored on anymore.”

Mayes won by tech fall over Yorkville Christian’s John Gray in his title match.

“You just got to get here and step on the scale and make weight and work hard from there and try to win every match and take it one match at a time until you’re on the podium,” Mayes explained. “I’ve kind of tried to mature a little bit and understand that not every match is going to be easy and that you’re going to have to walk out there and do it like every match is going to be a hard one if a kid is good enough. You just got to go out there and compete.”

He had get through wrestlers from Romeoville, Minooka and Marist before he got to Gray.

“We don’t see these teams very often,” Mayes said. “We won’t see these teams again until state especially some of the bigger schools because they have a harder schedule because we can’t come up to Chicago every weekend. It’s just a great opportunity to get to come up here at the beginning of the season and figure out what we need to work on. We’ll be back here later and then we’ll be in Champaign for state. Trying to get ready for that.”

Jaren Frankowiak (175) and Mason Caraway (215) placed second for the Ironmen. Jackson Soney (106) took third after winning a year ago. Daniel Bourbulas (190) was fourth. Brayden Manning (132) and Gavin Capodice (150) each took fifth place.

“It’s a great team and I love the guys and I think we all work pretty hard at practice.” Mayes said. “We’re dialed in at practice everyday. Everybody makes weight. We just go out and do what we do.”

So far, so good.

“We’ve been competing really well this year. Our team has surprised us,” Gentsch said. “We lost one of our best guys, Cooper Caraway (285), but that hasn’t stopped us. I’m really thankful for the team that we have and what we’ve made out of this program. This program isn’t very historic but we’ve made it historic the past three years and it’s truly a blessing being part of such an awesome team and awesome culture.”

Morton was third with 139 points. Benjamin Chaffer (215) won a title to lead the Potters while Caiden Robison (144) took second, Clay McKee (165) was fourth, Colton McKee (175) took fifth and Noah Harris (120) placed sixth.

Marist was fourth with 122 points after winning the previous two McLaughins. Hersey won the inaugural one in 2021. The RedHawks were without six of their top wrestlers as seniors Michael Esteban (126), Donavon Allen (138), Will Denny (157) and Ricky Ericksen (190) competed at the Ironman in Ohio along with junior Tommy Fidler (144). Illinois recruit George Marinopoulos did not compete on Saturday for the RedHawks. 

Denny led the RedHawks at the Ironman placing second.

The team still had a fine showing in Joliet with Colin Phelan (113) and Jonathan Fields (138) taking second place, Kevin Tomkins (175) winning third place, Gordon Gil (106) and Ronin Haran (157) taking fourth and Caden Campo (126) placing fifth.

Seniors Jackson Palzet (132) and Jordan Rasof (138) were crowned champions for a young Deerfield squad which took ninth with 109 points.

Rasof, who placed fifth in the state in 2A at 138 last year, also won at Joliet in 2023.

“I think I’m ranked around third this year and I’m back at 138 and feeling ready for the year,” Rasof said. “I just got to work on my offense, but I think things are going well. I just got to keep my temper on the mat and keep wrestling, but I think things are falling my way and with my training I’ll be able to be a state champion.”

Not feeling totally healthy, Rasof made sure to not waste any time during his title bout, pinning Marist freshman Jonathan Fields in 1:12.

“I didn’t really know much about the kid, but I just knew I had to stay aggressive,” he said. “I was feeling a little sick today so I wanted to just make it quick, so I knew once I got that takedown I felt I’d get my bar in and that’s my best move I think on top and I just had the pin ready.”

While he enjoyed his victorious day, Rasof was pleased to see Palzet succeed at 132. The two have squared off for countless hours during training.

“The past couple of years he’s always been injured, but he’s always been one of my main training partners since we started. We joined wrestling at the same time and go to club together. It’s good to see him finally healthy and he’s killing everybody. We work really hard together so this is what we train for. It’s good to see my training partner succeed just as well.”

The object is to continue progressing, focusing on the now and moving forward. That’s not for just the season but for long days like Saturday that begin in the early morning and carry on until evening.

“I think just staying positive in the crowd and I’ve been doing this for years,” Rosof said. “And just getting the right feel after matches, staying hydrated, not getting down on yourself even if you lose or something bad happen in the match. I keep moving forward, keep wrestling, next match, next match don’t worry about the past.”

Deerfield had six underclassmen competing at Joliet, including Adrian Cohen (126) who placed second and Alexander Shvartsman (144) who took sixth.

“I like seeing my teammates compete,” Rasof said. “We have a lot of young guys on the team and I’m a senior so it’s nice to see them compete, see how they are doing in the upcoming year. It’s all going so fast. I feel like I was a freshman yesterday.”

His advice? Train, train and train some more.

“I love winning on Saturday,” he said. “It builds my confidence throughout the year and year-round training helps me stay positive. I think training is the biggest thing. Just keep on training. Keep on working.”

Wheaton North senior Thomas Fulton acknowledged that he wrestled better the previous Saturday when he took fifth place at the 32nd Barrington Moore-Prettyman Invitational, but he still found a way to win in Joliet. The Falcons were seventh with 117.5 points, just behind sixth-place Minooka’s 119.5.

“I felt like it wasn’t my best wrestling,” he said. “I felt like I wrestled a little bit better last week at Barrington. I pulled out the wins in the end, but felt I could’ve wrestled better at the start and not put myself in vicarious situations in quarterfinals and semifinals and finals.”

Last year, Fulton took seventh place at 157 at Joliet.

“I was here last year and last year was a little worse for me so this was a little more satisfying,” he said. “I like this tournament. I feel there are some good kids and a lot more variety. Usually during the season we just see 3A. So here there are 2A and 1A and some pretty good guys so that’s a nice experience.”

About 300 miles separate Wheaton North from Belleville East, which is where Fulton’s championship opponent Terence Willis wrestles. Fulton won by a 9-5 decision.

“It’s nice to wrestle new guys instead of just the same guys over and over again.” Fulton said. “And I think wrestling a new person is a different style of wrestling than wrestling someone you already know.”

Fulton narrowly survived in the semifinal, winning by a 12-11 decision over Yorkville Christian’s Robby Nelson.

“I try not to care about winning necessarily,” he said. “Obviously that’s kind of the goal but  mostly when I wrestle at my best I’m focusing on just trying to dominate my opponent and push myself to my absolute limit no matter the opponent.”

Fulton’s teammates Rocco Macellaio (120) and Jacob Veltri (138) each took fourth place and Carlo Saenz (190) and Ezekeil Psenicka (215) each took sixth.

“I think we are a pretty decent team and I think we might surprise some people, but we still have a lot to work to get in the best possible position we want to get to,” Fulton said. “I think we have an absolutely amazing coaching staff. We have a new head coach this year in Coach (Tim) Walker. I think every team is good and obviously I think our team is the best because I’m on it.”

Homewood Flossmoor’s Davion Henry (106), St. Rita’s Enzo Canali (144), Minooka’s Ben Cyrkiel (150) and Kaden Meyer (175) and Belleville East’s Jonathan Rulo (285) were also champions at the 4th McLaughlin Classic.

Yorkville Christian’s Aiden Larsen had the most pins (4) in the least time (5:59) of any wrestler present, and St. Rita’s Nino Protti had the most tech falls (3) in the least time (6:29). Crete-Monee’s Trevon Williams and Belleville East’s Jonathan Rulo tied for the fastest fall in 11 seconds, Kennedy’s Victor Alvarado had the fastest tech fall in 1:07, and Larsen and Yorkville Christian teammate Jackson Allen tied for the the most team points scored with 30. Romeoville’s Rodrigo Gonzalez had the most single match points with 30, and Normal Community’s Caden Correll  scored the most total match points in the tournament with 74. Wheaton North’s Thomas Fulton (165) and Minooka’s Ben Cyrkiel (150) tied in providing the tournament’s largest seed-place difference, as the 14th seeds both left Joliet as individual champions.

Team scores: 1. Yorkville Christian 214, 2. Normal Community 196, 3. Morton 139, 4. Marist 122, 5. Belleville East 119.5, 6. Minooka 117.5, 7. Wheaton North 115, 8. St. Rita 113, 9. Deerfield 109, 10. Providence Catholic 97.5, 11. Romeoville 83.5, 12. Joliet Central 80.5, 13. Homewood-Flossmoor 76.5, 14. Plainfield East 65.5, 15. Marian Catholic 41.5, 16. Shepard 32, 17. Crete-Monee 29, 18. Bloom Township 23.5, 19. McNamara 23, 19. Stagg 23, 19. Kennedy 23, 22. Rich Township 22, 23. Peotone 14.5, 24. Westinghouse College Prep 7

McLaughlin Classic results:
106

1st: Davion Henry (H-Flossmoor) 3-0, over Christian Corcoran (Providence) 8-3,  (D 9-7)

3rd: Jackson Soney (Normal C) 6-1, over Gordo Gil (Marist) 7-4,  (D 13-8)

5th: Pedro Hernandez (Romeoville (H.S.) 7-1, over Ryan Festerling,  (Yorkville C) 6-2,  (F 1:05)

113

1st: Caden Correll (Normal C) 8-0, over Colin Phelan (Marist) 7-3,  (TF-1.5 2:07 (20-3)

3rd: Liam Walsh (Joliet C) 6-5, over Lucas Forsythe (Providence) 6-4,  (D 8-4)

5th: Jon`King Williams (H-Flossmoor) 6-1, over Christian Sandoval (Yorkville C) 4-5,  (D 14-13)

120

1st: Aiden Larsen (Yorkville C) 10-2, over Jack Hogan (St. Rita) 6-1,  (F 0:42)

3rd: Victor Alvarado (Kennedy) 8-1, over Rocco Macellaio (Wheaton N) 7-5,  (D 12-8)

5th: Aleck Allende (Joliet C) 8-3, over Noah Harris (Morton) 5-2,  (MD 12-0)

126

1st: Cole Gentsch (Normal C) 8-0, over Adrian Cohen (Deerfield) 9-3,  (MD 13-1)

3rd: Adante Washington (H-Flossmoor) 5-2, over Ryan Alaimo (Yorkville C) 9-4,  (TF-1.5 4:11 (19-4)

5th: Caden Campo (Marist) 6-5, over Chace Tankson (Marian) 3-2,  (F 1:15)

132

1st: Jackson Palzet (Deerfield) 9-1, over Harrison Dea (Morton) 6-1,  (F 2:41)

3rd: Nino Protti (St. Rita) 7-3, over Roan Dukes (H-Flossmoor) 4-3,  (MD 20-8)

5th: Brayden Manning (Normal C) 8-1, over Dinero Garcia (Stagg) 6-3,  (TF-1.5 5:15 (17-1)

138

1st: Jordan Rasof (Deerfield) 10-1, over Jonathan Fields (Marist) 4-1,  (F 1:12)

3rd: Isaiah Kan (Joliet C) 6-4, over Jacob Veltri (Wheaton N) 5-4,  (D 6-5)

5th: Adrian Wadas-Luis (Yorkville C) 8-1, over Alex Kostecka (McNamara) 6-3,  (D 7-1)

144

1st: Enzo Canali (St. Rita) 9-1, over Caiden Robison (Morton) 6-1,  (D 6-0)

3rd: Camden McCloskey (Plainfield E) 10-2, over Dewayne Taylor (Belleville E) 3-2,  (D 1-0)

5th: Andrew Pellicci (Providence) 8-4, over Alexander Shvartsman (Deerfield) 8-4,  (D 4-1)

150

1st: Ben Cyrkiel (Minooka) 5-2, over Nolan Keenan (St. Rita) 6-3,  (MD 13-3)

3rd: Tiras Lombardo (Yorkville C) 9-4, over Jonah Greenwood (Marian) 3-2, . (F 3:53)

5th: Gavin Capodice (Normal C) 6-3, over Muhammad Hasib (Plainfield E) 6-7,  (F 1:33)

157

1st: Carter Mayes (Normal C) 8-0, over John Gray (Yorkville C) 10-3,  (TF-1.5 2:40 (17-0)

3rd: Jasper Harper (Providence) 10-3, over Ronin Haran (Marist) 3-2,  (TF-1.5 4:31 (16-1)

5th: Conor Pasch (Peotone) 7-3, over Killian Rauch (Belleville E) 4-2,  (D 10-4)

165

1st: Thomas Fulton (Wheaton N) 5-0, .over Terence Willis (Belleville E) 4-1,  (D 9-5)

3rd: Robby Nelson (Yorkville C) 11-2, over Clay Mckee (Morton) 3-2,  (D 4-2)

5th: Joey Baranski (Marian) 5-1, over Braeden McKay (Providence) 5-4,  (F 1:21)

175

1st: Kaden Meyer (Minooka) 6-1, over Jaren Frankowiak (Normal C) 7-1,  (D 12-9)

3rd: Kevin Tomkins (Marist) 7-2, over Aiden Hill (Palos Heights (Shepard) 5-2,  (D 10-3)

5th: Colton Mckee (Morton) 5-1, over Tyler Gleason (Yorkville C) 10-4,  (F 2:57)

190

1st: Jackson Allen (Yorkville C) 11-2, over Cedric King (Belleville E) 4-1,  (F 5:00)

3rd: Hugh Callaghan (Plainfield E) 9-2, over Daniel Bourbulas (Normal C) 4-2,  (F 2:36)

5th: Isiah Escobar (Romeoville (H.S.) 5-1, .over Carlo Saenz (Wheaton N) 7-4,  (SV-1 4-1)

215

1st: Benjamin Chaffer (Morton) 7-0, over Mason Caraway (Normal C) 7-1,  (D 9-2)

3rd: Xander Oliver (Yorkville C) 7-5, over Mohamad Almadani (Romeoville (H.S.) 5-2,  (Inj. 0:00)

5th: Santino Capodice (Minooka) 5-3, over Ezekiel Psenicka (Wheaton N) 5-4,  (F 3:38)

285

1st: Jonathan Rulo (Belleville E) 5-0, over Charles Walker (Joliet C) 8-1,  (MD 10-1)

3rd: Jamir Thomas (Romeoville (H.S.) 6-1, over Robbie Murphy (Minooka) 4-3,  (F 2:27)

5th: Garrett Tunnell (Yorkville C) 11-2, over George Range (Chicago Heights (Bloom Twp.) 7-2, . (F 1:57)

By Curt Herron – for the IWCOA

Vandalia captures championship at Civic Memorial Bradley Invite

Vandalia had seven champions and eight finalists to help it score 283.5 points as it captured top honors at Civic Memorial’s 19-team Steve Bradley Invitational in Bethalto by 82.5 points over the hosts, who collected 201 points, while Olympia claimed third place with 184 points.

Champions for coach Jason Clay’s Vandals were Max Philpot (113), Preston Waughtel (120), Tyson Waughtel (126), Brody Matthews (138), Dillon Hinton (150), Ross Miller (175) and Kaden Tidwell (190) while Aiden Evans (106) placed second. Artan Mustafa (165) took third, Dominic Swyers (285) finished fourth, Elijah Mabry (132) and Cole Yarbrough (144) were fifth and Gabe Torres (215) took eighth place. 

Vandalia has several individuals who are back from last year’s team that finished fourth in the IHSA Class 1A Dual Team Finals and it also has two new additions, who both have captured IHSA titles. Tyson Waughtel won 1A titles at 106 in 2022 and 113 in 2023 and took second at 120 last season while his brother Preston took first at 113 while both were at Carlyle. Hinton is a two-time medalist who took second at 138 in 2024 and was fifth at 132 the year before that. Also last season, Philpot took second at 106 and Tidwell placed fourth at 190.

“It was a good early season tournament that allowed our guys to get a bunch of matches,” Clay said. “ Looking forward to watching the videos and getting to work on the things we need to improve on. Proud of how our guys competed.”

Leading the way for coach Jeremy Christeson’s runner-up Eagles were champions Bradley Ruckman (132) and James Wojcikiewicz (165) and second-place finishers Avery Jaime (126), Knox Verbais (150) and Kevahn Flanagan (175) while Nathen Herrin (144) and Luke McCoy (190) both finished in third place. Ruckman finished fourth in the IHSA Class 2A Finals at 106 in 2023 and placed sixth at 106 in 2022.

