PONTIAC — Buoyed by individual championships from Nora Swaim and Abri Duerff and four second-place finishes, the Edwardsville girls wrestling team captured the team title at “The Munch” Pontiac Invitational.
The Tigers scored 207.5 points to walk away with the championship in a 33-team field at Pontiac High School on Friday. This is the team’s second championship title in a week after winning the Granite City Invitational on December 2.
Batavia was second to EHS with 166 points while Minooka was third with 139 points and Geneseo was fourth with 134 points.
Along with wins by Swaim at 120 pounds and Dewerff at 170 pounds, EHS took second place from Olivia Cole at 105 pounds, Gigi Lynhorst at 110 pounds, Holly Zugmeyer at 125 pounds and Olive Lynhorst at 130 pounds.
Swaim captured the first of Edwardsville’s two singles championships with her 120-pound title. It is currently ranked 20thy ranked in the country in its weight class by USA Wrestling.
Swaim transferred from North Kingstown, Rhode Island, where she became the state’s first girl to earn All-American honors in April, and continues the dominant start to her health and safety career.
After opening with a bye, Swim pinned Val Munoz of Ottawa in 12 seconds and Aubrey Smith of Minooka in 37 seconds to advance to the semifinals, which she won over Isabelle Leahy of Mahomet-Seymour by pin in 3:15. The win over Munoz was the second fastest win in the tournament.
In the championship match, Swim defeated Jacksonville’s Alexis Seymour 6-0. Seymour placed fourth at 120 pounds at the state championships last year.
Swaim is now 6-0 on the season.
DeWerff, who weighs 170 pounds, won all four of her matches on the mat via pinfall after opening the tournament with a bye.
In the second round, DeWerff pinned Batavia’s Sarah Anderson in 53 seconds before defeating Morton Cicero’s Violet Mayo in 33 seconds in the quarterfinals. The semifinal win over Urbana’s Franciana Kalanga came in 1:22.
In the championship match, DeWerff won in 1:37 over Sifa Firozi of Macomb.
Of the 101 wrestlers who scored a pin on Friday, DeWerff was one of 12 to earn four pins. Her total time of 4:25 on the mat ranked as the second lowest among the 12.
DeWerff is now 8-3.
At 105 pounds, Cole opened with a bye before defeating Canton’s LT Devois in 1:37 and DeKalb’s Freda Hernandez by 8-0 major decision.
In the championship match, Cole lost in 3:08 to Streator’s Lily Gwaltney.
In the 110-pound weight class, Gigi Lynhurst went 2-1 with a 50-second win over DeKalb’s Anaya Aguilar-Dekle and a 15-second win over Prairie Central’s Yuri Vilchis before losing in 3:48 to DeKalb’s Alex Gregorio Perez in the championship match. . Gregorio Perez placed eighth at 105 pounds at the state championships last year.
Zugmaier won her first four matches at 125 pounds, including a bye, a pin in 20 seconds of Tolono’s Madysen York, a pin in 3:42 of Mahomet Seymour’s Jaycee Fancher and a 13-3 major decision over Normal West’s Amelia McClure.
In the championship match, Zugmeyer lost 6-1 to Canton’s Kenley Smith, who finished second at 135 pounds at last year’s state tournament.
Olive Lynhurst matched her older sister Gigi for second place in the 130-pound weight class. She had more work to do, as she won 4-1.
After earning a bye, Olive Lynhurst won three straight on the mat, including a 16-0 technical fall over Morton-Cicero’s Sofia Petronjevic, a pin in 1:07 over Pontiac’s Serenity DeVries, and a 6-0 decision over St. Joseph’s Ogden’s Maddie. Wells.
In the championship match, Olive Lynhurst lost in 1:20 to Morton’s Karen Canchola, who placed fifth at 130 pounds at last year’s state tournament.
Third place winners for the Tigers included Genevieve Dykstra with 100 pounds and Tayla Phillips Hollingsworth with 235 pounds.
Fourth place winners included Allison Kirk at 100 pounds and Abigail Hayes at 190 pounds.
For the championship, EHS tied with Geneseo and Batavia for the pinfall win with 19 points. He finished third in total match points with 152 points, behind Batavia’s 196 and Minooka’s 155.
Edwardsville returns to action with a home game against Holt at 6:30 p.m. Thursday inside the John Davis Wrestling Center.