Dixon wrestling wins Princeton Regional title: Saturday’s Sauk Valley Roundup

Boys wrestling

Dixon wins Princeton Regional title: The Dukes tallied 221 points to run away with the team title. Sandwich (177) was runner-up, and Ottawa Marquette (172) was third. Amboy (63) took sixth.

Riley Paredes (106 pounds), Doolan Long (126), Charlie Connors (144), Dawson Kemp (215) and Dylan Bopes (285) all won their brackets.

Long won all three matches by pin.

“It means a lot. I put in a lot of work, coming to practice every day, eating healthy every day, so it really pays off to get the win here,” Long said. “I thought I did really well. I pushed the pace a lot. I didn’t let up any room for them to get up or anything.

“I’m really happy with how I did.”

He said the hard work is paying off after winning the regional title as a team.

“We have a lot of depth on our team, which I really like,” he said. “We really push hard at practice. We never mess around. It really shows.”

Seth Shaffer (190) took third, Blake Dingley (175) was second, Preston Richards (150) was second, and Jack Ragan (120) was also runner-up.

Amboy’s Aden Spinelli was runner-up at 106 and Caiden Heath (144) third at 144.

Sterling’s Cael Lyons is runner-up: Lyons was the 126-pound runner-up after dropping a 6-5 decision to Rochelle’s 40-3 Aidan Lopez. Also advancing for Sterling were Evan Jones (113), who took third. Brady McCray was fourth at 215 after falling by pin in the third-place match.

Sterling wrestler Cael Lyons looks for direction. Sterling hosted the IHSA 2A Boys Regional at Sterling. The event took place on Saturday, January 31, 2026 (Brian Hurley)

Oregon second at Stillman Valley: Lena-Winslow won the regional title with 236.5 points, followed by Oregon (159) and Byron (133). West Carroll (125) was fourth and Polo (65.5) seventh.

Oregon’s Jordan Lowe (113) was second, Josiah Perez (120) took first, Isaiah Perez (126) was runner-up, Nelson Benesh (132) took first, and Jacksyn Windham (215) was runner-up.

Polo’s Kaenyn McCarren (150) took first and Micah Stringini (190) third.

WC’s Jack McIntyre (132) took third, Connor Knop (157) took first, Jonner Smith (165) placed first, and Cole Herrell (150) was runner-up.

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Oregon's Jack Benesh puts a hold on Byron's Hunter King in the 132-pound championship at the 1A Stillman Valley Regional on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Earleen Hinton)

Girls basketball

Newman 53, Rockridge 19: Gisselle Martin led Newman with 18 points, and Charlie Frank added 10 in the home win.

Deer Creek Mackinaw 46, Eastland 23: At the Seneca Shootout, Eastland (22-5) was held to a season low in scoring. Morgan McCullough had six points and six rebounds.

Polo 71, Forreston 50: Cam Jones led the Marcos with 26 points, going 8 of 9 at the line. Hailee Vogt led Forreston with 21 points and nine rebounds.

Girls bowling

Sterling’s Sarah Doughty wins Dixon invite: Sterling’s ‘gold’ team took second with a 5,295 as Doughty rolled a 1,422 series to earn individual medalist. Sycamore (5,460) won the invite, and Dixon (4,992) was fourth. Oregon (4,678) took ninth. Dixon’s Madelyn Bird (1,095) was ninth individually.