The top prep sports action from the weekend across the Will and Grundy county area, led by regional girls wrestling titles for Lincoln-Way and Minooka, state cheer championships for Morris and Lincoln-Way East, and Joliet West boys basketball winning again.

Lincoln-Way girls wrestling dominates

At Saturday’s East Aurora Regional, Lincoln-Way finished with 271 points, 131.5 ahead of second-place Plainfield South. Zoe Dempsey (115 pounds) and Ella Giertuga (145) both captured individual titles for team champion Lincoln-Way.

“I caught myself getting a little bit frustrated in that last match,” Dempsey said. “I wasn’t getting the fall right away like I wanted. The goal remains to keep scoring points. Winning is a byproduct of scoring points. That’s the thing I need to keep focused on.”

Lockport’s Claudia Heeney (135) won her fourth straight regional title.

Other area regional champs from East Aurora included Romeoville’s Daniela Santander (110) and Henessis Villagrana (235), and Plainfield South’s Layla Spann (170) and Kimyra Patrick (190).

From the Normal West Regional, Minooka won the team title over runner-up La Salle-Peru. Herald-News area champions included Minooka’s Ezra Rodriguez (140) and Sabina Charlebois (130), and Dwight’s Avery Crouch (135).

• Read Hart Pisani’s full story from this event at www.shawlocal.com/the-herald-news.

Morris, L-W East cheer way to state titles

Both Lincoln-Way East in Class 3A and Morris in Class 2A captured state championships Saturday at the IHSA State Finals at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.

Lincoln-Way East won its title with an impressive score of 97.92, almost a full point better than runner-up Lockport (97.00). Lincoln-Way Central (88.92) was fifth. Plainfield North (89.28) was ninth, and Lincoln-Way West (88.92) was 10th.

In Class 2A, Morris won the state championship with a score of 96.60 over runner-up Grayslake Central (95.46) and third-place Providence (94.68).

In 1A, Wilmington (87.52) placed eighth.

Tigers’ basketball tames Plainfield East

Joliet West’s boys basketball team ran its winning streak to nine games Friday with a 76-61 defeat of Plainfield East.

“I think it is just trusting in the work and the practice habits, that’s been really huge,” said senior forward Ryan Lipke, who scored 19 points in the victory. “And getting on this little win streak continues the momentum.”

Aamir Shannon scored 20 points on the night and Devin Triplett a dozen in the first quarter alone for the Tigers, who have gone 11-2 in 2026.

• Read Steve Soucie’s full story from this game at www.shawlocal.com/the-herald-news.

Other notable weekend action

Joliet West’s girls bowling team rolled to a regional championship Friday at Channahon Lanes, winning by 731 pins over runner-up Minooka to advance to its own sectional at Town & Country Lanes. Malorie Berry’s six-game series of 1,328 and Mia Antomez’s 1,305 led the Tigers and were 1-2 in the regional. Minooka was led by Haylee Gabriel’s 1,260. Lincoln-Way West was third, led by high roller Paige DeBella’s 1,208.

Morris’ girls basketball team upset Kaneland 60-56 in Maple Park, allowing Sycamore to claim the outright Interstate 8 Conference championship. Morris followed it up with a 64-30 win over Wilmington on Saturday, led by Lily Hansen’s 22-point, 12-rebound double-double.

Lincoln-Way Central boys basketball moved to 17-8 with a 48-46 defeat of Andrew, led by Nick Brzezniak’s 22 points.

Lockport boys basketball secured its 22nd win of the season, 76-48 over Sheppard.

Joliet Central’s girls basketball team prevailed in overtime 48-46 over Stagg to move to 19-11.

Donavyn Simmons scored 22 and Jayden Armstrong 21, but it wasn’t enough as Joliet Catholic’s boys team fell 80-73 to Marmion Academy.

Coal City’s boys basketball team knocked off Streator 39-36 to climb a game closer to the Bulldogs in the Illinois Central Eight Conference standings.