Princeton qualifies five wrestlers for state: BCR Roundup, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024

Princeton will send four boys and one girl to the IHSA State Wrestling finals.

Boys at Byron: Tigers Augustus Swanson, Ace Christiansen, Casey Etheridge and Cade Odell all punched their ticket to state by reaching the sectional finals at the Class 1A Byron Sectional.

Swanson, who is ranked No. 1 at 106 pounds, was crowned as the sectional champion.

Christiansen was runner-up at 138 and Odell was runner-up at heavyweight.

Etheridge placed fourth at 165.

They advance to the state tournament on Feb. 15-17 in Champaign.

Girls at Geneseo: Sophomore Izzy Gibson became the PHS’ first girl to qualify for state, finishing fourth at 140 pounds in the Geneseo Sectional.

The first girls state tournament will be held Feb. 23-24 in Bloomington.

Look for full reports coming up at Shaw Local from Brian Hoxsey and Kevin Chlum.

Girls Basketball

Hall 58, Mendota 40: The Red Devils beat the Trojans for the fourth time this season to advance to Monday’s semifinals of their own Class 2A Regional. Hall will face Morrison at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.

Charlie Pellegrini had a career-high 19 points, Ella Sterling had 12 points and McKenna Christiansen and Kennedy Wozniak added 11 each.

Boys Basketball

Orion 63, Bureau Valley 62: The Chargers held off the Storm in a wild finish at the Storm Cellar Saturday afternoon. The Storm had a lane violation on a made free throw and missed shot at the end to fall short.

Princeton 61, Winnebago 35: The Tigers (14-12) won their second road game in as many days, scoring a nonconference win at Winnebago.

Noah LaPorte led the Tigers with 22 points, Daniel Sousa had 15 and Tyson Phillips added 11.

Princeton 46, Winnebago 42 (F/S): Luke LaPorte had 12 points and Jaylon Fulkerson added 10 to lead the Kittens to victory in the prelim.