Out-of-state tournament roundup

By Gary Larsen for the IWCOA

Cheesehead Invitational

Fourteen Illinois teams competed in this year’s annually formidable 44-team Cheesehead Invitational, hosted by Kaukauna High School in Wisconsin.

The team from Southeast Polk, Iowa won the team title by a wide margin over the second-place team from Jesuit, Louisiana, 663.5-457. Lowell, Michigan placed third with 451.5 team points, followed by host Kaukauna with 435 and fifth-place Montini Catholic with 410.5 points.

Illinois had five teams finish in the top 10: St. Charles East (369) was sixth, Yorkville (312.5) placed eighth; Joliet Catholic Academy (307.5) was ninth; and Warren (295) finished 10th.

Other Illinois teams competing were Lockport (257.5), Edwardsville (236), Providence Catholic (158), Grant (155.5), Barrington (132.5), DeKalb (117.5), Plainfield North (109), Prospect (46.5) and Neuqua Valley (8).
Illinois had three individual champions in Wisconsin, in St. Charles East’s Dom Munaretto (120), Montini’s Josh Vazquez (126), and Lockport’s Justin Wardlow (150). Reaching the title mat and placing second were Warren’s Caleb Noble (113), Providence Catholic’s Justus Heeg (150), Yorkville’s Luke Zook (175), and Joliet Catholic’s Nico Ronchetti (190).

Illinois wrestlers finishing in the top 10 of their weight divisions:

106 – 3rd: Maddox Garbis (Plainfield N); 5th: Kane Robles (Joliet Catholic); 7th: Michael McNamara (Edwardsville); 8th: Erik Klichurov (Montini); 10th: Christian Corcoran (Providence)
113 – 2nd: Caleb Noble (Warren); 4th: Allen Woo (Montini); 8th: Anthony Sutton (Lockport)
120 – 1st: Dom Munaretto (SC East); 4th: Mike Malizzio (Montini); 5th: Ryan Dorn (Barrington); 7th: Jonathan Marquez (Warren); 9th: Maddux Tindal (Joliet Catholic)
126 – 1st: Josh Vazquez (Montini); 4th: Jason Hampton (Joliet Catholic); 7th: Vince Jasinski (Grant); 9th: Liam Aye (SC East)
132 – 7th: Liam Zimmerman (Lockport)
138 – 4th: Kam Luif (Montini); 9th: Erik Rodriguez (Grant)
150 – 1st: Justin Wardlow (Lockport); 2nd: Justus Heeg (Providence); 7th: Van Rosauer (Yorkville); Daniel Blanke (Barrington)
157 – 4th: Jack Ferguson (Yorkville); 7th: Ryan McGovern (SC East); 8th: Jaedon Calderon (Lockport)
165 – 4th: Anthony Gutierrez (SC East); 8th: Santino Tenuta (Montini); 9th: Sean Kolkebeck (DeKalb); 10th: Chris Miller (Lockport)
175 – 2nd: Luke Zook (Yorkville); 7th: Isaac Clausen (Joliet Catholic); 8th: Abe Leidig (SC East); 9th: AJ Tack (Montini)
190 – 2nd: Nico Ronchetti (Joliet Catholic); 7th: Casey Gipson (Grant); 8th: Ryder Janeczko (Yorkville)
215 – 4th: Luke Chrisse (Yorkville); 8th: Roman Janek (Edwardsville); 9th: Cooper Murray (SC East)
285 – 5th: Anthony Soto (Warren)

The Wonder Women

An 83-team girls tournament took place Jan. 3-4 at Battle High School in Columbia, Missouri, with seven Illinois teams present in the field.

Collinsville, Edwardsville, Roxana, Canton, Loyola Academy, Highland and Civic Memorial all took part in the tournament, which included teams from nine different states including Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Nebraska.

Among Illinois teams, Collinsville placed 33rd, Edwardsville took 41st, Roxana was 43rd, Canton placed 45th, Loyola Academy was 53rd, Highland finished 57th, and Civic Memorial was 81st.

Five Illinois girls finished in the top eight of their weight classes, and four of those reached the championship mat in Missouri. Roxana’s Chloe Skiles (105) and Loyola Academy’s Harlee Hiller (115) won individual titles, while Collinsville’s Taylor Dawson (140) and Highland’s August Rottmann (170) placed second in their divisions. Canton’s Kinnley Smith (130) also placed fifth.

Hiller participated as the lone representative from Loyola Academy, as did Rottman from Highland. Kendall Moss-Smith (115) went 3-2 as the lone representative from Civic Memorial.

Finishing outside the top eight but also scoring team points for Collinsville were Claire Dudley (105), Londyn Long (125), Addyson Bailey (130), and Tashieya Taylor (145).

Edwardsville got team points from Emma Rogers (100), Maddy Allen (105), Genevieve Dykstra (110), Gianna Linhorst (115), Allie Chong (120), Holli Zugmaier (135), Abigail Hayes (170) and Victoria White (190).

