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photo by Bill Roseberry

Roxana’s Alex Maguire and Alton’s Pierre Evans battle during a dual match in Roxana on Jan. 24. The wrestling postseason gets underway Saturday. Roxana is cast in the 1A Carlyle Regional and Alton is at the 3A Granite City Regional.

It’s that time of year, the time when the wrestling mats heat up — the postseason.

The regional portion of the postseason begins on Saturday. Roxana and East Alton-Wood River are cast in the Class 1A Carlye Regional, while Civic Memorial competes in the 2A Jersey Regional and Alton heads to the 3A Granite City Regional.

“It’s peaking time and at this point you’ve got to be tough on your feet,” Alton head coach Eric Roberson said. “You’ve got to get more takedowns. This is a takedown game… The deeper you get into postseason you’ve got to be in great condition and you can gain a lot in a couple of weeks. They realize that because they’re experienced wrestlers and they know what they’ve got to do.”

There’s plenty of experience with all of the Riverbend programs. EA-WR has had a state qualifier for seven straight years and Alton has qualified one for nine consecutive seasons. The last time a CM Eagle didn’t wrestle at state is 1991, while Roxana’s streak dates back to 1976, which is the only season the Shells haven’t had a state wrestler.

Roxana’s Alex Maguire leads a collection of Riverbend wrestlers into the 2019 postseason. He’s ranked No. 2 at 152 pounds in the state, according to illinoismatmen.com. Maguire is coming off a junior campaign where he finished third in the state at 145. 

That was the highest placement for a Roxana wrestler since Tommy Hill took third in 2006. 

Other matmen entering the postseason who gained state experience last season include CM sophomores Caine and Caleb Tyus and EA-WR senior Jake Erslon. Caine made it at 106, Caleb at 113, and Erslon at 170. None were able to bring home medals. Caleb is ranked sixth at 120 pounds in 2A this season.

Maguire said he’s ready for a big postseason run, building off that third-place finish.

“The beginning of this season it motivated me to go win the thing, but then I had some stuff outside of wrestling going on in the middle of the season,” Maguire said. “I’ve gotten right at the end of the season, and I can’t settle for third place. I realized that I’m only going to have four more weeks of this for the rest of my life. I’m ready to crack down, and I think I’m going to come out with a win this year.”

Maguire has a loss to top-seeded Brody Ivy of Sterling Newman this season, but Shells head coach Rob Milazzo believes that won’t be repeated.

“He did lose to the kid who’s ranked first, but I think we’ve fixed some of those problems,” Milazzo said. “We’re looking forward to the big show. It’s all about getting to the finals and he’s ready and I think he’s going to peak at the right time like he always does.”

Alton graduated its state qualifier from last year — Courteney Wilson —  but has guys that could make noise. Junior heavyweight Kyle Hughes is an honorable mention in 3A and made sectionals last year. Fellow junior Pierre Evans was also a sectional qualifier as a sophomore and senior Garrett Sims is a three-time sectional qualifier and has 100 wins for his career at AHS.

The 100 wins motivate Sims.

“It helped a lot because after looking up on the board and seeing how many people have gotten 100 wins and I look at the names and they’re all state qualifiers,” Sims said. “Now I’ve got to do that. I got my 100th win, I’ve got to qualify for state.”

Hughes’ motivation comes from his tournament success, including a top finish in Mascoutah, and help from past solid Redbird postseason performers like his older brother Qian’te Wagner.

“I wrestled all those guys and it was a good experience,” Hughes said. “You just learn a lot wrestling with them in the wrestling room.”

Roberson and Milazzo both admit it’s a new season now. Everyone starts with a new slate.

“You can get a lot better physically, technically and mentally in these next couple of weeks,” Roberson said.

“Anything can happen in the postseason,” Milazzo said.

2018 sectional qualifiers

ALTON

Gus Kodros, 120

Garrett Sims, 126

Pierre Evans, 145

Courteney Wilson, 152

Nolan Woszczynski, 182

Kyle Hughes, 285

CM

Caine Tyus, 106

Caleb Tyus, 113

Hudson Brown, 126

Peyton Bechtold, 145

Isaac Wojickiewcz, 152

EA-WR

Hunter Morales, 160

Jake Erslon, 170

Zach Kincade, 220

Adam Newberry, 285

ROXANA

Cody Cherry, 113

Zach Hayes, 120

Matthew Olbert, 126

Jordan Katzmarek, 132

Alex Maguire, 145

Logan Carpenter, 152

Blake Harkey, 195

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PREP WRESTLING: Alton’s Hughes runner-up at Red Schmitt Invite

Greg Shashack, gshashack@thetelegraph.com

 Published 12:46 pm CST, Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Photo:

Greg Shashack / The Telegraph

Alton’s Kyle Hughes (left), shown wrestling Belleville West’s Dustin Olmstead in a dual Dec. 20 at Granite City, pushed his record to 19-2 with a runner-up finish at 285 pounds Saturday at the Red Schmitt Invite at Granite City.

