Begler leads R-C grapplers with an ICE championship

The Reed-Custer wrestling team finished fifth in the ICE Conference tournament on Saturday in Coal City. As expected, the Coalers won the team title with 248.5 points, beating Wilmington (128), Streator (90.5), Peotone (77.5) and the Comets with 71 points.
Of the nine Comet wrestlers to compete, seven placed including 138-pound champion Sam Begler (16-6). Finishing in third place at 113 pounds was Judith Gamboa while Jayden Sanchez (126), Jeremy Eggleston (26-7), Jason Davis (150), Dominic Alaimo (190) and Christian Mounts (285) finished fourth. Also wrestling but not placing were Comets Kaaden Wood (120), and Tanner Gillquist (132).
At 113, Gamboa (15-17) placed 3rd after wresting against Lily Gwaltney (Streator (Twp.)) 25-18 who won by forfeit.
At 126, Sanchez (17-16) opened with a 5-3 decision over John Meneses (Peotone). He suffered a 1:24 fall to Coal City’s Brody Widlowski (12-1) then fell 11-8 to Oakley Rivera (Wilmington) 22-13 .
Begler, (16-6) the champion at 138 won the semin-final by 9-3 decision over Evan Greggain (Coal City, 11-7). That advanced him to the title bout against Logan Norris of Herscher (14-10) who he pinned in 3:27.
At 144, Eggleston (26-7) placed 4th after suffering a 6-1 loss to Peotone’s Micah Spinazzola (24-7) in the opening round. He then won :43 fall against Alex Mendez (Herscher) 1-9. In the 3rd place match - Johnny Consuegra Lopez (Lisle, 19-9, held on to win 7-6 over Eggleston.
At 150, Davis (18-11) placed 4th, opening with a 12-8 decision over Joe Carney (Manteno), then falling to Brant Widlowski (Coal City, 35-2) in 3:14 and getting a 2:24 fall in the consolation semi. The match for third place went to Matt Swisher (Wilmington, 24-11) who got the pin in 3:54.
At 190, Alaimo (2-2) placed 4th, won by fall over Quitin Strahan (Herscher) 0-2 (Fall 3:43) then losing 4-2 to Logan VanDuyne (Wilmington, 25-6) before getting a 1:05 fall over over Alejandro Lopez (Streator 14-14). The third place match went to Logan Smith (Manteno) 12-10 by 11-4 decision.
At 285, Mounts (1-2) placed 4th after dropping his opener by 1:23 pin to Aiden Ferris (Streator) then getting a 4:35 pin against Ramon Ortega (Lisle). Coal City’s Payton Vigna (15-17) outscored Mounts in the third place bout 5-2.
The Comets host Sandwich and Plano today (Wednesday) for Senior Night. They will enter the regional at Wilmington, Feb. 3. Gamboa will compete in the girls regional Saturday in Minooka.