CENTRALIA, Ill. • Triad wrestling coach Russ Witzig didn't know what to expect after his team's poor performance Saturday morning at the Illinois Class 2A state regional at Centralia High School.
But Triad stepped it up in the afternoon. The Knights did a complete turnaround, winning six weight classes and recording a third-place finish as they captured the team title with 192 points. It was their third regional title in four years.
Triad will now take on Chatham Glenwood in the dual team tournament at Springfield High on Feb. 21.
Cahokia finished second with 182½, followed by Mount Vernon (145½), East St. Louis (141), Mascoutah (115), Carbondale (112), Waterloo (100), Marion (73½) and Centralia (65).
"The odds were against us," Witzig said. "We knew we had a little bit of a shot. ... We just had a terrible start today. Our kids just came through."
Cole Wysocki (106 pounds), Lucas Zook (126), Kyle Graumenz (138), Jake Tindle (170), Ben Throm (182) and Dan Calvin (285) were the Knights' champions.
Wysocki (40-2) beat Dameon Adams of Cahokia 4-1. Zook (32-11) survived a near reversal with time running out to defeat SirRomeo Howard of East St. Louis and earn his first regional title.
"He had a double leg, and I had him around the waist," Zook said of the final seconds. "I was blocking his leg with my foot from hooking my ankle, which would have been the end."
Zook admitted he got caught looking at the clock when Howard took him to the mat.
"Coach said I was looking at the clock when he shot," Zook said. "I just need to get better endurance and not worry about the time so much."
Graumenz also captured his first regional championship (he won a sectional title two years ago) and improved to 31-2 when he pinned Chase Vosburgh of Mt. Vernon at 5 minutes 20 seconds.
"I just wanted to keep him down and control the match," Graumenz recalled.
Jake Tindle remained unbeaten at 41-0 after he pinned Isaac Flores of Carbondale at 1:21. Ben Throm upped his mark to 31-16 with a 14-3 decision over Pat Beiber of Waterloo, while Dan Calvin (285) pinned Denis Wilson of Waterloo in 1:01.
"The kids stepped it up because we haven't been doing that all year," Witzig said. "Our experienced kids stepped it up. We just finally had some kids step it up. They just gutted it out. It's the first time this year we dug ourselves out of a hole and come through big."
Cahokia finished with four champions: Jewell Webb (113), Leslie Williams (120), David Frazier (152) and Shelton Pippen (220).
Other winners were defending 125-pound state champion Zane Richards of Carbondale (132), Lavion Mayes of Mascoutah (145), Alex Vosburgh of Mt. Vernon (160) and JoVan Griffin of East St Louis (195).
Griffin (19-8) is the first Flyers champion since Chris Leatherwood (160) won a regional in 2008. Griffin defeated Jeff Wilson of Waterloo by injury default at 4:24.
"It feels pretty good," Griffin said with a smile. "It's been a long time. Coach (Paul Wright) just told me to calm down. I had my mind on the championship to bring it in for the team."
