Vandals to be at home for chance at 20th straight regional
VANDALIA – Standout wrestling has been a constant in Vandalia for the past 19 years.
And the 20th year hasn’t been too shabby, either.
The Vandals will be heavy favorites on their home mats this Saturday as they pursue the team’s 20th straight regional championship and look to get all 14 of their wrestlers through to the following weekend’s individual sectional.
“I think all 14 guys have a shot to get through the regional,” said coach Jason Clay. “There will be a couple of guys who may have more of a struggle than others, but we’ll know more after the seed meeting on Thursday.”
Vandalia last had all of its wrestlers qualify for the sectional in 2010, but the team didn’t have a wrestler in the 171-pound division.
The last time 14 wrestlers advanced was in 2008.
“I’m hoping we can get everyone to sectionals – that’d be awesome,” said junior Dalton Blankenship, a two-time regional champion. “It stinks when you get a lot of guys, but have that few who don’t make it.”
Vandalia had four regional champions last season, and eight wrestlers advanced to the individual sectional.
Other teams at the regional will be:
•Carlyle
•Carmi-White County
•Fairfield
•Lawrenceville
•Mater Dei
•Mt. Carmel
•Olney
•Robinson
Of those teams, none are ranked by illinoismatmen.com, and only four total wrestlers from those teams are ranked in the website’s individual rankings.
Vandalia is ranked as the No. 4 Class A team in the state, and has nine wrestlers individually ranked.
“The expectation is that everyone goes in there, wrestles hard and gives it all they have to come out with the 20th win,” said senior C.J. Runkel, who will be the favorite at 160 pounds. “Every day, we’ve been down there (in the wrestling room) working hard to get where we want to be.”
Others who will likely grab one of the top seeds in their weight class include: freshman Trevor Philpot (106), sophomore Chaston Womack (113), junior Ryne Lipsey (120), Blankenship (145), senior Tyler Dagen (152), senior Seth Purcell (170), junior Jake Stewart (182), sophomore Bobby Bradley (195) and senior Kendrick Woolsey (285).
Others wrestling for the Vandals are: sophomore Luke Tessman (126), junior Adam Palmer (132) and sophomore Kolton Etcheson (220).
And though those three don’t have as good of records as the others, there’s no reason to expect they won’t compete to finish among the top three and advance to the Robinson Sectional on Feb. 14-15.
Individuals ranked as honorable mention by Illinois Mat Men are: Olney’s Jacob Cecil (113), Robinson’s Alec Keeler (132) and Nick Berty (170), and Lawrenceville’s Max Andersen (182).
Ranked Vandals are: Womack, No. 10; Lipsey, honorable-mention; Blankenship, No. 4; Dagen, No. 7; Runkel, No. 5; Purcell, No. 10; Stewart, honorable-mention; Bradley, honorable-mention; and Woolsey, honorable-mention.
The Vandalia Regional will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, with the finals slated to begin at about 1 p.m. Three mats will be used during the tournament.
Because of Vandalia’s chance at 20 straight regionals, alumni wrestlers are being encouraged to attend to the tournament.
“We’ve had good crowds all year,” Clay said. “It’s always good to have people rooting you on, because sometimes in a close match, you hear the crowd going, and it helps you that much more.
“It’s exciting for the older guys to see that what they started is still going strong,” he said. “I tell my guys, ‘There’s been a lot of people before you to do the same thing you’re doing.’”
