A pair St. Joseph-Ogden wrestlers advanced to this weekend's Illinois High School Association Individual Wrestling State Finals that will start this Thursday.
Isaiah Immke, who had a first round bye and lost opening sectional match to Dwight's Daniel Gutierrez (45-5) by fall, punched his ticket into the division finals after defeating Tremont's Levi Leitner with pin at 1:54. Immke picked up his 20th win of the season with the third-place finish in the 145-pound division on Saturday.
After his loss to Guiterrez and before locking up with Leitner, Immke went on a three-bout winning spree defeating Marshall Gudauskus from Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin, Mercer County's Carson Tippie and Hoopeston Area foe Justin Jones. Finishing the day 4-1, the junior won two of his matches via pins with the highest finish for SJO.
Fellow junior AJ Wagner also advanced to wrestle at the State Farm Center this weekend in the 113-pound division. He heads into the state championships with 41 wins and 8 losses.
Wagner leveled the competition in his first two matches with first period pins and dropped a decision to against Mercer County's Broctyn King in his third bout of the day.
In his next match, it took a mere 31 seconds to notch his consolation round semifinal win over Peoria Notre Dame's Jac Couri (26-8).
Guaranteed to advance to state and at least a fourth place trophy after the quick win over Couri, Wagner squared off with Illini Bluffs' Paul Ishikawa. Through no lack of Spartan effort Wagner succumbed to the Tiger grappler in a 3-1 decision.
One other St. Joseph-Ogden wrestler also competed at the Olympia sectional. Sophomore Isaiah Moore, who enjoyed a 30-plus win season with the Spartans, won his first sectional match in the 126-pound weight class sticking Tremont's Logan Poisal in 25 seconds.
Moore then dropped his quarterfinal match as well as his consolation bracket rounder to finish his season at 32-13.
SJO fans who want to watch Immke and Wagner wrestle at state can order tickets starting today online at www.fightingillini.com, over the phone by calling 1-866-ILLINI-1 or 217-333-3470, or in person at the Illinois Ticket Office at 1800 S. First Street, Room 1000, in Champaign. General public tickets are being sold on a first come, first serve basis.
The Class 1A preliminary matches will start at noon with admission starting at 11am.
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