Washington, Mt. Pleasant wrestlers move on to districts

SOLON — Saturday was a big day for area wrestlers, and especially for wrestlers from Washington and Mt. Pleasant. Four wrestlers found themselves inside the top two and advancing to districts by the end of the Class 2A Sectional 16.

It was a great outing for Washington as three of its wrestlers are moving on to Williamsburg.

The Demons’ Colley Billingsly continues to wrestle well late in the year, as he won both of his matches by fall to finish a top the podium at 220.

Billingsly had a huge come from behind victory in the 220 final after being down 9-0 against Tyler Hancox of Solon. Hancox made a mistake and Billingsly took advantage, pinning him just after the three minute mark.

“I feel really good,” Billingsly said. “It was a pretty close call there at the end. I just got him in and got that pin.”

Chase Greiner advanced with a second-place finish at 160 pounds.

Greiner won his first match by fall in three minutes and twenty four seconds over Joe Barten of West Liberty, before falling to 160 pound champion Samuel West of Notre Dame in the finals. He was set to wrestle a second place wrestleback against Barten, but it was called a no contest.

“It’s great,” Greiner said of moving on to districts. “This is what I wanted the entire year. Last year, I got like sixth or something and now I’m going to districts. It’s awesome.”

The last Demon to advance was Aaron Boone at 113. Boone fell to Kaiden Dietzenbaach of Notre Dame by 4-1 decision before wrestling back against Kyler Jessup of Solon and coming away with a 20-2 tech fall victory for second place.

“It’s good that I’m moving on,” Boone said. “I just wish I would have wrestled better and got number one, but we gotta prepare for next week. Next week is what matters the most.”

Washington head coach Brent Van Weelden said he’s proud of how his team wrestled.

“Those three guys did what they needed to do to move on,” Van Weelden said. “I thought we would have a few more guys advance. Overall, I thought it wasn’t our strongest performance team wise, but it’s that time of the year where everything gotta be clicking. We lost some close matches in the second round.”

Mt. Pleasant’s lone wrestler to advance was Bowen Davis at 138, coming away with a second-place finish.

“Feels really good to make it through,” Davis said. “I felt more confident than last year. Last year I got stuck at sectionals. I came in knowing exactly what I needed to do and I’m proud to be moving on.”

Davis pinned Lane Schrock of Washington in the Semifinals before losing to eventual champion Tate O’ Shea of Notre Dame in the first place match. Davis wrestled back for second against Alexis Michel of West Liberty. He held a large advantage before Michel went down with an injury.

“Hard fought match there for Bowen,” Anthony Blint said. “All of our younger kids that came out and competed was awesome. I gave them the option if they wanted to wrestle or not and they’re all talking about the things they want to do in the offseason. All the kids wrestled hard today.”

As a team, Notre Dame finished first with a score of 243. West Liberty followed with 211. Solon ended with third, 201.5. Washington finished fourth, 159.5. Keokuk finished fifth with 66 points and Mt. Pleasant ended in sixth place with 46.

All of the area’s Class 2A wrestlers will compete in District 8 at Williamsburg.