Eight Qualify For Illinois High School State Wrestling Meet

February 11, 2012 – Robinson, ILL – Eight PhotoNews area wrestlers earned the title of state qualifier at the IHSA Robinson Sectional on Saturday. St. Joseph-Ogden leads the group with four state qualifiers, Monticello advanced three grapplers and Oakwood will have on lone representative. Of the eight, two have made past appearances at the annual meet held at the University of Illinois' Assembly Hall.

Monticello’s Luke Dunn and St. Joseph-Ogden’s Kenny Lindsey return once again to the state finals looking to improve on last year’s performances.

©2011 PhotoNews

St. Joseph-Ogden's Kenny Lindsey rolls Oakwood's Hunter Tharp in their 195-pound regional match. Saturday Lindsey, who has over 100 career wins, qualified for the IHSA state finals for a second consecutive year at the Robinson sectional. In this match he went on to defeat Tharp one minute and 13 seconds into their match on his way to a second consecutive regional champion title. Tharp also advanced to the sectional meet after finishing in third place but did not qualify for state.

Dunn, who was the area’s only sectional champion, was to face Vandalia’s Daniel Edwards (23-7) for the title, but Edwards forfeited giving him the 152-pound title. Last February, Dunn won his opening round match in a 7-3 decision. His second round match at 145-pounds with eventual division champion Billy Chancey from Braidwood-Reed Custer lasted just 39 seconds.

Lindsey (31-3), who was one and done at 215-pounds in 2010 thanks to a first period pin by fourth-place finisher Reid Sealby from Byron, fell in sectional title match to Vandalia’s Levi Ulmer (31-6) in triple overtime. He was the only Spartans to make it out of the Unity sectional last year.

This year, the Austins will join Lindsey in their quest for a state wrestling title.

Sophomore Austin Hendrick (29-12) pinned Vandalia’s Seth Purcell (17-9) in the 145-pound third place match. Teammate Austin Upton (35-4) also won his third place match sticking Robinson senior Zack Higgins (24-15) at 5:19 in the 160-pound weight class.

Rounding out the legion of Spartans to compete at Assembly Hall is senior Andy Bensyl. With a record of 32-3, Bensyl, who also has over 100 career victories under his singlet, will make his first appearance in the wrestling state finals.

Monticello's Clay Wright

Monticello’s Ramsey Hoss (21-8) hopes end his senior season on a higher note than a state-qualifier title. Despite suffering a 9-6 loss in the 145-pound championship bout, he looks to make a deep run in his bracket. Joining Dunn and Hoss will be 170-pounder Clay Wright, who won his third-place match with a narrow 3-2 victory over Carlyle senior Zach Mcadoo (22-10).

The seventh and final area state qualifier, Oakwood’s Antonio Alvarez (29-1) lost to Benton’s Chris Worthey (30-3) in a 9-4 decision placing second in the 106-pound division.


Robinson Sectional results by weight class -

106 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Chris Worthey Fr. BENTON 30-3
2 Antonio Alvarez Fr. OAKWOOD 29-1
3 Jeremy O'Gara So. ROXANA 31-12
4 Eli Wall Fr. ROCHSTER 20-8
5 Alex Massey WFRANKFT

113 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Nathan Day So. CUMBERLD 34-3
2 Seth Newkirk So. LITCHFLD 28-8
3 Dalton Snell Jr. AUBURN 39-7
4 Eli Roberts So. HERRIN 18-4
5 Andrew Adams ANNA

120 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Dustin Dambacher Sr. AUBURN 27-10
2 Payton Stifle Jr. ROBINSON 27-9
3 Jared Finley Fr. SHELBYVL 31-8
4 Jesse Hampton So. CARTERVL 28-11
5 Jimmy Pearsley HERRIN

126 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Michael Harris Jr. ALTHOFF 20-7
2 Jake Walters Sr. AUBURN 38-5
3 Caleb Thompson So. LITCHFLD 33-12
4 Zack Zvonar Jr. CARLYLE 30-8
5 Drew Davis LAWRNCVL

132 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Alex Jones Sr. SHELBYVL 30-5
2 http://www.iphotonews.com/cgi-bin/ImageFolio4/imageFolio.cgi?search=Brett+Klebe&cat=&bool=phraseBrett Klebe Sr. ROCHSTER 33-7
3 Alex Anderson Sr. WOODRIVR 25-10
4 Dalten Blankenship Fr. VANDALIA 21-11
5 Trey Topp MURPHY

138 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Hadin Restivo Jr. WFRANKFT 33-7
2 Gabe Bartok Sr. CARTERVL 31-7
3 Jeremy Miller Jr. ALTHOFF 26-19
4 Justin Wright Jr. LITCHFLD 31-13
5 C.J. Runkel VANDALIA

145 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Eric Tiller Sr. MTOLIVE 26-2
2 Ramsey Hoss Sr. MONTICEL 21-8
3 Austin Hedrick So. STJOGDEN 29-12
4 Seth Purcell So. VANDALIA 17-9
5 Deon Baker SPARTA

152 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Luke Dunn Sr. MONTICEL 36-4
2 Daniel Edwards Sr. VANDALIA 23-7
3 Keegan Gardner So. WFRANKFT 34-5
4 Dolan Davbidson Jr. LITCHFLD 27-12
5 Slater Stifle ROBINSON

160 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Levi Fortner Sr. HERRIN 32-0
2 Tyler Rloyd Sr. ROXANA 37-5
3 Austin Upton Jr. STJOGDEN 35-4
4 Zack Higgins Sr. ROBINSON 24-15
5 Aaron Batchelder WARRENSB

170 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Drake Holland Sr. HERRIN 36-2
2 Sam Wampler Jr. MTCARMEL 34-6
3 Clay Wright Sr. MONTICEL 34-13
4 Zach Mcadoo Sr. CARLYLE 22-10
5 Mitchell Barna SHELBYVL

182 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Kameron Harris Sr. ALTHOFF 33-4
2 Kevin Roper Jr. CARLYLE 33-4
3 Dayin Godberson Sr. VANDALIA 37-7
4 Andy Bensyl Sr. STJOGDEN 32-3
5 T.J. Gundy WARRENSB

195 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Levi Ulmer Sr. VANDALIA 31-6
2 Kenny Lindsey Sr. STJOGDEN 31-3
3 Frank Hollo Sr. LITCHFLD 34-6
4 Brad Carr Jr. WOODRIVR 14-9
5 Klayton Rodgers ARGENTA

220 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Evan Casey Sr. CUMBERLD 36-2
2 Aaron Ford Sr. ARGENTA 18-2
3 Tyler Cravens Sr. HERRIN 32-6
4 Nicholas Czar Fr. MATERDEI 20-4
5 Drew Benson MONTICEL

285 Pounds

Place Wrestler Yr School Record
1 Michael Behrends Jr. WARRENSB 35-3
2 Mike Dillman Sr. ANNA 33-6
3 Brandon Vessels Jr. LAWRNCVL 19-6
4 Dre Cannon Jr. CARLYLE 25-9
5 Jake Behan CARTERVL