Top performers for coach Josh Collins’ third-place Spartans, who are a co-op involving Olympia and Delavan, were second-place finishers Dylan Eimer (113) and Kenzer Burrell (132) while Brandon Gaither (106) and Kelton Graden (157) both took third place. Eimer captured fourth place at 113 in the 2024 IHSA Class 1A Finals and also took fourth at 106 in 2022.

The other team in the field with multiple champions was Waterloo, who got firsts from Matthew Deutch (106) and Drew Glowacki (285). Other champions were East Alton Wood River’s Drake Champlin (215), who took second place at 215 in Class 1A last season, Highland’s Tyson Rakers (157), who placed fourth at 150 in Class 2A in 2024 and Mattoon’s Ben Capitosti (144), who finished sixth at 138 in Class 2A in 2023.

Also taking second place were Murphysboro’s Kaiden Richards (120) and Bryce Edwards (144), Mascoutah’s Desi Wade (138) and Jordan Sonon-Hale (165), Jacksonville’s Joe Reif (157) and Aiden Surratt (285), Waterloo’s Jackson Deutch (190) and Highland’s Ashton Zobrist (215).

Edwards finished fourth at 144 in the IHSA 1A Finals in 2024 while Zobrist was sixth at 215 in Class 2A last season.

Others who claimed third-place finishes were Mattoon’s Tristan Porter (126) and Mitchell Clapp (285), Murphysboro’s Paxton Pyatt (113), Highland’s Gavin Merkle (120), East Alton-Wood River’s Jamal Burgess (132), Alton’s Marshall Skelton (138), Mascoutah’s Brock Ross (150), Civic Memorial B’s Tristan Ward (175) and Bloomington’s Kenner Bye (215).

Glowacki, Matthews and Tidwell had the most team points with 30 while Ruckman had 29.5,  Tyson Waughtel and Wojcikiewicz both collected 29 points. Champlin and Deutch had 28 points, Miller finished with 27.5 points and Preston Waughtel scored 27 team points.

Civic Memorial Steve Bradley Invitational place matches

106

1st Place Match

Matthew Deutch (Waterloo) 8-0, So. over Aiden Evans (Vandalia) 3-1, Fr. (Fall 3:40)

3rd Place Match

Brandon Gaither (Olympia/Delavan) 6-1, Fr. over Jerry Moreno (Murphysboro) 2-3, Jr. (Fall 1:48)

5th Place Match

Maddox Williams (Jersey Community) 7-2, Fr. over Austin Jones (Alton) 5-3, Fr. (Fall 0:21)

7th Place Match

Jayden Long (Highland) 3-6, Fr. over Creed Cole (Mattoon) 1-3, Fr. (Dec 11-7)

113

1st Place Match

Max Philpot (Vandalia) 4-0, So. over Dylan Eimer (Olympia) 4-1, Sr. (Dec 9-3)

3rd Place Match

Paxton Pyatt (Murphysboro) 4-1, So. over Jaylen Sandy (Bloomington) 2-4, So. (Fall 1:59)

5th Place Match

Brody Johnson (Civic Memorial) 3-2, So. over Deston Hill (East St. Louis) 0-2, So. (Fall 0:30)

7th Place Match

Jackson Wirth (Waterloo) 4-2, So. over Bye

120

1st Place Match

Preston Waughtel (Vandalia) 4-0, So. over Kaiden Richards (Murphysboro) 5-1, Sr. (TF-1.5 2:27 (17-1))

3rd Place Match

Gavin Merkle (Highland) 7-2, Sr. over Hunter Hayes (Jacksonville) 7-2, Jr. (Fall 1:57)

5th Place Match

Vincent Gibson (Mattoon) 3-1, Sr. over Preston Furlow (Civic Memorial) 4-3, So. (Fall 1:38)

7th Place Match

Carter Knobloch (Olympia) 6-3, Jr. over Charlie St. Peters (Alton) 4-4, Fr. (Fall 0:30)

126

1st Place Match

Tyson Waughtel (Vandalia) 5-0, Sr. over Avery Jaime (Civic Memorial) 6-1, So. (Fall 4:28)

3rd Place Match

Tristan Porter (Mattoon) 6-1, Jr. over Sergio Garcia (Murphysboro) 4-3, Jr. (Dec 9-6)

5th Place Match

Maguire Leck (Mascoutah) 7-2, Jr. over Jack Schweitzer (Bloomington) 6-4, Fr. (Dec 8-2)

7th Place Match

Mateo Martinez (Olympia) 7-2, Sr. over Luke Schwarz (Highland) 6-5, Jr. (Fall 2:13)

132

1st Place Match

Bradley Ruckman (Civic Memorial) 6-0, Sr. over Kenzer Burrell (Olympia) 6-3, Fr. (Fall 0:48)

3rd Place Match

Jamal Burgess (East Alton-Wood River) 3-2, Sr. over Konnor Stephens (Waterloo) 5-2, Jr. (Dec 9-6)

5th Place Match

Elijah Mabry (Vandalia) 4-1, So. over Jeret Edwards (Murphysboro) 4-2, Fr. (Fall 1:37)

7th Place Match

Holden Barr (Mattoon) 2-2, Fr. over Marquez Singleton (Alton) 4-3, Sr. (Dec 6-1)

138

1st Place Match

Brody Matthews (Vandalia) 5-0, So. over Desi Wade (Mascoutah) 6-1, So. (Fall 3:09)

3rd Place Match

Marshall Skelton (Alton) 6-2, Sr. over Brody Goonan (Mattoon) 2-2, So. (Fall 2:40)

5th Place Match

Austin Kisner (Olympia) 6-3, So. over Tyler Barlow (Bloomington) 4-4, Jr. (Dec 10-4)

7th Place Match

Lemar Treshansky (Murphysboro) 5-2, Fr. over Jax Mifflin (Waterloo) 3-5, So. (Dec 14-12)

144

1st Place Match

Ben Capitosti (Mattoon) 6-1, Sr. over Bryce Edwards (Murphysboro) 5-1, Sr. (SV-1 8-5)

3rd Place Match

Nathen Herrin (Civic Memorial) 6-1, Sr. over Cooper Phillips (Olympia) 5-3, Sr. (MD 16-5)

5th Place Match

Cole Yarbrough (Vandalia) 4-1, So. over Jeremiah Farias (Jersey Community) 6-4, So. (TF-1.5 5:04 (28-10))

7th Place Match

Joshua White (East St. Louis) 3-2, So. over Tyler Hughes (Jacksonville) 6-4, Fr. (M. For.)

150

1st Place Match

Dillon Hinton (Vandalia) 5-0, Jr. over Knox Verbais (Civic Memorial) 5-1, Fr. (Dec 4-3)

3rd Place Match

Brock Ross (Mascoutah) 7-1, Jr. over Brayden Drew (Alton) 6-2, Jr. (MD 14-2)

5th Place Match

Kaden Collins (Olympia) 8-2, Fr. over Chris Rose (Bloomington) 3-4, So. (Fall 2:16)

7th Place Match

John Harper (Jacksonville) 7-3, So. over Brayden Dailey (Mattoon) 2-3, Jr. (Fall 3:07)

157

1st Place Match

Tyson Rakers (Highland) 9-0, Sr. over Joe Reif (Jacksonville) 8-1, Jr. (Dec 8-2)

3rd Place Match

Kelton Graden (Olympia) 6-2, Sr. over Lonnez Smith (East St. Louis) 2-2, Jr. (Fall 2:45)

5th Place Match

Sean Murphy (Mascoutah) 8-1, So. over Anthony Michelon (Civic Memorial) 6-2, So. (Fall 1:47)

7th Place Match

Bryce Bryant (Springfield) 4-5, So. over Cody L Stevens (Springfield High) 4-3, Sr. (MD 18-6)

165

1st Place Match

James Wojcikiewicz (Civic Memorial) 6-1, So. over Jordan Sonon-Hale (Mascoutah) 6-2, Jr. (Fall 2:55)

3rd Place Match

Artan Mustafa (Vandalia) 4-1, Sr. over Ean Freeman (Mattoon) 3-4, Sr. (TF-1.5 4:08 (15-0))

5th Place Match

Corey Robinson (East St. Louis) 4-1, So. over Maxon Stearns (Murphysboro) 5-2, So. (Dec 9-7)

7th Place Match

Kaleb Miller (Jacksonville) 5-4, Sr. over Liam Kobbeman (Highland) 6-5, Sr. (Dec 7-4)

175

1st Place Match

Ross Miller (Vandalia) 4-1, Jr. over Kevahn Flanagan (Civic Memorial) 5-1, Jr. (Fall 0:41)

3rd Place Match

TRISTAN WARD (Civic Memorial B) 5-1, So. over Vince Goodman (Waterloo) 5-2, Jr. (UTB 5-3)

5th Place Match

Daniel Aguas (Bloomington) 7-3, Jr. over Logan Tanner (Murphysboro) 5-3, So. (Fall 1:58)

7th Place Match

Brock Meyer (Jacksonville) 4-5, Fr. over Gavin Langley (Highland) 6-5, Jr. (Fall 3:33)

190

1st Place Match

Kaden Tidwell (Vandalia) 5-0, Sr. over Jackson Deutch (Waterloo) 7-1, Sr. (Fall 3:29)

3rd Place Match

Luke McCoy (Civic Memorial) 4-2, Jr. over Blaine Howell (Mattoon) 3-4, Sr. (Fall 1:39)

5th Place Match

Zach Fry (Olympia) 9-2, So. over Lavelle Peete Jr (Lift for Life Academy, Missouri) 3-2, Jr. (Fall 3:03)

7th Place Match

Thomas Mitchell (Highland) 6-4, Sr. over Davey Welch (Civic Memorial B) 2-4, Sr. (Fall 0:37)

215

1st Place Match

Drake Champlin (East Alton-Wood River) 6-0, Sr. over Ashton Zobrist (Highland) 9-1, Sr. (Dec 4-2)

3rd Place Match

Kenner Bye (Bloomington) 3-1, Sr. over Jackson O`Connor (Springfield High) 7-3, Sr. (MD 11-0)

5th Place Match

Caybren Hubbard (Murphysboro) 5-2, So. over Mason West (Waterloo) 6-2, So. (Fall 1:27)

7th Place Match

Nicholas Woelfel (Jersey Community) 5-3, Sr. over Gabe Torres (Vandalia) 2-3, Sr. (Fall 2:34)

285

1st Place Match

Drew Glowacki (Waterloo) 7-0, Sr. over Aiden Surratt (Jacksonville) 8-1, Sr. (Fall 4:10)

3rd Place Match

Mitchell Clapp (Mattoon) 5-2, So. over Dominic Swyers (Vandalia) 2-2, So. (MD 10-0)

5th Place Match

Darian Holloway (Olympia) 4-1, Jr. over Kelvin Harris (Bloomington) 4-4, Sr. (Fall 0:47)

7th Place Match

Damon Price (Civic Memorial) 4-2, Fr. over Ethan Daniels (Jersey Community) 4-5, Sr. (Inj. 0:00)

Team scores

1. Vandalia 283.5, 2. Civic Memorial 201, 3. Olympia/Delavan co-op 184, 4. Murphysboro 142.5, 5. Waterloo 137.5, 6. Mattoon 129.5, 7. Jacksonville 94, 8. Highland 93, 9. Bloomington 92, 9. Mascoutah 92, 11. Alton 56, 12. Jersey Community 52.5, 13. East Alton-Wood River 49, 14. East St. Louis 44.5, 15. Springfield High 29, 16. Civic Memorial B 14, 17. Life for Life Academy, Missouri 13.5, 18. Centralia 6, 18. Goreville/Dongola/Vienna co-op 6.

Glenwood claims title at own Tyler Cox Memorial Invite

Glenwood had three champions and four second-place finishers to help it win the title of its 18-team Tyler Cox Memorial Invite in Chatham with 241 points, for a 51.5-point edge over Grayslake Central, which had 189.5 points and Washington placed third with 173.5 points.

Winning titles for coach Jerod Bruner’s first-place Titans were champions Maizon Milestone (165), Eli Smith (175) and Max Wiezorek (190) while Tyler Clarke (126), Larson Nestar (150), Jullian Rammelkamp (157) and Cody Moss (285) all took second place. Cooper Clarke (106) placed third, Drew Moffitt (132) was fourth, Mason Streb (215) finished fifth and John Villar (138) took seventh place. Glenwood finished in third place in the IHSA Class 2A Dual Team Finals last season while Wiezorek claimed fifth place at 190 in the 2024 IHSA Class 2A Finals.

Top finishers for coach Matthew Joseph’s runner-up Rams were title winners Vince DeMarco (106), Krish Sahu (120) and Trevor Hengl (144) while Liam Halloran (132) and William Lyle (165) both took third place. DeMarco placed fourth at 106 in the 2024 IHSA Class 2A Finals.

Leading the way for coach Nick Miller’s two-time defending IHSA Class 2A champion Panthers were first-place finishers Noah Woods (126) and Cruise Brolley (157) while Symon Woods (106) and Michael Mendoza (138) took second and Lucas Bach (113), Wyatt Leman (190) and Sean Thornton (285) finished third. Noah Woods took sixth at 120 in the 2024 IHSA Class 2A Finals. 

Washington was missing two other two-time state medalists who were in Ohio competing in the prestigious Ironman, where Wyatt Medlin took fifth at 150 and Josh Hoffer placed eighth at 215. Medlin was the 2024 IHSA Class 2A champion at 138 after taking third at 126 the year before while Hoffer placed fourth at 190 last season after finishing sixth at 195 in 2023.

Other champions of the Tyler Fox Memorial Invite were Peoria Notre Dame’s Josh Stedwill (113) and Ian Akers (132), Colinsville’s Camron Minner (138), Marion’s Caden Frey (150), O’Fallon’s Gavin Gentille (215) and East Peoria’s Jose Del Toro (285). Akers was the IHSA Class 1A runner-up at 113 last season after finishing fourth at 106 in 1A in 2023 while Del Toro took fourth place at 285 in the 2024 IHSA Class 2A Finals.

Additional second-place finishers were East Peoria’s Cooper Chester (132) and Dalton Oakman (190), Marion’s Nate Page (144) and Bryan Madinger (215), Dunlap’s Jayden Schmick (165) and Joseph Weeks (175), O’Fallon’s Jayden Wiegand (113) and Collinsville’s Jordan Thigpen (120).

Also finishing in third place were O’Fallon’s Logan Thomas (157) and Payton Chanerl (175), 

Carbondale’s Bradley O’Dell (120), Decatur Eisenhower’s Kayson Duffney (126), Normal Community’s Luke Eganhouse (138), Southeast’s Frank Kittrell (144), Collinsville’s Carter Bub (150) and Charleston’s Marcellx Boling (215).

There was a tie for the most team points with 29.5 between Smith and Wiezorek while Akers, Frey and Sahu tied for third with 29 points. Noah Woods, Gentille, Hengl and Milestone all collected 28.5 team points while DeMarco and Minner both finished with 28 points.

Glenwood Tyler Cox Memorial Invite place matches

106

1st Place Match

Vince DeMarco (Grayslake Central) 10-1, So. over Symon Woods (Washington) 7-2, Jr. (Dec 6-4)

3rd Place Match

Cooper Clarke (Glenwood) 4-3, Fr. over Bryce Kuhlman (Normal Community) 4-2, Fr. (Dec 6-3)

5th Place Match

Owen Schoonover (Centennial) 3-1, Jr. over Issac Rabin (Glenwood 2) 3-2 (Fall 1:39)

7th Place Match

Carter Warchol (O`Fallon) 5-4, Fr. over Connor Castens (Collinsville) 4-3, Fr. (For.)

