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Illinois High School Class A Wrestling Rankings

Opening Comments Page
Updated Thursday 12-31-98
Sorry, I was on vacation for a week.

I have done one more of my goals. I have created a place for us to have a forum devoted to Illinois High School Wrestling. It is intended to be a place for open discussion on the rankings and other topics that face the wrestling community. Please use it and share its address with all your friends. You will have to log in each time you use it but once you set up your username that will be easy.
Illinois High School Wrestling Forum

I am putting new emphasis on getting me results, I will add a new form to make that easier sometime soon. For now please put them at the bottom of the current form under commments. Thank you and please keep on voting! Special Thanks to Adam Struppa of Dwight and Kevin Cotter of Byron for getting me results from outside my area. I have a fax machine and will be getting it online soon for you to fax me tournament brackets and results. I have a scanner and will just scan entire bracket in and put it on the web for you to view.

Attention: I am looking for Coach Jerry Angleloff from Seneca and formerly Mazon H.S. There is someone who wants to get in touch with you.

I have had a chance to see the top teams in the state last month at Plano and Stillman Valley tournaments, it has been great. I think though that people are overrating Coal City, Stillman Valley, and Lombard Montini. We (Peotone) finished ahead of Coal City and Stillman Valley in the tournaments and only lost by 8 to Montini in a dual. We are only wrestling 8 true varsity wrestlers and some developing freshman we found to fill the other weights. I just want you to consider that we shouldn't be able to even compete with a top 8 team with that kind of line-up. Check for some team results by the team rankings.

ABOUT ME:
My name is Jeff Noble and I am a coach at Peotone High School. I wanted to create a resource web page for other Illinois coaches that doesn't cost money. While working on my web pages however, I also realized how my site will also be nice for sports writers, wrestlers, their families, or just an average fan. Due to the time investment in my own team, this will only be for class A for the time being.
PURPOSE:
I want to create a ranking of the top wrestlers by tallying votes by you, the wrestling community. I am not going to do any actual ranking myself so my opinion only counts as one vote! One person's opinion should not dictate the rankings of an entire state like they do now in the current system that a lot of people pay for. I want everyone who knows wrestling to have a say in the rankings. I have spelled out the voting criteria below. If coaches provide me information I will also try to preview and summarize big tournaments as they happen. The more input I receive, the more accurate and helpful the website can be. For now the teams you see below are from an informal poll of area coaches that I did.

Send me some votes soon! Everyone is welcome to vote!
updated daily

I have talked to IHSA and they have put a link to this rankings page from their "fun stuff" page. Once organized voting gets going forward these rankings will hopefully reflect the whole state's opinions!
Get the word out and VOTE!

VOTING PROCEDURES

You may vote for anyone, even members of your own team. Please take the time to vote for members of other teams too, so this will be as accurate as possible. Vote for the wrestler you believe deserves to be acknowledged according to the following scale from 1 to 10:

A state qualifier that will try to make waves
A state qualifier that may place with the right draw
If wrestling to potential, will be wrestling for a medal
A favorite for a medal, makes Semi's easy enough
Is on the line between 3rd place match or championship match
With good wrestling in championship match
With good wrestling a state champion
Should win state, the favorite
All-American, wins easily through state
Hall of Famer, pins or TF's way through state

Please notice that these ratings are steep, don't rate a kid a 10 just because you like them. Joe Williams was a 10 type of wrestler, keep that in mind.

Class A Team Ratings

Here I am going to rank the top 8 teams according to the number of votes they receive. When you vote you are not putting them in order, you are only saying that you believe that this team deserves the recognition of being in the elite 8. If I receive enough support for a weighted voting system then I will create one. Also, I would like to post some dual meet and tournament results here as well so please send them to me. Here is what we have so far:

Team Standings(Number of Votes)

Sandwich(33)
Oregon(25)
Yorkville(22)
Mt. Zion(14)
Byron(12)
Coal City(10)
Vandalia(9)
Clinton(9)
Stillman Valley(8)
Lombard Montini(8)
Lisle(8)
Reed-Custer(8)
Rock Falls(7)

You are all going to get me in hot water with Yorkville and all the southern teams if you don't start voting for them, they are taking this personal! :(

In dual meet news, Sandwich defeated Oregon 39-25. The Rockford paper had it wrong, I talked to the coaches. Lisle defeated Reed-Custer 57-15. Byron defeated Stillman Valley badly. Yorkville defeated Coal City by 40 some points. Byron defeated Yorville in a tournament awhile ago. I will get the results for you soon. BishopMac defeated Coal City 37-32.

