By: Fred Kroner
fred@mahometnews.com
Mahomet-Seymour hit the Daily Double with its wrestling program on Saturday.
The Bulldogs captured their fourth consecutive IHSA Regional Championship, edging runner-up Danville by 12 1/2 points, and also had individuals qualify for the Lincoln Class 2A sectional in nine of 14 weight classes.
For the day, 13 of M-S’ 19 on-the-mat wins were registered by pins, supplying enough bonus points to keep the team’s postseason success intact.
Six of coach Rob Ledin’s athletes competed for a regional crown.
The school’s lone champion was 285-pound David Griffet, who won two of his three bouts by pin and improved his team-best record to 42-6.
Placing second for M-S were David Spencer (138), Kyle Johnson (152), Wyatt Heimann (170), Lucas Hooper (195) and Ben Stahl (220). Spencer posted two pins in less than a minute.
Finishing in third place were Chance Decker (126), Boden Freeman (132) and Gage Granadino (145). Decker, who had the fastest M-S pin for the day (17 seconds) hit the 20-win mark for the season with his two victories. Granadino (19-11) is on the verge of a 20-win season.
One Bulldog, Jack Vaughn (182), ended in fourth and was one place away from advancing to sectional. Vaughn earned two first-period pins at regional.
Another teammate who hit the 20-win mark for the season was David Pogue (160), who reached that milestone with a pin.
M-S amassed 162 1/2 points. Runner-up Danville had 150 points. Third-place Centennial had 116 1/2 points.
The two-day Lincoln Individual Sectional starts on Friday.
M-S (21-2 in dual meets and ranked sixth in Class 2A), will move on as a team to the Mattoon Dual-Team Sectional. That meet will be held on Feb. 20.
Boys’ basketball
The Bulldogs (16-8 overall) dropped their second consecutive Apollo Conference game, suffering a 55-51 loss at Mount Zion on Friday.
Though M-S led 12-4 after one quarter and was ahead 21-17 at halftime, cold shooting from the field (1-for-17 on three-pointers) contributed to the four-point loss.
Cory Noe led M-S with 20 points. He also had five rebounds and a team-high three assists.
Grant Coleman had nine points and seven rebounds.
Noah Benedict scored seven points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.
M-S returns to action on Tuesday with a home game against Urbana. Four of the team’s final five regular-season games will be played at home.
Girls’ basketball
Amanda Franklin and Erin Lenschow each scored in double figures, but it wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs to pull out a victory against visiting Charleston.
M-S lost a 73-58 decision on Thursday.
Franklin had 13 points to go with five rebounds.
Lenschow had 12 points and three rebounds.
Jessica Franklin added nine points to go with four assists and four steals.
Another Bulldog, Maddy Wade, came off the bench to hit 4 of 5 field goal attempts, and score eight points.
M-S (12-11) will play its regular-season home finale on Monday against Urbana. The varsity game will start at approximately 7:30 p.m.