113

1st Place Match

Josh Stedwill (Peoria Notre Dame) 10-6, So. over Jayden Wiegand (O`Fallon) 5-4, Sr. (TF-1.5 4:31 (16-1))

3rd Place Match

Lucas Bach (Washington) 6-4, So. over Jamarius MeyRick (MacArthur) 4-2, Sr. (Fall 1:08)

5th Place Match

Rigdon Meacham (Marion) 5-3, Fr. over Dominick Buckler (Collinsville) 5-4, Fr. (Fall 3:28)

7th Place Match

Tyler Callaghan (Grayslake Central) 2-2, Sr. over Ian Holzmueller (Carbondale) 2-3, Fr. (Fall 0:33)

120

1st Place Match

Krish Sahu (Grayslake Central) 11-3, Jr. over Jordan Thigpen (Collinsville) 5-4, Jr. (TF-1.5 6:00 (19-4))

3rd Place Match

Bradley O`Dell (Carbondale) 4-1, Fr. over Juelz Elliott (Marion) 4-3, So. (Dec 12-6)

5th Place Match

Johnny Thomas (Normal Community) 6-1, So. over Xander DeBurger (Grayslake Central) 3-2, Fr. (Dec 10-5)

7th Place Match

Trotter Titus (Charleston) 3-2, Fr. over Liam Cardwell (O`Fallon) 4-5, So. (Fall 2:44)

126

1st Place Match

Noah Woods (Washington) 8-0, Sr. over Tyler Clarke (Glenwood) 6-2, Sr. (TF-1.5 3:53 (23-7))

3rd Place Match

Kayson Duffney (Decatur Eisenhower) 3-1, Sr. over Riddick Cook (Marion) 7-2, Sr. (M. For.)

5th Place Match

Remi Joesting (Peoria Notre Dame) 11-5, Jr. over Ayden Swan (Carbondale) 3-2, Jr. (Fall 3:19)

7th Place Match

Kyle Christophersen (Grayslake Central) 6-5, Sr. over Miles Cintron (O`Fallon) 2-5, So. (Fall 0:39)

132

1st Place Match

Ian Akers (Peoria Notre Dame) 15-0, Sr. over Cooper Chester (East Peoria) 6-2, So. (Fall 3:45)

3rd Place Match

Liam Halloran (Grayslake Central) 10-3, Sr. over Drew Moffitt (Glenwood) 3-4, Sr. (Fall 3:02)

5th Place Match

AJ Williams (Glenwood 2) 4-3, Sr. over Tanilyn Reed (MacArthur) 4-3, Jr. (TF-1.5 5:23 (19-4))

7th Place Match

Martavious Johnson (Decatur Eisenhower) 3-2, Fr. over Karson Beenenga (Southeast) 4-3, So. (TF-1.5 2:55 (21-5))

138

1st Place Match

Camron Minner (Collinsville) 8-1, Sr. over Michael Mendoza (Washington) 4-3, Sr. (TF-1.5 4:00 (23-6))

3rd Place Match

Luke Eganhouse (Normal Community) 6-1, Jr. over Brenden Turnbo (MacArthur) 4-2, Sr. (Fall 1:21)

5th Place Match

Nehemie Mbangi (Centennial) 6-1, Jr. over Aidan Eisenberg (Grayslake Central) 5-6, Jr. (Fall 4:00)

7th Place Match

John Vallar (Glenwood) 3-2, Jr. over Tristan Mosack (Dunlap) 10-4, Sr. (M. For.)

144

1st Place Match

Trevor Hengl (Grayslake Central) 6-4, So. over Nate Page (Marion) 5-2, Fr. (TF-1.5 5:19 (17-1))

3rd Place Match

Frank Kittrell (Southeast) 4-2, Sr. over Ty Welsh (Carbondale) 3-2 (Fall 4:37)

5th Place Match

Joe Prideaux (Carbondale) 5-1, Jr. over Ethan Stoops (Normal Community) 4-3, Jr. (Fall 3:19)

7th Place Match

Jacob Kuhn (Charleston) 3-2, Jr. over Cameron Garcia (Dunlap) 4-6, So. (Fall 3:43)

150

1st Place Match

Caden Frey (Marion) 8-2, Jr. over Larson Nestar (Chatham-Glenwood High School) 6-4, Sr. (MD 17-3)

3rd Place Match

Carter Bub (Collinsville) 6-3, Sr. over Jon Martin (Carbondale) 4-2, Jr. (Fall 3:24)

5th Place Match

Quentin Conkle (Grayslake Central) 9-5, Sr. over Johnny Lopez (Grayslake Central) 3-2, Sr. (TF-1.5 4:04 (16-0))

7th Place Match

Hunter Hardwick (Normal Community) 6-3, Sr. over Liam Kilgore (East Peoria) 4-5, So. (Fall 2:42)

157

1st Place Match

Cruise Brolley (Washington) 7-2, Jr. over Jullian Rammelkamp (Glenwood) 7-3, So. (Fall 5:23)

3rd Place Match

Logan Thomas (O`Fallon) 8-1, Sr. over Colton Mosack (Dunlap) 9-4, So. (Fall 1:17)

5th Place Match

Warren Nash (Grayslake Central) 10-5, Jr. over Justin Murphy (Marion) 5-3, Sr. (Dec 12-5)

7th Place Match

Ayden Gratzl (Collinsville) 4-4, Sr. over Max Epplin (Carbondale) 3-3, So. (Fall 2:53)

165

1st Place Match

Maizon Milestone (Glenwood) 7-2, Sr. over Jayden Schmick (Dunlap) 12-1, So. (TF-1.5 5:47 (24-9))

3rd Place Match

William Lyle (Grayslake Central) 10-4, Jr. over Thomas Imboden (Carbondale) 4-2, Sr. (Dec 7-2)

5th Place Match

Tate Miller (Marion) 8-2, Sr. over John Couri (Peoria Notre Dame) 10-7, Sr. (Fall 0:34)

7th Place Match

Kyle Kujawa (O`Fallon) 6-4, Sr. over Wyatt Durham (East Peoria) 5-4, Jr. (Fall 1:59)

175

1st Place Match

Eli Smith (Glenwood) 9-1, So. over Joseph Weeks (Dunlap) 5-1, Sr. (Fall 4:33)

3rd Place Match

Payton Chanerl (O`Fallon) 7-2, So. over Victor Reyes (Normal Community) 4-2, Jr. (Dec 6-2)

5th Place Match

Braden Brown (Washington) 5-3, Jr. over Sie Couri (Peoria Notre Dame) 11-6, Sr. (Dec 10-3)

7th Place Match

Grayson Sanders (Marion) 6-4, Sr. over George Flaig (Grayslake Central) 3-3, So. (Fall 3:20)

190

1st Place Match

Max Wiezorek (Glenwood) 9-1, Sr. over Dalton Oakman (East Peoria) 6-1, Jr. (Fall 1:00)

3rd Place Match

Wyatt Leman (Washington) 7-3, Jr. over Sergio Baity (Centennial) 4-2, So. (MD 11-1)

5th Place Match

Jon Weiderman (Carbondale) 5-1, Sr. over Chris Hull (Southeast) 5-2, Jr. (Fall 0:24)

7th Place Match

Joe Culp (Peoria Notre Dame) 11-3, Sr. over Brody Commean (Glenwood 2) 2-3, So. (SV-1 4-1)

215

1st Place Match

Gavin Gentille (O`Fallon) 9-0, Sr. over Bryan Madinger (Marion) 7-3, Sr. (Dec 3-0)

3rd Place Match

Marcellx Boling (Charleston) 4-1, Sr. over Montray Crume (Collinsville) 7-2, Sr. (SV-1 1-4)

5th Place Match

Mason Streb (Glenwood) 5-3, Jr. over Alec Del Toro (East Peoria) 7-2, Jr. (Fall 5:47)

7th Place Match

Carson Paustian (Dunlap) 13-4, Sr. over Connor Daly (Carbondale) 3-3, Jr. (Fall 1:57)

285

1st Place Match

Jose Del Toro (East Peoria) 8-0, Sr. over Cody Moss (Glenwood) 6-2, Jr. (Dec 13-7)

3rd Place Match

Sean Thornton (Washington) 7-2, Jr. over Jack Shepherd (Collinsville) 6-3, Sr. (Fall 3:49)

5th Place Match

Keegan Barnes (East Peoria) 4-1, . over Jaspher Williams (Dunlap) 6-6, So. (Dec 1-0)

7th Place Match

Martin Xoxotla (Carbondale) 6-2, So. over Brady Mullens (Peoria Notre Dame) 10-7, Jr. (Fall 1:18)

Team scores

1. Glenwood 241, 2. Grayslake Central 189.5, 3. Washington 173.5, 4. Marion 154.5, 5. Carbondale 123.5, 6. O’Fallon 123, 7. Collinsville 122, 8. Peoria Notre Dame 110.5, 9. Dunlap 98, 10. East Peoria 97, 11. Normal Community 86.5, 12. Centennial 48, 13. Charleston 44, 14. MacArthur 40, 15. Southeast 38.5, 16. Decatur Eisenhower 34, 17. Peoria Heights 5.

Kewanee claims top honors at Seneca Irish Invite

Kewanee had three champions and four second-place finishers to help it capture the title at the 20-team Seneca Irish Invite with 236.5 points, which was 57 points ahead of runner-up Canton, who claimed second place by a 179.5-172.5 margin over Wheaton Academy.

Winning championships for coach Charley Eads’ first place Boilermakers were Tyson Currie (113), Ben Taylor (150) and Alejandro Duarte (215) while Kingston Peterson (120), Chance DeSplinter (132), Lain Taylor (138) and Ace Lafollette (175) finished in second place. Dontel Wommack (144), Brayden Johnson (165) and Douglas Swearingen (190) all placed fourth and Landyn Greenhagen (126) claimed sixth place. Duarte placed fifth at 215 in Class 1A in the 2024 IHSA Finals.

“We have had an amazing run this far in the season,” Eads said. “The Kewanee athletes have come out with a desire to be the best they can be and have shown it so far this season. We always know we can compete as a team at this fun Seneca tournament, winning it as a team was a blast!  The athletes had fun and competed tough and that is what my coaching staff asks of them day in and out!  We are excited to see what the rest of the season brings!”

Title winners for coach Zach Crawford’s runner-up Little Giants were Jacob Hardesty (120), Dyllan Steele (126) and Connor Williams (285). Jaxsun Owens (106) took second place while Jack Jochums (138) finished in third place.

Top performers for coach Steve Aiello’s third-place Warriors were champions Lincoln Hoger (132), Chasen Kazmierczak (157) and Tyler Jones (165) and runners-up Buckley Kazmierczak (113), Jeremy Johanik (215) and Hezekiah Garcia (285). Hoger finished fifth at 126 in the IHSA Class 1A Finals last season.

Other invite title winners were Seneca’s Raiden Terry (106), Eureka’s Finn Hoffman (138),

Clifton Central/Iroquois West co-op’s Evan Cox (144), Beardstown’s Gunner Looker (175) and Orion’s Maddux Anderson (190), who took third place at 190 in the 2024 IHSA Class 1A Finals.

Also finishing in second place were St. Bede Academy’s Max Moreno (126), Walther Christian’s Caleb Peterson (144), Beardstown’s Luis De La Cruz (150), Clifton Central co-op’s Gianni Panozzo (157), Orion’s Carson Peck (165) and Seneca’s Landen Venecia (190).

The Amboy co-op, which also involves Ashton-Franklin Center, LaMoille and Ohio, had three third-place finishers, Aden Spinelli (106), Chase Montavon (132) and Caiden Heath (144). 

Additional individuals who placed third were University High’s Ruben Rivera (126) and Charlie Karun (190), Seneca’s Gunner Varland (157) and Nick Grant (165), St. Bede Academy’s Michael Benge (113), Aurora Central Catholic’s Vince Hefke (120), Clifton Central co-op’s Giona Panozzo (150), Eureka’s Aaron Eastman (175), Orion’s Aiden Fisher (215) and Beardstown’s Chunk Dailey (285).

There was a three-way tie for the most team points between Anderson, Cox and Hoffman with 30 points apiece. Hoger was next-best with 29.5 team points, Duarte collected 29 points and Taylor had 28.5. Chasen Kazmierczak, Currie and Williams all scored 28 team points and Jones collected 27 points.

Seneca Irish Invite place matches

106

1st Place Match

Raiden Terry (Seneca) 3-0, So. over Jaxsun Owens (Canton) 4-1, So. (TF-1.5 3:42 (20-5))

3rd Place Match

Aden Spinelli (Amboy/Ashton-Franklin Center/LaMoille/Ohio) 3-1, Fr. over Jayden Rodriguez (Clifton Central/Iroquois West) 3-3, Fr. (Fall 1:32)

5th Place Match

Carter Webber (Manteno) 1-3, Fr. over Conner Knapp (Eureka) 3-5, Fr. (Dec 12-9)

113

1st Place Match

Tyson Currie (Kewanee) 3-0, Sr. over Buckley Kazmierczak (Wheaton Academy) 4-6, So. (Fall 3:33)

3rd Place Match

Michael Benge (St. Bede Academy) 3-2, Fr. over Bryan Islas (Beardstown) 2-2, Jr. (Fall 4:44)

5th Place Match

Chris Thompson (Seneca) 1-2, Fr. over Matthew Salas (Clifton Central) 0-3, Jr. (Fall 2:26)

120

1st Place Match

Jacob Hardesty (Canton) 6-0, So. over Kingston Peterson (Kewanee) 4-1, Jr. (Dec 7-2)

3rd Place Match

Vince Hefke (Aurora Central Catholic) 5-1 over Henry Watson (Eureka) 4-3, So. (Dec 9-4)

5th Place Match

Emmett Roeder (Heyworth) 7-4, Fr. over Tyler Olson (Orion) 3-3, So. (Fall 4:38)

126

1st Place Match

Dyllan Steele (Canton) 5-0, Jr. over Max Moreno (St. Bede Academy) 7-2, Fr. (Dec 11-4)

3rd Place Match

Ruben Rivera (University High) 4-1, Jr. over Jesus Martinez (Streator Township/Woodland) 7-3, Jr. (TF-1.5 3:31 (18-2))

5th Place Match

Kellen Brown (Beardstown) 5-3, Fr. over Landyn Greenhagen (Kewanee) 3-3 (TF-1.5 4:51 (15-0))

132

1st Place Match

Lincoln Hoger (Wheaton Academy) 9-3, Jr. over Chance DeSplinter (Kewanee) 5-1, Jr. (TF-1.5 4:00 (15-0))

3rd Place Match

Chase Montavon (Amboy) 5-1, Jr. over Garritt Benstine (Streator Township) 6-5, Jr. (Fall 1:50)

5th Place Match

Dillon McKinnon (Ottawa Township) 4-4, Jr. over Kooper Wiles (Pontiac) 3-3, So. (Inj. 0:00)

138

1st Place Match

Finn Hoffman (Eureka) 8-1, Fr. over Lain Taylor (Kewanee) 4-1, Fr. (Fall 3:38)

3rd Place Match

Jack Jochums (Canton) 6-1, Sr. over Noah Davis (Pontiac) 4-2, So. (TF-1.5 4:49 (17-1))

5th Place Match

Avery Phillips (Seneca) 4-2, Jr. over Brady Anders (Manteno) 3-4, . (Fall 3:02)

144

1st Place Match

Evan Cox (Clifton Central) 5-0, Jr. over Caleb Peterson (Walther Christian) 4-1, Sr. (Fall 3:17)

3rd Place Match

Caiden Heath (Amboy) 5-1, So. over Dontel Wommack (Kewanee) 4-2, Jr. (Fall 3:35)

5th Place Match

Alex Carrier (Canton) 5-3, So. over Doug Sibert (Ottawa Township) 2-3, So. (Fall 0:50)

150

1st Place Match

Ben Taylor (Kewanee) 6-0, Sr. over Luis De La Cruz (Beardstown) 7-1, Sr. (TF-1.5 4:44 (16-0))

3rd Place Match

Giona Panozzo (Clifton Central) 6-1, Jr. over Logan Stout (Heyworth) 7-5, So. (Fall 1:00)

5th Place Match

Grady Smith (Canton) 4-4, So. over Ryan Flynn (Seneca) 2-3, Sr. (Fall 3:56)

157

1st Place Match

Chasen Kazmierczak (Wheaton Academy) 11-1, Sr. over Gianni Panozzo (Clifton Central) 5-1, Sr. (Dec 2-0)

