Wrestlng: L-P’s Connor Lorden captures Sterling 2A Regional crown

STERLING – La Salle-Peru senior Connor Lorden knows what it takes for a wrestler to get to the IHSA State Finals in Champaign.

He’s been there before and, from the looks of things at Saturday’s Class 2A Sterling Regional at Musgrove Fieldhouse, he’s ready to go again.

Lorden, who a year ago suffered an arm injury that kept him from performing at his best in his first trip to Champaign, began the 2023 postseason in top form by capturing the 220-pound championship.

Despite Lorden’s title, the Cavaliers placed last in the eight-team field with 32 points. Ottawa had a pair of wrestlers – Ivan Munoz and Charles Medrow – move on to the Rochelle Sectional with third-place finishes to net the Pirates 34 points, good for sixth place as a club. Streator came close but missed out on advancement and placed seventh with 34 points.

Geneseo took the team crown with four firsts, seven seconds and two thirds for 236 points, beating runner-up Rock Island’s 214.

Lorden beat Galesburg’s Dishon Nolen with a pin in 40 seconds in the semifinal to advance for his third match this season against Geneseo’s Tim Stohl. After a scoreless first period, the Cavaliers’ senior scored a three-point near fall in the second, then was able to control the match the rest of the way for the win by decision.

“The first time I faced him, I beat him like 7-1, then the second time I pinned him, so this one was definitely a lot closer,” said Lorden, who is now 33-1. “He knew to tie me up, for sure, but I don’t think I wrestled my best today. We’re going to get back in the [wrestling] room and keep going at it.

“It’s nice to get the championship. Hopefully that will get me a bye at the sectional and that’s what I was going for. We’ll see what happens now.”

The Cavs had one other contender for advancement, but freshman Rylynd Rynkiewicz lost to Sterling’s Karson Strohmayer 11-1 in the third-place bout to finish fourth with a 12-18 record.

Munoz, the No. 3 seed at 106, dropped a 7-4 decision to Rock Islands Sammy Niyonkuru in the semifinal, but bounced back against a familiar face in Streator junior Nicholas Pollet, who had fallen to eventual champ and top-seed Tim Sebastian, 12-3.

In the third-place match, the Pirates ace took command in the first period and ended up with an 8-2 decision to net his sectional berth with a 28-3 slate. Pollet finishes 31-8.

“The second match [versus Niyonkuru], I was winning like 4-1, but he took me down and took me to my back for another two,” Munoz said. “Against Nick, I wrestled him two times before and won by [technical falls], but today he was harder to turn actually.

“I would have liked first, but I don’t care, as long as we do well down the road.”

Medrow, a senior hoping for his third trip to state, dropped his semifinal against Stohl 12-2, but then pinned Israel McGowan at 3:14 to advance to the third-place contest against Galesburg’s Nolen. The two battled into the second period tied 2-2 when Medrow overpowered his foe and pinned him with 29 seconds left.

“I had some tough matches today, but I got through them,” said Medrow, now 29-7. “That Geneseo kid was tough, they all are, but I pinned [McGowan], got my confidence back up, and I beat the fourth one faster than I had any of the others. It was a great experience and I hope that leads me to state again.”

In the third-place match at 138, Ottawa’s Malachi Snyder suffered a pin at 4:59 at the hands of Geneseo’s Malaki Jackson to have his season end in fourth with an 18-16 mark.

Maybe the biggest heartbreak of the day was suffered by Streator’s Steven Goplin, who did not advance after finishing fourth at 160. The Bulldogs’ junior was leading Galesburg’s Michael Patrick 8-2 in the second period of the third-place match, but had to battle his way out of a couple of bad positions just to get to the third.

He then widened the lead to nine and held an 18-11 advantage when Patrick turned him for a pin with 30 seconds left.

Also finishing fourth for the Bulldogs were Pollet at 106 and Jesus Martinez at 120. Martinez (18-21) lost his opener, then won two matches before falling to East Moline’s Xavier Marolf by pin at 29 seconds in the third-place match.

“That was a tough one for [Goplin], but he’s a junior. He’s got one more season left,” Streator coach Kyle Lowman said. “This was a good season for us with only a few upperclassmen and mostly freshmen and sophomores. They worked hard for this and I’m really proud of the way they performed today. Three fourth-place finishes at a tough regional like this was a great experience for this young team. They’ll be back stronger.”