By Fred Kroner
With three individual weight-class champions leading the way, Mahomet-Seymour’s wrestling team captured the championship in its own Marty Williams Invitational on Saturday (Jan. 14).
M-S wound up with 400 ½ points. Runner-up Normal West had 380 points and third-place Naperville Central had 374 ½ .
The M-S titlists were Brennan Houser (182 pounds), Mateo Casillas (195 pounds) and Camden Harms (285 pounds).
Houser’s first four tournament wins were by technical fall, which catapulted him into the all-time M-S lead for career technical falls with 41. The previous school record was 40 by 1998 graduate Ryan Berger.
The record-setting technical fall came in the semifinals, an 18-1 conquest of 28-match winner Deacon Moran, from Fort Zumwalt (Mo.) North High School.
Houser has a 34-2 season record. For the day on Saturday, he outscored his five opponents by a combined score of 100-25.
Casillas (34-1 for the season) was also a dominant performer. He registered pins in less than a minute in his first three matches and then beat his semifinal and final foes by a combined 19-0 margin.
For the season, Casillas has seven pins in less than 60 seconds.
Casillas is closing in on the all-time M-S pins’ record (80), held by Hunter Crowley. Casillas is tied for fifth with 76 career falls.
Harms improved his season record to 31-3 by pinning all five opponents whom he faced. He has 26 pins for the season, six in less than a minute.
The Bulldogs had one runner-up and one third-place finisher.
Losing in the finals was Tallen Pawlak (145 pounds). He had a 4-1 record in the tourney (with one pin) and surpassed the 30-win mark for the season, raising his overall mark to 31-7.
Finishing in third place was Donovan Lewis (138 pounds). He was 4-1 at the tournament, with two pins. His win in the third-place bout pushed his season record to 20-14.
Two Bulldogs wound up in fourth place and two other teammates captured fifth place.
The fourth-place finishers were Caden Hatton (113 pounds) and Camden Heinold (132 pounds).
Hatton was 2-2 for the day, winning once by a pin and once with a technical fall. Heinold was 3-2 with two pins and one technical fall.
The fifth-place Bulldogs were Colton McClure (106 pounds) and Colton Crowley (220 pounds).
They each compiled 3-1 records for the day with one pin. McClure jumped past the 20-win mark for the season and is 21-14 overall.
Gage Decker (152 pounds) took sixth place. He was 3-2 for the tournament and posted one pin.
In all, M-S had 10 athletes place among the top six.
In order to help fill the brackets in some weight classes, numerous junior varsity Bulldogs also participated. M-S sent 32 different athletes to the mats for the day.
Twenty-five earned at least one win and 22 collected at least one pin.
Overall, Bulldog grapplers totaled 40 pins (out of 66 wins) and recorded seven wins by technical fall.
Other M-S wrestlers among the top 16 finishers were: Noah Daniels (who amassed three pins and was 10th at 220 pounds), Justus Vrona (who recorded three pins and was 11th at 120 pounds), Reese Wilson (who had one pin and was 11th at 126 pounds), Lukas Alstetter (12th at 106 pounds), Kaleb Roberts (who registered two pins and was 13th at 145 pounds), A.J. Demos (who posted three pins and was 13th at 152 pounds), Cale Hillard (who had one pin and was 14th at 170 pounds), Auggie Gaudio (who totaled two pins and was 15th at 106 pounds), Brad Schoonover (who earned two pins and was 15th at 170 pounds), Jack Jessup (who had one pin and was 16th at 145 pounds), Hayden Hart (16th at 182 pounds) and Phil Daniels (16th at 195 pounds).
Also placing for M-S were: Preston Sriver (17th at 120 pounds), Nick Demos (who had one pin and one technical fall and was 17th at 160 pounds), Kaleb Collins (who had one pin and was 18th at 132 pounds), Tyler Golden (who tallied two pins and was 19th at 138 pounds), Grant Munds (20th at 132 pounds), Austin Crull (20th at 220 pounds), Christian Valade (21st at 126 pounds), Adam Dobrucki (21st at 132 pounds), Jackson Davis (who had one pin and was 22nd at 145 pounds) and Deandre Hughey (who was 22nd at 152 pounds).
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M-S opened the Apollo Conference portion of its wrestling schedule on Thursday (Jan. 12) with two victories at Charleston, including a 79-0 shutout over the host Trojans.
M-S also handled Lincoln, 63-10.
For the night, M-S wrestlers compiled a 25-3 record with 11 pins and one technical fall win.
Ten Bulldogs were 2-0 for the evening, including Casillas (195 pounds). He pinned both opponents to become the fourth Bulldog in history to hit the 150-win mark for a career.
Seventy-six of his wins have been by pin.
The other Bulldog with two pins was Pawlak (145 pounds). Pawlak’s fastest fall was in 24 seconds. Casillas took care of both opponents in the first period. His quickest fall was 55 seconds.
The only other M-S athlete with two contested wins was Lewis (138 pounds), who had one pin.
Teammates with one pin were Hatton (113 pounds), Vrona (120 pounds), Wilson (126 pounds), Collins (132 pounds), Crowley (220 pounds) and Harms (285 pounds).
At 182 pounds, Houser scored a 19-4 technical fall win, the 37th of his M-S career.
The night’s fastest pins by Bulldogs were Pawlak (24 seconds), Crowley (42 seconds), Vrona (47 seconds), Wilson (47 seconds), Casillas (55 seconds) and Harms (56 seconds).
Other M-S athletes who won contested matches were Hughey (152 pounds) and Hillard (170 pounds).
In a girls’ match at Charleston, the Trojans topped M-S, 17-0.
In a junior varsity match at Charleston, the Bulldogs dealt Lincoln a 45-12 loss.
Bulldog JV pinners were Roberts (145 pounds), Hughey Allen (152 pounds), A.J. Demos (also 152 pounds), Decker (160 pounds), Hart (182 pounds) and Austin Crull (220 pounds).
Allen (53 seconds) and Hart (25 seconds) had falls in less than a minute.
M-S (24-7) returns to action on Tuesday (Jan. 17) at Effingham in an Apollo Conference meet that will also include Mattoon.
