A pair of Vandalia Vandals find themselves in the 1a state wrestling semifinals after a pair of wins for each on Thursday. Freshman Dillon Hinton improved to 47-5 on the season at 132 pounds with his wins over Marques Merida and Ian O’Connor. It will be a big test for the freshman as he will face 3-time defending state champion Phoenix Blakely of Dakota who enters at 42-1 on the year.
The other Vandal in the state semifinals Friday is Owen Miller at 138 pounds. The senior improved to 44-9 on the year with wins over Jeremy Eggleston and Jackson Carroll. He will face off against Brock Smith of Riverdale who enters at 52-2 on the season.
Eric McKinney at 160 pounds improved to 48-4 with his opening round win over Tyler Martinez of Yorkville Christian before losing to Dax Gentes of El Paso Gridley. He will be in the wrestle back bracket.
Vandalia’s Logan Nance at 152 pounds lost his first match and will wrestle Ryan Rink of Unity in the Wrestle Back 3rd place bracket.
Wyatt Dothager dropped his opening round match and was eliminated by Max Ryner of Macomb to finish the year at 38-17.
A pair of Mount Vernon Rams opened up state with wins before losing in the 2nd round. Dillon White improved to 41-5 with his win over Chance Woods of Evergreen Park. But he would then lose to Tyler Evans of Prairie Ridge to fall to the Wrestle Back rounds where he will face Luke Reddy of Deerfield.
Rider Searcy won his opening match over Wauconda’s Cole Porten to improve to 41-3 before falling to undefeated Kannon Webster of Washington. He will wrestle in the 3rd place bracket.
Mount Vernon’s Mason Randall lost both matches to finish the season at 34-17.
