Two A-J Wrestlers Advance To State
Anna-Jonesboro's Mitchell Holshouser and Daniel Heath will advance to this weekend's Class A state high school wrestling tournament at Champaign.
Holshouser and Heath each finished in third place at the Vandalia sectional Saturday, Feb. 14. The top three finishers in each weight class advance to the state tournament.
"We feel good for our people who advanced," A-J wrestling coach Rick Bittle said. "But for our seniors who didn't advance, they have been very hard workers and have contributed four years to held building our program."
Heath, 103 pounds, pinned Roxana's Ethan Harsbarger in 2:47 to win third place.
Heath advanced with a decision over Carmi's Devon Wilson, 9-7, before losing to Vandalia's Trevor Powell, 8-6. Wilson and Powell were both state ranked.
Bittle said Heath is the first sophomore in the A-J program's history to advance to state.
Holshouser, 189 pounds, pinned Carterville's David Khoshava in 2:44 to win third place.
He advanced with a pin over Carlinville's Jamal Zolzoffen in 1:15 before losing to Litchfield's Billie Tharp, 8-4. He then pinned Rochester's Mike Gunter in 3:12. This is the second straight year he's advanced to state.
Other A-J sectional results follow:
Dustin Young, 119 pounds, decisioned Carmi's Mike Maserson, 10-0, and was decisioned by Litchfield's Chance Davidson, 5-2, and Benton's Frank Parola, 2-1. Davidson was state-ranked.
Kris Treat, 125 pounds, decisioned Lawrenceville's Dustin Hoke, 6-4, was pinned by Roxana's Mike Cardwell in 1:25 and Shelbyville's Alex Jones in 2:35.
Dylan Noble, 130 pounds, was decisioned by Harrisburg's Nick Summers, 5-3.
Josh Fuller, 135 pounds, pinned Auburn's Brandon Meyer in 1:11 and was decisioned by Benton's Aaron Robinson, 15-4, and West Frankfort's Taylor Chance, 8-5.
Sully Edwards, 215 pounds, pinned Fairfield's Cully Barbre in 2:59 and was decisioned by Mt. Olive's Shawn Gasaway, 5-3, in overtime, and Vandalia's Devon Cool, 6-2.
Mike Dillman, 285 pounds, pinned Mt. Olive's Josh Clevinger in 1:25 and was pinned by Litchfield's Gage Alcorn in 1:57.
Daniel Heath will advance with a 29-6 record. Mitchell Hohshouser has a 28-7 mark.
Other records for the other grapplers who competed at the sectional were Dustin Young, 28-8; Kris Treat, 27-14; Dylan Noble, 15-8; Josh Fuller, 26-12; Sully Edwards, 22-10; and Mike Dillman, 14-14.