Wrestling notebook: Warriors savor regional title
GRANITE CITY • The Granite City wrestling team entered Saturday’s competition with lots of question marks and exited with a regional championship.
The host Warriors, who came into Saturday’s Class 3A competition with several wrestlers coming back from injuries, put 10 in the finals and came away with four individual titles in winning the title. Granite City finished with 231 points to beat out archrival Edwardsville (178) for the top spot. Alton (121), Belleville West (88) and Belleville East (87) rounded out the top five.
In all, Granite City advanced 12 wrestlers to this weekend’s sectional at Edwardsville.
“Everybody on the team scored points, even the guys who weren’t able to advance,” Warriors coach Allen Kirgan said. “Our guys battled, just as they’ve battled all season, and I couldn’t be any prouder of them. I think a lot of credit goes to our coaching staff and the work they did to get these guys prepared. Because of the injuries, we’ve been limited to a lots and lots of drilling in practice. But our guys came out hungry and ready to wrestle.”
The Warriors were paced by their individual champs _ sophomore Chad Whitford (21-12) at 135, junior Jake Gregerson (23-1) at 140, senior Tyler Prazma (45-3) at 152 and senior Ryan Rozell (9-2) at 160. Whitford, Prazma and Rozell all won by fall while Gregerson looked sharp in a 12-7 decision.
Of the four, only Prazma has been competing regularly this season. Both Rozell and Gregerson, who finished second at state while competing at Montini as a freshman, have been sidelined since late December with shoulder injuries while Whitford missed the last month of so with a hand injury.
“They looked a little rusty at times, but they did what they needed to do,” Kirgan said.
Other finalists for the Warriors were: Briar King (103), Travion Brooks (119), Ryan Antoff (125), Justin Valencia (171) Brendan Brooks (189) and heavyweight Casey Gushleff. Devon Graville (112) and Nathan Carnahan (130) were the Warriors’ third-place finishers.
“We had an exceptional semifinal round,” Kirgan said.
Conversely, defending regional champion Edwardsville, which went on to finish fourth at state in 2009, struggled in the semifinals but bounced back to win six third-place matches Saturday. The Tigers, who advanced 10, had one regional champ _ heavyweight Andrew Ellington (24-7) won 5-1 over archrival Gushleff of Granite City _ and three runners-up _ Jammal Ricketts (112), Greg Jackson (130) and Knoebel (140).
All three of O’Fallon’s advancers did so as regional champions. Courtland Rautio (32-11) won at 112 while fellow seniors Keith Surber (44-1) and Marty Ercoline (40-6) captured titles at 130 and 171, respectively. Surber, a Nebraska recruit who has finished third, fifth and third in three previous state trips, posted an impressive 9-3 victory over Edwardsville’s Jackson, a three-time state qualifier.
Surber used an early takedown and five first-period back points to build a quick 9-0 lead and controlled the match from there.
Alton received regional titles from senior Alex Dodge (32-8) at 125 and sophomore Taylor McGiffen (39-1) at 189 while Belleville West’s titlists were freshman Mech Spraggins (37-0) at 103 and junior Dylan Viglasky (34-5) at 119.
Belleville East’s O’Shea Smith-Traylor (43-2) at 145 and Collinsville Daniel Mueller (37-2) at 215 were the other regional champions at Granite City.
The top three finishers in each weight class from Granite City will compete with the top three from the regional at Chicago Marist, which was won by No. 2-ranked Sandburg. Granite City is ranked third and Edwardsville sixth. The top four finishers from each weight class at Edwardsville will move on to the state tournament Feb. 19-20 at Assembly Hall in Champaign.
TRIAD, ROXANA DEFEND TITLES
Host schools Roxana (Class 1A) and Triad (Class 2A) successfully defended their regional titles on Saturday.
Triad, the fourth-place finisher in Class 2A a year ago, held off a strong charge from Cahokia to capture the title. The Knights, who advanced 10 to this weekend’s sectional at Springfield Lanphier, were paced by their six regional champs _ Keith Swift (125), Trevor Burhman (140), Josh Ballard (145), Tyler Hayes (160), Chad Hayden (171) and Tanner Hurt (189).
Ballard was a state runner-up in 2009.
Other winners at Triad were Cahokia’s Darnell Thomas (152), Civic Memorial’s David Pearce (119) and Chris Williams (130), Mascoutah’s William Burns (135), Jerseyville’s Dre Angelo (215) and Michael Harris (103), Ryne Harris (112) and Thomas Moore (285) of Althoff.
Williams had placed third in each of the last two state tournaments. Last year, Pearce was a state runner-up while Ryne Harris, a Nebraska recruit, took third.
At Roxana, the host school advanced nine wrestlers, including champions Ethan Harshbarger (103), Mike Caldwell (125), Tyler Floyd (145), and Trent Weston (215), to this weekend’s sectional at Robinson.
The top three finishers in each weight class at Lanphier and at Robinson will move on to the state tournament Feb. 19-20 in Champaign.
TEAM DUAL MATCHUPS
On Tuesday, Feb. 23, regional champions Granite City, Triad and Roxana will compete in sectional action, looking to advance to the dual team championships Feb. 27 at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington.
In Class 3A, Granite City will travel to Stanford Olympia to take on Sandburg in a 6 p.m. dual. Sandburg is ranked second and Granite City third.
Sixth-ranked Triad will take on Chatham-Glenwood at 6 p.m. at Mattoon in Class 2A while Roxana must travel to Vandalia to take on the host school in a 6 p.m. Class 1A dual.
HOWELL CENTRAL TOURNAMENT
Lafayette and Zumwalt West captured their respective divisions at last weekend’s Howell Central Tournament. The individual winners were Zumwalt West’s Jimmy Krischke (103), Lafayette’s Ryan Jones (112), Howell Central’s John Wood (119), Howell Central’s Ben Henson (125), Howell Central’s Terrel Wilbourn (130), Lafayette’s Kyle Black (135), Lindbergh’s Michael Slyman (140), Howell’s Adam Thompson (145), Howell Central’s Brandon Wilbourn (152), Zumwalt West’s Drake Houdashelt (160), Lafayette’s Andy Early (171), Lafayette’s Taylor McKenna (189), Zumwalt West’s Issac LeBlanc (215) and Lafayette’s Chris Cooper (285).
