Sandwich senior Cooper Corder won his second consecutive 150-pound title, and Yorkville Christian senior Jackson Allen won his second straight title during Saturday’s 42nd annual Plano Reaper Classic.
Allen won by fall against Marmion junior Luke Boersma at 3:12 for the 215-pound championship. Last year, Allen won at 190.
“I knew this guy was a good kid,” Allen said. “Last year I faced him and I wasn’t very happy with my performance. This year I wanted to really make a statement especially against a high-ranked kid like that. I went in there with intent and knew I could get it done and did.”
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (261.5) won with 261.5 points and was followed by St. Rita (218.5), Yorkville Christian (202), Marquette Academy (152) and Sandwich (147) to round out the top five among the diverse 22-team field.
It was Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley’s first Reaper title since 2016.
Allen was among 11 placers for the Mustangs but their lone champion. Phoenix Senodenos (113) and Ryan Alaimo (138) placed second .
Davin Torza (106), Ryan Festerling Jr. (120) and Tyler Gleason (190) were fourth, Adrian Wadas-Luis (144) and Austin Wadas-Luis (150) were fifth and Christian Sandoval (126), Henry Fox (165) and Hayden Wheeler (285) claimed sixth.
“Definitely not as good as we could’ve been,” Allen said. “We had a lot of drawbacks where we shouldn’t have, a lot of matches we should’ve won that we lost. We’re definitely working toward the end of the season. We’ll have a hard practice on Monday for sure. Coach isn’t happy with the performance. We got to put in the work, got to climb those ranks.”
Corder (9-0) picked up a quick pin in his quarterfinal win before a tech fall over Kaneland’s Colten Heltsley in the semis. He picked up another tech fall win in the final over Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley’s Hunter Brandon.
“I knew the Gibson City kid was decent,” Corder said. “I went in with the same mindset as I always do, ‘I’m going to wrestle my style and put the pace on him and do what I can.’ And I wouldn’t say I’m happy with how it went, but a win is a win. And I wanted to get it done in the first period but second period tech, can’t complain, I was happy with it.
He had a pair of teammates also advance to the finals, but Joshua Kotalik (175) and Kaden Clevenger (285) came up short in their respective title matches. Sandwich also received team points from Kai Kern (175) placing fourth and Connor Blanchard (120) and Jacob Cassie (144) taking sixth.
The Marquette Crusaders were able to sneak past Sandwich into fourth place, namely because of Dakota Harmon (106), Reily Leifheit (175) and Alex Schaefer (285) winning titles. They matched the three produced by Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley.
“I definitely didn’t wrestle how I wanted to,” Leifheit said of his major decision in the final. “It was sloppy, but that kid (Kotalik) was pretty strong. He just kept locking straight into me, so I just blasted him. The other (matches) were pretty good.”
Marmion had a split squad with many of its wrestlers competing in Ohio at Ironman, but of the nine it brought to Sandwich, seven placed, including freshman Brody Page (120) and junior Logan Conover (138) who won titles. Boersma placed second and juniors Ethan Bell (113), Adam Kopcio (144) and Alex Korpan (157) were third.
Conover earned a 10-2 major over Yorkville Christian’s Ryan Alaimo in his title match.
Plainfield Central’s Ty Sabin earned a major against St. Rita’s James Bansley to claim the 190 title.
The host Reapers top placer was Shane Downs (132) who took fourth. Sam Mussa (113) took sixth.