JOLIET – Joliet Central 113-pound wrestler Tony Toledo wasn’t going to let a nagging injury get in his way of a regional championship in his senior season at the Class 3A Joliet West Regional on Saturday.

Toledo, who has been struggling with a sprained shoulder for the past month, had a choice before Saturday’s championship match against Caden Cornell of Normal Community.

“The coaches told me that I could take an injury default and still qualify for the sectional,” Toledo said. “I would rather have an injury default during the match than before it, so I went out and wrestled.”

Toledo’s title match was stopped twice to tend to his shoulder, but he persevered and came away with a 12-8 win, improving his record to 18-7 on the season. He is one of 21 area wrestlers who finished in first, second or third in the regional and qualified for the Granite City Sectional.

“It feels great to win the title and I am proud to bring it to the school,” Toledo said. “It’s my senior year and I want to leave it all on the mat. When I first got hurt, the doctors recommended for me to not wrestle. Then I told them it was my senior year and they said I could go ahead and wrestle.

“My hope next week is to get back to state.”

State qualifiers from the area included champions Toledo (113), Lincoln-Way West’s Jase Salin (120), Minooka’s Dominic Schiavone (126), Lincoln-Way West’s Cameron Knepper (152), and Lincoln-Way West’s Michael Sneed (220).

Salin, a sophomore, won his title with a 15-0 technical fall over Moline’s Carmelo Cruz to improve to 34-11 on the year.

“I got a feel for my single-leg takedown,” Salin said. “Once I got him down, I am pretty good when I am on top. That’s the best component of my wrestling. About halfway through, I knew I had him. I am excited to get to sectionals. It’s the first time I have done it in high school.”

Schiavone, a junior, won a 3-1 decision over Alec Schmacht of Moline for the title and moved to 18-3 on the year.

“Anything can happen at any time, so I was never comfortable,” Schiavone said. “I am excited to keep working and I want to get my name on the wall at school. My work’s not done. It’s just getting started.”

Knepper, a senior, was trailing Joliet West’s Nijee Harris in the title match, but was able to reverse the situation and get a pin in 3:52, improving to 33-13 on the year.

“He [Harris] is a tough kid,” Knepper said. “I am grateful that I was able to flip him. This gives me a better seed in the sectional and got us more team points. It’s going to be my first sectional, so I am very excited.”

Sneed, a senior, improved to 28-8 with a 6-4 win over Karson Lamb of Pekin.

“This is the first big tournament I have won in nine years,” he said. “It feels really good. I have improved a lot since my junior year. I never missed a practice this year and I was well-prepared. I hope to make it to state and I hope getting a good seed helps.”

Moline won the team title with a score of 180 and will advance to the team dual sectional. Lincoln-Way West was second with 161.5 points, followed by Joliet West (148.0), Minooka (92.5), Normal Community (90.0), Pekin (90.0), Bradley-Bourbonnais (81.0) and Joliet Central (44.0).

“This is about what we expected,” Lincoln-Way West coach Brian Glynn said. “We thought it would be close and Moline just wrestled a little better than we did today. We got six out and have three alternates. Only two of our wrestlers had never been in a regional before today, so we got some real good experience for our young guys.”

“This is the most wrestlers we have had advance to sectionals in my eight years,” Joliet West coach Chuck Rumpf said. “Some of our guys stepped up and outperformed their seed, which was nice to see. Justin Pullen was one of those. He came in seeded fourth and finished second. In all eight of my years, I have had a Pullen brother. Justin is the last one and he’s a senior, so this is the end on an era.

“Our hope is to get all eight through to state next week. We wanted a team title, but we couldn’t get it. But setting our goals that high helped us get eight through to sectionals, so it was a successful day.”

Area sectional qualifiers