Some Tournament Results:
Stillman Valley Standings: 1. Sandwich 254, 2. Oregon 219.5, Riverdale 151, Peotone 130.5, Stillman Valley 119.5, Lena-Winslow 110.5, Dakota 82.5, Amboy 72, Rockridge 71, Durand 66, Winnebago 56.5, Aledo 51

Plano Team Standings: 1. Sandwich 231, 2. Oregon 188, Rock Falls 137, Yorkville 135, Coal City 113.5, Peotone 112, BishopMac 105.5, Stillman Valley 93, Lisle 89.5, Sterling Newman 80, El Paso 72, Seneca 70.5, Kaneland 67, Plano 54, and Aledo 15. Note: 2 returning qualifiers for Yorkville were not there T.J. Houle and Buddy Gaven.

Check here to find out exactly how much time left until regionals!

Remember that these rankings are based upon your votes, and not mine. So please don't send me e-mail asking about why I did such and such.
I would like to get these weights ranked by sectional location once I get enough votes, so help me get the word out and tell everyone you know!
Below are the current vote getters with their average rankings.

I have received over 200 votes now for individual wrestlers. I have 6 state qualifiers who are not receiving high enough votes to break the top 6. I haven't gotten any votes for numerous state qualifiers. Please take the time to look at all deserving wrestlers and send in a vote for them. Thanx!

The wrestlers are listed according to weight, [1st line:](year in school), name, {rating,#votes}, [2nd line:] (record), school
State champions:

State placewinners:

State qualifiers:

103 Pounds	1. (So)Jeremy Ryerson {6.5,2} (?) Clinton	2. (So)Chris Acree {4.0,1} (?) Gibson City-MS	3. (So)Tim Deloria {3.67,3} (3-0) Olympia
	4. (Fr)Kevin Gerrish {3.0,4} (18-0) Sandwich	5. (So)Arthur Bradford {2.0,3} (16-1) Seneca	6. (Fr)Brian Gabehart {1.0,1} (?) Coal City

Stillman Valley:Garrish won Stillman with a 11-4 victory over Harazin of Oregon who finished 5th at Plano. Joey Mumma of Riverdale took third 10-4 over Woeckner of Rockridge.
Plano:Garrish defeated Bradford 24-11 for the title. Brian Gabehart of Coal City took third by t-f over Wernsman of Yorkville. Gabehart also took the Coal City F/S tournament a couple of weeks ago.

Ryerson of Clinton defeated Acree of GCMS.

112 Pounds	1. (Sr)Joey Izzi {8.0,6} (14-0) Peotone	2. (Sr)Jess McMechan {6.0,1} (?) Toledo (Cumberland)	2. (Sr)Warnell Ludington {5.67,3} (?) Lisle
	4. (So)Craig Dziewiatkowski {4.67,3} (?) Lombard Montini	5. (Sr)Matt Wallin {4.0,4} (19-1) Yorkville	6. (Jr)Cody Rudsell {3.67,3} (9-3) Stillman Valley

Stillman Valley:Joey defeated Rudsell 8-6 to win Stillman. Rudsell caught Joey on his back twice but Joey tilted him with about 10 seconds left for the win. Rudsell defeated Sloan of Rockridge 13-4 in the semis. Sloan barely beat Gonzalez of Sandwich 3-2 in double ot for third.
Plano:Joey Izzi defeated Wallin 5-1, Rudsell 8-1, and Ludington 13-6 to take the most outstanding wrestler award and championship. Halliday of Coal City defeated Rudsell 15-6 and Wallin defeated Halliday 6-2.

In dual meet action a couple of weeks ago, Ludington defeated Dziewiatkowski by one.

McMechan of Toledo easily defeated Burrows of Midwest Central and Tidmore of Wilmington to win a tournament.

