Take a look back at the history making 2024-2025 season for the Vandalia Wrestling Program. From a record number of dual team wins, capturing five team tournament titles, claiming the first Abe’s Rumble Championship in program history, advancing five of six girls to Sectionals, having the first two-time IHSA Girls Wrestling Champion in program history and ending the season as the Dual Team Runner-Up at State, the Vandals made their mark on history step by step throughout the season. Click on any pictures or blue links to view stories and pictures from the corresponding match/tournament.
The Vandals kicked off the season with a dominating win at home on December 3, beating 3A school Belleville West, 57-16.
Four days after their home opener, the Vandals captured the Team Title at the Civic Memorial Tournament on December 7 with five wrestlers named Most Outstanding Wrestler for their weight class while the Vandals also took 6th place in the Lawrence County Tournament that same day after sending a split boys squad to compete.
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Meanwhile, the Lady Vandals wrestlers kicked off their 2024-2025 schedule, traveling to Princeton where they would come out with a fourth place finish as a team at the Princeton Girls Invitational Tournament with five of the Lady Vandals finishing in the top 4 of their weight classes.
After their CM tournament win, the Vandals resumed dual team action going on a 3-day road trip, picking up two wins at Chatham over host Glenwood (52-18) as well as Mahomet-Seymour (42-29). The following day, the Vandals faced a new opponent traveling out of state to face Kentucky state-ranked Union County High School where the Vandals were handed their first and only regular season dual team loss of the season, 38-36, in a very close match. The road trip wrapped up at Hillsboro where the Vandals handily beat the Hiltoppers (68-6) and easily got past Roxana (53-24) to move to 5-1 on the season.
The Vandals held their first home quad on December 14, hosting Fairfield, Olney and Oakwood and flew through the three matches with a 66-6 win over the Mules, a 66-11 win over the Tigers and a 53-18 win over the Comets to move to 8-1 on the season.
For the second time in two weeks, the Lady Vandals wrestlers turned in a top 5 team finish as they took Fifth Place at the Joe Bee Memorial Tournament in Springfield. All six Lady Vandals finished in the top 6 of their weight classes.
Another busy mid-December week led to seven more dual team wins. The Vandals went on the road to Shelbyville and got a big win over the host Rams, 52-15, before shutting out Mattoon 71-0. Hosting their first home mid-week triangular, the Vandals got their second and third straight shutout wins, as they blanked Cumberland, 69-0, and Cumberland, 78-0, as they ran their dual team win streak to nine in a row. The winning wasn’t done for the Vandals that week though as they went to the Tolono Unity Multi-Quad and racked up three more wins, beating Olympia, 68-6, beating Benton, 76-6, and then topping the host Rockets, 50-22, for 12 straight dual team wins and pushing their overall record to 15-1.
A week off for the Christmas holiday got the Vandals ready for the annual Abe’s Rumble Dual Team Tournament. Vandalia rolled through the first day as they gave up just a combined 46 points across their five matches on the first day of competition. The Vandals got wins over Mt. Zion, Morrison, Illini Bluffs, Westville and El Paso Gridley to go 5-0 on the first day which stretched their win streak to 17 straight dual team wins and a record 20-1.
The Vandals carried over their momentum from Day One of Abe’s Rumble and continued flying through competition on Day Two. The Vandals picked up two quick wins, beating Chicago Hope, 61-13, and LeRoy, 62-9, to place themselves in the tournament Semifinals. In a down to the wire match, the Vandals got by Coal City, 30-28, to move into the Championship match against Marian Central Catholic. A 35-27 win over MCC earned the Vandals their first ever Abe’s Rumble Championship trophy with a perfect 9-0 finish for the weekend. The title also made the Vandals 24-1 overall on the season and winners of 21 straight dual team matches.
Vandalia girls wrestling kept their strong season moving in January as they would turn in a Sixth Place team finish at the Murdale Tournament in Carbondale on January 4. Three girls would place in the tournament with Sophie Bowers getting her third straight first tournament finish and Brynn Swyers and Gracey Simmons both placing second in their weight classes.