3rd Place Match

Gunner Varland (Seneca) 5-1, Jr. over Lucas Maier (Pontiac) 6-2, Fr. (Fall 3:38)

5th Place Match

Joshua Caraballo (University High) 4-2, Sr. over Maddox Medrano (Beardstown) 3-4, So. (Fall 2:10)

165

1st Place Match

Tyler Jones (Wheaton Academy) 10-1, Jr. over Carson Peck (Orion) 3-1, Jr. (MD 12-1)

3rd Place Match

Nick Grant (Seneca) 5-1, Sr. over Brayden Johnson (Kewanee) 4-2, Jr. (Fall 4:47)

5th Place Match

Tristian Stamp (Heyworth) 7-4, Fr. over Max Gillie (St. Edward) 3-4 (Fall 1:42)

175

1st Place Match

Gunner Looker (Beardstown) 6-0, Jr. over Ace Lafollette (Kewanee) 4-1, Fr. (Dec 15-9)

3rd Place Match

Aaron Eastman (Eureka) 7-3, Sr. over Wes Weatherford (Ottawa Township) 6-3, So. (Fall 2:39)

5th Place Match

Grayson Moody (University High) 4-3, Jr. over Cooper Moyer (Clifton Central) 3-4, Sr. (Fall 1:50)

190

1st Place Match

Maddux Anderson (Orion) 4-0, Sr. over Landen Venecia (Seneca) 3-1, Jr. (Fall 1:36)

3rd Place Match

Charlie Karun (University High) 6-1, Sr. over Douglas Swearingen (Kewanee) 4-2, Jr. (MD 10-2)

5th Place Match

Garrett Sego (Canton) 5-4, Sr. over Ashton Helberg (Eureka) 2-3, Fr. (Dec 7-5)

215

1st Place Match

Alejandro Duarte (Kewanee) 4-0, Sr. over Jeremy Johanik (Wheaton Academy) 10-2, Sr. (TF-1.5 3:16 (17-1))

3rd Place Match

Aiden Fisher (Orion) 4-1, Sr. over Evan Flanagan (Amboy) 4-2, So. (Fall 1:11)

5th Place Match

Ryder Hamlin (Beardstown) 4-3, Sr. over Brody O`Connor (Clifton Central) 4-3, Jr. (Fall 2:53)

285

1st Place Match

Connor Williams (Canton) 4-0, Jr. over Hezekiah Garcia (Wheaton Academy) 9-3, Jr. (Fall 4:19)

3rd Place Match

Chunk Dailey (Beardstown) 7-2, Sr. over Josh McCurry (Clifton Central) 5-3, So. (Fall 1:53)

5th Place Match

Miles Fredrickson (Ottawa Township) 4-2, Sr. over Carter Nunley (Manteno) 2-3, So. (Fall 4:54)

Team scores

1. Kewanee 236.5, 2. Canton 179.5, 3. Wheaton Academy 172.5, 4. Seneca 149, 5. Clifton Central/Iroquois West 145.5, 6. Beardstown 130.5, 7. Amboy/Ashton-Franklin Center/LaMoille/Ohio 106, 8. Orion 105, 9. Eureka 99, 10 University High 77.5, 11. Ottawa Township 67.5, 12. Pontiac 55.5, 13. Heyworth 55, 14. St. Bede Academy 54, 16. Streator Township/Woodland 43, 16. Manteno 34, 17. Aurora Central Catholic 25.5, 18. Walther Christian 25, 19. St. Edward 9, 20. Somonauk/Leland 2.

Lawrence County wins championship of its tournament

Lawrence County co-op had five champions and seven finalists to easily capture the title at its own 50th Lawrence County Tournament in Lawrenceville after scoring 255 points, which was 75.5 ahead of the second-place finisher, Carterville, who had 179.5 points while Robinson claimed third place in the 12-team competition with 167 points.

Winning championships for coach Cody Bobe’s co-op team that involves Lawrenceville and Red Hill, were Drew Seitzinger (120), Dylan Aten (132), Cale Seitzinger (138), Malikye Williams (190) and Dylan Camden (285) while Hudson Meek (144) and Daniel Kiser (157) finished second. Placing third were Kyler Guercio (106) and Keegan Liston (150) while Dayton Ledbetter (113) and Grayson Allender (126) took fifth place and Nick Morehead (175) and Noah Carie (215) claimed sixth-place finishes.

“I was very proud of the kids’ intensity and pace wrestling this weekend,” Bobe said. “I think we were all inspired by the Lawrence County wrestling tradition that was celebrated with the 50th anniversary of the tournament and walked out with the second highest team score in tournament history. We still have work to do but I truly believe this is a special group. 

Title winners for coach Daniel Alderman’s runner-up Lions were Landyn Flood (126) and Carter Jones (175) while Ramiro Sebastian (113) and Carl Watkins (215) took second place and Brawnsen Bloodworth (120), Gavin Slack (138) and Terry Mick (190) all placed third.

Winning championships for coach Tanner Keeler’s third-place Maroons were Gracen Elliott (106), Broady Kelly (144) and Ben Mullins (157) while Kahne Hyre (165) and William Mullins (190) claimed second place and Lenox Parker (175) finished third.

The other tournament title winners were Vandalia’s Dade Kleinik (150) and Parker Ray (165), Paris’ Christian Perez (113) and East Richland’s Zander Schrader (215).

Johnston City had four second-place finishers, Benjamin Harris (132), Jace Weaver (138), Jerry Tate (150) and Juan Salazar (175). Also claiming second place were Fairfield’s Jedd Wellen (126) and Bentley Rogers (285), East Richland’s Hayden Hazel (106) and Oblong/Hutsonville/Palestine co-op’s Mason Correll (120).

Additional third-place finishers were Mt. Carmel’s Carson Sloss (132) and Johnny Askren (165), 

Breese Central’s Matthew Walsh (157) and Brody Beckmann (215), Fairfield’s Anthony Granfeldt (113), East Richland’s Kaeden Davis (126) and Oblong co-op’s Jude Wirey (144).

Kleinik led all competitors with 29.5 points while three others tied for second with 28 points, Drew Seitzinger, Elliott and Schrader. Aten and Ray both collected 27.5 team points while Jones and Williams each finished with 27 points and Camden and Perez scored 26 team points. 

Lawrence County Tournament place matches

106

1st Place Match

Gracen Elliott (Robinson) 4-0 over Hayden Hazel (East Richland) 2-1, Fr. (Fall 2:00)

3rd Place Match

Kyler Guercio (Lawrence County) 2-1, Fr. over Paxton Overturf (Johnston City) 1-2, Fr. (Fall 1:15)

5th Place Match

Isaac Wood (Carterville) 5-1, Fr. over Gage Anderson (Carmi-White County) 3-3, So. (Fall 0:44)

113

1st Place Match

Christian Perez (Paris) 5-0, Jr. over Ramiro Sebastian (Carterville) 3-1, Sr. (Dec 4-1)

3rd Place Match

Anthony Granfeldt (Fairfield) 4-2, Jr. over Malachi Oberlender (Carmi-White County) 3-3, Fr. (Fall 2:29)

5th Place Match

Dayton Ledbetter (Lawrence County) 2-1, Fr. over Abigayle Haller (Breese Central) 1-2, So. (Fall 1:30)

120

1st Place Match

Drew Seitzinger (Lawrence County) 3-0, Jr. over Mason Correll (Oblong/H/P) 6-3 (Fall 3:03)

3rd Place Match

Brawnsen Bloodworth (Carterville) 3-1, Sr. over Jacob Booher (Robinson) 3-3 (Fall 5:52)

5th Place Match

Robert McCoy (Vandalia) 2-1, So. over Max Etherton (Johnston City) 1-2, Fr. (Fall 1:48)

126

1st Place Match

Landyn Flood (Carterville) 4-1, Sr. over Jedd Wellen (Fairfield) 4-2, Jr. (Fall 2:54)

3rd Place Match

Kaeden Davis (East Richland) 2-1, So. over Connor Benham (Carmi-White County) 2-3, So. (TF-1.5 2:00 (15-0))

5th Place Match

Grayson Allender (Lawrence County) 2-1, Fr. over Coy Romero (Paris) 2-3, So. (Dec 15-14)

132

1st Place Match

Dylan Aten (Lawrence County) 3-0, Sr. over Benjamin Harris (Johnston City) 2-1, Sr. (TF-1.5 5:04 (18-3))

3rd Place Match

Carson Sloss (Mt. Carmel) 3-1, Fr. over Dylan Blain (Vandalia) 2-2, So. (Dec 10-5)

5th Place Match

Nolan Garner (Carmi-White County) 4-4, Fr. over Lane Witucki (Fairfield) 3-5, So. (Fall 0:32)

138

1st Place Match

Cale Seitzinger (Lawrence County) 3-0, Jr. over Jace Weaver (Johnston City) 2-1, Jr. (Dec 15-12)

3rd Place Match

Gavin Slack (Carterville) 4-1, Jr. over Drew Jones (Vandalia) 1-2, Fr. (Fall 3:01)

5th Place Match

Chase Phillips (Fairfield) 4-2, Sr. over Owen Griffen (Oblong/H/P) 3-7 (TB-1 12-11)

144

1st Place Match

Broady Kelly (Robinson) 6-0 over Hudson Meek (Lawrence County) 2-1, So. (Dec 4-3)

3rd Place Match

Jude Wirey (Oblong/H/P) 8-4 over Garret Rigdon (Paris) 3-2, Jr. (Inj. 4:00)

5th Place Match

Samuel Dial (East Richland) 3-1, Fr. over Jay Klemish (Breese Central) 3-2, Jr. (Fall 1:41)

150

1st Place Match

Dade Kleinik (Vandalia) 4-0, So. over Jerry Tate (Johnston City) 2-1, Sr. (Fall 0:32)

3rd Place Match

Keegan Liston (Lawrence County) 3-1, So. over Jazz Duckworth (Carmi-White County) 2-4, So. (Fall 2:17)

5th Place Match

Nic Masterson (Fairfield) 6-1, Sr. over Peyton Vlahos (Paris) 2-3, Sr. (Fall 5:02)

157

1st Place Match

Ben Mullins (Robinson) 6-0 over Daniel Kiser (Lawrence County) 3-1, Jr. (TF-1.5 3:11 (15-0))

3rd Place Match

Matthew Walsh (Breese Central) 2-1, Jr. over TJ Stites (Oblong/H/P) 2-3 (Fall 0:33)

5th Place Match

Corbin Meyers (Vandalia) 2-1, So. over Cole Evans (Carmi-White County) 5-2, Fr. (Fall 1:51)

165

1st Place Match

Parker Ray (Vandalia) 4-0, Sr. over Kahne Hyre (Robinson) 5-1 (Dec 10-5)

3rd Place Match

Johnny Askren (Mt. Carmel) 7-4, Sr. over Branson Burnett (Carmi-White County) 3-3, Fr. (Fall 1:22)

5th Place Match

Aiden Cates (Fairfield) 6-1, Jr. over Joshua Lamore (Paris) 3-3, Jr. (MD 14-6)

175

1st Place Match

Carter Jones (Carterville) 6-0, So. over Juan Salazar (Johnston City) 2-1, So. (MD 20-9)

3rd Place Match

Lenox Parker (Robinson) 5-1 over Talan Keoughan (Fairfield) 4-2, Sr. (MFFL)

5th Place Match

Noah Langston (Vandalia) 4-1, So. over Nick Morehead (Lawrence County) 3-2, So. (Dec 5-4)

190

1st Place Match

Malikye Williams (Lawrence County) 3-0, Jr. over William Mullins (Robinson) 5-1 (Fall 2:56)

3rd Place Match

Terry Mick (Carterville) 4-2, So. over Gavin Grubb (Paris) 2-3, Sr. (Fall 1:45)

5th Place Match

Ethan Miller (Oblong/H/P) 5-6 over Delton Morgan (East Richland) 1-2, So. (Fall 1:14)

215

1st Place Match

Zander Schrader (East Richland) 3-0, Jr. over Carl Watkins (Carterville) 5-1, So. (Fall 3:10)

3rd Place Match

Brody Beckmann (Breese Central) 2-1, Jr. over Lukas Madlam (Mt. Carmel) 2-2, Sr. (Fall 1:24)

5th Place Match

Joseph Hercules (Johnston City) 3-1, Jr. over Noah Carie (Lawrence County) 1-2, So. (Fall 1:11)

285

1st Place Match

Dylan Camden (Lawrence County) 3-0, Sr. over Bentley Rogers (Fairfield) 4-2, Sr. (Dec 4-2)

3rd Place Match

Jeremiah Bouchard (Carterville) 3-2, So. over Carter Pyatt (Mt. Carmel) 5-5, Fr. (TF-1.5 4:06 (16-0))

5th Place Match

Gentry Michels (East Richland) 4-1, Fr. over Anthony Escobedo (Robinson) 2-2 (Fall 2:07)

Team scores

1. Lawrence County co-op (Lawrenceville/Red Hill) 255, 2. Carterville 179.5, 3. Robinson 167, 4. Fairfield 130, 5. Johnston City 127.5, 6. Vandalia 120, 7. East Richland 103, 8. Carmi-White County 96, 9. Paris 86, 10. Oblong/Hutsonville/Palestine co-op 81, 11. Mt. Carmel 78.5, 12. Breese Central 58.

Dixon takes first at Sterling DeJarnatt Invitational

Dixon had three champions and three second-place finishers to help it to score 268 points to win Sterling’s 46th Carson DeJarnatt Invitational, placing it 48.5 points ahead of runner-up Newman Central Catholic, who had 219.5 points. The host Golden Warriors took third place in their 10-team tournament with 196.5 points.

Claiming first-place finishes for coach Micah Hey’s champion Dukes were Jack Ragan (113), Doolan Long (120) and Will Howell (215) while Riley Paredes (106), Charlie Connors (138) and Preston Richards (144) placed second. Jayden Weidman (157) took third place. Kye Dieterle (126), Gavin Kramer (132), James Simpson (150), Daniel Fordham (190) and Dawson Kemp (285) all were fourth while Neyo Holloway (165) and Seth Shaffer (175) both placed sixth. 

Winning titles for coach Brian Bahrs’ runner-up Comets were Landon Near (106), Briar Ivey 

(157) and Daniel Kelly (165) while Javen Reyes (113), Zhyler Hansen (126) and Landon Blanton (132) took second place and Ben Geske (175) and Jacob Newberry (190) placed third. Kelly finished in fifth place at 157 in the 2024 IHSA Class 1A Finals.

Capturing championships for coach Nolan Baker’s third-place Golden Warriors were Zyan Westbrook (132) and Gage Tate (175) while Landon Kenney (150) and and Oswaldo Navarro (285) took second place and Landon Heckman (120), Cael Lyons (126) and Tatum Allen (165) finished in third place.

Other title winners were Rock Falls’ Josiah Tarbill (126), Polo/Eastland/Forreston/Milledgeville co-op’s Lucas Nelson (138), Fulton’s Mason Kuebel (190), Galesburg’s Larry Randolph (285) and Clinton, Iowa’s Danny Peters (144) and Brady Jennings (150). 

Also claiming second-place finishes were Limestone’s Christian Johnson (120), Bruce Ryder (190) and Ethan Dixon (215), Galesburg’s Josiah Carter (157) and Anthony Makwala (165) and Fulton’s Skylier Crooks (175).

Others who finished in third place were Fulton’s Hudson Price (106), Jeff Kane (215) and Daniel Holman (285), Rock Falls’ Logan Thome (132) and Tucker Ullrich (138), Limestone’s Kaleb Fuchs (113), Galesburg’s Caleb Johnson (144) and Polo co-op’s Kaenyn McCarren (150).

There was a three-way for the most team points with 30 between Jennings, Long and Randolph while Howell, Ragan and Tate had 29 points and Ivey,Near, Peters and Westbrook all collected 28 team points. 

