The IHSA individual boys state wrestling tournament takes place this weekend at State Farm Center in Champaign, and 78 Herald-News area wrestlers hope to come home with medals.

Class 3A

Joliet Catholic advanced 10 wrestlers to the state tournament. Senior 132-pounder Jason Hampton is currently ranked No. 2 by illinoismatmen.com and is looking for his fourth state medal. He finished fourth in Class 2A at 113 as a freshman, second in Class 3A at 120 as a sophomore and third in Class 3A at 126 last season.

“I want to complete the set and get a first-place medal,” Hampton said. “It’s what I have been preparing for all year. In the offseason, I worked a lot on my attacks and then chain wrestling, using combinations of moves to stay a step ahead.

“It’s great to have so many good wrestlers in our room. I spar against our 126-pounder [Luke Foster] a lot, and we push each other. We don’t take it easy, and we make each other better every day. It’s also nice to know that so many guys will be supporting me. We all know what we’ve gone through, so it’s great to have that support.”

Lockport’s Justin Wardlow is also looking for his fourth medal, which would make him just the second Porter to accomplish that feat after current head coach Jameson Oster. Wardlow was the state runner-up in Class 3A at 120 as a freshman, 138 as a sophomore and 150 as a junior. He will wrestle at 157 this season and is ranked No. 1 by illinoismatmen.com entering the state tournament.

“I’ve been looking forward to this and working hard since the day after my last match last year,” Wardlow said. “Getting that first-place medal has been on my mind all year. There’s no superstitions, only my wrestling ability, and I am not going to leave anything on the table. I’m going to put it all out there.

“I’ve wrestled some very good competition. Our first tournament this year, I wrestled three guys that were ranked nationally. Our schedule has me battle-tested heading into the state tournament, and that championship is mine. I just have to go out and take it.”

Qualifiers

Joliet Catholic: Kane Robles (so., 106, 34-10), Colton Schultz (fr., 113, 32-9), Finn McDermott (fr., 120, 36-12), Lukas Foster (jr., 126, 38-6), Jason Hampton (sr., 132, 40-3), Adante Washington (jr., 138, 42-4), Matthew Laird (jr., 144, 28-15), Nolan Vogel (sr., 157, 44-8), Vince Skedel (jr., 175, 25-14), Ryker Czubak (so., 215, 26-12).

Joliet West: Coehn Weber (jr., 150, 36-7), Aiden Brown (sr., 165, 35-9), Jacob Tyderek (so., 215, 33-12).

Lincoln-Way Central: Jalen Byrd (sr., 175, 48-3), Aiden Hennings (sr., 285, 45-5).

Lincoln-Way East: Kaidge Richardson (sr., 144, 43-4), Max Mularz (sr., 157, 39-9), Colton Zvonar (jr., 190, 35-6).

Lincoln-Way West: Kellan Hack (fr., 113, 30-21), Brady Glynn (jr., 132, 38-9), Jack Strezo (sr., 144, 28-12), Max Herman (sr., 165, 34-9).

Lockport: Noe Hernandez (fr., 106, 36-16), Anthony Sutton (sr., 120, 23-12), Isaac Zimmerman (sr., 132, 38-16), Justin Wardlow (sr., 157, 37-5), Chris Miller (sr., 175, 32-11).

Minooka: Maddux Tindal (jr., 132, 30-6), Ben Cyrkiel (sr., 150, 31-12), Mason Vogt (jr., 157, 28-14), Kaden Meyer (jr., 165, 27-6).

Plainfield East: Brian Tejeda (so., 113, 17-7).

Plainfield North: Aidan Durell (sr., 126, 39-9).

Plainfield South: Chase Pierceall (sr., 190, 31-6), Mason Bucon (jr., 215, 36-9).

