CHAMPAIGN-URBANA – Triad’s Colby Crouch won the Class 2A state championship at 120 pounds for Triad, while Civic Memorial saw Bradley Ruckman, Joey Biciocchi, Bryce Griffin and Abe Wojcikiewicz place on the final day of the IHSA boys wrestling state meet Saturday at State Farm Center on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.
Crouch won the 120-pound title by winning his semifinal bout over Antioch’s Edgar Albino by fall at 1:28, then defeated Peyton Cox of Washington 3-2 to complete a perfect 35-0 season, becoming the Knights’ first state champion since Fritz Nemsky won the Class A title in 1974.
Meanwhile, for the Eagles, Ruckman finished sixth at 106 pounds, starting off with a pin of Truth Vasey of Rock Island in the third round of the consolation bracket at 2:50, then in the semifinal bout, lost to Cameron Phillips of Maple Park Kaneland 7-2, then lost in the fifth-place match to Mahomet Seymour’s Caden Hatton 8-5. In the 132-pound class, Biciocchi won his third-round consolation match over John Ben Madurra of Chatham Glenwood 6-3, then lost in the semifinals to Josh Vasquez of Aurora Christian 5-2. Biciocchi won the fifth-place match by fall over Renzo Morgan of Deerfield at 3:59.
At 138 pounds, Griffin started the day off with a consolation semifinal win over Collin Reif of Jacksonville 4-2, then in the third-place match, lost to Caleb Nobilling of Antioch 8-6. Over in 170 pounds, Wojcikiewicz started with a consolation semifinal win over Mahomet Seymour’s Brannan Houser 7-1, then took third place with a win over Alex Tagler of Lemont 1-0. At 220 pounds, Colton Carlisle lost his only match of the day, falling to Charlie Heydorn of Lake Forest 6-3 and was eliminated.
The team sectional tournaments are set for Tuesday at sites across the state, with the team state tournament set for Feb. 25-26 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.
