High school seniors Terron Williams of Cahokia and Chris Upchurch of Whitfield ended their prep wrestling careers in grand style. They won individual state championships and finished with undefeated records in the process.
That’s the way to go out.
Williams was the top star among the wrestlers from the Metro East who participated in last weekend’s Illinois High School Association State Championships in Champaign. Williams was the IHSA Class AA state champion at 189 pounds, making him the only state champion from among the 40 state qualifiers from the Metro East.
Upchurch also capped a brilliant career by winning the Class 1 state title at 145 pounds at the Missouri High School Activities Association Wrestling Championships in Columbia. Upchurch’s victory gave him back-to-back individual state championships.
Williams entered the IHSA Class AA meet with a 34-0 record and a strong belief that he would win a state title. He accomplished his goal by taking of four successive opponents to finish 38-0 at become the first state champion from Southern Illinois since 1998.
In the state finals, Williams defeated Cordero Hightower of Naperville Neuqua Valley 6-2. He advanced to the finals with a 8-2 victory over Tim Walker of Glenbard East in the semifinals. On Friday, Williams defeated Tyler Mancuso of New Lennox Providence in the first round and Louis Gouletas of Highland Park in the quarterfinals.
Williams will now try to help his Cahokia team advance to the state team competition this weekend. The Comanches won their first regional title in 14 years two weeks ago at Belleville East.
Whitifield’s Upchurch overcame great adversity to become a repeat state champion in 2005. He missed several weeks of the season while recovering from a broken hand, but he came back in January to win all 20 of his matches en route to his state crown.
Upchurch clinched the state title by defeating Dustin Schuetz of South Holt 8-2 in the state finals. His road to the championship included victories over Cole Miller of Knob Noster and Courtney Miller of Mid Buchanan.
Several other wrestlers from the St. Louis area came home with medals from state competition. On the Illinois side, Roxana High senior Tol Calvin finished second in the Class A competition at 135 pounds. Calvin advanced to the championship match, where he was defeated by Jonathan Gosa of Port Byron 7-3.
At the Missouri championships, McCluer South-Berkeley finished in 11th place in the Class 1 team standings with 58.5 points. The Bulldogs took eight wrestlers to state and seven of them won their first match to advance to the quarterfinal round.
Senior Gary Brooks advanced to the state title match before losing to Morgan Brown of Richmond in the finals. Brooks won his first three matches to finish with a record of 43-1. Teammate Deandre McBee also advanced to the semifinals before losing, but he battled back to take home a fifth-place medal.
Senior Jamie Luckett of St. Charles West finished second in the Class 3, 189-pound weight class for the second consecutive year. Luckett was defeated by Sean Miller of Park Hill in the championship match.
Sophomore Donte Butler of Sumner overcame adversity to finish third in the Class 3, 103-pound weight class. Wrestling with an injured wrist that was heavily taped, Butler advanced to the semifinals, where he was edged by eventual state champion Colin Pierce of Kearney in overtime. Butler came back to overwhelm Joel Ake of Belton 21-5 in the third-place match. Butler finished his sophomore season with a 26-1 record. He finished fifth in the state as a freshman.
