Wrestlers get back to tournament mindset at IWCOA Regionals

SANDWICH – After a spring season with duals and the occasional triangular, high school wrestlers had to get back into the swing of a weekend tournament on Sunday.

Wrestlers convened in Sandwich for the IWCOA Regionals, the first step toward a state championship, the running of which was taken over for this year by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association.

[ IWCOA to hold state tournaments ]

In a normal year, the winter calendar would be littered with weekend tournaments, but for many wrestlers, this regional is the first taste of anything other than duals.

“I feel pretty good. I could be in a little bit more shape for my cardio, but everything feels pretty good,” Oregon’s Andrew Herbst said. “Instead of wrestling one or two matches in a day, you have to wrestle four or five, so you’ve got to be mentally prepared for those long matches.”

For coaches like Dixon’s Chris Bishop, those early-season tournaments in normal years serve as valuable teaching tools to prepare for the postseason, lessons the wrestlers have to learn on the fly as the season winds down this spring.

“Our freshmen have never been in a high school tournament before,” Bishop said. “So making sure that they know where they need to go, our procedures as we go through things, and then the most they’ve had up to this point is maybe two matches in a day, and now you’re talking up to five. There was some preparation for that. Some of it was figuring stuff out while we’re here, and some of it was before.”

From Sunday’s regional, the top six in each weight class move on the the sectional on Saturday, also at Sandwich. From there, the top four are headed to the IWCOA state meet in Springfield, a weeklong event that will start with the girls state tournament June 21, include a freshman/sophomore tournament June 22-23, and feature the boys varsity state tournament June 24-26.

Newman is sending two of its wrestlers to Saturday’s sectional as regional champions. At 113 pounds, Brady Grennan scored a first-period pin in his quarterfinal, a major decision in his semifinal, and another first-period pin in the championship match, needing 1:11 to stop Oregon’s Edwin Estrada.

“I made a stupid mistake and went for the spladle, should not have done that,” Grennan said. “Then I turned around, got my head right and stuck him.”

Will Rude won the 138-pound title by beating Tyler Simmer of Dakota in the final. Rude jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the early going and won with a 7-1 decision.

“My uncle is one of the best wrestling coaches I know, and he always seems to figure out someone,” Rude said. “We talked before the match and he told me to circle to his left, do whatever you can to avoid his strong right high crotch, and that’s what I did, just trying to keep doing my moves and not let him get a hold of the match.”

Rude opened his day in dominating fashion, needing just 28 seconds to pin Princeton’s Preston Arkles. He then pinned Kewanee’s Kadin Rednour in 1:51 in the semifinal.

Newman also had a fifth-place finish from Carter Rude at 120, who had a pair of wins over Kewanee’s Kaden Peterson around a semifinal loss to Lena-Winslow’s Garrett Luke. Wyatt Doty of West Carroll was third at 120, beating Oregon’s Grant Stender with a major decision in the third-place bout.

Grennan’s semifinal win came against Dixon’s Chris Sitter, who ended up taking third. He stopped Orion’s Luke Moen in the third-place bout with a second-period pin. Rock Falls’ Aaron Meenen took fifth.

At 138, Oregon’s Seth Stevens took fourth, falling to Rednour in the third-place bout by an 8-5 decision. Morrison’s Colton Linke took sixth.

Rock Falls got a runner-up performance from Anthony Reyes at 106, who reached the final with a pin, a major decision and a tech fall before being pinned by Kewanee’s Ryan Welgat.

West Carroll had a runner-up at 132 pounds in Ethen Doty. He fell behind early in the final with Dakota’s Maddux Blakely 2-1, and that wound up being the final score.

“I feel like if I were to score first, I would have definitely won that,” Doty said. “He’s a very defensive wrestler that I’m not very good against compared to everyone else I’ve wrestled. I just need to work on my conditioning still and scoring from neutral.”

Pahyton Smith from Rock Falls took sixth at 132.

