Le-Win/
Stockton
Comes Out
On Top
Stockton
Comes Out
On Top
Panthers win first regional crown
since 1990 ...
since 1990 ...
| Northern Illinois Sports Beat http://www.northernillinoissportsbeat.com |
By Cody Cutter
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Publisher
POLO – Byron. Dakota. Stillman Valley.
Lena-Winslow/Stockton?
Well, it's their time now.
Northern Illinois has been a hotbed for small school wrestling as of late, and several
members of its star-studded cast showed off its skills at the Class 1A Polo Regional on
Saturday afternoon. Much of the Illinois high school wrestling scene had known who teams
like Byron, Dakota and Stillman Valley were.
After Saturday's festivities, however, add in the Lena-Winslow/Stockton cooperative – a
combination of area football powers in the past season.
Led by a quartet of regional champions, the Panthers took home its first regional title
since 1990 – during the early years of the cooperative between the two – by posting just
enough wins in the final round and scoring 219.50 points to hold off Byron, who finished
with 199.50 points.
Back in 1990, the co-op won the regional during the now-defunct regional-dual format. So
this was the first postseason invitational-style championship in its history.
“It's incredible,” Panthers coach Kevin Milder said. “We've been working hard for years.
We finally kind of broke through here.”
Both the Panthers and Tigers combined for 20 wrestlers competing for either regional
championships or third-place honors. The Panther wrestlers won five of 11 bouts in bouts
in the final session, while the Tigers were unable to gain any ground with four wins out of
11 bouts.
The Panthers came into the final session leading 195.50 to 182.50, meaning not only
individual accomplishments were focused on but also that of the team standings.
“I did,” Panther sophomore Quincy Kalkbrenner admitted. “I thought a pin would be nice to
help us go on to team sectionals, and that's how it ended up.”
Kalkbrenner wrestled Stillman Valley's Travis Hagemann in the 138-pound finals, cruising
to a 13-2 lead with four takedowns and a near-fall before scoring the pin in 4:59.
“I think I did pretty good,” Kalkbrenner said. “I got a couple of things to work on for
sectionals, but I wrestled well today. I was just looking to tilt him, put some points on the
board and saw the half there and just ran it.”
In the only Panther versus Tiger title tilt of the afternoon, Gunner Wenger got the
cooperative off to a rousing start with a buzzer-beating pin against Josh Larson at 106
pounds.
“I was trying to get the farmer's in, but it didn't work, so I had a few seconds left and got
the half (nelson) in,” Wenger said. “I stacked him up and just rolled him over at the last
second.
“I like setting the mood for the whole entire team, and I love having coaches by my side
and being pumped up.”
At 152 pounds, T.J. Knudsen won a 5-3 decision over Winnebago's Logan Palm in the
championship bout by scoring a pair of takedowns and not allowing one. The Panthers'
only other champion, Logan Staver at 195 pounds, took his title by injury default over
Dalton Haenitch of Polo.
Byron's pair of champions upended opponents from Rockford Lutheran to win titles. At
113 pounds, Nelson Baker scored a pin for the Tigers in 1:20.3 over Christian Wallace.
Top-ranked heavyweight Reid Sealby closed the afternoon for the Tigers with a
championship-round major decision win, 11-3 over Chris Gustafson-Nolan.
As far as notable revenge wins, Dakota's Brandon Lizer scored one against the Panthers'
Austin McPeek. Lizer had control of McPeek during the first period, sticking him down for a
lengthy period of simply back points at the end. However, the strength gave enough
momentum to give Lizer a 8-2 decision win.
McPeek beat Lizer by a couple of points when the two NUIC teams met in a regular-
season dual earlier in the year, but the Indian junior was able to learn from mistakes this
time around and score a top postseason honor.
“Last time I know I was charging in on him and trying to go at him,” Lizer said. “He always
kind of jumps back in his stance. I just had to adapt to it and just kind of stay back, try to
get in control and tie it up with him.”
