Wagner, Moore pace SJO wrestling at Unity Invitational

The St. Joseph-Ogden High School wrestling team took to the mats on Dec. 21 at the Rocket Center in Tolono, faring admirably to a seventh-place finish out of 12 teams at the Unity Invitational.

With the Spartan grapplers a young bunch with only two seniors at the varsity level, there is hope for improvement over the course of this season and the next few years to come for head coach Richard Vetter’s program.

Junior A.J. Wagner, who continues to be state-ranked at the 113-pound class, finished in second place on the day, losing his title match in a 3-1 decision to Damarian Moore of Danville.
Sophomore Isaiah Moore also placed second in his weight class, the 126-pound division, getting all the way to the championship match before losing by fall at 3:40 to Ben Gavel of the host Rockets.
Trevon Carr, one of the two seniors on the team, placed fourth overall in the 170-pound class, losing two tough decisions that went the distance after he reached the semifinals. Carr lost 7-1 to Rylee Edwards of Westville/Georgetown-Ridge Farm, then fell 5-1 in the third-place match to Jason Pickleseimer of Benton.

The Spartans had a pair of wrestlers get fifth-place honors, with sophomore Chase Chapman at 132 getting a come-from-behind win in his match to pin his opponent, Ethan Larkin of Hoopeston Area, in 5:27. Chapman was down for most of the match, but over-powered Larkin to gain the fall and, ultimately, the victory. Max Shonkwiler, who is a junior, also garnered fifth-place honors at 195 by winning his final match with a fall in 1:48 over Karson Richardson from Unity.

A pair of freshmen took sixth-place honors in their respective weight classes, with Austin Kofoot losing his final match at 120 in a fall. Kofoot, however, did win the award for quickest pin on the afternoon, taking care of Nathan Locke of Carterville in just 15 seconds.

Owen Birt, who is also wrestling in his first season at the high school level, lost the fifth-place match at 220 to Andre Hunt of Urbana, in 2:14.

Sophomore Conrad Miller just missed the medal stand at the 145-pound class, losing his final match to claim seventh.

Senior Brodie Sullivan competed at 182, but did not place in the top six. Two other wrestlers, sophomore Austin Cotter, finished in 11th at 220, while freshman A.J. Wells finished 12th at 285.