Everything old is -- somewhat -- new again for many of the teams competing in Saturday's Illinois Class 2A Rock Island Regional wrestling tournament.

Teams in the field include the host Rocks, Geneseo, Sterling, Galesburg and Freeport, which used to tangle with now 3A-bound Moline and United Township and 1A's Rock Island Alleman in the old two-class classification system. Joining the 2A fray along with the "old guard" are Dixon, La Salle-Peru and Rochelle, hardly strangers to the local teams.

Start times

The first session begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the second session beginning at 3 p.m., shortly after the conclusion of the first session and an IHSA-mandated clearing of the gym.

 

At stake

Top three finishers in each weight class will advance to next weekend's Sterling Sectional individual tournament, with regional champions receiving a first-round bye. The team champion will qualify for the Geneseo Sectional dual team tournament, where it will face the Belvidere Regional champion in the dual team semifinals on February 23.

 

Team outlook

The host Rocks have been closing with a flurry after nearly knocking off Moline to start the Western Big Six Conference dual-meet season, winning their last five duals -- including a big one against United Township that essentially clinched second place in the Big Six. Freeport is very much improved compared to prior years, and La Salle-Peru put together a solid third-place finish at the NCIC tournament, but I think everyone is chasing Sterling for the team title. Like so many other of the team selections this space has predicted, Sterling has the most solid lineup up-and-down, with a few stars that will shine here, and very few weak spots in the order.

 

Individual outlook

103 pounds -- 1. Branden Cater, Sterling. 2. Brian Dehaven, Rock Island. 3. Brock Mayberry, Dixon.

Outlook -- Cater didn't wrestle at last week's NCIC tournament, but the fifth-ranked Golden Warrior should be the class of the field. Dehaven has home-mat advantage and a second-period pin over Mayberry in his background. Rochelle's Chase Stoddard and LaSalle-Peru's Tyler Herrmann should also be in the mix. Stoddard will have his opportunities to move on to sectionals: he faces Dehaven in the first round and could meet Mayberry in the consolation rounds.

 

112 -- 1. Barlow McGhee, Rock Island. 2. Seth Stewart, Geneseo. 3. Eduardo Macareno, Rochelle.

Outlook -- A pretty thin bracket in terms of numbers (five) and three pretty-identifiable likely qualifiers (the three of the five that are above .500). McGhee, who's earned an honorable-mention state ranking from Illinois Matmen, has been compared to former Rocky state champion Reese Taylor; he's not as physical as Taylor was as a freshman, but he has more moves -- at the same stage of growth -- in the arsenal. The physicality will come with off-season work. Stewart should be able to take care of business in his semifinal.

 

119 -- 1. Marquell Addison, Sterling. 2. Seth Dauber, LaSalle-Peru. 3. Kyle Carstens, Rock Island.

Outlook -- Again, just five in the bracket. Addison (ranked ninth in 2A) should easily make the finals, where he could face a tossup of opponents between Dauber and Carstens, who‘s an honorable-mention selection. The pair haven't wrestled this year, but Dauber does have past history on his side. Even if he should lose at home, Carstens won't have any trouble wrestling back to third.

 

125 -- 1. Jordan Lopez, Sterling. 2. Darius Henderson, Rock Island. 3. Josh Sarver, LaSalle-Peru.

Outlook -- A big dropoff between the finalists (Henderson is 20-8, Sarver 8-10 going into regionals) and the rest of the field. Lopez, an honorable mention selection, shouldn't have a problem making the final. Henderson and Lopez have wrestled before this year, with Lopez winning 10-4 at the Carson DeJarnatt Invitational in early December.

 

130 -- 1. Dylan Devers, Sterling. 2. Denzel Gay, Rock Island. 3. Jacob Koster, Geneseo.

Outlook -- Congratulations, gentlemen: You are already in the sectional tournament; that is, unless a late entry joins the fray. There are only three wrestlers in the weight class, meaning that all three will qualify no matter who wins or loses or even if one of the three gets hurt. The most drama, at the moment, that this contest will generate is the Koster-Gay semifinal. As it presently stands, the loser of this match automatically gets third. Devers, who can't finish lower than second, is an honorable mention pick.

 

135 -- 1. Geoff Huntley, Rochelle. 2. Tyler Balsley, Sterling. 3. Travis Mahoney, LaSalle-Peru.

Outlook -- Huntley had a war with Balsley earlier in the year, beating him 11-10. That's one of the bigger scares that Huntley -- who's ranked fourth statewide -- has had to deal with. Balsley, ranked seventh, and Mahoney -- an honorable mention pick at 130 -- have not met this year. Mshoney was at 140 for last week's NCIC tournament, where he finished second; Balsley won in overtime at 135 against the Cavaliers' Mike Butterfield, who's at 140 for the post-season. Don't count out Rock Island's Ed Amble, who could pull an upset or two.

 

140 -- 1. Kyle Kerres, Rock Island. 2. Mike Butterfield, LaSalle-Peru. 3. Jordan Ristau, Sterling.