Dakota, who finished fourth in the meet with 130 points, also saw Josh Alber and Jake
Apple hold on to unbeaten records for the season. Alber won his regional title over
Panther Ryan Nadig at 120 pounds with a pin in 3:02.3. Apple took his title by injury
default over Byron's Kade Oltmanns at 182.
Stillman Valley took third place with 176.50 points, ending a streak of years that saw the
team advance to the Dual Team State Tournament four years in a row. J.J. Whaley (126),
Talon Paul (145) and A.J. Dobson (220) won regional titles for the Cardinals.
Lutheran (124 points) and Winnebago (105.50) also had regional champions, with Trace
Engelkes (160) winning for the Indians and Mike Andukaitis (170) winning a three-
overtime decision over Dakota's Daniel Zimmerman by a score of 4-2.
Durand-Pecatonica (76.50) was led by a pair of third-place finishers: Gacob Lenox at 126
and Caleb Combs at 220. Haenitch was the only sectional qualifier for Polo, who finished
with 62 points. Genoa-Kingston, who scored 27 points, had one sectional qualifier in Brent
Dremlow at 106.
But it was the Panther moment to shine.
“Just a total team effort,” Milder said. “We had a lot of guys come through today. Our
newly-minted heavyweight (Steve Hawley) came into the tournament 0-0 and getting third.
Gunner, Quincy and Logan we thought had a good chance at coming away with
championships. T.J. Had a real nice tournament at 152, winning it for us. The kids
wrestled real hard and I'm real excited for them. Even our 113 pounder, Chase McCoy
came through with some bonus points for us. It was a total team effort, and it's been that
way all year.”
The wrestlers that finished in the top three places on the afternoon will head to Friday's
individual sectional round at Byron on Friday. The Panther team moves on to the team
sectional at Oregon, which will take place in three weeks.
Win one match, and state will be a reality – a feeling that some of the Lena-Winslow
wrestlers felt during the 2010 state football title run.
“I love wrestling, and it's kind of nice to practice with Lena,” Harmston, a Stockton student,
said. “They're our football rival and everything-else kind of rival, but we get to wrestle with
them and it's nice.”
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Publisher
POLO – Byron. Dakota. Stillman Valley.
Lena-Winslow/Stockton?
Well, it's their time now.
Northern Illinois has been a hotbed for small school wrestling as of late, and several
members of its star-studded cast showed off its skills at the Class 1A Polo Regional on
Saturday afternoon. Much of the Illinois high school wrestling scene had known who teams
like Byron, Dakota and Stillman Valley were.
After Saturday's festivities, however, add in the Lena-Winslow/Stockton cooperative – a
combination of area football powers in the past season.
Led by a quartet of regional champions, the Panthers took home its first regional title
since 1990 – during the early years of the cooperative between the two – by posting just
enough wins in the final round and scoring 219.50 points to hold off Byron, who finished
with 199.50 points.
Back in 1990, the co-op won the regional during the now-defunct regional-dual format. So
this was the first postseason invitational-style championship in its history.
“It's incredible,” Panthers coach Kevin Milder said. “We've been working hard for years.
We finally kind of broke through here.”
Both the Panthers and Tigers combined for 20 wrestlers competing for either regional
championships or third-place honors. The Panther wrestlers won five of 11 bouts in bouts
in the final session, while the Tigers were unable to gain any ground with four wins out of
11 bouts.
The Panthers came into the final session leading 195.50 to 182.50, meaning not only
individual accomplishments were focused on but also that of the team standings.
“I did,” Panther sophomore Quincy Kalkbrenner admitted. “I thought a pin would be nice to
help us go on to team sectionals, and that's how it ended up.”
Kalkbrenner wrestled Stillman Valley's Travis Hagemann in the 138-pound finals, cruising
to a 13-2 lead with four takedowns and a near-fall before scoring the pin in 4:59.
“I think I did pretty good,” Kalkbrenner said. “I got a couple of things to work on for
sectionals, but I wrestled well today. I was just looking to tilt him, put some points on the
board and saw the half there and just ran it.”
In the only Panther versus Tiger title tilt of the afternoon, Gunner Wenger got the
cooperative off to a rousing start with a buzzer-beating pin against Josh Larson at 106
pounds.
