Kahok wrestlers fare well at Chatham
By Mark Jurgena
The young Collinsville wrestling team has shown the capacity to learn from their practice and match experience and quickly applies it on the competition mat.
A case in point was last week as the Kahoks showed vast improvement from Thursday to Saturday.
On Dec. 1 they were only able to take two matches against Southwestern Conference stalwart Edwardsville. The Tigers registered eleven pins out of the 14 weight classes against the purple and white.
There were a pair of bright spots for CHS as Mason Hare beat Tyler Perry by a 2-0 decision while Kahok Scott Snyder beat Landen Schickedanz 9-7.
On Saturday the squad traveled to Chatham (Glenwood) for the Glenwood Invite.
“We definitely showed our resiliency at Chatham and placed sixth (out of 15) as a team,” said CHS coach Jordan May.
Collinsville with 122 points on the day well behind Mt. Vernon for 5th place. Glenwood amassed 241 points to outdistance Triad’s 194.5 to take the crown.
Individually, Kahok Cody Lutz fell 5-3 at 182 pounds to Justin Hay of Glenwood in the championship match. Hay owns a 10-1 mark on the season while Lutz moved to 7-3 on the season.
After beginning his day with a bye Lutz beat Maximus Wiezorek of Glenwood 6-5 in the quarterfinals. In the semis, he beat Ethan Rivera of Mt. Vernon via pinfall at 2:16.
“He did go up a weight class to 182 and took second place so he did really well that day,” said May.
Snyder didn’t parlay his success at Edwardsville into a high finish at Glenwood but a 5th place finish at 195 and a 4-1 record with four pins is a solid day’s work.
He pinned Bobby Patterson of Triad before being pinned by eventual champion Aiden Taylor of Carbondale.
After that, he destroyed the competition, piling up three pins the rest of the way. He beat Sean Waks of Decatur (MacArthur), Ettavius Holmen-Anderson of Centennial, and Andrew Graham of Grayslake (Central).
Jordan Thigpen took 3rd place at 106 for CHS.
He beat Bailey Lusch of East Peoria 9-4 to start the day then beat Jayden Wiegand from O`Fallon.
Thigpen lost to Kayle Blankenship of Glenwood 15-2 before bouncing back and outpointing Will Kelly of Triad 6-1 in his final match.
Mason Hare took 4th place at 113. He pinned Carbondale’s Evan Miller in 30 seconds to start the day before being pinned by Ian Akers of Peoria (Notre Dame) at 1:36.
Jaden Smith of Champaign (Centennial) pinned him at the 1:12 mark in the 3rd place matchup.
Nathan Cagg took 4th place at 160.
He advanced to the semifinals by pinning Tom Flowers of East Peoria in his opening match. Cagg was then pinned by Tyler Easler of Centennial in 30 seconds in the semifinals.
Easler went on to win the tourney at 160 pounds. He is 7-0 on the season and won three of his four matches at Glenwood via pinfall.
Adrian Mack of Springfield (Southeast) beat him in the final match of the day by pin at the 1:16 mark. Mack is now 5-1 on the year.
Camron Minner took 5th place at 120 with a 4-1 record on the day.
He pinned Carley Gardener of East Peoria to begin the day before falling to Ethan Verdeyen via pinfall.
Minner rebounded with a 16 second pin over Kalan Delbridge of Dunlap, outpointed Alex Milam of Triad 4-3, and pinned Brayden McBride of Southeast to take fifth.
Tyler Minner took home a 6th place finish at 126 pounds by going 2-2 on the day.
Ganz Freshmen Tourney
Friday the Kahok freshmen took part in the Ganz Tourney in Granite City.
Johnovan Jones of CHS took 3rd place at 170 going 2-1 at the event.
Van Welker took 4th place at 152 while Gabe Freeman earned the same finish at 126. Jackson Kiefner and Devonte Mosley also competed for CHS.
Upcoming Schedule
The Kahoks have a dual match tonight at O’Fallon at 6 p.m.