119 Pounds	1. (Jr)Justin Clubb {6.40,5} (18-0) Stillman Valley	2. (Sr)Matt Thielk {6.0,3} (15-2) Sandwich	2. (Sr)David Aranda {6.0,3} (15-1) Elgin St. Edwards
	4. (Sr)Doug Lehman {5.5,2} (1-0) Eureka	5. (Fr)Jimmy Kim {2.5,2} (9-0) Midwest Central	6. (Fr)Jacob Fatheree {2.0,1} (?) Clinton

Stillman Valley:Clubb tech-falled Thielk for the Stillman title. Randy Ullrich took third by defeating Jim Roschi of Oregon 15-8.
Plano:Clubb defeated Thielk 5-4 for the title at Plano, I had it wrong last week. Dale of Rock Falls took third with a pin of Jason Kelly of Sterling Newman. Jim Roschi of Oregon took 5th.

Fatheree of Clinton pinned a Lincoln wrestler that was ranked in AA for awhile.

125 Pounds	1. (Sr)Matt Jacobs {6.0,2} (?) Dakota	1. (Sr)Dan Duffy {6.0,1} (?) Reed-Custer	3. (Sr)Rob King {3.5,2} (?) Tolono(Unity)
	4. (Sr)Matt Hartman {3.0,2} (?) Rockridge	4. (Sr)Jeremy Nice {3.0,1} (?) Toledo (Cumberland)	4. (Fr)Jon Howard {3.0,1} (9-0) Monticello

Stillman Valley:We found out this weekend at Stillman Valley that Hollowell of Rock Falls looks as good as Matt Jacobs. Jacobs, defending state champion at 112, defeated Berg 11-5 for the title there. Mike Hartman of Rockridge wrestled at 130 and lost to Pedrosa 10-2, and Alex Duy 6-4.
Plano:Hollowell of Rock Falls looked real good taking the title at Plano by beating Eric Berg of Oregon 10-5.

130 Pounds	1. (So)Matt Chapman {6.0,1} (?) Clinton	2. (?)Tony Pedrosa {4.0,4} (12-3) Oregon	3. (Sr)Bret Pagel {3.33,3} (10-2) Argenta-Oreana
	4. (Sr)Brandon Dooley {3.0,2} (?) Lisle	5. (Jr)Jeff Boyer {2.5,2} (7-2) Byron	6. (Sr)Jason McLean {2.0,4} (?) Seneca

Stillman Valley:Pedrosa took the title with a 6-2 decision over Joe Alletto(11-4) of Amboy. Andy Reeter of Dakota took third with a 10-8 decision over Mike Lewis of Riverdale.
Plano:Pedrosa knocked off returning qualifier McLean 10-2 and Dooley of Lisle 8-6 on his way to his title at Plano. Dooley took out Westbrook of Rock Falls 12-7. Westbrook tore up McLean for third.

135 Pounds	1. (Sr)Josh Price {6.0,2} (15-0) Port Byron (Riverdale)	2. (Sr)RJ Young {5.67,3} (?) BishopMac	3. (Sr)Elliott Duy {5.0,3} (16-3) Sandwich
	4. (Sr)Orin Moore {4.67,3} (12-1) Argenta-Oreana	5. (So)Seth Heim {4.0,2} (?) Rock Falls	5. (So)John Born {4.0,2} (15-0) Orion

Stillman Valley:Josh Price ripped through Elliott Duy 8-1 for the title at Stillman Valley. He also took out Bauer of Oregon 9-2 who took third.
Plano:In an excellent match R.J. Young defeated Elliot Duy 7-6 for the title. Heim of Rock Falls defeated Bauer of Oregon 9-2 for third and their only other losses were to R.J. Young.

140 Pounds	1. (Jr)Jeremy Benesh {7.38,8} (16-0) Oregon	2. (Jr)Steve Amy {6.75,4} (11-1) Taylor Ridge Rockridge	3. (Jr)Brian Hawxhurst {3.5,2} (?) Mt. Zion
	4. (Jr)Chris Cornell {3.0,2} (?) Kaneland	4. (Sr)Tony LeCuyer {3.0,2} (?) Plano	4. (Sr)Kelly Latting {3.0,4} (?) BishopMac

Stillman Valley:Benesh defeated Steve Amy 9-5 for the championship at Stillman Valley. In fairness I will point out that Amy did throw up during the match and blew an early lead after it was clear his body hit a wall. The new rule change of 2 injury timeouts played a large part as Amy trailing 6-5 and in the down position took his 2nd timeout. Benesh was then given his choice of postions, took down, and escaped to take a 7-5 lead. Benesh then scored a takedown to seal the victory.
Plano:Benesh defeated LeCuyer by injury default to win Plano. LeCuyer had advanced to championship by knocking off returning qualifier Cornell of Kaneland. Cornell defeated Latting of BishopMac 4-3 for third place.

In dual meet action Kelly Latting of BishopMac defeated LeCuyer of Plano 8-1.

LeCuyer beat Cornell 5-2, Cornell beat Latting 4-3, and Latting beat LeCuyer 8-1. This is why we love wrestling, the unpredictable nature of it.

145 Pounds	1. (Jr)Jeremy Kennay {2.25,4} (13-2) Oregon	2. (Jr)Bob White {2.0,1} (?) Morrison	2. (?)Jed Mathis {2.0,1} (12-5) Port Byron (Riverdale)
	2. (Jr)Rob Irving {2.0,1} (10-4) Byron	5. (?)Mike Testone {1.33,3} (?) Yorkville	6. (Sr)Josh Stahl {1.0,2} (?) Sandwich

Stillman Valley:Kennay took Stillman Valley with a 5-0 decision over Jed Mathis of Riverdale. Stahl took third with a 9-3 decision over Craig Krysowaty of Peotone.
Plano:Jeremy Kennay took Plano with a 5-2 decision over Mike Testone. Stahl of Sandwich took 3rd place with a 6-2 decision over Vince Singleton of BishopMac.

152 Pounds	1. (Sr)Ben Hay {8.0,5} (19-0) Sandwich	2. (So)Tyrone Byrd {7.0,1} (9-0) Clinton	2. (Sr)Brook Hartman {7.0,2} (10-1) Savanna
	4. (So)Mike Kimberlin {6.0,3} (?) BishopMac	5. (Sr)Dave Mola {3.5,2} (11-1) Coal City	6. (Jr)Tyler Herron {3.0,5} (15-0) Pittsfield

Stillman Valley: Hay pinned Steve Hartley of Peotone after leading 8-4 in the third period for the championship.
Plano: Ben Hay caught and stuck Kimberlin in what was a close match for the championship. Kimberlin looked good for only being in wrestling practice for a week due to football playoffs. In a battle of guys beaten by Kimberlin, Mola defeated Sean Murphy of Rock Falls 8-4.

In dual meet action Kimberlin of BishopMac defeated Mola of Coal City 12-2.

160 Pounds	1. (Sr)Paul Cleary {7.67,6} (?) El Paso	2. (Jr)Dan Niles {6.0,3} (18-0) Yorkville	3. (Sr)Blake Johnson {5.0,4} (18-2) Sandwich
	4. (So)Chad Burge {4.75,8} (14-0) Hoopestown	5. (Jr)Nigel Collins {4.0,1} (?) Sterling Newman	6. (Sr)Rob Wilkins {3.0,4} (9-5) Oregon

Stillman Valley: Blake Johnson defeated Jake Conery of Winnebago 6-3 for the title. Wilkins of Oregon won third by t-f over Eric Pratt of Riverdale.
Plano: Cleary won the 171 pound championship at Plano despite wrestling at 163 pounds. He defeated returning 171 pound state champion Babcock of Stillman Valley 9-4 and then returning qualifier Kevin Price of Yorkville 4-3 for the championship. Niles won Plano at 160 pounds with a 5-2 decision over returning qualifier Collins of Newman. Blake Johnson took third by pinning Wilkins of Oregon and Johnson's only loss was to Niles 3-0.

Burge of Hoopestown defeated Josh Cooper of Clinton 6-2 and VanGiesen of Hillsborough 7-3 to win Clinton's tournament.

Paul Sloan of Byron defeated Luke Powell from Eureka and narrowly lost to Babcock of Stillman Valley and Niles of Yorkville.

