Wrestling: Three sectional champs lead large local contingent to state

PRINCETON – When it comes down to the final few steps of the postseason, it’s survive and advance. For 17 local wrestlers, they did just that at Saturday’s Class 1A Princeton Sectional, and achieved their season-long goal of qualifying for the IHSA state tournament.

Led by sectional champions Brady Grennan and Will Rude of Newman and Kayden White of Morrison, seven area schools will be represented in Champaign next weekend.

Dixon’s Ayden Rowley and Polo’s Wyatt Doty finished second, while Erie-Prophetstown’s Wyatt Goossens, Newman’s Carter Rude, Fulton’s Zane Pannell, Dixon’s Justin Dallas and Polo’s Daniel Engel ended the day with wins in their third-place matches. Newman’s Briar Ivey, Oregon’s Lane Halverson and Seth Stevens, Dixon’s Mitchell White, Erie-Prophetstown’s Jase Grunder and Elijah Friedrichsen, and Morrison’s Nate Schaefer all finished fourth after fighting through wrestlebacks to punch their tickets to the State Farm Center.

Grennan was dominant in the title bout at 120 pounds, grabbing an early lead and never letting up against Princeton’s Ace Christiansen. Grennan finished off a 19-3 technical fall in 4:55.

“My mindset was I was going for either the tech or the pin in the second,” Grennan said. “Last time I teched him in the third period, so I was trying to improve a little bit.”

Fellow Comet Will Rude was in a tighter match in his 138-pound final, but prevailed over Sandwich’s Evan Reilly in a 3-1 decision. Rude also went to the limit in his semifinal match against Dakota’s Maddux Blakely before pulling out a 9-8 victory to advance to the final.

“I knew they were both going to be tough opponents, and I kind of went in with a plan. Sadly, that plan, I didn’t stick to it, but I still managed to pull it off and reach that goal,” Rude said.

Kayden White took care of business in the title bout at 182, notching an early takedown against Sandwich’s Alex Alfaro, then adding a few more en route to an 11-2 major decision.

“I was just confident in my offense. I know if I keep on my offense instead of just defending, if I keep going, I’m more than likely going to win,” said White, who’s already hungry for more. “I would say it’s already sunk in now that I’m a sectional champion, but this is just part of the journey. I’m striving for that state title. That’s what I want, and this is just part of the road to get there.”

Dixon’s top finisher was sophomore Ayden Rowley, who was aggressive from the start in both an 8-6 win over Riverdale’s Tharren Jacobs in the semifinals, as well as en eventual loss by pin in 1:43 to Alleman’s Dalton Nimrick in the 106-pound final.

Afterward, Rowley reflected on what his run to second place at the sectional means.

“It’s really hard to explain what was going through my mind; I’m at a loss for words,” he said. “I’ve been to state two other times in middle school, but this is my first time being to state in high school, and that’s a big deal, because they’re two different kinds of wrestling. That Dalton Nimrick kid, he’s a phenomenal wrestler, … and I’m just glad to be able to wrestle with him.”

Wyatt Doty also earned runner-up honors for the Polo co-op at 126 pounds. He defeated Princeton’s Matt Harris 9-2 in the semifinals, but fell to Dakota’s Phoenix Blakely via pin in 3:42 in the title bout.

“I just attacked,” said Doty, who ate granola bars and drank Pedialyte to stay fueled up between matches. “Wrestling Matt, I knew he goes for big moves, so I was kind of distant in the semifinal. Then Blakely, he’s pretty good, he beat me last week. He kind of knew what I was doing, because I took in his leg last time, and he kind of blocked that by going 2-on-1 on my arm and doing shucks.”

Marcos teammate Daniel Engel took third at 285, locking up in an exciting third-place bout with Erie-Prophetstown’s Elijah Friedrichsen. The final match of the day, it was scoreless until Engel scored a takedown with 38 seconds left.

After Friedrichsen escaped right away to make it 2-1 with 35 seconds to go, Engel scored another takedown and got a pair of back points in the final three seconds for a 6-1 decision in the battle of senior heavyweights.

“He pushed me into the table, and I got a little upset. I just came back strong,” said Engel, who won a 7-2 decision over Plano’s Alex Diaz in the consolation semifinal to earn his state berth. “I just went out to try and take people down, just used patience waiting for them to act first so I can react to what they’re doing.”

Friedrichsen was a little bummed out about finishing with a loss, but he looked back with pride at the run he had to make through wrestlebacks, including a come-from-behind victory in the blood round to punch his ticket to state.

Friedrichsen trailed 4-1 in that consolation semifinal, but bounced back to beat Marengo’s Michael Macias 5-4. He celebrated by grappling with head coach Tod McCullough, before eventually taking McCullough to the mat as the two embraced in a bear hug.

“I was very excited. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I was very excited,” Friedrichsen said with a smile. “Honestly, it’s just another thing that I needed to keep working hard for. Getting put on my back twice sucks, but I just need to fix what I can. I’m proud of myself because I overcame the adversity of losing my second match. To all the kids on our team that said, ‘Oh, you’ve got to wrestle three more to make it now,’ I just said, ‘That’s just three more wins for us.’ It’s just more hard work that we need to push ourselves for.”

That was the second straight third-place match involving a pair of locals, as Dixon’s Justin Dallas pinned Morrison’s Nate Schaefer in 1:47 in the third-place bout at 220 – but both were more excited after their blood-round wins.

Dallas won a 10-1 major decision over Lena-Winslow/Stockton’s Henry Engel, on the same mat where he had just watched teammate Mitchell White punch his ticket to state in the 195-pound consolation semifinals.

