QJHS wrestling team takes third at state with Hill repeating as individual state champion

DEKALB, Ill. — Brylin Hill repeated as an Illinois Elementary School Association state wrestling champion and four other Quincy Junior High School wrestlers earned state medals, helping the Comets finish in third place at the Class AA tournament Saturday.

Hill, an eighth grader wrestling at 145 pounds, dominated the field. He opened with a 6-0 decision over Moline’s Alex Ossian, pinned Shorewood Troy’s Colton Coughlen in 29 seconds in the quarterfinals and scored a 10-1 major decision over Geneseo’s Harrison Hill in the semifinals.

In the championship match, Hill pinned Woodridge Jefferson’s Will Konder in 3:30 to finish his season undefeated.

Hill and the other medalists — Ja’Carveon Walton finished second at 126 pounds, Eli Zanger took third at 285 pounds, Clayton McClelland was fourth at 100 pounds and Derik Lohmeyer was fifth at 105 pounds — helped QJHS earn 99 team points.

DeKalb Huntley won the team title with 117 points at the Convocation Center on the Northern Illinois University campus, and Bloomington Junior High School was second with 103 points.

Walton won his first two matches with 8-3 and 4-3 decisions. In the semifinals, he scored an 8-6 victory over Minooka’s Aiden Carroll, getting a takedown with 25 seconds to go in overtime for the sudden victory. Walton suffered a 6-2 loss to Bloomington Evans’ Brayden Manning in the championship match.

Zanger reached the semifinals with a pair of first-period pins, including sticking Crystal Lake’s Jackson Copelin in 11 seconds. After suffering a technical fall in the semifinals, Zanger responded by pinning Geneseo’s Jayden Shipman in 1:45 and then sticking Joliet’s Quinten Butler in 3:56.

McClelland scored a major decision and pin to reach the semifinals before suffering a 4-3 loss. In the wrestlebacks, he pinned Frankford Hickory Creek’s Nathan Powers in 3:09 to get to the third-place match. He then suffered a 5-3 loss to DeKalb’s Julian Hernandez, who McClelland had pinned in the quarterfinals.

Lohmeyer lost in the quarterfinals but won twice in the wrestlebacks to earn his state medal. A third-period pin guaranteed him a top-six finish, and in the fifth-place match, he pinned Romeoville’s Pedro Hernandez in 2:57.