By Fred Kroner
Seniors Brennan Houser and Mateo Casillas won their weight classes on Saturday (Jan. 21), helping the Mahomet-Seymour wrestling team to a sixth-place finish in the 19-school Stagg Invitational.
Houser (39-2) was the 182-pound champion. He posted technical falls in his first three matches and won in the finals 5-2.
Houser already owns the school record for career technical falls (44) and now has 24 for the season, one away from the single-season record, held by 1998 graduate Ryan Berger.
Casillas (39-1) was the 195-pound winner. He won in the semifinals and finals without allowing a point, dominating his two foes by a combined 24-0 margin.
Casillas also had one pin, the 79th of his prep career. With two more pins, Casillas will capture the all-time M-S career record, currently at 80 and held by Hunter Crowley.
Three other Bulldogs were also placers at Stagg.
Camden Harms (285 pounds) finished second. Colton Crowley (220 pounds) ended in third place. Gage Decker (152 pounds) wound up in sixth place.
Harms (36-4) pinned his way to the finals, where he dropped a narrow 6-4 decision, which ended his 20-match winning streak. Harms has won 13 consecutive non-forfeited matches by pin.
Crowley (31-9) earned two pins, including one in 50 seconds.
Decker (20-10) rebounded from a first-round loss to win three straight matches. He had one pin.
Other Bulldogs with pins at the tournament were Caden Hatton (one at 113 pounds), Camden Heinold (two at 132 pounds), Donovan Lewis (one at 138 pounds), Kaleb Roberts (one at 145 pounds).
Overall, Bulldog grapplers were 29-23 at Stagg, with 15 of the wins by pin.
Colton McClure (106 pounds) and Nick Demos (160 pounds) each posted two wins at the tournament.
Lockport won team honors with 199 points. Yorkville Christian (159 ½ points) was second. M-S (136 ½ points) was sixth, but just four points out of third place.
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On Thursday (Jan. 19), M-S won three dual meets at Pontiac and put themselves in position to break the school record for team wins in a season in their regular-season home finale.
After overpowering Pontiac, 64-9, Champaign Central, 70-8, and Urbana, 81-0, the Bulldogs are 29-7 in dual meets.
The school mark for dual meet wins in a season (30) was established by coach Rob Ledin’s 2021-22 team.
M-S will have its final two dual meets of the season on Friday (Jan. 27).
At Pontiac, 23 Bulldogs won at least one mat and 18 produced at least one pin. The school’s cumulative record for the three meets was 38-4. Twenty-five of the wins were by pin.
Four M-S grapplers were 3-0 at Pontiac.
Roberts was the lone squad member to finish with three pins. All of his falls came in the first period, the quickest in 56 seconds.
Also going 3-0 were Justus Vrona (120 pounds), Decker (152 pounds) and Crowley (220 pounds).
All three registered two pins and won once by forfeit. Vrona’s quickest pin was in 51 seconds, Decker’s fastest fall was in 4:42 and Crowley’s quickest was in a season-best 19 seconds.
Other Bulldogs with two pins for the night (in as many matches) were Heinold (132 pounds) and Harms (285 pounds).
Heinold’s pins were in 39 and 58 seconds. Harms’ fastest fall was in 1:47.
Also winning twice for M-S were McClure (106 pounds), Hatton (113 pounds), Cale Hillard (170 pounds), Noah Frank (182 pounds) and Casillas (195 pounds).
Each of them recorded one pin with McClure, Frank and Casillas posting a fall in the first period.
Seven other Bulldogs posted a pin in their lone match of the night: Kaleb Collins (in 43 seconds at 138 pounds), Tyler Golden (in 3:01 at 138 pounds), Lewis (in 51 seconds at 138 pounds), Brad Schoonover (in 59 seconds at 170 pounds), Houser (in 42 seconds at 182 pounds), Phil Daniels (in 3:53 at 195 pounds) and Noah Daniels (in 4:51 at 285 pounds).
Also garnering a varsity win in one match were Kalista Granadino (113 pounds), Christian Valade (126 pounds), Reese Wilson (126 pounds), Gabby Dawson (132 pounds) and Demos (160 pounds).
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Mahomet-Seymour’s junior varsity squad repeated as team champions at the 22-school Stanford Olympia Invitational on Saturday (Jan. 21).
M-S totaled 227 points to outdistance runner-up Normal Community, which had 152 ½ points.
The Bulldogs had 27 athletes compete in the tournament. Twenty-two earned at least one pin and 20 placed among the top six in their weight classes.
Six M-S grapplers were individual champions and two others wound up in second place.
The school’s titlists were Conner Bennett (two first-period pins at 126 pounds), A.J. Demos (one pin at 152 pounds), Brad Schoonover (three first-period pins in three total matches at 170 pounds), Hayden Hart (pins in three of four bouts at 182 pounds), Phil Daniels (one pin at 195 pounds) and Brayden Lamb (who pinned all three of his opponents at 220 pounds).
The Bulldogs’ second-place finishers were Lukas Alstetter (three wins by pin at 106 pounds) and Noah Daniels (1 pin at 285 pounds).
Four of the seven M-S grapplers who advanced into third-place matches finished the tournament with wins.
The school’s third-place performers were Kaleb Collins (three pins at 132 pounds), Joshua Craig (one pin at 170 pounds), Noah Frank (three pins at 182 pounds), Adain Crull (three pins at 195 pounds).
Placing fourth for M-S were Tyler Golden (three pins at 138 pounds), Blayne Maya (three pins at 170 pounds) and Grant Arbuckle (three pins at 170 pounds, B Division).
Bulldogs finishing in fifth place were Preston Sriver (two pins at 120 pounds), Camden Snodsmith (three pins at 145 pounds) and Kody Ackman (one pin at 170 pounds).
The M-S sixth-place finishers were Auggie Gaudio (three pins at 106 pounds), Jackson Davis (two pins at 145 pounds) and Austin Crull (three pins at 220 pounds).
Other squad members who won a match, but did not place, were Hughey Allen (one pin at 145 pounds) and Collin Hughes (a 7-0 decision at 170 pounds).