171 Pounds	1. (Sr)Shawn Babcock {8.0,3} (?) Stillman Valley	2. (Jr)Russ McAllister {7.0,2} (10-0) Fulton	3. (Sr)Shelby Stockton {5.5,2} (?) Petersburg PORTA
	4. (Sr)Kevin Price {5.0,2} (?) Yorkville	5. (?)Andy Gacek {2.0,3} (16-1) Sandwich	6. (?)Nick Sutherland {1.0,2} (13-6) Oregon

Stillman Valley:Gacek took the championship with a pin of Nick Sutherland of Oregon. This was the same result as last week in the 3rd place match. Brock Anderson of Durango took third with a 11-0 decision over Matt Malloy of Peotone who took 5th at Plano.
Plano:Kevin Price took 2nd at Plano losing to Cleary of El Paso 4-3. Babcock also lost to Cleary and then hurt his shoulder and defaulted the rest of his matches. Andy Gacek of Sandwich looked good taking third by pin over Sutherland of Oregon.

189 Pounds	1. (Sr)Jake Tiejelle {7.50,4} (13-0) Dwight	2. (Sr)Ross Bracey {7.0,3} (?) El Paso	3. (Sr)Nick O'Bert {5.0,3} (?) Coal City
	4. (Jr)Mark Cotter {3.0,1} (9-0) Byron	5. (Sr)Mark Haberland {2.5,2} (10-0) Midwest Central	6. (Sr)Scott Curtin {2.33,3} (17-3) Sandwich

Stillman Valley:In a battle of Scotts, Curtin of Sandwich caught Gainous of Peotone in a close match and pinned him for the title. Jake Hurry of Riverdale took third by pinning Perry Castelli of Stillman Valley.
Plano:Ross Bracey took the Plano championship by tearing up returning 2nd place winner O'Bert 12-2. Scott Curtin of Sandwich was pinned by O'Bert but took third by pinning Jared Tanner of Peotone. This is only Bracey's 2nd year of high school wrestling, he has really improved off last year.

215 Pounds	1. (Sr)Mike Kinsella {5.33,3} (18-0) Seneca	2. (?)Jim Seloover {5.0,2} (?) Rock Falls	3. (Sr)Winston Taylor {4.0,1} (13-1) Mt. Zion
	4. (Sr)Carl Goebel {3.6,5} (20-0) Lena-Winslow	5. (Sr)Luke Ladd {3.0,2} (11-1) Macomb	5. (Sr)Scott Byram {3.0,3} (17-2) Sandwich

Stillman Valley:Goebel took the title with a 9-6 decision over Byram of Sandwich. Nick Ford of Winnebago beat Young of Peotone 4-2 and Ballard of Oregon 7-5 for third.
Plano:Mike Kinsella of Seneca was losing to Seloover but caught him and stuck him to win Plano. Byram of Sandwich lost to Kinsella but took third by defeating Morrell of Plano 9-0. Young of Peotone had the lead after 2 periods with Kinsella but gassed and ended up getting pinned. Ballard of Oregon took 5th by beating Young 7-0.

275 Pounds	1. (Sr)Matt Mathena {7.0,1} (12-0) Reed-Custer	2. (Jr)"Bucky" Babcock {6.25,4} (10-1) Stillman Valley	3. (Jr)Chris Lagacy {2.5,2} (?) Herscher
	4. (Jr)Doug Gainous {1.75,4} (11-1) Peotone	5. (Sr)Dane Simpson {1.5,2} (12-2) El Paso	6. (Jr)Joe Podschwiet {1.33,3} (6-6) Yorkville

Stillman Valley:Babcock pinned Gainous in a championship rematch of Plano. Ferkle of Rockridge took third by t-f over Kessel of Amboy.
Plano:Doug Gainous took Plano with an injury default over Babcock. Babcock had a profuse nose bleed which wouldn't stop but was leading 4-3. Simpson took third with a pin over Joe Garcia of Lisle.

Wrestling Links and High School's Homepages

Illinois High School Association
Intermat- A premium wrestling service
Preferred Educational Software--Makes software for wrestling statistics
The Mat - Homepage of Amateur Wrestling
USA Wrestling
The Mining Company - Tons of Wrestling resources
Pittsfield High School Wrestling Homepage
Petersburg PORTA Wrestling
Tolono (Unity) Wrestling Page--Awesome site!
St Joseph-Ogden Wrestling
An Oklahoma wrestling site--See how another state is doing

The following link is not a voting link! It lets you send me an email if you have any suggestions.
mailbox

Email: Jeff Noble at Peotone High School

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visitors use this website since I created it December 4, 1998