Stateline Area Individual State Wrestling Tournament Preview

By Al Zipsie

Lena-Winslow/Stockton led the area with nine wrestlers from the Byron Sectional qualifying for the 1A individual State tournament. The top four in each weight class advance.

Champions were Hunter Luke at 132 and Ian Kuehl at 285. Runners-up were Austin Vincent at 113, Kyle Kalkbrenner at 160 and Rahveon Valentine at 170. Fourth place finishes were Jeremiah Hermann at 138, Peyton Keefer at 145, Aaron Dvorak at 152 and Elijah Rowe at 182.

Lena/Winslow/Stockton faces Mercer County Feb. 21 at the Rockridge team dual Sectional.

Dakota, whose run of four straight state championships came to an end by Lena/Winslow/Stockton at the regional, did advance five to individual State.

Champions were Andrew Wenger, who beat Valentine 11-3 for the 170 title, and Maverick McPeek at 220. Freshman Evan Riggle was third at 113, fourth were Alex Porter at 126 and Cade Meier 195.

Another Stateline champ is Nolan Baker of Byron who takes a unbeaten 42-0 record to State. Baker won a 11-1 decision over Sam Durfey (Stillman Valley) at 145.

Other area champs include Jared VanFleet (41-1) of Stillman Valley at 126 and Nate Schultz of West Carroll, who took the 182 pound title beating Brandon Elsburg of Byron 11-4.

Stillman Valley's Drake Jennings was second at 195. Winnebago had a pair of state qualifiers in Bryce Faworski at 126 and Thomas Sanner at 132 both finishing third.

Anthony Marchetti of Oregon was third at 195. Zach Westlund of North Boone was fourth at 132.

Josh Shrank of Rockford Lutheran placed second at 120. From West Carroll, Andrew VanKampen was fourth at 120 and Josh Anderson, who lost 1-0 to Kuehl at 285.

Ten wrestlers from the NIC 10 advanced to the Individual State.

From the 3A Sectional at Barrington, Hononegah advanced four in champions Blake Zalapi at 220 and Anthony Cassioppi (47-0) at 285; Jordan Shahrikan third at 182 and Aaron Leepert fourth at 132.

From Harlem, Josh Carter was runner-up at 220 and Dalton Hambrock was third at 195.

Auburn's Jordan Williams was third at 285.

From 2A and the Sterling Sectional, Anthony Dedmond of Freeport was champion at 160. Advancing with second places for Belvidere North are Tyler Demo at 138 and Sean Lock at 152.