EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville wrestler Levi Wilkinson reached 100 wins for his career in winning the 126-pound division at the Tigers advanced 11 wrestlers to the individual sectional next week in winning their own IHSA Class 3A regional tournament Saturday, Feb. 8, 2024, at Lincoln Middle School in Edwardsville.
Edwardsville won the meet with 244 points, with Belleville East coming in second at 157,5 points, Quincy was third at 129.5 points, in fourth place was Belleville West at 109.5 points, placing fifth was Collinsville, who had 78 points, O’Fallon was sixth at 64.5 points, Granite City came in seventh at 61 points, and Alton was eighth with 35 points.
In addition to the 11 wrestlers who went through to the sectional for the Tigers, the Kahoks advanced three wrestlers, the Lancers put through seven men, the Redbirds had two wrestlers qualify, the Maroons had six wrestlers go through, three wrestlers advanced for the Panthers, and the Warriors got four wrestlers through to the sectional.
The top three wrestlers in each weight class advanced to next week’s sectional, with only the competitors in the final guaranteed of a spot.
In the 106-pound division, Michael McNamara of Edwardsville won by fall in the final over Jackson Schadegg of Belleville East at 3:17, while in the third place match, Connor Castens of Collinsville pinned Wyatt Dahm of Belleville West at 3:27 to advance to the sectional. At 113 pounds, the Tigers’ Bryson Nuttall won the championship by fall over Clayton McClelland of Quincy at 52 seconds, while Dashun Coleman of Granite City won by fall over Jaylen Wiegand of O’Fallon in the third place bout at 3:17. In an all-Belleville final at 120 pounds, West’s Rocky Seibel won over Corbin Zeisset of East by technical superiority 18-1 at 1:45, while Granite’s Jace Brown won the third place match and advanced to the sectional with a 6-4 win over Derek Lohmeier of Quincy. In the 126-pound division, Wilkinson won the title with a 10-0 win over Wyatt Boeing of Quincy, while Delane Mosley of the Lancers won third place over Miles Cintron of the Panthers by fall at 1:41.
In the 132-pound division, Tyler Perry of the Tigers defeated Mason Hare of the Kahoks in the championship match 7-1, and Adrian Mendez of the Warriors took third place Michael Gibson of the Lancers by fall at 4:46. At 138 pounds, Edwardsville’s Ryan Richie won the title over East’s Bradem Kelly 5-3, and in the third place bout, Cooper Kamm of the Blue Devils won over Cameron Minner of the Kahoks 9-7. in the 144-pound class, Aiden Colbert of the Maroons defeated Blake Mink of the Tigers for the championship 16-3. while Alton’s Marshall Skelton took third place and went through to the sectional with a 10-6 win over Dewayne Taylor of the Lancers.
At 150 pounds, Brayden Drew of the Redbirds won the title, defeating Xander Goowin of the Maroons 13-4, and in the third place bout, Logan Hiller of Edwardsville eliminated Carter Bub of Collinsville by fall at 1:17. In the 157-pound class, Quincy’s Brody Baker won the title, defeating Killian Rauch of Belleville East 10-7, while Logan Thomas of O’Fallon won over Kenneth Jamison of Edwardsville by fall at 1:12 to take third place. Terrence Willis of the Lancers won the championship at 165 pounds, defeating Gunnar Derhake of the Blue Devils by technical superiority, 20-5 at 4:06, while third place and a sectional berth went to Alex Reno of the Maroons, who won over Graham Taylor of the Tigers 10-9.
In the 175-pound division, Edwardsville’s Brendan Landau won the title over Granite’s Eli Miller by fall at 40 seconds, while the third place bout went to Payton Cheneri of O’Fallon, who defeated Jayden Wilson of Quincy by fall at 1:52. At 190 pounds, Simon Schulte of the Tigers won the title over Scott Snyder of the Kahoks 4-1. while in the third place match, Ethan Hofmeister of West advanced to the sectional with a 13=2 decision over Alex Wells of Quincy. In the 215-pound class, Roman Janek of Edwardsville took the championship over Justin Riley of Belleville West in a close 2-0 decision, while third place and a sectional berth went to Gavin Gentillo of O’Fallon, who pinned Darrell Bibbs of Belleville East at 1:44. Finally, in the 285-pound division, the championship went to Jonathan Rulo of the Lancers, who won by fall over Riley Steinkueler of the Tigers at 2:19, while third place went to King Johnson of the Blue Devils, defeating Jack Shepherd of the Kahoks 10-3.
The individual qualifiers will compete at the Joliet Central Sectional on Feb. 14, with the advancing wrestlers going on to the state meet on Feb. 20-22 at the State Farm Center on the campus o the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.
The Tigers also go on to the Class 3A team sectional, with the dates and time to be announced, with the team sectional winner going on to the state tournament Feb. 28-Mar. 1 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington
