Salem senior Keyton King has made the most of his 3 years in the first years of the Salem Wildcat Wrestling program. King made his way through the 150 pound division at the Carterville Sectional and in making the finals, he became the first Wildcat wrestler to ever qualify for the IHSA State Competition.
King entered the tournament with a stellar record this season of 42-2. He opened with a bye before beating Lawrenceville’s Daniel Kiser with a Fall at 1:50. Then King won his semifinal match making history with a 10-2 major decision over Benton’s Tiffin Kouzoukas. That win also gave King #99 in his career and would be the first 100 win Wildcat.
Unfortunately King re-injured an already hurt back in his semifinal and had to medically forfeit his championship match with another favorite to podium next weekend, Vandalia’s Dillon Hinton who is a whopping 49-2.
At 144 pounds, Kade Orrell was one win away from the 3rd place match and a trip to state. He finished his season at 39-13.
At 120 pounds, Rylan Moore finished at 39-11 finishing one win away from the 3rd place match.
At 106 pounds, Aden Doolen finished at 25-18.
At 113 pounds, Kris Schicker finished at 17-21.
At 165 pounds, Granger Motch finished at 24-14.
At 190 pounds, Carson Osborne finished at 34-12.
At 175 pounds, Killian Merrill finished at 31-16.