Sterling Carson DeJarnatt Invitational place matches

106

1st Place Match

Landon Near (Newman Central Catholic) 5-0, Fr. over Riley Paredes (Dixon) 7-1, So. (Dec 9-2)

3rd Place Match

Hudson Price (Fulton) 5-3, Fr. over Coltin Hartman (Fulton) 2-2, Fr. (Dec 8-4)

5th Place Match

Scottie Hampton (Rock Falls) 2-2 over Chad Bennett (Sterling) 2-4, Fr. (Fall 2:23)

113

1st Place Match

Jack Ragan (Dixon) 8-0, So. over Javen Reyes (Newman Central Catholic) 5-1, Fr. (MD 9-1)

3rd Place Match

Kaleb Fuchs (Limestone) 8-2, Jr. over Evan Jones (Sterling) 3-3, Jr. (SV-1 6-3)

5th Place Match

Jakob Litherland (Clinton, Iowa) 2-3, So. over Owen Bohm (Galesburg) 4-3, Fr. (Fall 2:30)

120

1st Place Match

Doolan Long (Dixon) 7-1, Fr. over Christian Johnson (Limestone) 6-3, So. (Fall 1:53)

3rd Place Match

Landon Heckman (Sterling) 4-2, Jr. over Camdynn Bray (Clinton, Iowa) 3-2, Jr. (Dec 11-4)

5th Place Match

Jaxon Myers (Sterling) 3-2, So. over Landon Darst (Galesburg) 5-3, Fr. (Fall 1:10)

126

1st Place Match

Josiah Tarbill (Rock Falls) 3-0, Jr. over Zhyler Hansen (Newman Central Catholic) 3-1, Jr. (Fall 3:56)

3rd Place Match

Cael Lyons (Sterling) 5-1, Jr. over Kye Dieterle (Dixon) 4-3, So. (Dec 7-5)

5th Place Match

Easton Spooner (Fulton) 4-4, Fr. over Joaquin Donaire (Clinton, Iowa) 2-3, So. (TF-1.5 2:27 (15-0))

132

1st Place Match

Zyan Westbrook (Sterling) 5-0, Sr. over Landon Blanton (Newman Central Catholic) 2-1, Jr. (Dec 8-1)

3rd Place Match

Logan Thome (Rock Falls) 3-1, Jr. over Gavin Kramer (Dixon) 5-5, Sr. (Fall 3:10)

5th Place Match

Brody Harrington (Clinton, Iowa) 3-2, Jr. over Tyler Mosure (Polo/Eastland/Forreston/Milledgeville) 1-4, . (Fall 0:20)

138

1st Place Match

Lucas Nelson (Polo) 7-1 over Charlie Connors (Dixon) 6-1, Fr. (Inj. 3:19)

3rd Place Match

Tucker Ullrich (Rock Falls) 3-1, So. over Orlando Castellano (Galesburg) 5-3, So. (MD 20-12)

5th Place Match

Connor Petrakis (Limestone) 1-3, Fr. over Ty Sander-Welzien (Clinton,Iowa) 1-3, So. (MD 13-0)

144

1st Place Match

Danny Peters (Clinton, Iowa) 4-0, Jr. over Preston Richards (Dixon) 7-1, Fr. (Dec 2-1)

3rd Place Match

Caleb Johnson (Galesburg) 4-2, Sr. over Jaidyn McKinney (Polo) 9-2, . (Fall 1:07)

5th Place Match

Seamus McDonnell (Newman Central Catholic) 3-3, Sr. over Logan Williamson (Rock Falls) 3-3, Sr. (Fall 5:28)

150

1st Place Match

Brady Jennings (Clinton, Iowa) 3-0, Sr. over Landon Kenney (Sterling) 3-1, Sr. (Fall 1:24)

3rd Place Match

Kaenyn McCarren (Polo) 5-4, . over James Simpson (Dixon) 4-3, Sr. (Fall 5:27)

5th Place Match

Wiley Blasdell (Fulton) 3-4, So. over Don Patrick (Galesburg) 3-3, Sr. (Dec 17-14)

157

1st Place Match

Briar Ivey (Newman Central Catholic) 5-0, Sr. over Josiah Carter (Galesburg) 6-1, Sr. (Dec 11-4)

3rd Place Match

Jayden Weidman (Dixon) 9-1, Sr. over Sam Hoffman (Clinton, Iowa) 3-2, Sr. (Fall 1:49)

5th Place Match

Jack Bernardi (Galesburg) 4-2, So. over Jonah Lutz (Fulton) 4-6, So. (MD 16-7)

165

1st Place Match

Daniel Kelly (Newman Central Catholic) 4-0, Sr. over Anthony Makwala (Galesburg) 6-1, Jr. (Dec 12-11)

3rd Place Match

tatum allen (Sterling) 4-2, Sr. over Micah Stringini (Polo) 8-2, . (Fall 2:43)

5th Place Match

Trail Stonitsch (Rock Falls) 4-2, So. over Neyo Holloway (Dixon) 3-3, So. (MD 17-8)

175

1st Place Match

Gage Tate (Sterling) 4-1, Sr. over Skylier Crooks (Fulton) 6-1, Sr. (MD 16-8)

3rd Place Match

Ben Geske (Newman Central Catholic) 4-1, Jr. over Mason Taylor (Galesburg) 6-2, Jr. (Fall 1:57)

5th Place Match

Braiden Tucker (Galesburg) 4-2, So. over Seth Shaffer (Dixon) 3-7, So. (TF-1.5 5:08 (18-3))

190

Guaranteed Places

1st Place Match

Mason Kuebel (Fulton) 7-0, Jr. over Bruce Ryder (Limestone) 5-4, Sr. (MD 10-2)

3rd Place Match

Jacob Newberry (Newman Central Catholic) 4-1, Sr. over Daniel Fordham (Dixon) 5-5, Jr. (MD 12-1)

5th Place Match

Nathan Maloy (Galesburg) 5-4, Sr. over Hayden Chandler (Clinton, Iowa) 2-3, Jr. (Fall 0:55)

215

1st Place Match

Will Howell (Dixon) 6-3, Sr. over Ethan Dixon (Limestone) 6-2, Sr. (Fall 1:15)

3rd Place Match

Jeff Kane (Fulton) 4-1, Jr. over LaVant Ritenour (Galesburg) 3-2, Jr. (Fall 1:37)

5th Place Match

Mathew Murray (Newman Central Catholic) 3-3, So. over Hunter Bertolozzi (Sterling) 1-5, Sr. (Fall 1:44)

285

1st Place Match

Larry Randolph (Galesburg) 6-0, Sr. over Oswaldo Navarro (Sterling) 2-2, Sr. (Fall 3:56)

3rd Place Match

Daniel Holman (Fulton) 7-1, Sr. over Dawson Kemp (Dixon) 1-2, Jr. (Dec 4-3)

5th Place Match

Jadis Franklin (Clinton, Iowa) 2-2, Sr. over Charlie Reyes (Sterling) 1-3, Sr. (Dec 7-5)

Team scores

1. Dixon 268, 2. Newman Central Catholic 219.5, 3. Sterling 196.5, 4. Galesburg 190, 5. Clinton, Iowa 146, 6. Futon 132.5, 7. Rock Falls 113.5, 8. Limestone 93, 9. Polo/Eastland/Forreston/Milledgeville co-op 86.5.

By Gary Larsen for the IWCOA

Princeton’s 1st Annual Girls PIT

Princeton launched its first PIT on the girls’ side of wrestling on Saturday, a 28-teamer that saw Geneseo dominate the competition to hoist the team title.

Geneseo won 200.5-94 over second-place LaSalle-Peru. Hampshire (93) was right behind LaSalle-Peru in third, Vandalia (85.5) was fourth, and Erie (84) rounded out the top five team finishes.
Geneseo’s 13 entrants were the most of any team. LaSalle-Peru and Freeport were next with 9 girls competing apiece.

1st place: Geneseo (200.5 points)
The Maple Leafs rolled over the competition with 10 place-winners, including individual titles from Addison Hadsall (100), Molly Snyder (105), Annibelle Juarez (135), and Mady Mooney (145). Geneseo also got second-place finishes from Bella Curcuru (125), Lauren Piquard (155) and Sophie Bellagamba (170), a third from Lydia King (120), a fifth from Ayla Schultz (130), and a sixth from Brooke Shollenderger (140).

2nd place: LaSalle-Peru (94)
Kiely Domyancich (115) won an individual title for the Lady Cavaliers, who also got a runner-up finish from Sarah Lowery (110), fourths from Kalista Frost (100), Ruby Davis (130) and Avalyn Edwall (140), and a fifth from Kalli Ware (115).

3rd place: Hampshire (93)
The Whip-purs sent three champs to the top of the awards stand in Ameila Nidelea-Polanin (120), Annelise Tavira (170) and Samantha Diehl (190), and Hampshire also got a fourth from Gwen Wilds (145).

Other Girls PIT champions in Princeton were Streator’s Addison Yacko (110), Vandalia’s returning state champion Sophie Bowers, Erie’s Michelle Naftzger (130), Dunlap’s Olivia Curtis (140), and Tolono’s Anna Vasey (155) and returning state medalist (2nd) Phoenix Molina (235)

Vandalia’s Amelia Watterson posted the most pins (5) in the least time (9:35) of all wrestlers present, and Hampshire’s Annelise Tavira had the most tech falls (2) in the least time (6:00). Unity’s Phoenix Molina had the fastest tech fall (1:07), and Hampshire’s Amelia Nidelea-Polanin scored the most team points with 33. Tavira tied with Galena’s Emma Duncan for the most single match points (21), and Nidelea-Polanin scored the most total match points (62). The largest seed-place difference went to Sherrard’s Sophia Bradarich, who was seeded 17th but placed 5th at 120.

Team scores: Geneseo 200.5, LaSalle-Peru 94, Hampshire 93, Vandalia 85.5, Erie 84, Freeport 74, Streator 72, Princeton 71, Unity 60.5, Sherrard 52, Rock Falls 51, Genoa-Kingston 48.5, Rock Island 47, Dunlap 42.5, ROWVA 42, Metamora 30, Mendota 26, United Township 25, Washington 21, Mahomet-Seymour 20, Moline 18, Illinois Valley Central 15, Illini West 14, Galena 10, Ottawa 9, Kewanee 7, Oregon 0, Newman Central Catholic 0

Princeton’s 1st Annual Girls PIT results:

100

1st: Addison Hadsall (Geneseo) 8-2,  over Aurielle Calmese (Freeport) 6-3,  (F 0:31)

3rd: Rylee Backes (Princeton) 3-2,  over Kalista Frost (L.-Peru) 3-4,  (F 1:09)

105

Molly Snyder (Geneseo) 6-1,  over Grace Aeschliman (Metamora) 4-3,  (F 0:33)

Isis Lopez (Moline (H.S.) 1-4,  over () , . (Bye)

110

1st: Addison Yacko (Streator (Twp.) 5-0,  over Sarah Lowery (L.-Peru) 3-1,  (F 1:45)

3rd: Ariyana Calmese (Freeport) 6-5,  over Kaydence Klein (Metamora) 5-4,  (F 4:49)

5th: Aerith Adams (Dunlap) 6-2,  over Elizabeth Farney (Unity) 3-3,  (F 2:30)

115

1st: Kiely Domyancich (L.-Peru) 7-0,  over Payton Henson (Streator (Twp.) 3-1,  (F 1:42)

3rd: Marissa Brown (ROWVA) 5-1,  over Abby Harris (Princeton) 4-2,  (F 5:00)

5th: Kalli Ware (L.-Peru) 4-3,  over Violet Sanders (G.-Kingston) 2-3,  (F 1:12)

120

1st: Amelia Nidelea-Polanin (Hampshire) 9-0,  over Ryleigh Stephens (Erie) 8-2,  (F 3:45)

3rd: Lydia King (Geneseo) 9-2,  over Laila Vaughn (Streator (Twp.) 5-2,  (F 1:30)

5th: Sophia Bradarich (Sherrard) 5-2,  over Kaiya Galindo (Freeport) 8-7,  (F 3:58)

125

1st: Sophie Bowers (Vandalia) 4-0,  over Bella Curcuru (Geneseo) 8-2,  (F 2:00)

3rd: Ryleigh Ericks (Rock Fs) 4-1,  over Cora Hanks (Illini West) 3-5,  (F 2:36)

5th: Kylie Mathis (Sherrard) 3-2,  over Adison Stephens (Erie) 4-5,  (F 1:37)

130

1st: Michelle Naftzger (Erie) 9-1,  over Izabel Vega (Rock Island) 2-1,  (F 3:06)

3rd: Jadeyn Klingenberg (Princeton) 5-1,  over Ruby Davis (L.-Peru) 4-4,  (F 1:47)

5th: Ayla Schultz (Geneseo) 3-2,  over JAYLEEN JORDAN (Mendota) 3-3,  (F 3:21)

135

1st: Annibelle Juarez (Geneseo) 8-2,  over Jaelyn Hare (United Township) 3-1,  (F 1:12)

3rd: Nadia Anderson (Sherrard) 4-1,  over Dulce Ibarra (G.-Kingston) 5-4,  (F 4:50)

5th: Izzy Gibson (Princeton) 4-2,  over Rebecca Cahill (Illinois Valley C) 3-3,  (F 0:42)

140

1st: Olivia Curtis (Dunlap) 5-1,  over Vanesa Penaloza (Freeport) 6-3,  (TF-1.5 4:19 (19-3)

3rd: Amelia Watterson (Vandalia) 5-1,  over Avalyn Edwall (L.-Peru) 5-4,  (F 2:14)

5th: Brianna Blunt (Moline (H.S.) 4-5,  over Brooke Shollenderger (Geneseo) 2-4,  (F 3:22)

145

1st: Mady Mooney (Geneseo) 8-1,  over Dena Cox (Erie) 6-3,  (Dec 1-0)

3rd: Ashlyn Fargher (Rock Fs) 3-1,  over Gwen Wilds (Hampshire) 5-6,  (F 0:39)

155

1st: Anna Vasey (Unity) 7-1,  over Lauren Piquard (Geneseo) 7-2,  (F 1:23)

3rd: Akira Schick (Rock Fs) 4-1,  over Brynn Swyers (Vandalia) 3-2,  (TF-1.5 4:00 (15-0)

170

1st: Anneliese Tavira (Hampshire) 11-0,  over Sophie Bellagamba (Geneseo) 7-3,  (TF-1.5 4:00 (21-5)

3rd: Jordyn Graf (G.-Kingston) 7-2,  over Violet Gray (Vandalia) 2-2,  (F 3:30)

190

1st: Samantha Diehl (Hampshire) 9-1,  over DaLonna Buckley (ROWVA) 3-1,  (F 0:52)

3rd: Courtney Walls (Rock Island) 5-1,  over Patience Riggs (ROWVA) 3-2,  (TF-1.5 4:28 (17-2)

5th: Grace Mordhorst (Washington) 2-2,  over Gracie VanQuakebeke (Washington) 2-3,  (Dec 6-3)

235

1st: Phoenix Molina (Unity) 6-1,  over Gracey Simmons (Vandalia) 2-1,  (F 0:26)

3rd: Jaycee Weitekamp (Mahomet-S) 6-3,  over LAINA GONZALES (Mendota) 2-2,  (F 2:48)

Granite City Girls Invitational

Edwardsville sent 14 girls to the awards stand at this year’s 30-team Granite City Girls Invitational, winning the team title 230.5-172 over the team from Bartlett, Tennessee. Collinsville (126) placed third, followed by Hazelwood West, Missouri (105) and Glenwood (88.5) to round out the top five team finishes.

1st place: Edwardsville (230.5 points)
The Tigers got individual titles from Emma Rogers (100), Allie Chong (120), returning state medalist Holly Zugmaier (135), and Victoria White (190), seconds from Maddy Allen (105), Genevieve Dykstra (110), Gianna Linhorst (115), Olive Linhorst (130), thirds from Brooklyn Alldredge (125), fourths from Haily Buckingham (110) and Jaylnn Parker (140), and fifths from Emily Rogers (125), Lydia Blind (140), and Jada Tyus (235). Buckingham, Rogers, Parker and Tyus participated for the Tigers as non-scoring wrestlers.

