Dylan Roberts (Archived photo)
The Wrestling Wildcats advanced four individuals to the Class A Sectional Tournament at Vandalia on February 10 and 11 over the weekend. Champions for the Wildcats were Jonny Darrah at 160, Dylan Roberts at 182, and Justin Osmoe at 195. Placing second for the Wildcats was Maxx Fritz at 152.
Mt. Olive placed fifth in the regional with 81 points behind Belleville Althoff (183.5), Litchfield (139), Carlinville (93) and Wood River (90). Placing behind Mt. Olive in sixth place was Roxana with 80.5 points, then Pittsfield with 62 points and finally, Metro East Lutheran with 3 points.
- Darrah received a bye, defeated Carey of Althoff 7-1, and won the championship over Joel Cook of Pittsfield 6–5 to score 18 team points.
- Roberts defeated Guerrero of Althoff 8-2, and won the championship bout 10-9 over Rhees Hancock to score 18 team points.
- Osmoe received a bye, and defeated Earl Tiepleman by a score of 1-0 to score 16 team points.
- Fritz pinned Cope of Metro East, pinned Fox of Pittsfield, and lost the championship match to Danny Braunagel of Belleville Althoff 21-6 to score 18 team points.
Ryan Reid at 120 won by fall over Riley Bauer of Roxana, lost by fall to Cam Lee of Litchfield, won by fall over Demitry Lewis of Carlinville, and lost by fall to Austin Hammond of Wood River to score 11 team points and finish fourth in the regional. Reid will be an alternate at the 120 pound weight class to the sectional.
The four qualifiers will wrestle in the Vandalia sectional with wrestling scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. Friday, February 10. Semifinals and wrestlebacks are scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday and the championships and third place bouts are scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday.
Four Regionals (Argenta Oreana, Lawrenceville, Mt. Olive, and West Frankfort) advance their top three place winners in each weight class to the Vandalia Sectional. The first, second, third and fourth place winners in each weight class at Vandalia advance to the State Wrestling Tournament at Champaign to be held on February 16, 17, and 18.