Four area wrestlers advance to state championship matches

Three wrestlers from Coal City and one from Wilmington will take the Grand March at 5:30 p.m. today before squaring off for the 1st place matches at 6 p.m. inside the State Farm Center in Champaign.

Coal City's Aiden Kenney (157), Brock Finch (175) and Cade Poyner (215) have a shot at claiming the state title in their weight classes after winning their first three matches. Also up for the title bout at 190 pounds if Wilmington's Logan Van Duyne.

Kenney will face Dillon Hinton of Vandalia in the championship after winning every match so far by decision. Finch has been on the attack with two quick tech falls in the first period before getting a 4-3 win in the semifinal to advance to the 1st place bout against Arkail Griffin of Chicago Hope, the same opponent he faced in the sectional championship, losing by major decision 15-4.

Poyner (#2) has been impressive, winning his first three matches with pins of 1:14 or less to set up a championship bout against Dane Olmstead (#4) from Freeport.

Van Duyne, a Wildcat senior, won his first three bouts by narrow decisions and will now face Eli Larson of Lena to decide the championship.

Coalers who can still medal with a potential third place shot include Owen Petersen (126), Luke Munsterman (138), Brody Widlowski (150) and Mason Garner (165).