IESA Headlines

2023 IESA State Wrestling Tournament

A field of over 600 wrestlers from 160 schools across the state will compete in the Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) state wrestling finals at the 42nd annual Boys State Wrestling Tournament held at the Convocation Center on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois March 10-11.

This year marks the third year of a 2-class system which is based on a school’s 7-8 enrollment. There were 208 schools that entered the 2023 state series, and half the schools were assigned to Class A and half were assigned to Class AA.

The first round and quarterfinal bouts in the championship bracket will be conducted Friday. Doors open for the public at 10:00 a.m. Friday and the action is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. There will be eight mats in use. All wrestlers will wrestle two matches on Friday and wrestling should conclude by approximately 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, the admission doors open at 8:00 a.m. for the public and wrestling resumes at 9:00 a.m. Semifinals are set to begin Saturday afternoon at approximately 11 a.m. Championship bouts are scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. Championship bouts for both classes will be conducted simultaneously on four mats. A complete time schedule is located at this link:

https://www.iesa.org/activities/bwr/IESA-BWR_Schedule.pdf

Single-day tickets are priced at $15.00 each day for high school students and adults. Price of single-day tickets for senior citizens (age 62 and above) and students in grades K-8 is $10.00 each. Children below kindergarten are admitted free. Ticket fees assessed by the venue are included in the ticket price. The ticket office will open for public sales at 9:00 a.m. on Friday and 7:00 a.m. on Saturday. Tickets will only be available for purchase from the ticket office onsite.

Visit www.iesa.org for additional information regarding complete pairings by weight class, team rosters, the 2023 Grand Marshals and the sectional place winners by site. Results from the state tournament will be posted continuously throughout the weekend. A listing of individual qualifiers by school is available at the following link:

https://www.iesa.org/activities/bwr/rosters_State.asp?Year=2023

This year's Grand Marshals are Dan Jones, Keith Wolford and Steve Endsley. Read more about the Grand Marshals at this link:

https://www.iesa.org/activities/bwr/2023/marshals.asp

The 2022 team champion in Class A was Coal City and the Class AA team winner was Minooka.

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 and Johnsburg with 14. In Class AA, Minooka has qualified the most individuals with 12 and Antioch with 11.

The Convocation Center is hosting the IESA State Wrestling Tournament for the 20th year. The NIU campus is site of the event for the 24th year.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Media wishing to cover the event must send an email from the general manager of the outlet with the name of the person attending the event to Charlie Shempf (charlie@iesa.org) at the IESA Office by 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 9 to request credentials. Due to space limitations, one media pass per outlet is allowed.

For more information, please contact the Wrestling Administrator Charlie Shempf at 309-829-0114 or charlie@iesa.org.