East Peoria River Bandits Wrestling Club

Congratulations to our state placers 2026!!!

Anastasia Crum- Girls Senior 240- 1st Place
Adalynn Clarke- Girls Novice 125- 6th place
CeCe VanOppen- Girls Senior 125- 6th place

These girls fought through the trenches to get there! We are so incredibly proud of you all!

We are headed in for day two! Way to go to all the wrestlers that are moving on today and way to fight hard to all the wrestlers that came up a little short. Let’s go River Bandits.

Today our River Bandits step onto the mat at the State Tournament.

This sport isn’t easy.
It never has been.

It’s early mornings, sore bodies, and pushing through days when quitting would have been easier. It’s discipline, sacrifice, and the courage to stand alone on a mat with the whole room watching.

Wrestling strips everything away.
There are no excuses.
No hiding.
Just heart.

These kids didn’t get here by accident. They earned it with sweat, grit, and a refusal to give up when things got hard.

Today when they step on that mat, they carry every practice, every tough match, every lesson learned along the way.

And no matter what that scoreboard says — they’ve already proven something bigger.

They are tough.
They are fearless.
They are River Bandits.

Now go take the mat and leave everything you’ve got out there.

Congratulations, Coach Mallory! She is a IWCOA state qualifier! Good luck this weekend in Springfield!

We are proud to present to you the 2026 East Peoria River Bandit STATE QUALIFIERS!!!!

West Sectionals Results:

CHAMPIONS 🥇
Adalynn Clarke- Girls Novice- 125
Anastasia Crum- Girls Senior- 240

3rd Place 🥉
Traxton Renfroe- Boys Intermediate- 79
Peyton Ladd- Boys Intermediate- 90
Micah Feldhaus- Boys Intermediate- 148
Cece VanOppen- Girls Senior- 125
Aubreigh Davis- Girls Senior- 130

4th Place 🏅
Ashtynn Gumm- Girls Bantam- 50
Haley Garrett- Girls Senior- 130

Congratulations to all of you and good luck on your state run!

“Dream big. Wrestle bigger.”

Saturday the River Bandits took 18 sectional qualifiers to Rock Island for the IKWF West Sectionals 2026.
We matched up with some amazing competition!
Lots of hard battles were fought!
Congrats to everyone who made it to sectionals! Even if you didn’t advance, you made huge strides this season, be proud of yourselves!
We are proud of every one of you! Keep grinding! It’s only up from here!

Last night was an epic night in the 309! We teamed up with the Peoria Razorbacks for a combined practice. We had 39 kids and 9 coaches! We look forward to continuing this tradition next season! A huge thank you to the Razorbacks for coming out and grinding with us! Good luck to all of our sectional qualifiers this weekend!

Senior Spotlight Adella

Senior Spotlight Haley Garrett