February 05, 2025
NewsHigh School SportseNewspaperNewslettersObituariesEvent Calendar

Area boys wrestling teams gearing up for regionals

Coalers lead locally loaded Herscher Regional

By Adam Tumino
Coal City's Landin Benson, right, gets position on Peotone's Marcus Baker during the 175-pound match of Thursday's Illinois Central Eight Conference quad at Coal City. Benson and the Coalers earned a 79-0 win over Peotone and a 76-0 win over Lisle.

Coal City's Landin Benson, right, gets position on Peotone's Marcus Baker during the 175-pound match of the Illinois Central Eight Conference quad at Coal City on Jan. 9. Benson and the Coalers earned a 79-0 win over Peotone and a 76-0 win over Lisle. (Shaw Media/Mason SchweizerMason )

Boys wrestling teams will be competing in IHSA regionals this weekend, and several area schools will be represented in regionals by some of the top-ranked wrestlers in Illinois.

The Herscher Regional will be the site for eight local Class 1A teams as Coal City, Reed-Custer, Central-Iroquois West, Bishop McNamara, Manteno, Peotone, Wilmington and host Herscher will compete there. The non-local teams in the regional are Dwight and Seneca.

Coal City heads into the week leading up to regionals as a powerhouse yet again. The Coalers are ranked third among Class 1A teams in the state, making them the highest-ranked team in the Herscher Regional.

Reed-Custer also is ranked, coming in at 14th, as is Seneca at 21st. Central-Iroquois West was named an honorable mention in the rankings.

Coal City head coach Mark Masters said he expects to see a high level of competition and depth in the 10-team regional.

“Everybody is fighting to be in that top-three spot to advance to the sectional, so I think it’s going to be highly competitive,” he said. “It’s going to be a little bit deeper… There’s going to be a lot of nine-man brackets with guys fighting for that opportunity to advance and get to the state tournament.

“You just have got to be as healthy as you can be. Sometimes you have to be a little lucky, and you have to make your own luck at times.”

Coal City boasts 10 wrestlers ranked in the top 10 in their weight class and another two wrestlers who were honorable mentions. Landin Benson is the top-ranked wrestler in the state at 175 pounds, coming off a state title at 165 pounds last season.

Brady Widlowski is ranked second at 138 pounds and Cooper Morris is ranked third at 126 pounds. Owen Peterson (113 pounds), Brock Finch (165) and John Keigher (215) are all ranked fifth in the state.

Mason Garner (157) and Cade Poyner (190) are both ranked sixth, Aidan Kenney (144) is ranked eighth and Luke Munsterman (132) is ranked ninth. Culan Lindemuth and Noah Houston were both named honorable mentions for the Coalers, Lindemuth at 120 pounds and Houston at 150.

Reed-Custer has three individual wrestlers with state rankings. Colton Drinkwine and Jeremy Eggleston are the highest-ranked wrestlers for the Comets. Both are ranked fifth, Drinkwine at 106 pounds and Eggleston at 138 pounds. Dominic Alaimo is ranked sixth at 215 pounds.

The Central-Iroquois West team has four wrestlers making an appearance on the individual rankings, with Gianni Panozzo (150) ranking sixth. Evan Cox (144), Giona Panozzo (157) and Brody O’Connor (215) were all named honorable mentions.

Wilmington and Peotone head into regionals with one ranked wrestler and one honorable mention apiece. For Wilmington, Logan Van Duyne is ranked fifth at 109 pounds while Oakley Rivera is an honorable mention at 132 pounds. Peotone’s Connor Pasch is ranked 10th at 150 pounds and Blake Anderson is an honorable mention at 120 pounds.

Bishop McNamara is the final team at the Herscher Regional with a wrestler appearing in the rankings, with Blake Arseneau named an honorable mention at 132 pounds.

Kankakee will compete at the Class 2A Oak Forest Regional and Bradley-Bourbonnais will head to the Class 3A Richton Park Regional. For Bradley-Bourbonnais Kayden Roach was named an honorable mention at 175 pounds.