Outlook -- Kerres, ranked seventh in the weight class, won't have any trouble reaching the finals, but Balsley's a tough customer, so for Butterfield to take him to overtime means it could be a very competitive finals match. Not much is known about Ristau, primarily because he has only five matches to his credit, but he handled a solid Morris wrestler, 11-4, in the third-place match at the NCIC tournament. Still, though, Geneseo's Mitch Miller could make things interesting. Ristau only beat Miller, 10-6, in the NCIC quarterfinals.

 

145 -- 1. Stevie Dewitt, Sterling. 2. Shane Bormann, Geneseo. 3. Justice Reed, Freeport.

Outlook -- Dewitt, ranked 11th statewide, is happy that Kerres -- who beat him at 145 during the regular season -- stayed down. That leaves Bormann as his main competition, and he's got three wins already this year over the Geneseo junior. Bormann should be able to get past Rock Island's Charlie Arteaga in the semis, but the biggest drama in this bracket might come in the consolation rounds when Arteaga, Galesburg's Eric Spray and Reed all tangle. Spray and Arteaga did not wrestle at the Big Six double dual -- Spray didn't compete all weekend, in fact. Reed, who should get an easier match, might be able to take advantage -- if he beats Spray in the first round.

 

152 -- 1. Thomas Welte, Rock Island. 2. Jacob Arnold, Geneseo. 3. Logan Farrar, Freeport.

Outlook -- Welte, who already can lay unofficial claim to being Rock Island's most improved wrestler from last year to this, has two wins over Wetzel (an 11-6 decision as well as a second-period pin) and Arnold (a 19-8 major decision), so compared to the rest of the field -- which is fairly solid, as far as it goes -- Welte is an overwhelming favorite. Arnold pinned Wetzell in last week's NCIC tournament. Wetzell will be in the mix for third, as might LaSalle-Peru's Jordan Gibson, Dixon's Wes Dempsey and possibly also James Buebe of Galesburg. Again, like 145, the consolation rounds might hold the most drama.

 

160 -- 1. Collin Akers, Geneseo. 2. Blaine Greenwalt, Dixon. 3. Jeremy Galvan, Sterling.

Outlook -- Akers has finally put together a season worthy of what he had been showing at the youth levels before coming to Geneseo, and it's resulted in a No. 4 ranking statewide. Seeding him No. 1 was a slam dunk (intentional mixing of sports metaphors here), but the rest of the seeding doesn't clearly make sense, as the next two best wrestlers in the weight class -- Greenwalt and Galvan -- have to meet in the first round. But there's also LaSalle-Peru's Reese Churney and Jacob Moore of Freeport, plus a late-charging Lucas Rusk of Rock Island, in the mix, so perhaps seeding this bracket was a tough nut for the coaches. My pick is based on this: when Greenwalt is on, he'll be tough even for Akers to contend with.

 

171 -- 1. C.J. Navarro, Rochelle. 2. Jacob Janssen, Geneso. 3. Johnny Lopez, Sterling.

Outlook -- Déjà vu all over again. Slam-dunk 1 seed (Navarro, at 23-2, is No. 1 in the weight class). Crazy-tough first-round matchup for the No. 2 seed. Plenty of tough competition throughout the bracket (Dixon's Ricky Laskowski is in the mix, as is Freeport's Peter Brown). And, there's a late-charging Rock Island wrestler with a deceiving record (David Price). Should be a fun bracket.

 

189 -- 1. West Cathcart, Geneseo. 2. George Canales, Dixon. 3. Tyler Garcia, Sterling.

Outlook -- See West dominate state starting Saturday at the Rock Garden. Cathcart would probably have been the overwhelming favorite statewide at 215, and when he dropped down, Class 2As around the state started doing the mental math about whether to go up or drop to 171. I'm actually surprised that Dixon's Canales didn't go up. He would have been my top pick at 215. Cathcart has a pin and an 11-4 decision over Canales, a 9-0 win over Freeport's Joe Ihus, The only wrestler Cathcart hasn't dominated this year is in Class 3A. The third qualifier could also be Ihus, or Galesburg's Chris Edwards, who beat a very solid Jacob Roberson of United Township in Roberson's home gym last Saturday.

 

215 -- 1. Ryan Wagand, Freeport. 2. Cole Spinks, Galesburg. 3. Brandon Swindler, LaSalle-Peru.

Outlook -- Wagand was the top seed at 285 in the NIC-10 Conference meet last weekend, in an effort perhaps to avoid Rockton Hononegah super-stud Matt Dwyer, but he should find easier sledding in this regional, even with eighth-ranked Spinks in the bracket. Swindler did not wrestle in the NCIC tournament last week, and he will have to contend with Sterling's Curtis Lilly and Geneseo's Ben Rudy for that third spot in the sectional.

 

285 -- 1. Jason Huebbe, LaSalle-Peru. 2. David Goad, Dixon. 3. Nate Rodafelt, Rochelle.

Outlook -- Huebbe had to go double-overtime last week to win the NCIC title over Goad, and it might take another extra effort to bring home the regional title for eighth-ranked Huebbe. Goad seems to have worked through the things that held him back earlier in the season. Rodafelt is seeded second, and could be a guy that gets to the finals. Sterling's Joey Brooks and Rocky's Travis Blecher will also be in the competitive mix. Blecher has lost to Goad, Rodafelt and Brooks earlier in the season, and would need a round of upsets to move on to sectionals. Last year, though, that's exactly what he pulled off.