2nd place: Bartlett, TN (172)
The team from Tennessee had seven wrestlers win place medals, including two individual champions in Ella Berg (105) and Ayanna Omollo (235), along with two second-place finishes and three fifth-place wrestlers.
3rd place: Collinsville (126)

The Kahoks had three individual champs in Londyn Long (125), returning state runner-up Taylor Dawson (140), and Tashieya Taylor (155), and a pair of fifth-place finishes from Emma Ford (115) and Addy Bailey (135).
Other Granite City Girls Invitational champions were Rochester’s Carlly Ho (110), Carbondale’s Delaney Measimer (115), Jacksonville’s returning state medalist Alexis Seymour (130), Cumberland’s Natalie Beaumont (145), and Highland’s returning state medalist August Rottmann (170).
Glenwood’s Kenzi Milestone had the most pins (5) in the least time (4:05) of any wrestler in the tournament, and Jacksonville’s Alexis Seymour had the fastest tech fall in 1:53. Collinsville’s Tashieya Taylor scored the most team points with 32, Springfield co-op’s Maya Bennett had the most single match points with 23, and Springfield’s Reaghan Madura scored the most total match points with 60. Glenwood’s Kadi Wilbern provided the largest seed-place difference, as the 16th seed placed second at 100 pounds.

Team scores: Edwardsville 230.5, Bartlett TN 172, Collinsville 126, Hazelwood West MO 105, Glenwood 88.5, Granite City 84, Marion 79, Belleville West 78, Carbondale 70, Civic Memorial 69, Jacksonville 56.5, Triad 53, O’Fallon 50, Highland 48.5, Normal Community West 46, Springfield co-op 45.5, Mt. Vernon 41.5, Cumberland 38, Waterloo 37, Rochester 35, Jerseyville 34, Mascoutah 31, Hazelwood Central MO 26, East St. Louis 24, Robinson 23, Alton 20, PORTA 12.5, Belleville East 7, Peoria Notre Dame 7, Auburn 0

Granite City Girls Invitational results:

100

1st: Emma Rogers (Edwardsville) 6-0, over Kadi Wilbern (Glenwood) 6-1,  (D 10-7)

3rd: Claire Crouch (Triad) 4-1, over Lily Davis (Mt Vernon) 3-2,  (F 0:33)

5th: Kelly Tran (Hazelwood W) 4-2, over Ariel Sipes (Porta) 6-5,  (MD 16-8)

105

1st: Ella Berg (Bartlett) 9-1, over Maddy Allen (Edwardsville) 3-1,  (D 15-11)

3rd: Briana Ramirez (Granite City) 6-2, over Janiya Fleming (Hazelwood W) 8-3,  (TB-1 4-3)

5th: Josselyn Allen (Jerseyville) 2-2, over Beautifull Wims (Springfield(Coop) 0-3,  (F 0:18)

110

1st: Carlly Ho (Rochester) 5-2, over Genevieve Dykstra (Edwardsville) 4-1,  (F 3:51)

3rd: Reaghan Madura (Springfield(Coop) 4-1, over Haily Buckingham (Edwardsville) 5-2,  (MD 16-6)

5th: Jala Singleton (Belleville W) 3-2, over Cecelia Irwin (Springfield(Coop) 2-3,  (D 9-7)

115

1st: Delaney Measimer (Carbondale) 6-0, over Gianna Linhorst (Edwardsville) 4-1,  (F 3:54)

3rd: Kendall Moss-Smith (Civic Memorial) 6-1, over Vanessa McDaniel (Hazelwood W) 4-2,  (F 1:26)

5th: Emma Ford (Collinsville) 7-3, over Lucie Eisenbarth (Rochester) 2-5,  (F 1:41)

120

1st: Allie Chong (Edwardsville) 5-0, over Alauni Muex (Marion) 6-1,  (D 3-0)

3rd: Zoey Nelson (Mascoutah) 4-1, over Lelynn Kelly (Granite City) 7-4,  (F 3:25)

5th: Shyler Salmon (Bartlett) 8-4, over Yanni Smith (Hazelwood W) 5-5,  (F 1:16)

125

1st: Londyn Long (Collinsville) 8-1, over Deziare Jones (Mt Vernon) 3-1,  (F 1:57)

3rd: Brookyln Alldredge (Edwardsville) 5-1, over Ariella Miloncus (Springfield(Coop) 3-2,  (D 6-4)

5th: Emily Rogerfs (Edwardsville) 5-2, over Amelia McClure (Normal West) 2-2,  (M. For.)

130 

1st: Alexis Seymour (Jacksonville) 6-0, over Olive Linhorst (Edwardsville) 5-1,  (F 0:52)

3rd: Kenzi Milestone (Glenwood) 7-2, over Josephine Crow (Hazelwood W) 4-2,  (F 1:11)

5th: Addison Arnold (Marion) 6-2, over DJ Tucker-Lester (Marion) 4-5,  (For.)

135 

1st: Holly Zugmaier (Edwardsville) 6-0, over Scarlett Gentille (O`Fallon) 7-1,  (MD 12-2)

3rd: Audrey Barnes (Granite City) 8-1, over Isabella Resendez (Glenwood) 6-3,  (F 1:24)

5th: Addy Bailey (Collinsville) 7-3, over Rachel Richey (Robinson) 3-3,  (F 0:28)

140 

1st: Taylor Dawson (Collinsville) 8-0, over Turner Corbin (Bartlett) 6-2,  (F 0:45)

3rd: Jariyah Powell (East St. Louis) 4-1, over Jaylnn Parker (Edwardsville) 7-2,  (F 1:41)

5th: Lydia Blind (Edwardsville) 6-2, over Bailly Rabun (Hazelwood W) 2-2,  (M. For.)

145

1st: Natalie Beaumont (Cumberland) 4-0, over Audrey Whipple (Civic Memorial) 3-1,  (F 1:06)

3rd: Jenna Tuxhorn (Glenwood) 7-1, over Tamia Coleman-Hawkins (Hazelwood W) 3-2,  (F 2:27)

5th: Kyla Ford (Carbondale) 6-2, over Vivian Guither (Normal West) 3-3,  (MD 15-4)

155

1st: Tashieya Taylor (Collinsville) 7-1, over Kira Thompson (O`Fon) 4-1,  (F 1:26)

3rd: Rory Speidel (Jerseyville) 4-1, over Lola Sumpter (Alton) 3-2,  (F 3:33)

5th: Paige McKendry (Bartlett) 11-3, over Maria Pimienta (Carbondale) 4-3,  (F 0:19)

170

1st: August Rottmann (Highland) 11-0, over Demi Barnes (Granite City) 4-1,  (TF-1.5 2:41 (20-2)

3rd: Ju`Bri Edwards (Belleville W) 4-1, over Kaitlin Wood (Triad) 4-2,  (F 0:31)

5th: Terrelynn Cannon (Bartlett) 7-4, over Makayla Padilla (Jacksonville) 3-2,  (M. For.)

190

1st: Victoria White (Edwardsville) 5-1, over Morgan Ragsdale (Bartlett) 3-1,  (SV-1 4-1)

3rd: Izabell McBride (Waterloo) 4-1, over Nina Landmann (Highland) 3-2,  (F 1:39)

5th: Andre`a Kirkpatrick (Belleville W) 3-2, over Olivia Monroe (Jacksonville) 5-3,  (F 1:29)

235

1st: Ayanna Omollo (Bartlett) 11-0, over Olivia McDermott (Marion) 6-1,  (F 0:31)

3rd: Cadence Duvall (Normal West) 4-1, over Rain Moore (Hazelwood C) 3-2,  (F 1:24)

5th: Jada Tyus (Edwardsville) 2-2, over Cheyanne Sullivan (Highland) 1-3,  (F 5:07)

Sterling’s 46TH Carson DeJarnatt Girls Invitational

Five individual champions will go a long way towards winning a team tournament title, and when you add three second-placers and a few thirds, you have the type of win Plainfield South enjoyed at this year’s 11-team Carson DeJarnatt Girls Invitational at Sterling.

“I’m happy with the way we performed; a team title — our first as a program — and five individual champions makes for a good day,” South coach Tom Redmon said.
“Overall we’ve had a great start to the season with solid showings in our opening competitions, but we’re going to continue to stay grounded, take everything one match at a time, and focus on improving every day.”

The tournament is named for legendary former Sterling coach Carson DeJarnatt, whose 24-year career (1959-1983) as the program’s head coach saw his teams win three team state finals medals. DeJarnatt was named Coach of the Year in Illinois in 1973 and the IWCOA recognized DeJarnatt with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

1st place: Plainfield South (219 points)

The Cougars sent eight girls to the championship mat and got individual titles from Allison Assante (120), Teagan Aurich (155), Layla Spann (170), Keira Enright (190), and Timi Mudasiru (235). Aurich was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler after her win by fall on the title mat over Galesburg’s Annalisa Gibbons, who placed 6th in Illinois at 140 last year.
Plainfield South got second-place finishes from Gabi Mardula (125), Lexi Kachiroubas (130), and Mora Munoz (140), thirds from Amie Fuentes (105), Zola Burdette (135), and Lily Kenost (170), and a fifth from Yuli Manrique (120), who participated as a non-scoring wrestler.

Seniors Keira Enright and Teagan Aurich led the way, but all the girls wrestled well and made major contributions throughout the day,” Redmon said.

2nd place: Sterling (156.5)

A total of 15 wrestlers earned place-medals for the host Golden Warriors in their runner-up team finish. Sterling got an individual title from Skyann Munz (130), seconds from Katherine Garcia (100), Noelani Ibarra (115) and Arianna Tamayo (235), thirds from Kylie Tate (110), Nevaeh Delgado (125) and Lillian Tunk (190), fourths from Caylee Lyons (120), Betzy Aguilar-Navarro (135), and Chalice Buyno (140), fifths from Addison Robbins (115) and Alayna Wargo (135), and sixths from Jenavieve Echols (115), Emily Newman (125), and Vivianna Torres (155).
Echols, Robbins, Newman, and Wargo earned place medals as non-scoring wrestlers for the Golden Warriors.

3rd place: Macomb (120)

The Bombers got runner-up finishes from Mikaela Mwangong (145), Liberty Harner (170), and Avery Lundgren (190), thirds from Maria Hernandez (120), Kelly Ladd (140), and Dru Hyde (155), fifths from Ava Clayton (130) and Dana Kane (145), and sixths from Katherine Gravitt (110) and Griffin Schauble (190).

Other Carson DeJarnatt individual champions were St. Charles East’s Sophia Espinoza (100), Rockford East’s Saya Hongmoungkhoune (105), Clinton’s Ariana Humes (110), Galesburg’s Eliana Juarez (115), Fulton’s Grace Bray (125), Durand/Pecatonica’s Evie Anderson (135), and St. Charles East’s Ema Durst (145).

Sterling’s Nevaeh Delgado posted the most pins (4) in the least time (7:13) of any wrestler in the tournament, and Galesburg’s Eliana Juarez posted the fastest tech fall, in 1:25. Plainfield South teammates Zola Burdette and Layla Spann tied for the fastest posted pin (0:11 seconds), Macomb’s Maria Hernandez scored the most single match points with 22, Galesburg’s Kelsie Wooldridge scored the most total match points with 46, and largest seed-place difference posted came from Clinton’s Jade Stevenson, who was seeded 13th and placed fourth at 110.
Team scores: Plainfield South 219, Sterling 156.5, Macomb 120, St. Charles East 116, Galesburg 97.5, Durand/Pecatonica 48, Rockford East 46, Clinton 45.5, Fulton 26, Sycamore 24, Newman 20

DeJarnatt Girls Tournament Results

100
1st: Sophia Espinoza (SC East) 2-0 over Katherine Garcia (Sterling) 2-2 (F 0:28)

3rd: Bella Villanueva (Clinton) 0-1 (Bye)

105

1st: Saya Hongmoungkhoune (Rockford E) 5-0 over Sydney Stieb (SC East) 1-1 (F 3:17)

3rd: Amie Fuentes (Plainfield S) 5-3 over Kinsley Furnald (Galesburg) 1-2 (F 0:47)

5th: Liberty Darst (Galesburg) 0-2 (Bye)

110

1st: Ariana Humes (Clinton) 3-0 over Mireya Irizarry (Rockford E) 4-3 (F 2:38)

3rd: Kylie Tate (Sterling) 3-1 over Jade Stevenson (Clinton) 2-2 (F 1:24)

5th: Alanna Mechling (DUPEC) 2-2 over Katherine Gravitt (Macomb) 0-3 (D 8-3)

115

1st: Eliana Juarez (Galesburg) 2-0 over Noelani Ibarra (Sterling) 6-2,  (TF-1.5 1:25 (16-0)

3rd: Ireland Dolan (DUPEC) 4-1 over Eliza Diaz (SC East) 1-2,  (D 10-3)

5th: Addison Robbins (Sterling) 2-5, over Jenavieve Echols (Sterling) 0-3, (F 0:25)

120

1st: Allison Asante (Plainfield S) 4-3,  over Kaylee Benyo (Newman) 2-1,  (F 1:07)

3rd: Maria Hernandez (Macomb) 2-1,  over Caylee Lyons (Sterling) 1-5,  (F 4:34)

5th: Yuli Manrique (Plainfield S) 1-4,  over (Bye)

125

1st: Grace Bray (Fulton (HS) 3-0,  over Gabi Mardula (Plainfield S) 3-4,  (F 1:18)

3rd: Nevaeh Delgado (Sterling) 6-4,  over Kelsie Wooldridge (Galesburg) 3-2,  (F 2:50)

5th: Vida Sanchez (Plainfield S) 4-5,  over Emily Newman (Sterling) 1-3,  (F 4:51)

130

1st: Skyann Munz (Sterling) 7-2,  over Lexi Kachiroubas (Plainfield S) 6-3,  (F 5:03)

3rd: Olivia Pearson (SC East) 3-1,  over Dai Driana Willford (Galesburg) 2-2,  (F 1:26)

5th: Ava Clayton (Macomb) 3-2,  over Sophia Rivas (SC East) 2-3,  (F 0:57)
135

1st: Evie Anderson (DUPEC) 6-0,  over Amyah Pruitt (Galesburg) 2-1,  (F 3:25)

3rd: Zola Burdette (Plainfield S) 3-4,  over Betzy Aguilar-Navarro (Sterling) 1-5,  (F 0:11)

5th: Alayna Wargo (Sterling) 0-2,  over (Bye)

140

1st: Mia Olenek (SC East) 2-0,  over Mora Munoz (Plainfield S) 5-5,  (F 1:55)

3rd: Kelly Ladd (Macomb) 3-1,  over Chalice Buyno (Sterling) 1-2,  (F 1:43)

5th: Laila Cuadra (SC East) 0-2,  over (Bye)

145

1st: Ema Durst (Sycamore) 6-0,  over Mikaela Mwangong (Macomb) 2-2,  (D 12-6)

3rd: Addison Wolf (SC East) 2-1,  over Cynthia Mitchell (Clinton) 1-2,  (F 1:31)

5th: Dana Kane (Macomb) 0-2,  over (Bye)

155

1st: Teagan Aurich (Plainfield S) 9-0,  over Annalisa Gibbons (Galesburg) 1-1,  (F 1:17)

3rd: Dru Hyde (Macomb) 3-1,  over Vivian Aldus (Galesburg) 2-2,  (F 1:01)

5th: Alycia Rodriguez (Plainfield S) 2-4,  over Vivianna Torres (Sterling) 2-6,  (F 4:44)

170

1st: Layla Spann (Plainfield S) 5-1,  over Liberty Hamer (Macomb) 1-1,  (F 0:11)

3rd: Lily Kenost (Plainfield S) 0-3, (Bye)

190

1st: Keira Enright (Plainfield S) 9-0,  over Avery Lundgren (Macomb) 2-1,  (F 1:16)

3rd: Lillian Tunk (Sterling) 6-3,  over Macie Taylor (Galesburg) 2-2,  (F 2:37)

5th: Sammie Ntone (Plainfield S) 4-5,  over Griffin Schauble (Macomb) 1-3,  (F 0:41)

235
1st:

Timi Mudasiru (Plainfield S) 2-4,  over Arianna Tamayo (Sterling) 1-3,  (MD 17-9)

By Gary Larsen for the IWCOA

Fenton’s 44th Annual Weiss Invitational

With four individual champions and 11 total placewinners in the top six, DePaul College Prep laid claim to the team title at this year’s 44th annual Weiss Invitational at Fenton.
DePaul won 212-177 over second-place Riverside-Brookfield. The team from Milton, Wisconsin (165) placed third, Saint Ignatius (150.5) was fourth, and Fenton (128.5) rounded out the top five team finishes.