At 145 pounds, Herbst won on a buzzer-beater. In his championship bout with Lena-Winslow’s Simon Rillie, Herbst led 4-3 after scoring a takedown with just over a minute to go in the third period. That lead held until the final seconds when Rillie scored an escape, but Herbst beat the final buzzer with another takedown for a 6-4 win.

“Just knowing I had to find a way to take him down somehow,” Herbst said. “But it was pretty scary. I knew that left hand, he’s got a good fireman’s and a pretty good Kelly, so I just tried to control that whole side, tried to block him off that whole side.”

Herbst spent just 1:40 on the mat to score a pair of pins in his first two matches. He then won a semifinal on a 5-1 decision over Sandwich’s Aidan Linden.

At 152, West Carroll’s Kelden McCombie needed overtime but pulled out a 4-2 win in the title match against Lena-Winslow’s Griffin Luke. McCombie led most of the way before Luke pulled out an escape to tie the score at 2-2 with 29 seconds left.

“He had some really good shots he was hitting off, and I was able to capitalize off his mistake on the shot and take him down,” McCombie said.

Owen Brooks from Dixon was sixth at 152.

Reyes won his quarterfinal over Erie-Prophetstown’s Jacob Gibson, who then rallied through wrestlebacks to take third, beating Dixon’s Ayden Rowly in the third-place bout on a pin in 3:34.

Morrison had a runner-up at 182, where Kayden White fell to Lena-Winslow’s Jaden Rice in the final on a 9-5 decision. White scored a 12-10 decision over Polo’s Wyatt Queckboerner and pinned Sandwich’s Connor Holly to get to the final.

Fulton’s Ethan Rash then pinned Holly in the third-place match. Queckboerner took fifth with a 5-4 decision over Rockridge’s Hunter Locke.

Erie-Prophetstown had a runner-up at 285. Elijiah Friedrichsen scored a 5-0 quarterfinal decision and a third-period pin in the semifinal before running up against Rockridge’s Sam Buser in the final. Buser and Friedrichsen battled to a scoreless tie after one period before Friedrichsen scored an escape in the second. That lead held until Buser scored an escape with one second remaining in the third, and Buser won it with a takedown in overtime.

Rock Falls’ Tristan Shaw was fourth at 285, with Amboy’s Justin Wicaryus sixth.

Dixon’s Mitchell White took third place at 195. Facing Princeton’s Drew Harp in the third-place bout, Harp came at White midway through the second period to go for a takedown, but it was White putting Harp on the mat instead, pinning him moments later.

“My go-to move is a throw, and I knew he was going to be a tough one to throw, so I had to get his momentum going backward,” White said. “I knew when I stood up, that I could get him with his momentum just to turn him and plant him.”

Polo’s Devon Rucker took sixth at 195.

At 160 pounds, Oregon’s Gabe Eckerd took third, getting a 5-1 decision in the third-place bout against Alleman’s David Dierickx. Erie-Prophetstown’s Gunnar Wuebben took fifth.

At 170 pounds, Fulton’s Zane Pannell took fourth and Dixon’s Quinn Staples was fifth.

At 126 pounds, Erie-Prophetstown’s Carter Jepson took fourth and Oregon’s Lane Halverson took fifth.

In the 220-pound division, Dixon’s Justin Dallas took fourth, with Morrison’s Aaron Wolf fifth.

Sterling sends 4 to sectionals: At the Class 2A Rock Island Regional, the Golden Warriors had a quartet of advancers to Saturday’s Geneseo Sectional, led by regional champion Drew Kested.

Kested took the title at 152 pounds, winning with a 46-second pin in the quarterfinals and a 6-0 decision in the semifinals, before defeating Geneseo’s Bruce Moore 3-1 in the championship bout.

Sterling had a pair of wrestlers take third. Mauricio Garcia won a 16-8 major decision over Rock Island’s Aime Iranyibutse in the third-place bout at 145 pounds, while Jason Farnham Jr. pinned Kaneland’s Nate Diaz in 1:02 in the third-place bout at 285.

Isaiah Mendoza also advanced to the sectional with a fifth-place finish at 132. He pinned Hampshire’s CJ Graves in 2:41 in the fifth-place match.