Three Knights finish high at state finals
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State wrestling photos provided by Dan Chamness and Moto Johnson.
Colby Crouch (back to the camera) discusses his fate with officials during his championship match at State Farm Center in Champaign. The junior, who won over 30 matches this year, had to retire from the title match due to injury. The match was called at the 4:00 mark and Crouch finished second in the Class 2A Finals at 126 pounds.
By Anthony Jones
sports.times.tribune@gmail.com
Three Triad wrestlers advanced to the IHSA State Finals last weekend and all of them finished in the top eight of their weight classes.
The highest placement of the group went to junior Colby Crouch, who finished in second place in the 126 pound division.
Crouch started his tournament with a pin of Bernard Cox in just 1:36 and added another fall in 46 seconds over Nate Sanchez. The defending state champion won in the semifinal round with a 10-5 decision over Wyatt Medlin from Washington.
Couch entered the title match with a 31-0 season record against 22-1 Bobby Conway from Brother Rice High School.
Triad junior Colby Crouch maneuvers his championship opponent, Brother Rice sophomore Bobby Conway, during their title match in Class 2A at 126 pounds.
Triad’s representative started off what would be a high scoring affair with a 9-4 lead after the first period. Crouch continued his wire to wire lead to 15-13 at the end of the second period, but an injury forced him to forfeit before the third and final round.
Koen Rodebush brought home another medal for Triad, taking sixth place overall.
Koen Rodebush, wrestling at the IHSA Class 2A Individual Championships at the State Farm Center in Champaign, rides Rochelle junior Brock Metzger during their match. A total of 27 points was scored during the match as Rodebush eliminated Metzger and finished sixth in the state.
The senior’s tournament started with a loss to Chuck Connolly before a deep run through the consolation bracket. Rodebush started his path to a medal with an 8-6 decision over Zachary Canaday and followed that up with a fall at 5:59 over Jack Paris.
Another tight match came against Steven Marquez of Rock Island, where Rodebush won 14-13 via decision. In the fifth place bout, Rodebush fell in a 19-3 technical fall to Brennan Houser of Mahomet-Seymour.
Koen Rodebush, a Triad senior wrestling at 182 pounds, wrestles Rochelle’s Brock Metzger. He would down Metzger in a high scoring match and finish sixth in the Illinois High School Association Class 2A Finals in that weight class.
Aidan Postma was the third Triad representative at the State Finals, finishing in the top eight in the 152 pound division. The senior, who finished his season with a 40-11 record, started the state meet off with a 4:26 fall over Kenny Rutherford of Peoria.
After suffering a fall of his own to Connor Cumbee of Joliet Catholic, Postma moved into the consolation bracket. The senior scored a 13-0 major decision over Isaac Decker of Lincoln to advance to the quarterfinals of the wrestlebacks against Gus Cambier of Sycamore.
Cambier, who would go on to finish third place, defeated Postma in a 9-3 decision.
Triad senior Koen Rodebush looks at the official during his quarterfinal wrestleback match against Rochelle’s Brock Metzger. Rodebush would down Metzger by a 14-13 score in the match.
