QHS, Central, Palmyra wrestlers ready to vie for championships at Quincy Invitational

QUINCY — Weather may have altered the brackets and forced some teams to decline making the trip to compete in the Quincy Invitational, but Friday night’s opening rounds of the long-time wrestling tournament showed the cream always rises to the top.

Quincy High School had five wrestlers go unbeaten during Friday’s action, while Central had five wrestlers advance undefeated. Palmyra pushed three through without losses, and Quincy Notre Dame had one.

The finals are tentatively scheduled for noon Saturday.

QHS freshman Hugh Sharrow won his first three matches at 106 pounds, earning a pair of pins and two-point decision. He pinned Central’s Hayden Hurley in 5:12 and Pekin’s Dalton Davis in 2:51. He scored a 6-4 victory over QND’s Oliver Moore.

At 113, Central’s Jack Thompson won both of his pool matches, pinning West Hancock’s Kai Humphry in 37 seconds and QHS’s Evan Wakefield in 1:36.

Central freshman Kayne Mitchell won both of his matches at 120, with a pin of Mascoutah’s Garison Kramer in 57 seconds and an 8-3 decision over Palmyra’s Audrin McElvain.

QND’s Curtis Steinkamp and QHS’s Eli Roberts both went 2-0 to end up on opposite sides of the championship bracket at 126. Steinkamp pinned Mascoutah’s Corbin Woodworth in 52 seconds and stuck East Peoria’s Stephen Preciado in 3:59. Roberts pinned Jacksonville’s Tyler Sheets in 3:07 and pinned Central’s Kyslyn Nash in 3:04. 

At 132, QHS’s Dylan Becker won three matches, pinning Mascoutah’s Cadan Garner in 42 seconds, beating Jacksonville’s Gage Blimling 10-4 and edging Pekin’s Ramez Watson 8-7.

Collin Arch remained undefeated in high school at 138 pounds as the Palmyra junior pinned all three of his opponents in less than 50 seconds, sticking Central’s Joseph Friday and West Hancock’s Evan Carel each in 32 seconds and hammering QND’s William Gibleon in 49 seconds.

Central’s Konnor Bush opened with two victories at 145, scoring a 10-1 major decision over QHS’s Carson Neally and earning a 16-1 technical fall over Macomb’s Tyler Shannon.

The Panthers’ Conner Griffin pinned Mascoutah’s Kanoa Owens in 1:09 and outlasting QND’s Natha Pabisiak 2-1 in overtime to advance at 152.

QHS’s Max Miller went unbeaten in pool play at 160, pinning Pekin’s DeMarcus Watson in 5:24, Mascoutah’s Jacob Rumler in 3:10 and Central’s Hunter Bolton in 3:36.

At 160, QHS’s Kayden Garrett and Central’s Kyus Mitchell each started 3-0. Garrett pinned West Hancock’s Alex Brown in 2:24 and Pekin’s Lucas Campbell in 45 seconds before scoring a 16-1 technical foul over QND’s Tristan Pritts. Mitchell pinned Pritts in 1:14, Campbell in 2:39 and Brown in 1:00.

QHS’s Gage Bringer and QND’s Ryan Darnell each went 1-1 at 195.

Palmyra’s Luke Triplett put himself in command at 220 by pinning East Peoria’s Jose Del Toro in 1:06 and QHS’s Gavin Schumacher in 1:10. Palmyra’s Nolyn Richards earned the top line on the championship draw at 285 with a 3-1 decision over Jacksonville’s Aiden Surratt.