Class 2A

Providence sophomore Justus Heeg is the returning Class 2A state champion at 150, but will wrestle at 157 this year. He is currently ranked No. 1 by illinoismatmen.com and sports a 46-1 record. He is one of 13 state qualifiers for the Celtics. Heeg’s brother, Judah, wrestles for Lemont and is the returning 190-pound state champion. He is currently 37-1 and ranked No. 3 by illinoismatmen.com.

Morris’ Brock Claypool won the 138-pound title at the Geneseo Sectional and is ranked No. 4 by illinoismatmen.com. He is one of four Morris wrestlers to qualify for the state tournament.

“I qualified for state last year, but I didn’t place,” Claypool said. “My goal this year is to place pretty high. I have been preparing for this since last year ended. I worked hard on my moves, but a lot of the training has been my mindset and how to prepare myself for a match. That has given me a lot more confidence.

“It’s nice that we have more wrestlers going. Last year, we had three and it was tough to warm up. This year, we will have practice partners, so that will be nice.”

Qualifiers

Lemont: Alex Powers (so., 106, 30-11), Cory Zator (sr., 126, 30-6), Judah Heeg (sr., 190, 37-1).

Morris: Paxton Valentine (jr., 120, 34-5), Parker Barry (so., 132, 35-13), Brock Claypool (jr., 138, 43-5), Carter Skoff (sr., 150, 30-2).

Providence: Cole Lemberg (fr., 106, 23-17), Christian Corcoran (so., 113, 32-9), Nate Ortiz (so., 120, 24-6), Max Mandac (so., 126, 34-14), Lucas Forsythe (so., 132, 27-21), Tommy Banas (jr., 138, 40-7), Luke Banas (so., 144, 32-19), Andrew Pellicci (so., 150, 26-12), Justus Heeg (so., 157, 46-1), Jasper Harper (so., 165, 31-11), Ameer Khalil (fr., 175, 36-13), Brayden McKay (so., 190, 11-12), Riley Teller (jr., 215, 5-2).

Class 1A

Coal City advanced all 14 of its wrestlers to the state tournament. Senior Brody Widlowski will be gunning for his fourth state medal. After finishing fourth at 113 as a freshman, he was second at 126 as a sophomore and second at 138 as a junior. This year, he is wrestling at 150, has a record of 33-1 and is ranked No. 1 by illinoismatmen.com.

“This is a big weekend, for sure,” Widlowski said. “I am hoping to win the championship, and I will be disappointed with anything else. I have been working hard since I lost last year. I was coming off an injury last year and wasn’t totally healthy, but I feel great this year.

“It’s great to have a room filled with such good wrestlers. We push each other every day at practice. We’ll have a big group at state to motivate each other, and our fans are very well-known for traveling well, so we’ll have a great support system. We just have to have the mindset to be confident.”

Qualifiers

Coal City: Jake Munsterman (so., 106, 43-3), Gavin Roudis (fr., 113, 27-8), Tyson Price (jr., 120, 21-9), Owen Peterson (jr., 126, 39-5), Cooper Morris (jr., 132, 41-4), Luke Munsterman (sr., 138, 40-6), Max Christensen (fr., 144, 42-5), Brody Widlowski (sr., 150, 33-1), Aidan Kenney (sr., 157, 43-1), Mason Garner (sr., 165, 37-4), Brock Finch (sr., 175, 35-2), Evan Greggain (sr., 190, 33-9), Cade Poyner (sr., 215, 42-3), Payton Vigna (sr., 285, 34-10).

Dwight: Gavin Bafia (sr., 175, 34-13).

Peotone: Jonah Young (fr., 126, 22-10).

Reed-Custer: Colton Drinkwine (so., 113, 33-4), Jayden Sanchez (sr., 132, 36-13), Dominic Alaimo (sr., 215, 38-10).

Seneca: Raiden Terry (jr., 120, 38-3), Chase Rod, (so., 150, 30-11), Landen Venecia (sr., 190, 34-8).

Wilmington: Logan Van Duyne (sr., 190, 38-3).