In closest result in years, Vandalia has four individual champs in regional win

MOUNT CARMEL – They believed they had lost.

After watching Robinson’s Geoffrey Harrison pin his opponent in the third-place bout at 285 pounds, coach Jason Clay’s calculations said that the Vandals’ streak of 18 straight regional titles was over.

Vandalia’s wrestlers paced for what seemed like an eternity waiting for the official results to be announced.

And when it was declared that Vandalia had prevailed 179-175.5, the Vandals went into a frenzy to celebrate their 19th consecutive title on top of the eight individuals who qualified for the Vandalia sectional.

“Pure joy,” said senior Zach Jackson, one of the team’s four individual regional champions. “This streak has been going on longer than I have been alive, and it was a lot of fun today, but a lot of people were really worried, too.”

Robinson had 48 hours to appeal and have the tournament re-scored, but Clay said on Tuesday that the final score was official.

That leaves the Vandals with their slimmest regional victory in years. Every year since 2000, Vandalia has won the regional by at least 22.5 points.

“It was very stressful,” Clay said. “I knew it was going to be a dogfight. We’ve had a lot of tough blows this year, but we have found a way to get through them.”

Several Vandals have missed time this season due to injuries, forcing many inexperienced wrestlers to the mat.
While that bodes well for the future, it has made for an up-and-down year.

“But we are very determined,” Jackson said. “Even though some of the younger kids didn’t do that well today, they put up a fight and will do better next year.”

Jackson had the most exciting match in the finals for the Vandals, nearly pinning his opponent in the first period before having to make a comeback to win 8-6 in overtime.

The 160-pounder got out to a 5-0 lead just 56 seconds into the bout, and looked like he had Carlyle’s Chris Maddox pinned, but Maddox resisted and ended up tying the bout at five at the end of the first period, while almost pinning Jackson in the final 10 seconds.

Jackson took the lead with one second left in the second period on an escape, but Maddox escaped Jackson’s control 21 seconds into the third period to force overtime.

It took Jackson (37-8) 25 seconds to get the win.

“There’s no way Zach would have come back to win that match last year,” Clay said of the senior’s maturity. “He had to fight hard to not get pinned, and then came back to get the takedown in overtime.”

Freshman Chaston Womack was the champion at 106 pounds, giving the Vandals a freshman champion for the third straight year, after Ryne Lipsey and Dalton Blankenship, and C.J. Runkel the past two seasons.

Womack (31-14) wasted no time in getting the job done, pinning Olney’s Jacob Cecil in just 56 seconds.

“He’s done a great job,” Clay said. “He’s come in with experience, and in the second half of the season, we got him to be more offensive on his feet.

“He looked great today, and I think he has a great shot to get through (to state) if he wrestles as he has been.”

In the first two rounds of the tournament, he recorded pins in 29 and 32 seconds, and he is tied for the team lead with 23 pins this season.

Blankenship (36-8), a sophomore, came in as the easy favorite to win at 138 pounds, and he did just that by pinning Fairfield’s Braden Robertson in 4:36.

He will be looking to qualify for his second straight state tournament.

Junior Tyler Dagen made it back-to-back individual titles for the Vandals by winning at 145 pounds.

Dagen (32-12) controlled the entire match, earning a 16-5 decision.

All four of the champions will receive first-round byes at this weekend’s Vandalia Sectional.

The four other wrestlers who made the finals also qualified for the sectional.

At 113 pounds, Lipsey (26-16), a sophomore, had a tough matchup against Robinson’s Payton Stifle (29-7) and was pinned in 1:49.

At 132 pounds, junior Rodney Tedrick (22-20) lost, 3-0, to Robinson’s Andrew Gallagher (30-10).

At 195 pounds, senior Sean Newcomb (27-10) also drew a tough match, going against Robinson’s Nicolae Iovanac (30-9) and losing, 4-0.

In Vandalia’s lone third-place battle, sophomore Jake Stewart (26-18) pinned Carmi’s Michael Brown in 3:45 at 152 pounds.

“That’s a big deal,” Clay said of all eight advancing to the sectional. “The kids have done a great job fighting to get here.”

As a team, the Vandals will battle at the Robinson Sectional on Feb. 19 against Murphysboro.

Saturday, Feb. 2
at Mt. Carmel Regional
Chaston Womack (106)
•First round: Won by fall at 0:29
•Semifinals: Won by fall at 0:32
•Finals: Won by fall at 0:56
Ryne Lipsey (113)
•First round: Bye
•Semifinals: Won by fall at 3:20
•Finals: Lost by fall at 1:49
Luke Tessman (120)
•First round: Lost by fall at 1:58
•Consolation: Lost, 11-10
Adam Palmer (126)
•First round: Lost, 14-0
•Consolation: Lost, 9-1
Rodney Tedrick (132)
•First round: Won, 13-5
•Semifinals: Won, 6-5
•Finals: Lost, 3-0
Dalton Blankenship (138)
•First round: Bye
•Semifinals: Won by fall at 3:23
•Finals: Won by fall at 4:36
Tyler Dagen (145)
•First round: Won by fall at 0:20
•Semifinals: Won by fall at 2:29
•Finals: Won, 16-5
Jake Stewart (152)
•First round: Won, 9-1
•Semifinals: Lost, 7-3
•Consolation: Won by fall at 5:15
•Third-place: Won by fall at 3:45
Zach Jackson (160)
•First round: Won by fall at 1:45
•Semifinals: Won by fall at 2:40
•Finals: Won, 8-6, in overtime
Bobby Bradley (170)
•First round: Won by fall at 0:48
•Semifinals: Lost, 8-3
•Consolation: Lost, 11-2
Sean Newcomb (195)
•First round: Won by fall at 1:53
•Semifinals: Won, 8-2
•Finals: Lost, 4-0
Kolton Etcheson (220)
•First round: Lost by fall at 1:10
•Consolation: Lost by fall at 4:30
Kendrick Woolsey (285)
•First round: Lost by fall at 1:41
•Consolation: Won, 16-6
•Consolation: Lost by fall at 1:01