Two of the area's more well-rounded squads, Edwardsville and Seckman, flexed their muscles and showed off their depth over the weekend.
Regional tournament host Edwardsville advanced 12 of 14 wrestlers and received championships from senior Dillon Soliben (21-14) at 132 pounds and junior Blake Blair (36-3) at 195 in capturing a Class 3A title for the first time since 2009.
The super-balanced Tigers, who had five wrestlers finish second and five more take third, needed everyone of those points to hold off archrival Granite City, which advanced 11 wrestlers to the Class 3A sectional this weekend at Lincoln-Way Central.
Granite City had four champions at Edwardsville -- Chad Whitford (32-10) at 152, Justin Valencia (40-8) at 160, Josh Dowdy (39-9) at 170 and Cole Whitford (39-7) at 285.
Two-time state finalist Mech Spraggins of Belleville West took the title at 126, upping his record to 29-0. The Maroons also received titles from Nate Smalling (32-8) at 113 and Nate Higgins (31-5) at 145 and Tremont Davis (34-9) at 220.
Other winners at Edwardsville were Collinsville's Devontae Smith (33-6) at 106, Belleville East's Reggie Edwards (32-4) at 120, Belleville East's Skyler Procasky (31-2) at 138 and Alton's Taylor McGiffen (41-1) at 182. McGiffen placed third at 189 a year ago.
Triad won the Class 2A regional title at Centralia, getting individual championships from Cole Wysocki (41-3) at 106, Lucas Zook (33-11) at 126, Kyle Graumenz (31-2) at 138, Jake Tindle (42-0) at 170, Ben Throm (32-16) at 182 and Dan Calvin (34-12) at 285.
Other area winners at Centralia were Cahokia's Jewell Webb (26-6) at 113, Cahokia's Leslie Williams (33-3) at 120, Mascoutah's Lavion Mayes (36-1) at 145, Cahokia's David Frazier (33-2) at 152, East St. Louis' JoVan Griffin (19-8) at 195 and Cahokia's Shelton Pippen (30-9) at 220.
Mayes finished third and Tindle fourth at state in 2011. In 2010, Graumenz was a state runner-up.
Two-time state runner-up David Pearce of Civic Memorial led the area 2A contingent at Chatham-Glenwood, upping his record to 19-2 while winning at 126. Other area winners in that regional were Jerseyville's Cody Torrey (28-6) at 132, Civic Memorial's Brayton Williams (21-9) at 138 and Civic Memorial's Dylan Mueller (25-14) at 145.
In Class 2A action at Mattoon, Highland had a pair of regional champs -- Dustin Rosborough (26-3) at 195 and Tanner Farmer (36-3) at 285.
Winning Class 1A regional championships at Althoff were Roxana's Jeremy Ogara (28-11) at 106, Althoff's Michael Harris (17-7) at 126, Wood River's Alex Anderson (22-9) at 132, Roxana's Tyler Floyd (35-4) at 160, Carlyle's Zach McAdoo (20-8) at 170, Althoff's Kameron Harris (30-4) at 182, Mater Dei's Nicholas Czar (18-2) at 220 and Carlyle's Dre Cannon (23-7) at 285.
From the Class 1A regional at West Frankford, Sparta freshman Anthony Carter (14-7) brought home the title at 120.
SECKMAN DOMINATES
The host Jaguars ran away with their tournament, getting individual championships from Weston Basler (106), Luke Weiland (113), Brock Wingbermuehle (120), Danny Farrell (126), two-time state champion Matt Kraus (132), Josh Glore (182) and Andrew Kraus (195).
Other winners at Seckman were CBC's Alex Maglione (138), Washington's Caleb Summers (145), St. Charles West's Casey Bartee (152), St. Charles West's Austin Rugraff (160), Washington's Kyle Summers (170), CBCs Tim Grant (220) and Mehlville's Jimmy Sellers (285).
FINAL STEPS TO STATE
Area wrestlers will make their final push for state this weekend, with sectional tournaments in Illinois and district tournaments in Missouri.
Metro East wrestlers will compete Friday and Saturday at Robinson in Class 1A, at Mount Zion in Class 2A and at Lincoln-Way Central in Class 3A.
Area wrestlers from Missouri will battle at Lindbergh, Ritenour and Jefferson City in Class 4, at Farmington and Hannibal in Class 3, at De Soto, at Mexico and at Clinton in Class 2 and at Whitfield in Class 1.
In both states, the top four finishers in each weight class will move on to state Feb. 16-18. The Illinois tournament is at at Assembly Hall in Champaign while the Missouri event is at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
WEEKEND RECAP
• Holt won the Blue Division and Fort Zumwalt West took the Silver Division at the Francis Howell Central Tournament. Individual champions were Holt's Justin Scott (106), Holt's Lawton Benna (113), Zumwalt West's Ryan Millantoni (120), Francis Howell's Connor Flynn (126), Lafayette's Ryan Jones (132), Lafayette's Nick Olejnik (138), Francis Howell Central's John Wood (145), Howell Central's Tyler Bates (152), Holt's Zach Wagster (160), Howell's Jarret Franklin (170), Lafayette's Kevin Root (182), Zumwalt West's Tanner Day (195), Parkway North's Darius Lewis (220) and Hannibal's Jake Borgmeyer (285).
• Westminster beat out Priory to win the inaugural Metro League Tournament title at John Burroughs, getting championships from Joseph Welker (106), Dominic Barresi (132), B.J. Yeager (138), Keegan Brown (145), Forrest Obenhaus (152), Chris Cacciarelli (170), and Bennett Lewis (220).
Other winners were Principia's Keya Kywa (113), Priory's Zach Lavallee (120), Burroughs' Cory Lester (126), Priory's Van Thomas (160), MICDS' Peter Schlafly (182), Principia's Remington Lutz (195) and MICDS heavyweight Chris Brothers.
