CHAMPAIGN-URBANA – Civic Memorial’s Bryce Griffin and Triad’s Colby Crouch won the Class 2A state championships in their weight classes, while Drake Champlin of East Alton-Wood River finished second in his Class 1A division, CM’s Caleb Scott came in third, and three Roxana wrestlers placed in the top eight on the final day of the IHSA boys wrestling state individual tournament Saturday at State Farm Center in Champaign-Urbana.
The championship matches were preceded by the traditional Grand March of Champions on Saturday night, where all the finalists were introduced under the spotlight in one of Illinois high school sports’ greatest traditions.
For the Eagles’ final-day results, Griffin won the 157-pound championship in Class 2A with a 5-1 win over Seth Digby of Lake Forest, finishing his season at 49-2. Meanwhile, Caleb Scott, wrestling at 126 pounds, finished third in his class, winning the consolation semifinal over Xavier Villalobos of Rochelle 1-0, then winning the third place match by fall over Daniel McGhee of Rock Island at 3:33. Scott had also pinned McGhee in the opening round on Thursday at 5:03.
For the Shells, competing in Class 1A, Brandon Green, Jr. finished fifth at 132 pounds, losing in the consolation semifinal to Carson Bissey of Olney Richland County 7-5, but bouncing back to win the fifth place bout over Keygan Jennings of Farmington 7-5 in sudden death overtime. At 150 pounds, Braden Johnson lost his consolation match to Carson Maxey of Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 4-3, and was eliminated, while Lyndon Theis finished fourth at 157 pounds, winning the consolation semifinal over Ayden Larkin of Hoopeston Area by fall at 3:37, but lost the third-place match to Liam Fox of Murphysboro 10-2. James Herring came in third at 285 pounds, taking the consolation semifinal over David McCarthy of Chicago DeLaSalle Catholic 4-1, then won the third-place match over Cade Odell of Princeton 3-2.
Green finishes his season at 46-6, Johnson concludes the season at 35-9, Theis’ record was 47-7, and Herring finishes the season at 46-4.
Crouch won the Class 2A 126-pound championship over Josh Vasquez of Lombard Montini Catholic 5-3, to finish at 40-1, while Champlin lost the 215-pound title bout at Class 1A to undefeated Noah Wenzel of Dakota 7-4. Champlin finished his season 51-4, while Wenzel went 36-0 in his season.
The team dual meet state tournament series will take place this coming week, with the sectional meets taking place Tuesday at venues all across the state, with the state finals occurring Feb. 23-24 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington, which will be held in conjunction with the girls state tournament that same weekend.
