Triad’s wrestlers fall short at state

BLOOMINGTON, ILL. — All season long, the Triad wrestling team had won dual matches by getting bonus points when needed.

On Saturday morning, the Knights didn’t get those extra points, and that allowed Lemont to grab a 33-25 victory in the quarterfinals of the Illinois Class 2A dual-team state meet at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

Triad, ranked No. 6 in the state, finished at 24-3. The Indians, the seventh-rated team, went on to claim third place and ended 23-3.

“Our kids have had a great season … and that’s a good team, too,” said Triad coach Russ Witzig, whose team finished fourth in 2009 after beating Lemont in the quarterfinals to reach the medal round. “We just didn’t get the job done and they outwrestled us today. We didn’t get the bonus points where we needed ‘em. That’s how we’ve won all year long.”

Lemont had three pins, each worth six points, and a forfeit. (A regular decision is three points.) The Knights went pinless, had one major decision, worth four points, and earned one forfeit.

The match started well for Triad as Trevor Burhman, wrestling at 145 pounds, scored an 18-7 major over Erik Kirkman giving the Knights a 4-0 edge.

After Cody Kamberos made the score 4-3 with a 9-2 triumph over Kevin Graumenz (152), Josh Ballard (160) and Tyler Hayes (171) each outpointed their respective opponents — Ballard won 12-7 over Derek Nagel and Hayes prevailed 8-3 over Chris Giatras — moving Triad in front 10-3.

Connor Nagel (189) trimmed the Indians’ deficit to 10-9 with a pin over Chad Hayden before Tanner Hurt (215) increased the Knights’ lead to 13-9 when he outpointed Brad Uher 6-5.

Then two-time 285-pound state champion Angel Cabral got a 6-0 win over Caleb Webb, who gave up six inches and 91 pounds. Justin Latanski earned a forfeit win at 103 putting Lemont in front for good at 18-13.

Triad’s Garrett Grantom (112) made it 18-16 with a 6-1 victory over Jake Latanski before the Indians sealed the match earning an overtime win at 119 and two consecutive pins at 130 (Giovanni Scmitt over Keith Swift) and 135 (state champion Matt Leibforth against Chris Foster). The Indians then forfeited the final match at 140.

“We were bumping our lineup around and they were bumping their lineup around,” said Ballard, a senior who moved from 145 to 160. “Coach said it was going to come down to bonus points and we just didn’t come through. Coach said we were pretty even. There were some pivotal matches that could have gone either way.”