Teams from three different states filled the top three slots in the Red Schmitt Invitational wrestling tournament on Friday and Saturday in Granite City.

The 30-team field included an 18th-place finish from the Alton Redbirds with 118.5 points. Host Granite City (32) finished 25th. Aurora Marmion Academy took team honors with 405 points, with St. Louis CBC (326.5) runner-up and Memphis Christian Brothers (324.5) in third.

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Huntley (306), Washington (302), Neosho, Mo. (297), Kansas City Staley (290.5), Lafayette (250), Chicago Marist (230.5) and Batavia (212) capped the top 10.

Kyle Hughes made the championship mat at 285 pounds for the Redbirds and lost the title bout to CBC senior Harrison Diffey in a 13-2 major decision. Hughes, a junior, got his title shot with six successive victories that included four by fall, one tech fall and one major decision. Hughes, who won the heavyweight title earlier in the month at the Mascoutah Tourney, improved to 19-2.

Two other Redbirds also recorded top-eight finishes in the prestigious tourney. Senior Garrett Sims placed fifth at 126 pounds to push his record to 19-6. Junior Pierre Evans was seventh at 152 pounds. He is 17-8.

PREP WRESTLING: Alton’s Hughes, CM’s Tyus take titles at Mascoutah Invite

Greg Shashack, gshashack@thetelegraph.com

 Published 5:11 pm CST, Sunday, December 16, 2018

MASCOUTAH – Alton junior Kyle Hughes and Civic Memorial sophomore Caleb Tyus climbed to the top of the medals podium Saturday at the 49th annual Mascoutah Invitational wrestling tournament.

Hughes won the championship at 285 pounds and Tyus repeated as a Mascoutah champion by winning at 120 pounds.

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Triad claimed the tourney title with 190.5 points, with Mattoon second at 176.5 and CM third at 173. Quincy (169.5), Collinsville (169) and Mascoutah (161) rounded out the top six in a 27-team field.

Defending champion Mahomet-Seymour fell to ninth place, while Alton (104) was 13th, East Alton-Wood River (79.5) was 16th, Jersey (72) was 19th and Roxana (53) was 22nd.

Seven CM Eagles earned medals with a top-eight finish. Tyus, who won here at 113 pounds last season as a freshman, won an 11-3 major decision over Collinsville’s Jalen May to push his record to 12-0.

Caine Tyus (8-2) just missed joining his twin as a champion, dropping a 1-0 decision to Mascoutah’s Kylan Montgomery in the title bout at 126 pounds. The Eagles’ Ben Skaggs (11-3) was third at 106, Colton Carlisle (10-2) was third at 138, Peyton Bechtold (11-2) was fifth at 152 and Hudson Brown (7-5) was seventh at 132.

Hughes headlined the day for Alton, which placed third in the tourney last season after a runner-up finish in 2016. Hughes improved to 11-1 after earning an 11-5 decision over Mahomet-Seymour’s Seth Buchanan in the heavyweight title match.

The Redbirds picked up a third-place finish from Garrett Sims (13-2) at 126 pounds. Pierre Evans (10-5) placed fourth at 152 and Lawson Bruce (9-6) was eighth at 160 for Alton.

EA-WR had five medalists with Hunter Morales (10-3) at 182 and Michael Bridgeman (9-6) at 220 both placing fifth. The Oilers’ Aaron Niemeyer (14-4) at 106, Kylen Rose (5-2) at 160 and Jake Erslon (13-3) at 170 all finished seventh.

Roxana had Matthew Olbert (9-8) take sixth at 126, while the Shells’ Zach Hayes (3-3) at 120 and Logan Carpenter (10-6) at 145 both placed eighth.

Jersey had two medalists with Zeke Waltz (10-3) getting third at 152 and Wyatt Daniels (4-5) in eighth at 285.

Report prep results by email: telegraphsports@hotmail.com

WRESTLING: Alton’s Sims captures 100th win

Pete Hayesphayes@thetelegraph.com, phayes@civitasmedia.com

 Published 2:13 pm CST, Monday, December 10, 2018

Photo:

Submitted Photo

Alton High School wrestler Garrett Sims, center, earned his 100th career victory Friday against Cahokia’s Edwin Johnson. Sims pinned Johnson in 55 seconds at 126 pounds for win No. 100 in the Redbirds’ 38-36 loss to Cahokia at Mascoutah. Sims is 7-1 this season and his overall high school record is 100-42. He is shown following Friday’s action with Alton assistant coach Wade Lowe, left, and head coach Eric Roberson. “Garrett has been a model of consistency for the redbird wrestling program over his high school career,” Roberson said. “He has been extremely dedicated with his off season wrestling often getting as many as 50 matches in over the spring and summer. We have been extremely proud of his efforts.”