In addition to Skiles’ title, other Roxana wrestlers earning team points were Madelyn Murphy (100) and Emma Gischer (155).

In addition to Smith’s fifth-place finish, Canton received team points from LT Diephuis (100), Shayla Schielein (105), Chloe Hedges (115), Kennedy Smith (140) and Katelyn Marvel (145).

Detroit Catholic Central Invitational

Marian Central Catholic placed fifth at this year’s 27-team Detroit Catholic Central Invitational in Novi, Michigan, as the lone non-Michigan team participating in the tournament.

The Hurricanes got an individual title from Jimmy Mastny (190), who improved to  31-1 with his 4-0 decision on the title mat against Detroit Catholic’s Lee Krueger (20-5).

Coaches Jordan Blanton and Ryan Prater also got a second-place finish from Brayden Teunissen (17-2) at 120, a third from Vance Williams (21-3) at 150, fourths from Cam Spiniolas (21-11) at 106 and Austin Hagevold (23-5) at 113, and a sixth from Dan French (19-7) at 215. Also scoring team points for Marian Central was Nick Marchese (126).

Dundee won the tournament with 190.5 points, followed by Detroit Catholic (184.5), Clarkston (125), Davison (116.5), and Marian Central (105) to round out the top 5 team finishes.

Keokuk Girls Invite

Six Illinois teams competed at this year’s 15-team Keokuk Girls Invite in Iowa, and Galesburg had 11 medalists to place second overall. Team champion Burlington, IA posted a 187-115 edge over Galesburg.

The Silver Streaks got a pair of second-place finishes from Eliana Juarez (15-3) at 115 and Amyah Pruitt (14-6) at 135. Galesburg also got thirds from Kinsley Furnald (7-7) at 100 and Dai Driana Willford (13-6) at 130, fourths from Hannah Barton (7-8) at 145 and Macie Taylor (190), fifths from Addie Boyd (120) and Victoria Smith (135), sixths from Kelsie Wooldridge (120) and Lydia Aldus (125), a seventh from Vivian Aldus (155).

Among Illinois teams, Rock Island placed eighth, Quincy was 10th, Illini West took 12th, Warsaw placed 13th, and Payson-Seymour took 14th.

Illinois’ lone individual champion at Keokuk was Quincy’s Maggie Quinn (155), with a 7-5 decision on the title mat against Fort Madison’s Tatum Peters.

Placing fourth among Illinois wrestlers were Rock Island’s Mikayla Combs-Gibson (120), Quincy’s Zoe Bloyd (135).

Placing fifth in Iowa were Rock Island’s Rayna Skelton (125) and Izabel Vega (130); placing sixth were Warsaw’s Oriana Casey (145) and Illini West’s Trinity Abers (235).

Taking seventh were Rock Island’s Lucy Mass (115), Illini West’s Cora Hanks (125), and Payson-Seymour’s Bailey Davis (135), and finishing eighth were Illini West’s October Hendricks (135).

Zimmerman Invitational

The 15-team Zimmerman Invitational took place in Maquoketa, Iowa, with Fulton finishing eighth as the lone non-Iowa team participating in the tournament.

Steamers coach Shawn Price got third-place finishes from Skylier Crooks (165), Mason Kuebel (175) and Daniel Holman (215), a fourth from Easton Spooner (126), and a fifth from Teague Bray (144).

City High (234.5) won the team title, followed by Liberty (172.5), Waukon (160.5), Davenport Central (152), Tipton (132), Dubuque Hempstead (129.5), Clinton (116.5), Fulton (100), Maquoketa (73.5) and Center Point-Urbana (64) to round out the top 10 finishes.

57th Kinloch Classic

As the lone non-Missouri team participating in the tournament, Quincy placed fourth in the 26-team Kinloch Classic, hosted by Parkview High School in Springfield, Missouri.

Heavyweight King Johnson’s third-place finish led the way for coach Phil Neally’s Blue Devils, who got fourth-place finishes from Wyatt Boeing (126), Cooper Kamm (138), Brody Baker (157), Gunnar Derhake (165), and Alex Wells (190), fifths from Clayton McClelland (113) and Derik Lohmeyer (120), and a sixth from Cale Mixer (150).

Ozark won the team title with 390.5 points, followed by Rolla (290), Carl Junction (265), Quincy (258.5) and Nixa (219.5) to round out the top five team finishes.

Doc Buchanan Invitational

120 teams from 15 states competed at the formidable Doc Buchanan Invitational, hosted by Clovis High School in Clovis, California on Jan. 3-4.

IC Catholic Prep and Oak Park and River Forest were the lone Illinois teams participating at this year’s Doc Buchanan, and IC Prep’s Brody Kelly had the highest finish between the two teams, placing fourth at 178 pounds. OPRF’s MJ Rundell took fifth at 109, while IC Prep’s Deven Casey (135) and Foley Calcagno (218) placed sixth in their divisions.