Collinsville grapplers begin season; Torres wins at Normal tourney
By Mark Jurgena
The Collinsville wrestling program opened up its season last week with matches against top-flight competition from Central and Southern Illinois.
Nov. 22 Quad
Collinsville hosted Quincy, Chatham (Glenwood), and Carbondale to begin their season.
While CHS didn’t win any of their three duals, they came within an eyelash of beating Carbondale eventually falling 42-41.
Kahok sophomore Cameron Minner went 3-0 on the evening and secured two wins via pinfall.
Nov. 26 Quad
CHS traveled to O’Fallon for three matches on Saturday. They beat Springfield 42-36 but fell to powerhouse wrestling squads Mattoon and Mahomet (Seymour).
The dual win over the Senators came down to Kahok Mason Hare pinning his opponent at 113 pounds.
Cody Lutz at 170 pounds went 3-0 on the day with three pins. Against his Springfield opponent, Lutz came up with a pin in nine seconds.
“It’s been tough but we have a really young team,” said CHS coach Jordan May. “We have a lot of room to learn. We’re just going to keep hammering the basics and build this program up to where we know we can be.”
NCHS Girls Invite
Three members of the girls team at Collinsville traveled to Normal to take part in the Normal Community High School Girls Invite on Saturday.
Sophomore Alanni Torres won the title at 145 pounds at NCHS.
She beat Alicia Swank of Bloomington via pinfall at 30 seconds in the quarterfinals, then beat Olivia Furlan of Schaumburg in the semifinals via pinfall at 1:16.
In the finals, she pinned Keara Micek of Schaumburg in 1:37.
At 120, Freshman Emma Ford finished in 4th place on the day.
She beat Anna Villarreal via pin at 1:28 to open her day before falling to Ella McDonald of Morris by pinfall at 2:28.
Ford dropped her final match to Josie Barham of Deer Creek-Mackinaw courtesy of a pin at 56 seconds.
At 155, Junior Hannah Jones picked up her first win by beating Yanelli Velazquez of Granite City via pin at 1:33. She fell in the quarterfinals to Wonderful Nah of Joliet (Central) at 40 seconds. Jones also fell to Abigail Boersma by pin at 1:56.
In the B division of the 155-pound class, Tashieya Taylor of Collinsville fell to Katie Pyszka Joliet (Central) by pin at 3:16. In her second match, Taylor lost to Bella Cyrkiel of Minooka by pin at 1:24.
“Collinsville is a full lineup away from having a dominant girls wrestling team,” said CHS assistant coach Adam Gillespie. “The girls are very excited and passionate about the sport and they are embracing the Collinsville culture of wrestling hard and aggressive.”
Kahok Notes:
For those who are wondering, Taylor Dawson who finished in 2nd place in her weight class at the first-ever IHSA State Finals last winter did not make the trip to Normal for the girls event.
Instead, since the IHSA still allows for Coed wrestling, Dawson competed with the boys team Saturday.
Upcoming Schedule
Collinsville travels to Edwardsville today for an SWC matchup. On Saturday they travel to the Chatham (Glenwood) Invitational.
The girls travel to Granite City on Friday for the Granite City Tourney.
