By Jeff Vorva
What a stunner!
Kiernan Farmer is making a return trip to the Illinois High School Association girls state wrestling tournament and the way she got there is raising a lot of eyebrows across the state.
The senior from Peotone High School won the 170-pound division Feb. 10 at the Geneseo Sectional with a huge 9-0 major-decision victory over Plainfield Central’s Alicia Tucker.
Tucker not only won the state’s 155-pound weight class last season, she beat Farmer in the semifinals in 5 minutes, 42 seconds. Tucker went on to win the state championship and Farmer finished sixth.
Both are now in the 170-pound division and Tucker entered the sectional title match with a perfect 33-0 mark.
Farmer heads to state with a 17-1 record. The state meet takes place Feb. 23-24 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.
Watkins returns to Champaign
Manteno’s Carter Watkins will also return to state competition in boys wrestling.
Watkins took first a 175 at the Class 1A Hope Sectional and will take a 33-2 record into the state meet, which takes place Feb. 15-17 at the State Farm Center in Champaign.
Last year, Watkins finished in a tie for seventh place in the 160-pound class and finished the season with a 32-8 record.
Spreading the seeds
Unsurprisingly, the Beecher’s boys basketball team (29-0 heading into this week’s action and the only unbeaten team in Illinois) earned the top seed in the Class 2A Clifton Central Sectional Sub-Sectional B bracket with Manteno second. Peotone was ninth.
The Bobcats open postseason play on Feb. 21 against either Lisle or Carver at the Westmont Regional. On the same night, host Manteno challenges either Peotone or Reed-Custer, who face each other on Feb. 19.
Should Beecher and Manteno meet each other in the sectionals, it would be a rematch of a Nov. 20 meeting in which Beecher won 53-40. It was both teams’ first game of the season.
In Class 3A, Crete-Monee drew the No. 9 spot in the Thornton Sectional. The Warriors open the postseason at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 21 and faces No. 7 seed Thornton Fractional North in the Thornton Fractional North Regional.
Making it official
The Feb. 7 signing day had area athletes making their college commitments official.
At Crete-Monee, track and field standout Morgan Gillespie is heading to Eastern Illinois University, gymnast Railey Jackson is heading to Missouri, softball player Skylar Welcome is heading to Joliet Junior College, basketball player De’Jah Yankaway signed up to attend Illinois College, volleyball player Jerilyn Hale is heading to William Penn University and competitive cheerleader signed with Chadron State College.
Twelve Marian Catholic standouts signed letters-of-intent including six football players who have gone through the Crete Bulldogs program.
Two who live in the immediate area are Caiden O’Neil of Beecher, who is heading to Quincy and Zach Rhein of Monee, who is heading to Rose-Hulman.