The Mercer County Golden Eagles wrestling team placed second at the Bob Mitton Invitational held in Orion Jan. 22 and 23.
Golden Eagle 160-pound wrestler Ethan Ball was named Most Valuable wrestler of the upper weights.
Ball was among a trio of Mercer County wrestlers to place first at the invite. Bryce Skiles, 103 pounds and Zach Nelson, 135 pounds, also placed first in their respective categories.
The Golden Eagles came in second place with 181 points. The Gibson-City Melvin-Sibley Fish took first with 203 points.
The complete scoring for the invitational was: Gibson City, 203; Mercer County, 181; Camp Point Central, 148.5; Dakota, 146.5; Macomb, 130; Erie-Prophetstown, 126.5; Sherrard, 123; Orion, 118; Normal U-High, 116; Oregon, 73; Riverdale, 68.5; Kewanee, 63; Polo, 60; Rockridge, 56; Ashton-Franklin Center, 39; Peoria Heights, 14.
The most valuable wrestlers at the lower weights were Austim Miller of Macomb and Thorian Twyner, Orion.
103
Top seed Bryce Skiles pinned third seed Zecharian Smith of Rockridge in 3:36 for the championship. Smith upset the second seed Dylan Donner in the semi finals 11-7. Other placings were Dylan Donner, Gibson City, third; Jacob Dillbeck, Sherrard, Fourth; Tanner Coe, Orion, fifth and Payton Gabel, Riverdale, sixth.
112
Brady Schlueter of Dakota pinned Mitch Mallary of Erie-Prophetstown at 1:22 for the championship. Mercer County's Logan Snyder placed fourth and Sherrard's Rick Vanderham placed sixth.
119
Dakota's Brandon Lizer won a 5-3 decision over Drew Todine, of Normal U-High for the championship. Mercer County's Jesse Snyder placed fourth while Tyslon Schulte of Sherrard placed sixth.
125
Thorian Twyner of Orion won a 9-2 decision over Austin Skiles of Mercer County in the championship match.
130
Austin Miller of Macomb defeated Matt Cole of Erie-Prophetstown 3-1 for the championship. Mercer County's Derek Morford placed third losing a 12-6 decision to Miller in the semi-finals but defeating Zach Butler 7-0 in the third place match. Hawk Gustafson of Sherrard placed fifth.
135
Second seeded Zach Nelson of Mercer County beat Alex Cole of Erie Prophetstown, 3-1 in the championship match. Cole upset top seeded Ross Brucker of Gibson City, 3-2 in the semi-finals.
140
Guy Kirby of Gibson City beat Jake Apple of Dakota 12-1 in the championship match. Sherrard's Michael Anthony placed sixth at the invite.
145
Top seeded Steve Carlson of Dakota beat Brandon Sklavanitis of Oregon 10-0 in the championship match. Dale Shake of Orion beat Andrew Freeelove of Rockridge 7-3 in the fifth place match.
152
Steve Bainter of Orion upset top seeded Brian Elliott of Macomb in the championship match, 8-6. Rockridge's Steele McCulley placed third.
160
Ethan Ball of Mercer County beat Stephan Birt of Gibson City, 5-1 in the championship match.
171
Phil Norton of Macomb defeated Seth Whan of Sherrard in the championship match, 4-2. Norton pinned Billy Fitzpatrick of Peoria Heights in 16 seconds before winning three matches by identical scores of 4-2 against seeded opponents Tommy Bowers of Dakota, Tony Vanzandt Camp Point Central and Whan of Sherrard.
189
Top seeded Cody Flynn of Gibson City defeated second seeded Cody Congdon of Sherrard, 5-0 in the championship match.
215
Top seeded Cal Breedlove of Kewanee defeated second seeded Tim Stahl of Dakota, 5-1 in overtime. Patrick Knees of Sherrard place fifth.
285
Top seeded Jake Peterson of Polo defeated second seeded Mitchell Keppy of Riverdale, 8-6. Sherrard's Erick Link placed fifth.
Aledo, Ill. —
