CLASS 2A AT MASCOUTAH
MASCOUTAH – Caine and Caleb Tyus both qualified for state for Civic Memorial, as did Abe Wojcikiwicz, Zeke Waltz and Wyatt Daniels for Jersey, Melvin Rogers and Zion Willhite of East St. Louis and Garrett Bakarich, Kaden Marmon and Collin North for Triad.
At 132 pounds, Caleb Tyus won his semifinal bout over Carson Nishida of Bloomington by fall at 2:40, then won the title match over Kiefer Duncan of Mattoon 16-5. In the 138 semifinals, Caine Tyus took a 6-0 win over Nate Dampier of Marion but lost in the championship bout to Bloomington’s Ryan Gardner 5-0. Wojcikiwicz lost in the semifinals of the 170-pound class to Austin O’Donoghue of Lincoln 9-5, but rebounded in the consolation semifinals to pin Mahlik Ball of Cahokia at 4:37, then won the third-place match over Trey Elliott of Jacksonville 12-5 to qualify for state.
At 106 pounds, Ben Skaggs made it to the consolation semifinals but lost to Brady Foster of Mattoon 9-7 in overtime, and Colton Carlisle advanced to the third round of the 152-pound wrestlebacks before losing to Mascoutah’s Chase Overton 5-2.
Rogers from the East St Louis was one of two to make it state, winning his 120-pound semifinal over Rick Wright of Mattoon 4-1, but was pinned in the final at 5:02 by Carter Hall of Champaign Central.
At 126 pounds East St Louis Zion Willhite was able to advance to state by getting in at fourth place. He lost to Trey Pearcy from Charleston in the 3rd place match.
Jaymz Young went through to the third round of the consolation bracket at 106 pounds but was eliminated by Chris Tomlin of Mascoutah 15-2. Kendrionte Lindsay lost in the second round of the 132-pound wrestlebacks, with Tommy Lehr of Normal Community West winning by fall at 26 seconds, Cody Powell lost in overtime in his second-round consolation match at 145 pounds to Roger Edwards of Champaign Centennial 7-5, and James Young lost in the third round of the wrestlebacks at 170 pounds to Anthony Curry of Bloomington 4-3.
Waltz, wrestling at 160 pounds, won in the semifinals by disqualification over Dalton Hall of Champaign Central, then took the final with a 6-0 win over Brandon Lloyd of Waterloo to run his record on the year to 40-0. Daniels won both the semifinal and final by fall at 285 pounds, pinning Jake Benninger of Lincoln at 1:17, then doing the same to Brett Howard of Waterloo at 1:26 to win the championship.
Tyler Dirksmeyer at 182 pounds lost in the second round of the consolation bracket to Nolan Yeates of Lincoln by fall at 1:23.
Bakarich, wrestling at 160 pounds, won his semifinal over Hayden Stanley of Mattoon 6-2, and won the final over Aron Taylor of Carbondale 8-3 to take the championship. Marmon lost in the quarterfinals of the 182-pound division to River Flute of Marion 14-4, but battled back and won the third-place bout over Grant Ripperda of Riverton 4-2 in overtime to qualify for state.
Collin North lost to Daniel Renshaw of Mahomet in the third-place match but was still able to qualify because the top four advances to state.
Chase Hall, wrestling at 113 pounds, lost in the second round of the consolation bracket by injury default to Steven Walters of Lincoln, Aiden Postma fell in the third round of the wrestlebacks at 126 pounds, dropping a 6-2 decision to Logan Blackburn of Mattoon, Collin North lost the third-place match to Mahomet-Seymour’s Daniel Renshaw 4-0, and Everett Walsh was pinned by Benniger in the second round of the 285-pound wrestlebacks at 2:52.
CLASS 1A AT VANDALIA
One area wrestler was able to qualify for the state Class 1A meet from the Vandalia sectional, East Alton-Wood River’s Aaron Niemeier, who came in fourth at 106 pounds.
Metro-East Lutheran’s only wrestler, Jakob Schroeder at 132 pounds, lost in the second round of the wrestlebacks, being pined by Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin’s Darion Miller at 1:09.
Roxana’s Matthew Olbert, wrestling at 126 pounds, lost in the consolation semifinals to by fall to Tolono Unity’s Ben Gavel at 1:44. Cody Cherry lost his 132-pound consolation semifinal to Unity’s Peyton Holt 14-1, Corbin White lost in the second round of the 152-pound wrestlebacks, being pinned by Kaleb Reid of Monticello at 2:35, Tayson Gager lost in the 195 pound second round of the wrestlebacks by fall to Shane Trimingham of Auburn at 31 seconds, and Justin Laws was pinned in the second round of the 285-pound wrestlebacks by Eli Coop of Sparta at 1:54.
Niemeier lost to Matthew Minick of Belleville Althoff Catholic in the 106-pound semifinals 4-0, but rebounded in the consolation semifinals, pinning Litchfield’s Alex Powell at 26 seconds, but was disqualified in the third-place match against Calvin Miller of Shelbyville. He was able to place fourth to move on to state.
Noah Mason lost in the third round of the 138-pound consolation bracket to Cherry by fall at 1:02, Nick Mason was pinned at 5:36 by Jon Perry of Effingham in the 145-pound second round of the consolation bracket, Josh Fields lost in the second round of the consolation matches in the 160-pound division, losing by fall to Orinn Brohm of Mt. Carmel at 3:47, Justin Franklin lost by injury default to Caden Owens of Mt. Zion in the 170-pound consolation second round, and Josh Restivo lost in the consolation semifinals of the 195-pound division, being pinned by Trimingham at 2:35.
The state meet in all three classes will be held at the University of Illinois’ State Farm Center, with matches starting Thursday, with the Grand March of the finalists and the championship bouts being held Saturday evening, Feb. 22.
Colin Feeney also contributed to this story.
