The Wrestling Mustangs competed in the IHSA Regional Tournament on Saturday, February 8, 2014. The Mustangs, ranked #25, had some thick competition with #8 Sherrard, #11 Mercer County, and #17 Erie/Prophetstown joining them, in what was considered the deepest Regional in 1A.
Joe Eads led the way, winning the 106 lb. weight class with a dominant 6-0 victory over Mercer County’s #7 Drake Stirn.
Cody Vanderlaan earned a Sectional birth with a second place finish behind #5 Hunter Spengler of Sherrard.
Austin Keller bumped up a weight class to earn a Regional title at 160 lbs. Keller beat the #1 and #3 seeds handily en route to his title.
Austin Shoup followed up with a second place finish. Shoup was handed his fifth loss of the season, at the hands of #9 Matt Weeks of Mercer County.
To round out the qualifiers, Tyler Todd earned himself a Sectional berth taking third place. Todd wrestled all the way back after losing the irst round to redeem that loss in the third place match, with a pin over Spencer Griffin of Rockridge.
Other Mustangs just missed. Phoenix Parks, Dylan Keller, and Hunter Ferguson will be ready to compete at next weekend’s tournament as alternates. The trio finished fourth at Saturday’s Regional.
Last year seven alternates were entered into the Sectional tournament with one earning a State berth.
Tom Kohl, the Mustangs’ lone Senior, finished his career on Saturday. Kohl was in the mix in one of the deepest brackets in the tournament and found himself on the wrong side of two closely-contested matches.
“For the record:”
- Joe Eads improves to 40-6 as a Freshman. He is only three victories away from matching Matt McDonnell’s mark of 43 victories, set when he won the State title in 2012.
- Austin Keller now has 27 pins on the season, a team record.
- Cody Vanderlaan and Tyler Todd now have 27 wins and need only three more to join the 30 Win Club.
Submitted by Varsity Wrestling Coach Tony Wright