(Champaign, IL) — Class 2A stepped onto the mats late Thursday afternoon with student-athletes all over the state competing for a shot at a state championship.
Mt. Zion Junior Kooper Loehr got the ball rolling at 120 pounds for local wrestlers as he used a first period fall to keep his record unblemished and move to (41-0) on the year. Lincoln freshman Austin O’Donoghue continues to shine as he picked up a win in sudden victory at 126 pounds over Justin Graves of Chicago (Ag Science) to move onto the quarterfinals, where he’ll meet number one ranked and returning state champion at 126 a year ago, Austin Macias of Burlington (Central). Number 10 ranked Hayden Stanley of Mattoon picked up a first round fall in the 126 pound weight class over Jack Coyle of Oak Forsest.
Ben Stahl of Mahomet-Seymour and Garrette Branson of Mattoon each picked up first round wins at 220 pounds. Stahl picked up a hard fought 3-2 win over Darael Dugar of Dalton (Thornridge) and Branson improved his record to 38-1 with a 14-4 major decision over Louie Stec of (LaGrange Park (Nazareth Academy). Heavyweight David Griffet of Mahomet-Seymour advanced to the quarterfinals with a 4-0 decision over Marques Cox of Peoria H.S.
Mia Palumbo of Oak Lawn (Richards) made history on Thursday afternoon becoming the first ever female wrestler to pick up a win in Illinois High School State Wrestling Tournament history. She won 4-2 over Kaeden Kinison of Springfield and will be competing in the 106 pound quarterfinals tomorrow morning.
Class 2A will follow Class 1A on Friday morning with quarterfinals and consolations starting around 11 a.m. Results and recaps can be found online at decaturradio.com and you can follow live action at IHSA.org and trackwrestling.