Taylor wins regional; Tigers send five to sectionals

IVC's Nick Nevitt gets an upside down look at Prouty Gym compliments of Princeton's Ty Taylor in their 140-pound championship match in Saturday's regional action. Taylor finished off his fourth regional crown with a fall in 1:00. (BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus)

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PRINCETON — Ty Taylor was undefeated and stood as big a favorite as the New England Patriots, except he won.

The Princeton senior claimed his fourth-straight regional championship when he made off with the 140-pound weight class at Princeton’s Prouty Gymnasium. Ranked No. 1 in the state, Taylor needed all of a minute to pin Nick Nevitt of IVC to improve his record to 40-0.

Taylor, a 2007 state runner-up, advances to the Byron Sectional starting Friday, along with classmate Jordan Sluis, the runner-up at 215, and third-place finishers Kyle Lilley (103), Reiter Bird (119) and Joe Staton (189).

PHS coach Randy Swinford was pleased how his team performed with a fourth-place team finish and four individuals with fourth-place finishes in addition to the five qualifiers.

“We had a lot of freshman and sophomores wrestling. We had a freshman qualify at 3 and Taylor did exactly what we expected him to,” he said. “I think they have a lot ahead of them. The future looks bright with only two seniors.”

Taylor, who three weeks ago captured his first Princeton Invitational championship, took a ho-hum approach on his fourth regional crown.

“I’m looking more toward to state, but it’s always good to win a four-time anything,” he said. “Regionals have been hard, this year wasn’t the most difficult.”

Taylor joked about the move that took Nevitt down for the count in the championship match.

“I used the never-before-seen headlock,” he said with a laugh. “He wasn’t doing much, so I just played with his head for awhile. I pushed it down. He opened himself up for it, so I just threw him.”

Taylor didn’t know he could get him in the first minute, but said he was hoping.

“I didn’t want to wrestle too long. Today’s been a long day,” he said.

Swinford could tell exactly what Taylor’s strategy was.

“He didn’t want to be out there too long. You could tell,” he said. “There are other days when he’ll shoot a couple things. In semis, he started some other offense. I think he said, ‘it’s time to get out of here and get ready for sectionals.’”

Sluis pinned IVC’s Nick Swearingen in 4:33 in his first match. Then he ran into Ashton-Franklin-Center’s Jared McCannon in the title match, who won 9-2. Sluis thought he gave it his best shot.

“It was close between me and the Ashton guy. It was just cut-throat,” he said. “He’s a strong kid. It took a little while to see what he was trying to do to me.”

“Sluis did a nice job getting into the finals. Would have been nice to win it, but he got second,” Swinford said. “Give the McCannon kid credit. He beat two very tough wrestlers in (Amboy’s Taylor) Kaleel and Sluis.”

Sluis advances to sectional for the second-straight year and seeks his first victory after an early exit in 2007.

The freshman, Lilley, enjoyed his first taste of regional competition, hardly working up a sweat to pin Peoria Manual’s Nate Ciaccio in 19 seconds in their third-place match at 103. It’s his fastest pin since his 19-second job in the PIT.

“Nineteen seconds, I’m not complaining,” said the littlest Tiger with a big smile. “The final match, it was kind of scary because it was my first time being out there, but I kind of got through it, and I tried my best.”

Lilley lost by 4:33 fall to IVC’s Frank Barrett in his only other match, and said he should have had him “but he was better than me.”

“He was beating Barrett at one point,” Swinford said. “Barrett’s a sophomore. He’s had another year. (Lilley) made a few mistakes ... you don’t want to get on your back.”

The Tiger frosh hopes to place at sectional, but knows the competition will be stiffer.

Staton captured third by virtue of a walk-over, with a prior decision over IVC’s Scott Ladd (3:26 fall). He lost to Mendota’s Marc Stallings, but came back to stick Peoria Heights’ Durrell Sinclair at 2:57 in his last match.

Bird lost the only match he wrestled, by a 3:13 fall to IVC’s Brad Alsup, but advanced by default with just three wrestlers at 119. Swinford noted the freshman, Bird, was cruising with a 15-8 lead before being pinned.

“You look at the score and he got pinned. But he’s winning 15-8 at the time. He’s wrestling a kid that beat him earlier in the year at the PIT. We were beating him there, too. He just makes those freshman mistakes ... got his head too low, got pulled on his back.”

Just missing out on sectional berths were fourth-place finishers Cody Cumpton (130), Ted Bartoli (135), Colton Pate (14-1), Darryn Rowe (171) and Ethan Kloster (285).

• Regional notes: IVC took the team title at 230 with Amboy second at 153. IVC’s Jeff Bybee set his school record for most wins with his 3:57 fall over Amboy’s Steve Scully in the title match, at 145. ... Peoria Manual set a school record with seven sectional qualifiers.

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