Casillas and Tompkins open season with wins at Bloomington Invitational

By Fred Kroner

Marco Casillas and Jayvon Tompkins were individual weight-class winners on Saturday (Jan. 6) as the Mahomet-Seymour Junior High wrestling program opened its season at the Bloomington Invitational.

Casillas was victorious in the 167-pound class. He posted pins in his first three bouts and prevailed in the finals, 18-5.

Tompkins had three matches for the day and pinned his way to the championship.

Casillas and Tompkins were two of five Bulldogs who secured top-five finishes in the 22-school tournament.

Grant Morphew (3-1 with one pin) was the runner-up at 80 pounds, Chris Dill (5-1 with three pins) finished third at 145 pounds and Noah Meints (3-2 with one pin) placed fifth.

In the team standings, DeKalb (309 points) earned the championship trophy, followed by Rock Island (269 points). M-S took fifth with 185 points.

The Bulldogs entered 31 wrestlers. Besides the individual placers, 13 others posted at least one pin.

They were Myles Hartzler (three pins at 75 pounds), Noah Snyder (three pins at 135 pounds), Niko Truax (two pins at 112 pounds), Xavier Foster (two pins at 112 pounds), Joe Vrona (two pins at 119 pounds), Dylan Heckman (two pins at 126 pounds), Nino Caballero (two pins at 155 pounds), Johnathan Pitts (two pins at 155 pounds), Noah Fonner (two pins at 155 pounds), Graham Smolich (one pin at 65 pounds), Tristen Milinkovich (one pin at 70 pounds), Wyatt Bell (one pin at 100 pounds) and Caleb Scott (one pin at 112 pounds).

Additionally, four other Bulldog non-placers posted at least one win, including Dominic Gaudio, who had a 4-2 record at 126 pounds. Other M-S grapplers who registered at least one win were Kaden Johnson (115 pounds), Camden Ashby (145 pounds) and Connor McCall (185 pounds).

M-S is scheduled to return to action on Wednesday (Jan. 10) at home against Normal Kingsley and Lincoln.