Early January brought yet another first time tournament win for the Vandals as the boys would bring home the Lyle King Princeton Invitational Tournament title, beating out second place Coal City by 7.5 points. The Vandals had four individual champions for the tournament.
After the PIT win, the Vandals returned to dual team action, going on the road for a triangular at Carlinville that got the Vandals a 58-14 win over East Alton-Wood River and a 77-6 win over the host Cavies. The Vandals stayed on the road for a quad at Highland, coming out with three wins beating Highland 56-14, beating Litchfield 69-6 and beating Triad 55-16. After a month of away, the Vandals returned home to host a triangular and romped over Auburn 62-0 and beat Murphysboro, 55-16.
The Vandals home quad on January 25 was a further show of dominance by the Vandals as they beat Beardstown (67-6), Monticello (70-12) and PORTA (60-15). The three wins marked 31 dual team wins in a row for Vandalia as they moved to 34-1 on the season.
The Vandals last triangular on the road was another history making moment on the year, as the Vandals beat host Shelbyville, 64-6, and then beat Olney, 63-6. The first win of the night would be Coach Jason Clay’s 500th win of his career as wrestling coach and came in front of a large crowd of Vandals supporters who made the trip for the moment.
The Vandals wrapped up their regular season dual team matches at home on January 29, celebrating Senior Night with a 70-6 win over Lawrence County. Prior to the match, seniors Sophie Bowers, Deon Moore, Artan Mustafa, Parker Ray, Kaden Tidwell, Gabe Torres and Tyson Waughtel were recognized and honored.
The Vandals historic regular season wrapped up with the Rich Lovellette Tournament at Litchfield where the Vandals would capture their fourth Varsity tournament Championship of the season with five Vandals also capturing individual titles for the tournament.
The Lady Vandals made some history themselves with five of the girls placing in the top 4 of the Mt. Zion Regional to advance on to Sectionals. Sophie Bowers, Violet Gray and Gracey Simmons all claimed first place finishes while Brynn Swyers took second place and Amelia Watterson finished in third place of their weight classes.
The Vandals began the postseason strong as they had 10 wrestlers finish in first place at the Litchfield Regional and 13 wrestlers overall qualified to advance to Sectionals. As a team, the Vandals won the team title by more than 140 points to claim their 29th Regional Championship in program history to earn them a spot in the Dual Team Sectional.
The Lady Vandals sent five wrestlers to the Highland Girls Sectional and senior Sophie Bowers repeated as Sectional Champion of the 125lb weight class to earn a return trip to the State Finals to defend her State Championship from 2024.
Eleven Vandals wrestlers finished in the top 4 of their weight classes at the Carterville Sectional to punch their tickets to the Individual Boys State Finals. Six Vandals claimed Sectional Championships and the tournament was another history making one as an early round win by senior Tyson Waughtel gave him the IHSA record for most career wins.
The Vandals finished the 2025 State Finals with two State Champions. Max Philpot at 113lbs and Tyson Waughtel at 126lbs both claimed titles while Preston Waughtel at 120lbs finished in second place, Dillon Hinton at 157lbs and Kaden Tidwell at 215lbs both captured third place finishes while Ross Miller finished in 6th place to give the Vandals six Individual State medalists.
Building on their impressive roll through the regular season, the Vandals again showed off their dominance over a familiar opponent with a 63-12 win at home over Oakwood in the IHSA 1A Dual Team Sectional to punch their ticket to the Dual Team State Finals in Bloomington.
Senior Sophie Bowers became the first two-time IHSA Girls Wrestling State Champion in the program as she completed an undefeated season at 42-0 and won the Championship of the 125lb weight class for the second straight year.
At the 1A Dual Team State Finals, the Vandals beat Chicago Hope Academy 52-18 in the Quarterfinals to advance to the Semifinals and guarantee themselves a top 4 finish. The Vandals were challenged in the Semifinal by rival Tolono Unity, but a late surge would give Vandalia the 33-30 win over the Rockets to push them into the State Championship match. In the title match, the Vandals met yet another team they have a long history with in Coal City and unfortunately, they could not beat the Coalers for a second time this season as they suffered a 32-25 loss. The Vandals ended the season with a dual team record of 40-2 which ties them for second all time in IHSA history for most dual team wins in a season.