1st place: DePaul College Prep (212)
Rams coach Patrick Heffernan got individual titles from Aedan Dillow (106), Nabiel Rosario (132), Max Rosen (144), and Hunter Wahtola (285) in Bensenville.

“We wrestled well together as a team, with finally getting our football players back in the lineup,” Heffernan said. “Max Rosen won the outstanding wrestler award of the tournament and won his fourth Fenton title in a row.”

Heavyweight Wahtola came in rusty at Fenton but he didn’t wrestle like it.
“Hunter Wahtola, coming off of a football state championship and with only a week of practice, defeated two state qualifiers to win the title at 285,” Heffernan said. “These guys have fun together and they compete hard.”

The Rams also got a pair of second-place finishes from Dimitri Dobre (113) and Matthew Brendel (157), a third from Andrew Brendel (165), fourths from Colin Bosak (120) and Alex Drees (190), and fifths from Johnny Cunningham (138) and Drew Gerstung (150).

2nd place: Riverside-Brookfield (177)
The Bulldogs got individual titles from returning state runner-up Edgar Mosquera (120) and Max Strong (165), seconds from Ricky Gutierrez-Blanco (144), Nicholas O’Connor (175) and Matthew Elzy (190), thirds from Steven Guzman (106) and Tony Lombardo (138), a fourth from Ethan Rivas (157), and a fifth from Jayden Tulian (126).

3rd place: Milton, WI (165)
Milton sent a trio to the top of the awards stand in champions Aiden Siama (126), Devin Bobzien (138), and Gage Gross (150), and got thirds from David Bilhorn (120) and Kaiden Fitterer (157), fourths from Bradynn Moen (132) and Caedmon Jauch (215), and a fifth from Kayden Looney (113).
Other Weiss individual champions at Fenton were South Elgin’s Nick Dilallo (113), Saint Ignatius’ Nate Sanchez (157), Palatine’s Trey Widlowski (175), Richards’ Mike Taheny (190), and South Elgin’s Deremit Zamora (215).

Team scores: DePaul College Prep 212, Riverside-Brookfield 77, Milton WI 165, Saint Ignatius 150.5, Fenton 128.5, Palatine 121, South Elgin 119.5, Westmont 88, Waubonsie Valley 60.5, Bremen 53, Saint Viator 49.5, Proviso East 48, Richards 39.5, Leo 31, Elmwood Park 16, Fenton JV 6

Fenton’s Weiss Invitational results:
106

1st: Aedan Dillow (DePaul) over Julian Lopez (St. Ignatius) (F 1:17)

3rd: Steven Guzman (Riverside-Brookfield) over Mason Ponce (Westmont) (F 0:26)

5th: Evan Hamilton (South Elgin) 3-6,  over Oscar Ruiz (Elmwood Park) (F 1:46)

113

1st: Nick Dilallo (South Elgin) over Dimitri Dobre (DePaul) (MD 19-7)

3rd: Mason Goldman (Waubonsie Valley) over Luke Jimenea (Westmont) (F 2:35)

5th: Kayden Looney (Milton) over Tristyn Santiago (Fenton) (F 2:48)

120

1st: Edgar Mosquera (Riverside-Brookfield) over Alex Villanueva (St. Ignatius) (F 3:08)

3rd: David Bilhorn (Milton) Colin Bosak (DePaul) (F 3:15)

5th: Chase Murrell (Proviso East) over Gabriel Hernandez (Fenton) (F 4:25)

126

1st: Aiden Slama (Milton) over Malachi Turner (Bremen) (F 1:21)

3rd: Christian Rosa (Westmont) over Shawn Hanton (Elmwood Park) (F 5:32)

5th: Jayden Tulian (Riverside-Brookfield) over Jose Monzon (Fenton) (F 2:00)

132

1st: Nabiel Rosario (DePaul) over Daniel Deredlyak (Palatine) (MD 13-3)

3rd: Izaiah Gonzalez (Bremen) over Bradynn Moen (Milton) (TF-1.5 3:09 (22-7)

5th: Nathan Duffield (Waubonsie) over Lawrence Walker (Westmont) (TF-1.5 3:53 (17-0)

138

1st: Devin Bobzien (Milton) over Aamir Nieves-Allen (South Elgin)  (F 1:39)

3rd: Tony Lombardo (Riverside-Brookfield) over Rene Reyna (Fenton)  (D 10-5)

5th: Johnny Cunningham (DePaul) over Luke Sanchez (St. Ignatius) (F 4:00)

144

1st: Max Rosen (DePaul) over Ricky Gutierrez-Blanco (Riverside-Brookfield) (MD 15-5)

3rd: Nathan Yerian (Fenton) over Zion Gay (Proviso East) (F 0:24)

5th: Ethan Collins (St. Ignatius) over Daniel Chacia (St. Viator) (F 1:48)

150

1st: Gage Gross (Milton) over Mission Hatchell (Westmont) (TF-1.5 3:27 (17-0)

3rd: Miguel Allende (Palatine) over Luca Capuano (St. Ignatius) (MD 12-2)

5th: Drew Gerstung (DePaul) over Dane Henson (South Elgin) (F 4:48)

157

1st: Nate Sanchez (St. Ignatius) over Matthew Brendel (DePaul) (TF-1.5 4:00 (15-0)

3rd: Kaiden Fitterer (Milton) over Ethan Rivas (Riverside-Brookfield) (Inj. 0:00)

5th: Alan Allende (Palatine) over Sean Patterson (Westmont) (MD 15-2)

165

1st: Max Strong (Riverside-Brookfield) over Omar Diaz (Fenton) (F 3:06)

3rd: Andrew Brendel (DePaul) over Caleb Jendras (St. Viator) (F 1:13)

5th: Sebastian Cuadros (St. Ignatius) over Mejed Jabri (Palatine) (F 5:07)

175

1st: Trey Widlowski (Palatine) over Nicholas O`Connor (Riverside-Brookfield) (F 2:57)

3rd: Charlie Howell (St. Ignatius) over Nazar Yakubyak (St. Viator) (F 3:25)

5th: Dereck Mazariegos (Fenton) over Huthaifa Issa (Richards) (D 9-5)

190

1st: Mike Taheny (Richards) over Matthew Elzy (Riverside-Brookfield) (TF-1.5 1:57 (17-1)

3rd: Michael Adobuye (Palatine) over Alex Drees (DePaul) (TF-1.5 2:20 (19-4)

5th: Karl Pretzer (South Elgin) over Colton Schneider (St. Viator) (F 3:37)

215

1st: Deremit Zamora (South Elgin) over Danny Martinez (Fenton) (MD 16-3)

3rd: Melson Ngassa (St. Ignatius) over Caedmon Jauch (Milton) (F 0:45)

5th: Andony Castelan (Waubonsie Valley) over Daniel Jackson (Leo) (SV-1 14-11)

285

1st: Hunter Wahtola (DePaul) over Nicholas Armour (Leo) (D 6-4)

3rd: Thomas Klos (Fenton) over Marco Olvera (Bremen) (MD 18-7)

5th: Jaylen Maiden (Palatine) over Alejandro Facio (South Elgin) (F 5:27)

Plainfield North Dual Team Tournament

Lincoln-Way East took the top spot at this year’s 16-team dual tournament, going 5-0 in duals against Round Lake (74-4), Sandwich (62-15), Auburn (77-5), and Glenbard North (46-24) before topping Moline 63-17 in the championship round.
“We showed up ready to wrestle with a lot of energy,” Lincoln-Way East coach Colin McKillip said. “I want the boys to have fun out there and I thought we did that today. This was just our second competition this year and our first with our full line up. The football players are just getting started after their deep run in the playoffs.”

Going a perfect 5-0 for the Griffins were Alex Lizak (157), Jackson Zaeske (175) and Colton Zvonar (190). Unbeaten wrestlers at 4-0 were Noah Ciolkosz (113), Tyson Zvonar (138), and Brayden Mortell (150). Joshua Theis (126), Kaidreaus Richardson (144), and Christian Darnell (165) each went 4-1 in Plainfield, while Nathan Powers (106) and Ryan Stingily (285) went 3-1 on the day.

“I was happy with how many points we were scoring,” McKillip said. “With the new rules in place, no lead is safe. As a group we did a great job of going after bonus points in all of our matches. It was an exciting day with lots of energy from the team. Great building block for hopefully another good week, with a big challenge against Lincoln-Way Central looming on Friday.”

Second-place Moline (4-1) reached the title round after topping Willowbrook (57-12), Rantoul (81-0), York (44-30), and Plainfield North (38-35); third-place Glenbard North (4-1) won over Hinsdale Central (69-9), Morris (50-26), Wauconda (46-24), and Plainfield North (60-9) in placing third.

Wrestlers who went unbeaten with a minimum of four matches wrestled:
Moline: Dominick Diaz (132/138), Collin Ledbetter (120), Jaxson Soliz (165); Glenbard North: returning state medalist Kalani Khiev (126), Trey Thompson (132); Plainfield North: Maddox Garbis (113); Morris: Paxton Valentine (113), Brandon Anderson (120), Owen Slater (106); Joliet West: Zachary Cronk (175); York Mondo Martinelli (132), Frank Nitti (144/150), Jackson Hanselman (150/157), Jacob Zabresky (138); Wauconda: Wyatt Roland (150); Dundee-Crown: Chris Gerardo (132/138), Teigen Moreno (215), Roy Ramirez (285); Willowbrook: Aris Neal (113), Maximiliano Contreras (126); Round Lake: returning state medalist William Cole (285); Hinsdale Central: Zachary Kruse (190); Auburn: Tyrone Sims (113).

Team finishes at Plainfield North:

1st: Lincoln-Way East; 2nd: Moline; 3rd: Glenbard North; 4th: Plainfield North; 5th: Morris; 6th: Joliet West; 7th: York; 8th: Sandwich; 9th: Wauconda; 10th: Dundee-Crown; 11th: Willowbrook; 12th: Round Lake; 13th: Hinsdale Central; 14th: Rantoul; 15th: Auburn; 16th: Hoffman Estates

Place-winning duals:

1st: Lincoln-Way East defeated Moline  63-17.

3rd: Glenbard North defeated Plainfield North 60-9.

5th: Morris defeated Joliet West 46-35.

7th: York defeated Sandwich 57-21.

9th: Wauconda defeated Dundee-Crown 47-27.

11th: Willowbrook defeated Round Lake 55-24.

13th: Hinsdale Central defeated Rantoul 53-21.

15th: Auburn defeated Hoffman Estates  27-20.

Hinsdale South’s Matozzi Invitational

The storm’s been brewing for a while and it finally swept over the field at Hinsdale South this year.
After coming in fourth at the Hornets’ 12-team tournament in 2021, third in 2022, and second last season, Fenwick finally snared the top team prize at Hinsdale South’s 12-team Matozzi Invitational in 2024.
“Overall, it was a solid tournament for us,” Fenwick coach Seth Gamino said. “We had 12 placers — two thirds, five seconds, and five firsts. We’re happy with the hard work paying off and now it’s on to the next thing on our schedule.”
The tournament is named after long-time Hinsdale South coach Mike Matozzi, who coached the Hornets for 20 years, retiring from coaching in 2008.
Gamino saw nine of his wrestlers reach the finals and five of them come away with individual titles to pace the Friars to a 248.5-191.5 win over second-place host Hinsdale South. St. Laurence (144) finished third, Glenbard South (134) was fourth, and Highland Park (79) took fifth.

1st place: Fenwick (248.5)
Gamino got titles from CJ Brown (120), Max Kenny (138), Aiden Burns (165), and Dominic Esposito (175), plus seconds from Santino Scardina (106), Harrison Brown (113), Brian Timpone (157), Patrick Gilboy (215) and Gianni Bertacchi (285). The Friars also got thirds from Solanus Daley (132) and Eiam Staples (144) to round out a crew that had 11 wrestlers finish in the top three of their weight classes.

2nd place: Hinsdale South (191.5)
Coach Steve Matozzi sent five wrestlers to the title mat and got individual titles from Alex Schuetz (126) and Terrence Newell (157). The Hornets got seconds Apollo Cobb (138), Al Amir Almannai (144), and Brady Miller (150), thirds from Sahil Malik (106), Jamarion Moffett (113), Antonio Bingham (120), and Frank Waitkus (190), and a fourth from Darrion Glover (165).

3rd place: St. Laurence (144)
The Vikings had a pair of champions for coach Marcel Cook in Liam Kissane (106) and Khalid Eid (132) and a runner-up in Matthew Zalinski (175) in their third-place team finish. St. Laurence also got thirds from Damien Torres (157) and Jack Claussen (165), and fourths from Adrian Pintado (120) and Andrew Banazak (190).

Other Matozzi Invitational champions in Darien were Highland Park’s Alexander Gudgeon (113), Argo’s Jacob VanAllen (144), Highland Park’s Nathan Ferrari (150), Tinley Park’s Sebastian Sanderson (215) and St. Francis’ returning state runner-up Jaylen Torres (285).

The most pins in the least time by any wrestler in the tournament was posted by St. Laurence’s Liam Kissane, with four pins in 6:42. Teammate Khalid Eid had the most tech falls (3) in the least time (13:25), and Glenbard South’s Danny Langner had the fastest fall in 015. Fenwick’s Jack Paris had the fastest tech fall in 1:48, St. Laurence’s Eid anbd Argo’s Jacob VanAllen tied for the most team points with 26.5, Back of the Yards’ Erik Martinez scored the most single match points with 27, and Argo’s Aldo Gutierrez finished with the most total match points, with 67.

Team scores: Fenwick 248.5, Hinsdale South 191.5, St. Laurence 144, Glenbard South 134, Highland Park 79, Tinley Park 66, Argo 64.5, Oak Lawn 62.5, Thornton Fractional South 55, St. Francis 49, Lindblom 29, Back of the Yards 16.

