Eagles Wrap Regular Season With Home Meet

Sullivan’s wrestling team will host Owensville and Potosi Thursday in their final regular season meet before districts and head coach Matt Peregoy said his team has never been in a better position to win the title.

“The key to our success comes with getting everyone healthy and being able to put as full of a lineup on the mat as possible in Ste. Genevieve,” Peregoy said. “We will need all the guys to score every point they can regardless of their ability.”

Sullivan will take a strong core of Dillon Witt, Kobie Blankenship, Ian Kilburn, Isaac Peregoy, Evan Shetley and Tristan Brown. Five of them went to state last year and Peregoy was on the cusp. Shetley won the district title in his weight class, then went on to finish fourth at state. Kilburn took sixth, giving the Eagles two all-state wrestlers.

Ty Shetley, Joey Lewis, Jonathan Krygiel, Trey Eplin, Luke Landwehr and Trevor Hamblin have all been coming on strong and if the Eagles can peak, “amazing things will happen for these young men,” Peregoy said. “I am confident we will put our best foot forward and do everything we can to bring our first district title to Sullivan.

The last few weeks have been challenging. Sickness and injuries pile up during January and the weather has been an issue. Sullivan had to cancel a Friday quad meet and the Owensville Tournament was called off the next day.

The St. Clair Classic was canceled and made up last Monday. Sullivan won the tournament with just nine wrestlers on the mat.

One night later, Sullivan was at a tri-meet against Rolla and Hillcrest. 

“While we lost to Rolla by three points, that was a big night for us,” Peregoy said. “Rolla is a top three team in the state at Class 3, so only losing by three points shows us where we are as a team.”

Sullivan traveled to De Soto on Friday and Saturday for the 41st annual Bob Georger Classic and finished sixth as a team in a tournament dominated by Class 3 schools. 

Peregoy said the Eagles again took nine wrestlers, but six picked up medals.

“Individuals winning a tournament of this caliber speaks volumes as to the willingness of our guys to grind out wins,” he said. “I couldn’t prouder of how the guys have performed through the last couple of weeks.”

Peregoy said the program has received a tremendous amount of support from the school district and Sullivan community.

“I am always humbled by how supportive our community is of our young people,” he said. “That support gives the guys something beyond themselves to work for as they try to meet their goals. People I have never met have stopped me in the grocery store or other places to wish us luck and offer their support. When we consider that support, it only helps to solidify my belief that the community has our back and encourages all of us to do our best to return it by giving Sullivan its first wrestling district title.”