Coal City sends 13 wrestlers to state from home sectional

COAL CITY − Coal City had a strong showing as hosts of the Class 1A Coal City Sectional on Saturday. The Coalers advanced 13 wrestlers, seven with first-place finishes, to the state finals in Champaign starting Thursday.

“We went 10-3 in that last round, so that in itself says a lot,” Coal City coach Mark Masters said. “The guys are just out competing and doing what we do. Just stay within ourselves and mimic the things we do in practice every day. You can see it in our chain wrestling, and it’s really good to see.”

The sectional champions for Coal City were Owen Peterson (113 pounds), Cooper Morris (126), Brody Widlowski (138), Aidan Kenney (144), Mason Garner (157), Landin Benson (175) and John Keigher (215).

Also qualifying for state were second-place finishers Culan Lindemuth (120) and Brock Finch (165), third-place finishers Luke Munsterman (132), Noah Houston (150) and Cade Poyner (190), and fourth-place finisher Jason Piatak (106). Alec Waliczek (285) came up just short with a loss in the consolation semifinals.

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Coal City's Brody Widlowski, top, gets position on Reed-Custer's Jeremy Eggleston during the 138-pound championship at the IHSA Class 1 Coal City Sectional Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Shaw Media/Mason Schweizer)

“That shows we work hard every single day, and our team is all-around good,” said Benson, who won state at 165 last year. “We don’t have any spots that need to be filled or anything. Everyone is an amazing wrestler and proved it today.”

Reed-Custer’s wrestlers had a strong showing over the weekend, with five advancing to state and one, freshman Colton Drinkwine, winning a sectional title at 106 pounds in his first year of high school wrestling.

“It’s a lot different from what I used to wrestle, but it’s been good,” Drinkwine said. “I wrestled pretty good today, got to the finals and did what I could do.”

Joining Drinkwine in Champaign will be teammates Cole Harris (113), Kaaden Wood (120), Jeremy Eggleston (138) and Dominic Alaimo (215).

Reed-Custer head coach Yale Davis said he was happy to see their hard work continue to lead to positive results.

“I’m really excited for the kids,” he said. “It was a culmination of a lot of hard work in the room throughout the year, and I think it’s paying off right now.”

Central-Iroquois West had a productive weekend as well, with four of its five sectional qualifiers moving on to state. Evan Cox (144) placed second, as did Gianni Panozzo (150). Giona Panozzo (157) placed third and Brody O’Connor (215) came in fourth.

“We went 10-1 as a group last night and kind of set the tone for today,” Central-Iroquois West coach Travis Williams said. “Coming out of the regional from last week, we got some solid action there as well and knew if we wrestled well this weekend we could have some good results.”

Bishop McNamara had a pair of juniors advance, with Blake Arseneau (132) punching his third-straight ticket to state and Alex Kostecka (138) punching his first.

Coach Jake Kimberlin said he liked how Arseneau pushed through strong competition to place fourth and how Kostecka, who placed third, keeps improving as a wrestler with limited experience.

“[Arseneau] had to fight his way through the bracket, and he was right there with some really tough kids,” Kimberlin said. “Alex started when he was a freshman, so every single week he gets better. This week has been the best he’s wrestled all year, which is a great time to have that happen.”

Wilmington had three wrestlers make the trip to Coal City, with Logan Van Duyne (190) advancing to state once again for the Wildcats. He fell in the third-place match against Coal City’s Cade Poyner, a rematch of the regional final that Van Duyne won.

“I know he’s definitely not where he wanted to be today, but we are back down in Champaign again and that’s the biggest thing,” Wilmington coach Nick Dziuban said. “Anything can happen once we get down there.”