The Sentinel: State Qualifers

Seven area girls ready to compete for state wrestling titles on Friday in Bloomington

Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks

Unity's Phoenix Molina wrestles Prairie Central's Chloe Hoselton in the 235 pound championship match at the IHSA Girls Individual Wrestling State Finals in 2024. Molina, a 28-5 junior and last year's runner-up, returns to Grossinger Motors Arena with her eye on besting Hoselton, a senior with a record of 23-0, looking to defend her title.

URBANA - Seven area wrestlers will travel to Bloomington on Friday in search of a state wrestling title at the fourth Girls Individual Wrestling State Finals.

Maddie Wells will be one of the five, heading to Champaign-Urbana's sister twin city as the first female SJO wrestler to compete for an IHSA state title. She finished second at the Pontiac regional meet, falling to Urbana's Rickasia Ivy in the title match by major decision, 15-6. A week later, she took third at the Highland sectional after losing her quarterfinal bout against eventual champion Taylor Dawson from Collinsville. Wells heads to state with an 18-6 record.

"I feel privileged to be able to pave the path, but I'm excited to see the girls that follow," said Wells, coached by longtime wrestling coach Bill Gallo. She is optimistic about the future for other girls taking up the sport. "I hope I inspired girls younger than me to not be afraid of trying new things despite their gender and to follow their dreams."

Representing Urbana High School, Rickasia Ivy (28-5) will compete in the 140-pound category, and Lillian Disanto (34-9) in the 235-pound category. Coached by Phil Sexton, the Tigers secured their girls program's first regional title on February 8.

Unity head coach Logan Patton will returns to the girls' state finals with veteran Phoenix Molina (28-5) wrestling at 235 pounds along Anna Vasey (32-4) at 155.

Centennial's Ava Beldo (24-6) qualified for state in the 130-pound division after finishing second at the Highland sectional meet on February 15. The first and only Charger to advance to state, she is coached by Ron Beldo.

"I love the sport," she told the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association after winning the Pontiac regional title. "It takes dedication and mental strength. That was the biggest part for me—being able to push through no matter what. It doesn’t matter the ranking or the name; what matters is giving it 100 percent on the mat. Win or lose, you learn. I drill a lot with the boys. Last year, I was the only girl on my wrestling team, so it’s amazing to open up the environment for more girls. I just love the environment when I wrestle."

Completing the group of seven area state qualifiers, Mahomet-Seymour freshman Jaycee Weitekamp, under coach Jeff Castor, will also make the trip to Bloomington on Friday. Weitekamp, in her first varsity wrestling season, holds a 19-14 record. She finished fourth at both the Pontiac regional and Highland sectional.

Competition begins at 9 a.m. on Friday with action on six mats. Quarterfinal matches and first-round wrestlebacks start at 11 a.m.

Admission is $10 per session at the arena. Tickets are available online via Ticketmaster or by calling the City Box Office at (309) 434-2777. The tournament will be live-streamed on the NFHS Network.

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Spartans and Rockets dance squads advance to state finals

MASCOUTAH - The SJO Dance Team and Unity Rockettes placed in top six at the Mascoutah Sectional, advancing to the Illinois High School Association's Competitive Dance State Finals this Friday and Saturday at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.

A member of the SJO Dance Team performs during the halftime show at the Toyota of Danville Basketball Tournament last month. The 11 talented dancers advance to Friday's IHSA state finals in Bloomington on Friday.

The Spartans finished third in Saturday's subsectional competition against 14 other schools, earning a score of 81.87. Unity, in the same subsectional finished ahead of Mattoon with a 78.83 in fifth place.

The sectional championship title went to Jacksonville (90.07), with Clinton (87.57) finishing in the runnerup spot.

The state final competition will at 101 South Madison Street. Tickets can be purchased online at here or by calling the box office at the area at 309-434-2777.

The IHSA will annouce the performance order later this week.

Mascoutah Dance Sectional Standings

1 Jacksonville 90.07
2 Clinton 87.57
3 St. Joseph-Ogden 81.87
4 Quincy Notre Dame 79.90
5 Unity 78.83
6 Mattoon 77.23

State qualified: Urbana and Uni-High tennis players advance to state tennis tournament

DANVILLE - Due to rain on Saturday and the lack of indoor court availability, the fate of two Urbana's doubles pairs was settled at Danville High School tennis sectional on Monday. While both qualified for state after serving their way into the semifinal round, all that was left was determing the third-place winners and this year's sectional champions.

Tigers' Alisa Tangmunarunkit and Luna Morales, both sectional qualifiers from the previous season, decisively settled who were the best double pair in the title match with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Mahomet-Seymour seniors Savannah Amatyleon and Emily Young, who also advanced to the state tournament this weekend in Hoffman Estates.

"I am so excited. I didn't think this would have happened," said Morales. "I am really excited to go!"

