They are part of a field of 456
wrestlers from 109 of the 128 schools that entered the Illinois
Elementary School Association state wrestling series and will
compete this weekend in the 29th annual Boys State Final Wrestling
Tournament at the Convocation Center on the campus of Northern
Illinois University.There will be 703 bouts over the two days,
with competition in 19 weight classes. The 109 schools with at least
one wrestler advancing to the state tournament represent 85.1
percent of the total number of schools that entered the state series
at the regional level. It is the third time in IESA history that the
state final wrestling field included 100 or more schools, and is the
record for schools with qualifiers. In 2006, there were 100 schools,
and in 2007 there were 106 represented at the state tournament.
Doors open at 2:30 p.m. Friday and bouts will begin on eight mats
at 4 p.m. The preliminary round and first-round bouts will be
conducted Friday. Doors open at 8 a.m. Saturday and wrestling
resumes at 9. Semifinals are set to begin Saturday afternoon at
approximately 12:30 p.m. Championship bouts are scheduled to begin
at 5 p.m.
Championship bouts will be conducted simultaneously on two mats
in the following tandems: 112-119, 105-126, 100-135, 95-145, 90-155,
85-167, 80-185, 75-215, 70-275, 65.
Single-day tickets are priced at $9 each day for adults and fans
in high school. Single-day tickets for students in grades K-8 and
for senior citizens, age 62 and above, are $4 each. Children below
kindergarten are admitted free.
Three individual champions from last year return. Frank Wenmouth
of Darien Eisenhower was the 65-pound champion in 2007 and is at 80
pounds this year. He was Sectional D runner-up to teammate Sebastian
Pique at 80. Ian Kurth of East Peoria Central won last year's
70-pound title and is at 85 pounds this year. He finished second to
Mahomet-Seymour's Branson Painter in Sectional H. Eric Gordon of
Normal Parkside won the 80-pound title last year and is at 85 pounds
this year. He won the 85-pound weight class at Sectional F. Kurth
and Gordon wrestle in the lower bracket at the state tournament and
could meet in the semifinals.
Mahomet-Seymour is the all-time leading producer of individual
state champions with 37. Sandwich is next at 24, followed by
Bloomington JHS at 20. They are the only schools in IESA wrestling
history to have 20 or more individual champions. Mahomet-Seymour
also leads in team titles with five, the last coming in 1996. Tied
for second in team titles are DeKalb Huntley and New Lenox Martino
with four each. DeKalb Huntley last won in 2004, and New Lenox
Martino last won in 2002.
Defending team champion Bloomington JHS advanced 15 wrestlers to
the state final tournament, including six sectional champions:
sixth-grader Derrik Watts at 75 and eighth-graders Jared Ogg at 119,
David Watts at 126, Alex Bee at 135, Jonathon Wimp at 155 and Lee
Brewer at 215.
New Lenox Liberty also qualified 15 wrestlers for the state
tournament and also six of them won sectional titles. The sectional
winners were sixth-grader Matt Ryan at 80, seventh-grader Matt
Schneider at 126, and eighth-graders Mick Korte at 105, Logan Doyle
at 112, Collin Mulroe at 167 and Zack Sheffer at 185.
Darien Eisenhower, which produced a trio of individual champions
in 2007, qualified 14 wrestlers for the state tournament, including
six sectional champions: seventh-graders Marc Kosiek at 75 and
Sebastian Pique at 80 and eighth-graders Ed Wenmouth at 85, Bobby
Lane at 100, Kevin Ousley at 145 and Lenny Giric at 167.
