Isaiah Immke wins Class 1A Regional Championship
BY FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Junior Isaiah Immke was the Spartans’ lone individual champion in Saturday’s Class 1A wrestling regional which SJ-O hosted.
Immke won all three of his matches and captured top honors in the 145-pound weight class. He registered pins in two of his wins.
“Isaiah Immke gutted out a good tournament after missing school during the week due to illness,” Spartans coach Richard Vetter said. “He did what he needed to do to win the regional and set himself up nicely for the sectional tournament next weekend.
“Hopefully we will see the best version of him after another week of recovery and practice.”
Immke will be joined at the Stanford Olympia Sectional, which starts on Friday, by two teammates. A.J. Wagner was second at 113 pounds and Isaiah Moore was the runner-up at 126 pounds.
Wagner and Moore each collected 28-second pins. Moore had pins in both of his regional wins.
“A.J. Wagner and Isaiah Moore wrestled tough throughout the tournament,” Vetter said.
Two Spartans placed fourth in their weight classes and are alternants: Trevon Carr (170 pounds) and Brodie Sullivan (182).
Carr and Sullivan were the only two seniors in SJ-O’s lineup on Saturday. They will compete at sectional if one of the top three finishers at their weight class is unable to go this week.
Carr, who was seeded seventh, was the busiest Spartan at the regional. He took to the mat six times, posting four wins and pinning three opponents. Two of his falls were in 63 seconds, or less.
“Trevon Carr lost to the Westville kid earlier in the tournament and had to face him again in order to move on,” Vetter said. “The second match was much closer and he wrestled hard, but unfortunately came up a couple points short.”
Sullivan registered a 21-second pin, which was the fourth-quickest among all competitors at the SJ-O site.
Overall, 11 of SJ-O’s 14 regional wins were by pins. The other Spartans with falls were 195-pound Max Shonkwiler and 220-pound Owen Birt.
SJ-O filled 11 of 14 weight classes at the regional. Also in the lineup were Chase Chaman (132 pounds), Matt Falls (138 pounds), Conrad Miller (152 pounds) and A.J. Wells (285 pounds).
“Chase Chapman and Conrad Miller wrestled some of their best matches of the year during this tournament but were unable to move on,” Vetter said. “I think they peaked at the right time, followed a good game plan, keeping themselves in matches and giving themselves opportunities to win.”
