GRANITE CITY – Courtney Wilson brought home another third-place tournament finish on Friday.
The Alton senior finished third in the 152-pound division at the William “Red” Schmitt Holiday Tournament at Granite City High School's Memorial Gymnasium after beating Caleb Knobel 10-4 in the third-place match.
Two weeks ago, Wilson finished third at 152 at the Mascoutah Invitational Tournament and received a medal.
With the victory over Knobel, Wilson earned a plaque for his finish and became the first Alton wrestler this year to reach the 20-win mark. He improved to 20-5 after going 7-2 in the two-day tournament.
Wilson and Pierre Evans were the only Alton placewinners at the Granite City tournament. Evans, a sophomore, finished fourth at 145 after being pinned by Bloomington's Chanse Ridgeway with 46 seconds into the first period in the third-place match.
The host-Granite City Warriors had five placewinners, four of them are seniors. Senior Chase Nelson was the Warriors' top finisher, placing fifth at 195. Seniors Jared Skaggs (152) and Chris Santiago (106) each had sixth-place finishes and senior Josh Harsh (132) and freshman Nathan Nelson (106) placed seventh.
The Redbirds, who lost to Granite City in a dual match on Dec. 7, beat the Warriors by four points in the Granite City tournament. Alton placed 17th with 132 points and GCHS came in 18th with 128.
The Neosho (Mo.) Wildcats won the team title with 356.5 points. They won their fifth tournament title.
The Granite City tournament was named after the legendary coach who passed away in '16. Before the championship matches, fans gave a moment of silence for Schmitt and Granite City South graduate John Niebur, a two-time state placewinner who died in March.
Wilson competed at the Granite City tournament for the third time. He placed 17th at 126 as a sophomore and seventh at 145 as a junior.
On Friday, Wilson stormed to a 4-0 lead over Knobel after the first period. He scored a pair of takedowns in the first and three more in the second.
Wilson won his first four matches before losing back-to-back matches to Francis Howell's Peter Enos and Plainfield South's Jake Kendall. He then won three matches in a row.
Wilson is looking to finish with a strong senior season. Eight months ago, he came up one place short of qualifying for sectionals for the first time after placing fourth at 145 at the Class 3A Granite City Regional.
Evans is 16-9 after losing to Ridgeway in the 145 third-place match and came up one place short of earning a plaque. He finished 6-3 in the tournament.
After losing to Lafayette's Cameron Wegener in the first round, Evans came back to win five straight matches, including 12-6 win over Ridgeway in the quarterfinals. He advanced to the third-place match by beating CBC's Joe Schmidt in the consolation semifinals.
The Redbirds also got ninth-place finishes from Garrett Sims (126) and Nolan Wosczcynski (182).
Nelson improved to 18-12 after beating Marwan Kirkwood of the Staley junior varsity team 8-3 in the fifth-place match. He led 2-0 after the first period and 4-1 after the second.
Nelson, who qualified for sectionals at 182 last year, finished with a 5-3 record at the tournament.
At 106, Santiago lost 10-0 to Collinsville's Jalen May in the sixth-place match and Nathan Nelson, Chase's brother, beat Dayne Dalrymple 2-1 in the seventh-place match.
Skaggs lost 10-4 to Francis Howell Central's Trevor Liggett in the 152 fifth-place match and Harsh won by injury default over Francis Howell Central in the 132 seventh-place match.
Skaggs and Nathan Nelson are tied for first on the team in victories with 19.
The Warriors return to action on Thursday with a quadrangular match against Whitfield, Washington (Mo.) and Kirkwood.
The Redbirds wrestle a road match on Thursday at Belleville West before heading to Geneva High School to compete in the Newbill Invitational Tournament on Jan. 6.