“I was trying to get the farmer's in, but it didn't work, so I had a few seconds left and got
the half (nelson) in,” Wenger said. “I stacked him up and just rolled him over at the last
second.
“I like setting the mood for the whole entire team, and I love having coaches by my side
and being pumped up.”
At 152 pounds, T.J. Knudsen won a 5-3 decision over Winnebago's Logan Palm in the
championship bout by scoring a pair of takedowns and not allowing one. The Panthers'
only other champion, Logan Staver at 195 pounds, took his title by injury default over
Dalton Haenitch of Polo.
Byron's pair of champions upended opponents from Rockford Lutheran to win titles. At
113 pounds, Nelson Baker scored a pin for the Tigers in 1:20.3 over Christian Wallace.
Top-ranked heavyweight Reid Sealby closed the afternoon for the Tigers with a
championship-round major decision win, 11-3 over Chris Gustafson-Nolan.
As far as notable revenge wins, Dakota's Brandon Lizer scored one against the Panthers'
Austin McPeek. Lizer had control of McPeek during the first period, sticking him down for a
lengthy period of simply back points at the end. However, the strength gave enough
momentum to give Lizer a 8-2 decision win.
McPeek beat Lizer by a couple of points when the two NUIC teams met in a regular-
season dual earlier in the year, but the Indian junior was able to learn from mistakes this
time around and score a top postseason honor.
“Last time I know I was charging in on him and trying to go at him,” Lizer said. “He always
kind of jumps back in his stance. I just had to adapt to it and just kind of stay back, try to
get in control and tie it up with him.”
Dakota, who finished fourth in the meet with 130 points, also saw Josh Alber and Jake
Apple hold on to unbeaten records for the season. Alber won his regional title over
Panther Ryan Nadig at 120 pounds with a pin in 3:02.3. Apple took his title by injury
default over Byron's Kade Oltmanns at 182.
Stillman Valley took third place with 176.50 points, ending a streak of years that saw the
team advance to the Dual Team State Tournament four years in a row. J.J. Whaley (126),
Talon Paul (145) and A.J. Dobson (220) won regional titles for the Cardinals.
Lutheran (124 points) and Winnebago (105.50) also had regional champions, with Trace
Engelkes (160) winning for the Indians and Mike Andukaitis (170) winning a three-
overtime decision over Dakota's Daniel Zimmerman by a score of 4-2.
Durand-Pecatonica (76.50) was led by a pair of third-place finishers: Gacob Lenox at 126
and Caleb Combs at 220. Haenitch was the only sectional qualifier for Polo, who finished
with 62 points. Genoa-Kingston, who scored 27 points, had one sectional qualifier in Brent
Dremlow at 106.
But it was the Panther moment to shine.
“Just a total team effort,” Milder said. “We had a lot of guys come through today. Our
newly-minted heavyweight (Steve Hawley) came into the tournament 0-0 and getting third.
Gunner, Quincy and Logan we thought had a good chance at coming away with
championships. T.J. Had a real nice tournament at 152, winning it for us. The kids
wrestled real hard and I'm real excited for them. Even our 113 pounder, Chase McCoy
came through with some bonus points for us. It was a total team effort, and it's been that
way all year.”
The wrestlers that finished in the top three places on the afternoon will head to Friday's
individual sectional round at Byron on Friday. The Panther team moves on to the team
sectional at Oregon, which will take place in three weeks.
Win one match, and state will be a reality – a feeling that some of the Lena-Winslow
wrestlers felt during the 2010 state football title run.
“I love wrestling, and it's kind of nice to practice with Lena,” Harmston, a Stockton student,
said. “They're our football rival and everything-else kind of rival, but we get to wrestle with
them and it's nice.”
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
C o d y' s
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| Those Who Know Northern Illinois High School Sports Know about NISB! |
Photo by Cody Cutter
Lena-Winslow/Stockton's Wrestling team took first place at the Class 1A Polo Regional
Tournament on Saturday. The PantherHawks had four regional champions in the process.
