VANDALIA - Five wrestlers from Roxana - Logan Riggs, Brandon Green, Jr., Braden Johnson, Lyndon Thies, and James Herring - along with East Alton-Wood River's Drake Champlin, advanced to the IHSA Class 1A individual state wrestling tournament by placing in the top four of their respective weight classes at the Vandalia sectional meet, held Saturday at Vandalia High School.
No team scores are kept, as the team champions are determined by dual meets. Roxana, with their win in the Carlyle regional last week, advanced to the team sectional, which will take place at Benton in two weeks.
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The Shells had the most individuals advance to the sectional, at 11, and everything started at 106 pounds, where Savion Hall was eliminated, losing his final match to Kanton Richards of Murphysboro 10-5. Ari Walker was also eliminated at 113 pounds. losing in his final bout to Jesse Irelan of Westville by technical superiority, 19-3 at 4:26. At 120 pounds, Lleyton Cobine was eliminated, losing his final match to Tyler Huchel of Fithian Oakwood by fall at 5:02.
Riggs became the first Roxana wrestler to advance to state by finishing fourth at 126 pounds, losing the third place bout by fall to Brendan Rayl of Belleville Althoff Catholic at 3:01, while Green finished second at 132 pounds, losing the final to Carson Bailey of Olney Richland County 5-3. Kadan Carlisle was eliminated at 138 pounds, losing his final match to Jack Ajster of Oakwood 10-0. Trevor Ghiring was eliminated at 144 pounds, losing in his final bout to Braxton Kieffer of Litchfield by fall at 5:02, while Johnson finished second at 150 pounds to advance to state, losing in the final to Blue Bishop of Herrin 13-4.
Lyndon Thies finished second at 157 pounds and qualified for state, losing the final in a close match to Liam Fox of Murphysboro 3-2. Elias Theis was eliminated at 175 pounds, losing his final match to Joey Barrow of Auburn by fall at 44 seconds, while Robert Watt was also eliminated at 190 pounds, losing in his final match to Oakwood's Jamison Chambliss 5-4. Donald Battles was eliminated at 215 pounds, losing his final match by fall to Keegan Bare of Fairfield at 4:49, while Herring won the championship at 285 pounds, defeating Jason Dowell of Althoff 10-9 in an ultimate tiebreak.
The Oilers had three wrestlers in the sectional, with Jamal Burgess being eliminated at 132 pounds. losing his final bout to Kaden Blades of Benton 8-7, while Tyler Adams was eliminated at 144 pounds, being pinned by Kieffer at 1:33 in his final bout.
Champlin finished in third at 215 pounds to advance to the state meet, winning the third-place match over Nelson Rider of Carmi White County by fall at 1:32.
Carlinville's only wrestler, Ronald LaPlante, was eliminated at 132 pounds, losing his final match to Sergio Garcia of Murphysboro 7-4. There were no wrestlers from Metro-East who competed in the sectional.
The six local wrestlers who advanced will compete at the state finals this coming weekend, Feb. 15-17, at State Farm Arena in Champaign-Urbana.
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