Hinsdale South Matozzi Invitational results:

106

1st: Liam Kissane (St. Laurence) over Santino Scardina (Fenwick) (SV-1 6-3)

3rd: Sahil Malik (Hinsdale S) over Emmanuel Munoz (Back of the Yards) (F 0:34)

5th: Aden Long (Oak Lawn) over Saverio Ruta (Highland Park) (Inj. 0:00)

113

1st: Alexander Gudgeon (Highland Park) over Harrison Brown (Fenwick) (D 14-7)

3rd: Jamarion Moffett (Hinsdale S) over Gabe Insalaco (Tinley Park ) (F 2:53)

120
1st: CJ Brown (Fenwick) over Jayden Scott TF South (TF 18-2)

3rd: Antonio Bingham (Hinsdale S) over Adrian Pintado (St. Laurence) (D 8-5)

126

1st: Alex Schuetz (Hinsdale S) over Adonis Wilson TF South (F 5:33)

3rd: Abram Castro (Tinley Park ) over Logan Gray (Oak Lawn) (F 1:49)

132

1st: Khalid Eid (St. Laurence) over Jordan Quaid Bowman (Glenbard S) (TF 18-2)

3rd: Solanus Daley (Fenwick) over Caiden Dodson (Oak Lawn) (D 5-3)

138

1st: Max Kenny (Fenwick) over Apollo Cobb (Hinsdale S) (D 14-10)

3rd: Grant Rabanus (St. Francis) over Diego Myers (Glenbard S) (D 5-3)

144

1st: Jacob VanAllen (Argo) over Al Amir Almannai (Hinsdale S) (TF 17-1)

3rd: Eiam Staples (Fenwick) over Marco Herrera (Oak Lawn) (D )
150

1st: Nathan Ferrari (Highland Park) over Brady Miller (Hinsdale S) (F 0:48)

3rd: Jin Tai (Glenbard S) over Aldo Gutierrez (Argo) (D 9-3)

157

1st: Terrence Newell (Hinsdale S) over Brian Timpone (Fenwick) (MD 10-2)

3rd: Damien Torres (St. Laurence) over Anthony Kinney (Glenbard S) (F 3:32)

165

1st: Aiden Burns (Fenwick) over Logan Price (Glenbard S) (TF 19-4)

3rd: Jack Claussen (St. Laurence) over Darrion Glover (Hinsdale S) (F 4:48)

175

1st: Dominic Esposito (Fenwick) over Matthew Zalinski (St. Laurence) (MD 10-1)

3rd: Reid Sebahar (Glenbard S) over Joe Nieto (Argo) (F 1:17)

190

1st: Jack Paris (Fenwick) over Ayman Shaikh (Oak Lawn) (TF 20-5)

3rd: Frank Waitkus (Hinsdale S) over Andrew Banazak (St. Laurence) (MD 14-3)

215

1st: Sebastian Sanderson (Tinley Park ) over Patrick Gilboy (Fenwick) (F 2:52)

3rd: Danny Langner (Glenbard S) over Daniel Derbedyenyev (Highland Park) (F 0:19)

285

1st: Jaylen Torres (St. Francis) over Gianni Bertacchi (Fenwick) (F 3:24)

3rd: Josue Olivo (Chicago (Lindblom) over Ambrose Davis (Glenbard S) (D 10-4)

Evanston’s Elias George Tournament

Evanston Township had a Blue and an Orange team competing at this year’s Elias George Tournament, and the Blue team walked away with the team title at this year’s 11-team tournament.
It didn’t come easy. A dogfight against Niles West saw Evanston-Blue earn a 215.5-212 edge and the team crown. Mather (171.5) finished third, Sarah Goode (152) was fourth, and Evanston-Orange (142.5) rounded out the top five team finishes.
1st place: Evanston – Blue (215.5)

The host Wilkits’ Blue team sent three wrestlers to the top of the awards stand, in champions Nicholas Arend (106), Art Bytyqi (157) and Brian Henry (190). Evanston’s Blue team also had three runners-up in Evan Potijinda (126), Zach Weston (144), and Jeremy Marshall (285), and added a trio of thirds from Andy Edwards (132), Gavin McPherson (138), Diego Lopez (175). Aiden Flores (150) also brought home a fourth-place finish.
2nd place: Niles West (212)
Niles West got an individual title from Duad Chaudhry (138) and five runner-up finishes from David Okon (120), Piero Ruiz (132), Lucas Youmara (138), Sebastian Gordon (150), and Joshua Mreana (157). The Wolves also got thirds from Fayyaz Munshi (120), Qaisar Sadat (144), and Manny Olojo (285), a fifth from Nikolas Mestousis (175), and a sixth from Idris Redzovic (175).
3rd place: Mather (171.5)
Coach Kyle Shinall saw 12 wrestlers finish in the top six of their weight classes. Mather got individual titles from Tommy Lam (120) and Zomire Dilworth (175), a second from Celvin Cung (165), fourths from Shokrullah Sayedi (106) and Charles-evidently Seri (126), fifths from Sahel Abrahimi (150), Omobobola Bankole (157), and Danny Quizhpi (165), and sixths from Dassany Abderakzack (106), Gabriel Bandera (132), Julian Rios (215) and Denzel Lockhart (285).
Other Elias George Tournament individual champions were Rickover Naval Academy’s Jonathan Pawlowski (113) and Justin Hernandez (132), Evanston-Orange’s Charlie Wagner (126), Ken Coleman (165), and Ian Sims (285), Sarah Goode’s Jayden Veal (144) and Xavier Woods (150), and Amundsen’s Adrian Zepeda (215).
Rickover’s Justin Hernandez had the most pins (4) in the least time (4:20) of anyone in the tournament, and Niles West’s Qaisar Sadat had the most tech falls (2) in the least time (4:43). Kenwood’s Kamren Myvett posted the fastest fall in 0:09 seconds, Sarah Goode’s Xavier Woods had the fastest tech fall in 1:16, Rickover’s Hernandez scored the most team points with 30, Evanston-Orange’s Andrei Bunas scored the most match points with 24, and Sarah Goode’s Alexis Zacarias posted the most total match points with 65.

Team scores: Evanston Township – Blue 215.5, Niles West 212, Mather 171.5, Sarah Goode 152, Evanston – Orange 142.5, Rickover Naval Academy 140, Amundsen 106.5, Niles North 90, Ridgewood 47, ITW Speer 44, Kenwood 32.5

Elias George Boys Tournament individual results:
106

1st: Nicholas Arend (Evanston Blue) over Roman Martinez (Amundsen) (F 0:29)

3rd: Nathan Hernandez (Rickover) over Shokrullah Sayedi (Mather) (F 0:32)

5th: Steven Saltos Saltos (Rickover) over Dassany Abderakzack (Mather) (F 3:15)

113

1st: Jonathan Pawlowski (Rickover) over Cartiere Jackson (Sarah Goode) (MD 9-0)

3rd: Dyllan Ornelas (ITW Speer) received a bye () (Bye)

120

1st: Tommy Lam (Mather) over David Okon (Niles W) (F 0:20)

3rd: Fayyaz Munshi (Niles W) over Aiden Butler (Rickover) (F 0:41)

5th: Adrian Ortiz (ITW Speer) over Muhammed Warsi (Niles N) (F 0:54)

126

1st: Charlie Wagner (Evanston Orange) over Evan Potijinda (Evanston Blue) (F 3:22)

3rd: Joshua Sandoval (Sarah Goode) won by forfeit over Charles-evi Seri (Mather) (FF)

5th: Lance Tuck (Kenwood) over Aaron Jon Estella (Rickover) (TF 19-4)

132

1st: Justin Hernandez (Rickover) over Piero Ruiz (Niles W) (F 1:28)

3rd: Andy Edwards (Evanston Blue) over Dino Palmisano (Ridgewood) (F 4:25)

5th: Alexis Zacarias (Sarah Goode) over Gabriel Banderas (Mather) (D 14-13)

138

1st: Duad Chaudhry (Niles W) over Lucas Youmara (Niles W) (F 4:39)

3rd: Gavin McPherson (Evanston Blue) over Sivchay Ngen (Niles N) (F 1:21)

5th: Mohamad Khater (Ridgewood) over Isaiah Diaz (Sarah Goode) (SV-1 10-7)

144

1st: Jayden Veal (Sarah Goode) over Zach Weston (Evanston Blue) (F 2:55)

3rd: Qaisar Sadat (Niles W) over Luis Cruz (ITW Speer) (TF 16-0)

150

1st: Xavier Woods (Sarah Goode) over Sebastian Gordon (Niles W) (F 4:51)

3rd: Justin Turley (Niles N) over Peter Martin (Amundsen) (D 9-5)

5th: Sahel Abrahimi (Mather) over Aiden Flores (Evanston Blue) (F 1:35)

157

1st: Art Bytyqi (Evanston Blue) over Joshua Mreana (Niles W) (TF 15-0)

3rd: Nathan Eiduk (Niles N) over Trevor Williams (Sarah Goode) (F 5:50)

5th: Omobobola Bankole (Mather) over Nathaniel Gustafson (Evanston Orange) (F 1:09)

165

1st: Ken Coleman (Evanston Orange) over Celvin Cung (Mather) (F 3:08)

3rd: Kiran McCarter (Amundsen) over Nate Jane Smith (Niles N) (F 0:32)

5th: Danny Quizhpi (Mather) over Aaron Carlson (Ridgewood) (F 5:51)

175

1st: Zomire Dilworth (Mather) over Musa Amin (Evanston Orange) (D 12-7)

3rd: Diego Lopez (Evanston Blue) over Jose Santos Santos (Rickover) (TF 16-0)

5th: Nikolas Mestousis (Niles W) over Idris Redzovic (Niles W) (TF 15-0)

190

1st: Brian Henry (Evanston Blue) over Dylan Wilborn (Sarah Goode) (F 2:41)

3rd: James Reshoft (Amundsen) over Darien Whitehead (Evanston Orange) (F 2:42)

5th: Luciano Diaz (Niles N) over Ben Augustine (Niles N) (F 0:52)

215

1st: Adrian Zepeda (Amundsen) over Michael Pryor (Evanston Orange) (F 5:13)

3rd: Naruto Martinez (Rickover) over Solar Strom-Corso (Amundsen) (TF 18-2)

5th: Thomas Davis (Sarah Goode) over Julian Rios (Mather) (F 1:06)

285

1st: Ian Sims (Evanston Orange) over Jeremy Marshall (Evanston Blue) (UTB 2-1)

3rd: Manny Olojo (Niles W) over Dameon Norman (Kenwood) (F 0:34)

5th: Jonathon Pierre (Niles N) over Denzel Lockhart (Mather) (MD 17-4)

Neuqua Valley Scuffle

Oak Park and River Forest topped the 10-team field at this year’s Neuqua Valley Scuffle, with coach Paul Collins’ squad finishing with a 220.5-189 edge over second place Warren. Lincoln-Way Central (178.5) was third, Bolingbrook (112.5) finished fourth, and Loyola Academy (108.5) placed fifth in Naperville.
1st place: Oak Park and River Forest (220.5)
Every one of coach Paul Collins’ wrestlers who reached the championship mat won, and the Huskies led the field with six individual champs in MJ Rundell (113), returning state medalist Jamiel Castelberry (120), Zev Koransky (132), Joseph Knackstedt (138), returning state medalist David Ogunsanya (150), and Lucas Albrecht (190). Collins also got thirds from Gabriel Rojas (126), Ryan Wozniak (157), and Terrence Garner (285), a fourth from Zach Michaud (165), and fifths from Liam Nikolakakis (113), Alex Cohen (126), Jeremiah Hernandez (157), and Eric Harris (215).

2nd place: Warren (189)
The Blue Devils got individual titles from Royce Lopez (165) and Anthony Soto (285), and runner-up finishes from Chris Garcia (106), Jonathan Marquez (120), Evan Glowinski (132), Simon Castillo (150), and Nicholas Hermsen (157). Coach Brad Janecek also got a third from Caleb Vanleer (190), fourths from Bishop Badillo (113) and Luis Calderone (126), and a fifth from Kyle Miron (144).
3rd place: Lincoln-Way Central (178.5)
The Knights had a pair of champions in Zander Zilewicz (144) and Caden Harvey (175), and coach Tyrone Byrd got seconds from Eric Hoselton (126), Aiden Henning (215), and Ethan Toosley (285), thirds from Jadon Zimmer (132), Ryne Nape (138), and Jalen Byrd (165), a fourth from Justin Langford (190), and a fifth from Beckham Cundiff (120).
Other individual champions at Neuqua Valley were Loyola’s Quentin Williams (106), Bolingbrook’s Jared Craig (126), Proviso West’s Marquis Deloach (157), and Taft’s Evan Jocic (215).
Other Neuqua Valley Scuffle individual champions were Loyola’s Quentin Williams (106), Bolingbrook’s Jared Craig (126), Proviso West’s Marquis Deloach (157), and Taft’s Evan Jocic (215).

Warren’s Anthony Soto had the most pins (4) in the least time (4:22) among all wrestlers, Lincoln-Way Central’s Jared Craid led the field for the most tech Fs (4) in the least time (10:05), Warren’s Evan Glowinski had the fastest pin in 0:17, Loyola’s Daniel Malan had the fastest tech F in 1:01, Lincoln-Way Central’s Zander Zilewicz scored the most team points (30), Loyola’s Mateo Hatzopoulos had the most single match points (22), and Lincoln-Way Central’s Jadon Zimmer scored the most total match points with 97.

Team scores: 1. Oak Park and River Forest 220.5, 2. Warren 189, 3. Lincoln-Way Central 178.5, 4. Bolingbrook 112.5, 5. Loyola Academy 108.5, 6. Taft 95.5, 7. Neuqua Valley 72.5, 8. Reavis 66, 9. Leyden 65.5, 10. Proviso West 39.5

Neuqua Valley Scuffle individual results:

106

1st: Quentin Williams (Loyola) over Chris Garcia (Warren) (TF 17-2)

3rd: Weston Amato (Taft) received a bye () (Bye)

113
1st: MJ Rundelll (OPRF) over Bernardo Roque (Taft) (F 3:03)
3rd: Cardevion Gordon (Neuqua) over Bishop Badillo (Warren) (TF 16-1)

5th:  Liam Nikolakakis (OPRF) over Andy Casmiro (Reavis) (F 4:41)

120
1st: Jamiel Castleberry (OPRF) over Jonathan Marquez (Warren) (MD 16-4)
3rd: Isaac Harris (Bolingbrook) over Daniel Myint (Loyola) (D 10-8)
5th: Beckham Cundiff (LWC) over Alex Rodriguez (Leyden) (D 11-8)

126
1st: Jared Craig (Bolingbrook) over Eric Hoselton (LWC) (TF 16-0)
3rd: Gabriel Rojas (OPRF) over Luis Calderone (Warren) (F 1:19)
5th: Alex Cohen (OPRF) over Brady Podracky (Neuqua) (MD 16-7)

132
1st: Zev Koransky (OPRF) over Evan Glowinski (Warren) (MD 18-6)
3rd: Jadon Zimmer (LWC) over Mateo Hatzopoulos (Loyola) (TF 19-2)
5th: Armani Vargas (Taft) over David Gold (Neuqua) (TF 17-1)

138
1st: Joseph Knackstedt (OPRF) over Dame Avila (Bolingbrook) (TF 20-3)
3rd: Ryne Nape (LWC) over Adrian Junco (Taft) (D 8-2)
5th: Samandar Khodzhamuratov (Neuqua) over Michael Crawford (Loyola) (MD 17-6)

144
1st: Zander Zilewicz (LWC) over Daniel Malan (Loyola) (Inj. 0:00)
3rd: Elijah Flowers (Bolingbrook) over Kelvin West (Proviso W) (D 15-11)
5th: Kyle Miron (Warren) over Julian Rico (Reavis) (F 1:47)

150
1st: David Ogunsanya (OPRF) over Simon Castillo (Warren) (F 1:40)

3rd: Joaquin Gaskin (Bolingbrook) over Curtis Burke (Neuqua) (F 3:24)

5th: Damien Martinez (Leyden) over Nahom Zigta (Loyola) (F 3:28)

157
1st: Marquis Deloach (Proviso W) over Nicholas Hermsen (Warren) (D 12-6)
3rd: Ryan Wozniak (OPRF) over Nicholas Pape (Neuqua) (D 9-6)
5th: Jeremiah Hernandez (OPRF) over Sam Thompson (Loyola) (F 1:53)

165
1st: Royce Lopez (Warren) over Tommy McDermott (Bolingbrook) (D 10-6)
3rd: Jalen Byrd (LWC) over Zach Michaud (OPRF) (D 12-6)
5th: Aleksander Knapik (Loyola) over Filip Velisavljevic (Neuqua) (MD 14-2)

175
1st: Caden Harvey (LWC) over Chris Quizhphi (Leyden) (MD 11-3)
3rd: Dominic Ganir (Leyden) over Mikolaj Wrobel (Reavis) (F 1:39)
5th: Stephen Carrera (Taft) over Jack Drane (Loyola) (F 1:27)

190
1st:Lucas Albrecht (OPRF) over Malik Salameh (Reavis) (F 3:44)

3rd:Caleb Vanleer (Warren) over Justin Langford (LWC) (D 14-7)
5th: Josh Taylor (Taft)
215
1st: Evan Jocic (Taft) over Aiden Hennings (LWC) (D 8-1)

3rd: Erick Worwa (Leyden) over Terry Ferguson (Reavis) (F 2:18)
5th: Eric Harris (OPRF) over August Close (Loyola) (F 3:17)

285

1st:Anthony Soto (Warren) over Ethan Toosley (LWC) (MD 11-1)
3rd:Terrence Garner (OPRF) over Aidan Jaffray (Leyden) (F 1:37)
5th:Dan Ramirez (Reavis) over Eligiah Pagan (Taft) (F 2:22)