Lena-Winslow/Stockton's Wrestling team took first place at the Class 1A Polo Regional
Tournament on Saturday. The PantherHawks had four regional champions in the process.
at Polo
IHSA Class 1A Regional
Team Standings:
1. Lena-Winslow/Stockton
219.50, 2. Byron 199.50, 3.
Stillman Valley 176.50, 4.
Dakota 130, 5. Rockford
Lutheran 124, 6.
Winnebago 105.50, 7.
Durand/Pecatonica 76.50,
8. Polo/Eastland/Forreston
62, 9. Genoa-Kingston 27.
Championship Bouts:
106 – Gunner Wenger (L-
W/S) pin Josh Larson (B) 2:
00; 113 – Nelson Baker
(B) pin Christian Wallace
(RL) 1:20; 120 – Josh
Alber (D) pin Ryan Nadig
(L-W/S) 3:02; 126 – J.J.
Whaley (SV) dec Carver
James (D) 7-1; 132 –
Brandon Lizer (D) dec
Austin McPeek (L-W/S) 8-
2; 138 – Quincy
Kalkbrenner (L-W/S) pin
Travis Hagemann (SV) 4:
59; 145 – Talon Paul (SV)
pin Aaron Bonnell (B) 3:01;
152 – T.J. Knudsen (L-
W/S) dec Logan Palm (W)
5-3; 160 – Trace Englekes
(W) pin Dakota Cain (L-
W/S) 3:06; 170 – Mike
Andrukaitis (RL) dec Dan
Zimmerman (D) 4-2 3OT;
182 – Jake Apple (D) inj
dflt Kade Oltmanns (B);
195 – Logan Staver (L-
W/S) inj dflt Dalton
Haenitch (PEF); 220 – A.J.
Dobson (SV) dec Ty
Harmston (L-W/S) 8-5; 285
– Reid Sealby (B) major
dec Chris Gustafson-
Nolan (RL) 11-3.
IHSA Class 1A Regional
Team Standings:
1. Lena-Winslow/Stockton
219.50, 2. Byron 199.50, 3.
Stillman Valley 176.50, 4.
Dakota 130, 5. Rockford
Lutheran 124, 6.
Winnebago 105.50, 7.
Durand/Pecatonica 76.50,
8. Polo/Eastland/Forreston
62, 9. Genoa-Kingston 27.
Championship Bouts:
106 – Gunner Wenger (L-
W/S) pin Josh Larson (B) 2:
00; 113 – Nelson Baker
(B) pin Christian Wallace
(RL) 1:20; 120 – Josh
Alber (D) pin Ryan Nadig
(L-W/S) 3:02; 126 – J.J.
Whaley (SV) dec Carver
James (D) 7-1; 132 –
Brandon Lizer (D) dec
Austin McPeek (L-W/S) 8-
2; 138 – Quincy
Kalkbrenner (L-W/S) pin
Travis Hagemann (SV) 4:
59; 145 – Talon Paul (SV)
pin Aaron Bonnell (B) 3:01;
152 – T.J. Knudsen (L-
W/S) dec Logan Palm (W)
5-3; 160 – Trace Englekes
(W) pin Dakota Cain (L-
W/S) 3:06; 170 – Mike
Andrukaitis (RL) dec Dan
Zimmerman (D) 4-2 3OT;
182 – Jake Apple (D) inj
dflt Kade Oltmanns (B);
195 – Logan Staver (L-
W/S) inj dflt Dalton
Haenitch (PEF); 220 – A.J.
Dobson (SV) dec Ty
Harmston (L-W/S) 8-5; 285
– Reid Sealby (B) major
dec Chris Gustafson-
Nolan (RL) 11-3.
Photo by Cody Cutter
Lena-Winslow/Stockton's Gunner Wenger puts a hold
on Byron's Josh Larson during the 106 pound
championship bout. Wenger scored a one-round pin
over Larson.
Lena-Winslow/Stockton's Gunner Wenger puts a hold
on Byron's Josh Larson during the 106 pound
championship bout. Wenger scored a one-round pin
over Larson.