Luna Morales plays in Urbana's home tennis match against Centennial in August. Morales and three other players from this year's tennis squad will compete at the IHSA state tournament this weekend.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

She and Tangmunarunkit were the #1 seeds in the Class 1A sectional. The pair won all four of their matches in straight sets.

Morales said their semifinal match against the #4 seeds Adella Bird and Holland Martin, from Mahomet-Seymour, was the most stressful.

"Honestly, that was our most nerve-racking match. We really wanted the sectional championship," Morales explained. Winning that match was step one in the plan to achieve that goal, but it wasn't easy mentally. "We were really in our heads."

She said the great thing about her and Tangmunarunkit playing together is they can adjust mentally and prevail when the numbers on the scoreboard are not in their favor.

"Even if we start losing, we are like, 'We want this'. We are able to get into the mindset soon enough to save it (the match) before it is too late."

Also representing the Tigers at state will be Eisla Madigan and Lorelie Yau. The duo lost to Amatyleon/Young in their semifinal, 6-0, 6-4, advancing to the third-place match, where they faced another set of Bulldog players.

After a nailbiting first set that finished 7-6, Madigan and Yau, the third seeds in the tournament, fell 6-0 in the second set, taking fourth place.

"All of my girls who played at sectionals played amazing," said Urbana head coach Parker Sands. "Everybody knew what was on the line, and everybody wanted to get to state. I think there was a little bit of nerves at first, but all the players settled down and played their game."

With the season a week from being over, Sands, who took over the program in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, notched three memorable coaching milestones this season.

"It feels absolutely amazing," he said, describing his program's accomplishment at sectionals and the first milestone. "This is my first foray taking girls to state, so I'm really excited about that."

His second milestone? This year is the most entries he will accompany to the state tournament in any season since taking over the head coaching position for both the girls and boys program. Sands has had either a singles player or a doubles pair qualify for state with the boys program, but never more than a single entry.

It will also be his first season coaching four-year players like Tangmunarunkit and Madigan who came into the program his first season.

"It's my first graduating class that I've gotten to see all four years, which is very special," said Sands, who also teaches at Urbana Middle School. "I have known some of these girls since they were in sixth grade. Knowing a person for seven years and getting to see them develop into people who are going to change the world is really exciting."

Uni's Ramanath advances to state in singles

University High's top player, Kruthi Ramanath went 4-0 in her run to the sectional singles title. The #1 seed, Ramanath defeated Danville's Anna Houpt with ease in the title match, 6-3, 6-1.

The sophomore dropped three sets in her first three matches combined. Ramanath rolled over Paris' Ava Barrett in their second-round match, 6-0, 6-0. She went on to double bagel Mahomet-Seymour's Emmie Flores in their quarter-final bout.

Before taking the court against Houpt, Ramanath was tested by Danville's Reese Rundle. She defeated the Vikings #3 seed, 6-2, 6-1.

All five players will start their state title runs on Thursday at the IHSA Girls Tennis State Finals in Buffalo Grove High School.

Hamilton dashes by competition, SJO wins track sectional

Amassing 139 points, just five more than runner-up Salt Fork, the St. Joseph-Ogden girls track program earned their first post-pandemic sectional championship title last Wednesday.

It was a spectacular evening for two-time state Long Jump champion Atleigh Hamilton, who led the Spartans with three individual titles. The senior gave gold medal performances in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Later, she broke a long-standing school record of 59.2 in the 400-meter dash.

Hamilton also qualified for this week's state meet on Thursday in her signature event the long jump. The Illinois State University signee finished in second place behind Salt Fork's Gracie Jessup with her best attempt at 5.25 meters.

Meanwhile, Abby Behrens cleared 1.52 meters to win the High Jump competition. Teammate Macy Reed-Thompson finished third to help SJO rise to the top in the 14-team meet.

The Spartans also swept all three relay events.

Kailyn Ingram, Helene Jones, Malorie Sarnecki and Ashlyn Lannert combined for a time of 10:27.70 in the 4x800 Meter Relay besting squads from Urbana University High School (2nd), Clifton Central (3rd) and Milford.

The Spartans faced stiffer competition from Bismarck-Henning-Rossville and Uni High in the 4x200 Meter Relay. The SJO foursome of Payton Carter, Raegan Crippen, Grace Schmitz, and Hope Rajlich finished less than a second ahead of the Blue Devils with their time of 1:51.47. Uni High finished third at 1:55.59.

To close out the meet, Lannert, Ingram and Jones from the four-by-eight, along with Rajlich from the 200-Meter Relay squad punched their ticket to state with a 4:15.17 finishing ahead of Uni High and BHR.

Also turning in top-three finishes were Raegan Crippen, who finished third in the Triple Jump, Ava Knap clocked in at second place in the 1600 meter run

Grace Schmitz and Payton Carter finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively in the Pole Vault