Here are the wrestlers from the Rockford area going to state
The IHSA boys and girls individual wrestling sectionals were held across the state this weekend, culminating with the top four finishers in each weight class soaring all the way to the state championships.
State for the boys is from Feb. 16-18 in Champaign, while girls state will be on Feb. 24-25 in Bloomington.
More: Area wrestling storylinesHere are the Rockford area's top 4 storylines heading into the wrestling postseason
"This is what we train for," Dakota head coach Matt Jacobs said just before his team went out and grabbed five individual state bids on Saturday night. "We've wrestled tough competition all season long to get us ready for this."
The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the state tourney. Dakota and Lena-Winslow/Stockton each led the area with five wrestlers that advanced to state in Class 1A, while Rochelle equaled that number of qualifiers in 2A.
Here are all of the Rockford-area state qualifiers:
Class 1A Oregon Sectional
How many went in: 35 local wrestlers competed at the 1A sectionals in Oregon.
Who made it out: Dakota's TJ Silva (1st place at 126), Phoenix Blakely (1st at 132), Jason Bowers (3rd at 138), Case Rockey (3rd at 170) and Noah Wenzel (1st at 220); Lena-Winslow/Stockton's Garrett Luke (1st at 152), Jared Dvorak (4th at 160), Griffin Luke (1st at 182), Mike Haas (3rd at 220); Henry Engel (4th at 285); Stillman Valley's Aiden Livingston (1st at 145), Jack Seacrist (3rd at 152) and Andrew Forcier (2nd at 182); Byron's Kyle Jones (4th at 182) and Jared Claunch (4th at 220); Polo's Josiah Perez (2nd at 106) and Wyatt Doty (3rd at 182).
Class 2A Rochelle Sectional
How many went in: 19 local wrestlers competed at the 2A sectionals in Rochelle.
Who made it out: Rochelle's Tommy Tourdot (4th at 113), Xavier Villalobos (4th at 120), Joseph Nadig (3rd at 126), Brock Metzger (3rd at 182), Kaiden Morris (3rd at 220); Freeport's Jacob Redington (2nd at 132); East's Lee Smith Jr. (4th at 220).
Class 3A Barrington Sectional
How many went in: 24 local wrestlers competed at the 3A sectionals in Barrington.
Who made it out: Belvidere's Brayden Teunissen (1st at 106), Tony Alvarado (1st at 145) and Colin Young (2nd at 152); Harlem's Myles Babcock (4th at 132).
Girls Geneseo Sectional
Who made it out: Freeport's Cadence Diduch (1st at 125); Boylan's Netavia Wickson (1st at 135); Hononegah's Angelina Cassioppi (1st at 120); Rochelle's Dempsey Atkinson (2nd at 145).
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star, and for over 30 years all together.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Here are the wrestlers from the Rockford area going to state
