IESA Headlines

There are 10 state champions (four in Class A and six in Class AA) returning from a season ago, all possessing the drive to recapture last year's magic and looking to repeat as champions in 2020. In Class A, Brody Widlowski, a 6th grader from Coal City will be looking to take home the 70 lb title this year. Last year as a 5th grade, Widlowski was the 65 lb. champion. Bradley Ruckman a 7th grader from Roxana has moved to the 75 lb. weight class after capturing first place honors a year ago in the 70 lb. class. Joey Ruzic an 8th grader who attends Auburn JHS will be wrestling in the 90 lb. weight class. Last year as a 7th grader, Ruzic took home 1st place in the 80 lb. class. The last returning champion in Class A is Landon Dooley, an 8th grader from Wilmington. Dooley will be participating in the 100 lb. class this year. In 2019, Dooley finished first at 90 lbs. In Class AA, Ivan Munoz an 8th grader from Ottawa Shepherd moves up three weight classes from last year and will try and take home first place in the 80 lb. weight class after capturing first place last year as a 7th grader in the 65 lb. class. Gauge Shipp, an 8th grader from Galesburg Churchill, will be wrestling gin the 105 lb. weight class. Last year, Shipp was the individual champion at 90 lbs. Peyton Cox, a 7th grader from Mahomet-Seymour is entered in the 112 lb. class this year. As a 6th grader, Cox was the 95 lb. champion. Jack McGowean took home 1st place in 2019 as a 7th grader in the 105 lb. class and returns this year in the 119 lb. class. Aidan Blackburn, an 8th grader from Mattoon will be wrestling in the 145 lb. class this year after winning 1st place in 2019 at 135 lbs. Finally, Jramuel Holman and 8th grader from Cahokia Wirth will be looking to claim the 155 lb. individual title for the second consecutive year. Last year as a 7th grader he won the 155 lb. crown.

Mahomet-Seymour is the all-time leading producer of individual state champions with 44. Bloomington is next with 26 individual champions with Sandwich and Coal City have each had 25 individual champions. DeKalb Huntley and Shorewood Troy are next with 22 champions while New Lenox (Oster-Oakview Liberty, and Martino) has had 21 individual champions. They are the only schools in IESA wrestling history to have 20 or more individual champions.

The Mahomet-Seymour Bulldogs lead in team titles with 6, the last coming in 2009. Mahomet-Seymour won its other team titles in 1984-92-93-94-96. Second is the New Lenox program with 5 titles--1986, 87, 89, 2002, and 2003 and DeKalb Huntley also with five team titles---1991, 1998, 2001, 2004, and 2017. In fourth place is Bloomington JHS with four team titles.

Last year's team champion in Class A was Coal City and the Class AA team winner was Homer Glen Homer.

The all-time record for most qualifiers in a single year by one school is 20---Wheeling Holmes advanced 20 wrestlers to the finals in 1986 and New Lenox also advanced 20 in 2006. This year in Class A, Coal City leads the way with 15 individual qualifiers while in Class AA, DeKalb Huntley has qualified the most individuals with 14.

The Convocation Center is hosting the IESA State Wrestling Tournament for the 18th consecutive year. The NIU campus is site of the event for the 22nd consecutive year.