Edwardsville wrestling coach Jon Wagner isn't sure if the home-mat advantage will help his team in Saturday's Class 3A regional, but he'll take any edge he can get.
The eight-team tournament includes six of Edwardsville's Southwestern Conference rivals - Alton, Belleville East, Belleville West, Collinsville, Granite City and O'Fallon - plus Quincy. The first round starts at 9:30 a.m. with the finals slated for 2 p.m.
"I guess we don't have to get on a bus in the morning, so that's something," Wagner said.
The only SWC school not at the tournament is East St. Louis, which will be in the Class 2A regional at Centralia. Edwardsville (20-2 in duals) completed the regular season Thursday with a 53-15 win over East St. Louis.
"They have a nice lineup, but our kids wrestled really well," Wagner said. "We hope to take that into the regional.
"We've had a really good season, with some strong performances against great competition. We're not 100 percent healthy, but we'll keep plugging away."
The Tigers have been solid up and down the lineup.
"Blake Blair (195 pounds) has had a great season and Kyle Jackson (145) has won 13 of his last 14 matches," Wagner said. "Our heavyweight, Sab Champlin, has done really well and our 106-pounder, James Zeigler, has competed hard and won some big matches. I'm looking for big things from Cameron Throneberry at 160."
TRIAD WINS MVC CHAMPIONSHIP
For the fifth year in a row, Triad is the Mississippi Valley Conference wrestling champion.
The host Knights successfully defended their title by going 5-0 Saturday at the MVC Super Duals. In order, Triad defeated Waterloo (49-21), Civic Memorial (58-17), Mascoutah (49-28), Jerseyville (51-27) and Highland (50-21).
Jerseyville finished second with a 4-1 record, followed by Waterloo (3-2), Mascoutah (2-3), Highland (1-4) and Civic Memorial (0-5).
Five Triad wrestlers - Cole Wysocki (113 pounds), Kyle Graumenz (138), Chris Kenney (152), Jake Tindle (170) and Ben Throm (182) - earned first team all-conference honors.
"We could have wrestled a little better - I thought we could have had a couple more guys on the first team," Witzig said. "I was worried about Jerseyville because they had a full lineup and I was also worried about Waterloo because they match up with us pretty well in a lot of weight classes.
"Ben Throm has been up and down, but he had a pretty good tournament. It was nice to have Kyle Graumenz back in the lineup after he missed a couple weeks."
Triad finished the regular season at 14-11.
"We've been forfeiting two to four weight classes because of injuries, skin infections and not making weight," Witzig said. "That hurts us at the end of the season, especially when you're facing Southwestern Conference teams like Alton, Granite City and Collinsville."
Second team all-MVC wrestlers for Triad were Lucas Zook (126), Austin Crehan (145), Logan Andrews (160) and Dan Calvin (285).
WARRIORS LOSE TO HARVARD
Granite City, in its final tuneup for the Edwardsville Regional, lost 42-28 at Harvard on Friday. The Warriors were 21-2 in duals, with the only other loss to Edwardsville.
"It wasn't our best match by far, but I don't want to take anything away from them because they really took it to us," Granite City coach Allen Kirgan said. "They won eight matches and we won six, but they had six falls. In one match, we were up 9-0 and we got pinned."
Despite the loss, Kirgan is pleased with what the Warriors have accomplished.
"In one weight class, 145, we don't even have a body in the program, so we've been filling it by committee," Kirgan said. "We can drop Chad Whitford down from 152, but that's not good, and sometimes we fill it with a 138-pounder, usually a young kid with not much experience."
Granite City has a strong freshman class, including Gabe Wood at 113.
"He's coming around," Kirgan said. "We'd like to protect him a little more and build his confidence. In some of the tournaments we're in, you can face six studs in a row, which is pretty rough. But with our (depth) situation, we really haven't been able to do that."
Freshman Josh Rozell, the backup to Justin Nelson at 106, has missed half of the season with an elbow injury.
"We're trying to bring him back slowly," Kirgan said. "D.J. Millette is a 20-match winner (at 120 and 126), but you'd like to be able to pick and choose his matches so he can build confidence.
"We've used (sophomore) Devon Simpson at 132, 138 and 145. The future looks good as long as we can keep these guys motivated."
Kirgan, who is planning to retire after 13 years as the Warriors' head coach, is grooming replacements for the senior trio of Chad Whitford, Josh Dowdy (160) and Justin Valencia (170).
"(Sophomore) Justin Heavilon won a JV tournament at 195 when he weighed in at 182, but he can easily make 170," Kirgan said. "(Junior) Felipe Osario has seen some time at 152 and 160 and he's right there with Dowdy, but he should be full-time next year."
