Junior wrestlers battle at regional

Russell Hodges
Posted 2/27/17

Rochelle Wrestling Club sectional to be held in Rochelle

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Junior wrestlers battle at regional

Posted

BYRON — While the Rochelle Township High School wrestlers duked it out in regional competition at Morrison High School, the Rochelle Wrestling Club was battling in a tournament of its own, with several qualifiers making it out of the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation’s North Regional in Byron.
Tots & Bantam
Five bantamweights brought home first place for Rochelle this past weekend including Brody Bruns, Roman Villalobos, Deegan Schabacker, Nathan Manos and Aidan Lopez. The junior Hub wrestlers combined to go 10-0 in the regional tournament with seven victories by fall, two by major decision and one by decision. Tyson Pavlak and Logan Brant represented the RWC in the tots division, with Pavlak taking third and Brandt landing in fourth.
Intermediate

Elias Koonce (70 pounds) and Brandyn Metzger (74 pounds) each took first place at their respective weights, and the two intermediate-level wrestlers will be competing in the IKWF Sectional at Rochelle Township High School this coming weekend. Koonce won all three of his matches in the regional tournament, while Metzger received a first-round bye before earning back-to-back victories.
Xavier Villalobos (62 pounds) landed in second place, winning two matches to reach the finals before falling in a tough match to Hononegah Wrestling Club’s Bruno Cassioppi. Brandt Waters (70 pounds) and Kaiden Morris (108 pounds) both placed fourth, winning three combined matches with Waters taking two matches by fall.
Novice
Ethan Tooley continued his hot streak from the Rochelle Middle School wrestling season, winning both of his regional matches at 108 pounds to qualify for sectionals. Tooley won by fall over Hawk Wrestling Club’s Kyle Miller in 2:45 before earning a victory by 3-2 decision over Hononegah’s Rose Cassioppi.

Tommy Tourdot placed second at 62 pounds and will also be competing in the sectional tournament, while Brock Metzger finished third at 89 pounds and Grant Gensler landed in fourth at 70 pounds. Erich Metzger clinched a sectional bid as well, placing sixth at 101 pounds.
Senior
Ben Harvey won by fall over The Law’s Gene Stringini before earning a 6-3 decision over Hononegah’s Antonio Figueroa to win first place at 156 pounds and advance to the sectional tournament. Keith Holland also moved on to sectionals, placing sixth overall at 147 pounds.
The sectional tournament will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 4.