“I was right behind him, and that fired me up,” said Dallas, sporting a black eye he suffered in practice Thursday while wrestling with former Dixon standout and current assistant coach Sebastian Quintana. “I wanted to join my teammates, who have been pushing me all year. I thought it would be great to join them at state, and thankfully I have.

“My mindset was just keeping to the basics, elbows in close, avoid any major tie-ups so I don’t get thrown, and that way I’m not risking exposing my back. I just wanted to wrestle strong, not take risks if it wasn’t necessary.”

Schaefer shared an emotional moment with his father, Adam, a former Morrison state qualifier, after his 3-0 win over Wheaton Academy’s Peter Johanik in the blood round. After hugging his mom, Schaefer walked over to his dad, who was sitting on the floor at the edge of the mat in tears, and embraced him while saying, “I did it, Dad!”

“I’ve never seen my dad cry. That’s all I’ve ever wanted is to have my name on the wall [as Morrison state qualifiers] next to my dad’s name,” Nate Schaefer said. “It was all mental. I had to keep my head, wrestle smart. Talent can only take you so far, and it came down to how bad I wanted to win. That blood-round match, I wanted it real bad, and you get to a point where you feel like you know you can win.”

In the only other final-round match pitting local wrestlers against each other, Erie-Prophetstown’s Wyatt Goossens pinned Newman’s Briar Ivey in 5:04 in the third-place bout at 113. Goossens trailed 4-0 and 7-2 in the first period before turning things around.

“I wasn’t wrestling smart,” said the Panthers freshman, who won by pin in 44 seconds in the blood round. “I let him get on my legs too much, and I went for some sloppy throw, and it didn’t really work out. I got put to my back, but I fought it off, and then from there, I just knew that I had to beat him. I knew I could, I could just feel it. I knew I had to come back and win.”

It was the only time all day Ivey found himself in a bad spot, as he kept his wits about him as he moved through wrestlebacks. The Comets freshman punched his ticket to state with a 10-2 major decision over Oregon’s Preston LaBay in the blood round.

“I just stayed out of bad positions and wrestled my match, and stayed in control most of the time,” Ivey said.

Newman teammate Carter Rude took third at 126 pounds, recording takedown after takedown in a 10-0 shutout of Rockridge’s Jude Finch in the third-place bout. The aggressive, attacking style was a carbon copy of his 20-4 tech fall over Sandwich’s Miles Corder in the blood round.

“I’ve wrestled him three times, so I know what he’s going to do,” Rude said. “I pinned him twice in close matches and I lost to him once, and I was just trying to set the tone, let everybody know I was better than him.”

The area’s other third-place finisher was Fulton’s Zane Pannell, who controlled Sherrard’s Ryder Roelf to the tune of a 10-4 decision in their third-place match at 170. Pannell punched his ticket to Champaign with a pin of Newman’s Hunter Luyando in 2:44 in their blood-round bout.

“I just wrestled my way, my style,” Pannell said. “My brothers Eli and Max were here and gave me some helpful tips, so that helped.”

Dixon’s Mitchell White finished fourth at 195, falling to Harvard’s Nathan Rosas in 4:53 in the third-place bout. But he earned his state berth with a dominant effort in the blood round – literally – against Genoa-Kingston’s Julian Torres.

White stayed loose and kept his edge through multiple pauses in the match to clean up blood both on Torres and the mat, and continued to pile up points on his way to a 9-0 victory.

“I didn’t even feel like I was that tired at all afterward. I was more stoked about the fact that I’m going to state,” White said. “I beat him earlier in the season, so I knew if I wrestled smart, I could pull out the win. I got that first takedown and I knew I had to keep him down for that first period. Then all that downtime helped me get my lungs back a little bit – my conditioning is pretty good anyway – but it just helped me stay in control.”

Oregon teammates Lane Halverson and Seth Stevens both dropped third-place matches in back-to-back weight classes at 132 and 138. Halverson earned his trip to state with a 9-7 overtime win over Newman’s Daniel Kelly in the blood round with one final takedown after the two wrestled to a 7-7 tie through six minutes.

And even after a 10-2 loss to Woodstock Marian’s Vance Williams in the third-place bout, Halverson credited his mental approach as the key for fighting through wrestlebacks.

“Honestly, it was just being patient and not rushing all the positions and getting worked up,” he said. “I kept my mind straight and focused on one match at a time.”

Stevens also said it was mental fortitude that helped him fight through some jitters. He lost 9-2 to Dakota’s Maddux Blakely in the third-place bout, but earned his spot in Champaign with a pin of Sherrard’s Austin Fratzke in 5:59 in the blood round.

“I wanted to be aggressive, but I kind of walked out there nervous,” Stevens said. “It was pretty much just my practice partners giving me good competition in the room, and my coaches pushing me, that helped me through it and get to this point.”

Erie-Prophetstown’s Jase Grunder also finished fourth, losing 5-0 to Dakota’s Tyler Simmer in the 145-pound third-place bout. But it was his aggressive style that earned him an 8-2 win over Marian’s Nik Jimenez in the blood round, and punched his ticket to state.

“Just really the double leg [takedowns] is what did it,” Grunder said. “I did that every time I took him down. I think after I took him down the second time, it kind of hurt him a little bit. I don’t think he expected me to come out firing like I did.”

Oregon’s LaBay (113), Newman’s Kelly (132) and Luyando (170), Polo’s Wyatt Queckboerner (182) and Erie-Prophetstown’s Andrew Bomleny (195) all lost blood-round bouts and fell one win short of a state berth.