2A Sycamore Sectional: Marian Central, Geneseo head downstate
By Chris Walker For The IWCOA
IWCOA rankings from Rob Sherrill’s Illinois Best Weekly
MARIAN CENTRAL CATHOLIC 36, WASHINGTON 31
Marian Central Catholic had the distinct pleasure of being invited down to Washington in late January for its annual DubTown ThrowDown, one of the absolute coolest dual meets for a high school wrestler to experience.
Within the theatrical atmosphere of the Five Points Washington Auditorium, and a boisterous crowd which included Lilija Stevens, the mayor of Washington, Marian won a 36-31 thriller over Washington and foreshadowed what a potential rematch in the state series would bring.
It would bring them to Sycamore 13 days later on Feb. 5 for the Class 2A Sycamore team dual sectional where Geneseo and Batavia would also be battling for a trip to the IHSA state dual tournament at Grossinger Arena in Bloomington on Feb. 27-28.
Once again, Washington and Marian went back and forth, seemingly matching each other blow for blow, and again it went down to the final few matches, with the Hurricanes once again getting past the Panthers in a dual that was tied at 18-18 midway through. Ultimately, the Hurricanes, coincidentally ranked No. 18, defeated the No. 4 Panthers, 37-33.
“When we wrestled them at the DubTown our 126 pounder was out and we had a back-up kid and their kid got sick, and so we didn’t see that match,” Washington coach Nick Miller said. “I will say they made a couple moves that we didn’t see coming and that’s the beauty of hindsight. It wasn’t much more than the coin flip. They won it and immediately were evens. 126, 132 and 138 was a real important stretch of the dual. We thought we could get all three but we had to control the flip and we knew that going in. And that ’75 was a great strategic move from (Jordan) Blanton and coach (Ryan) Prater.”
The 175 match was the second match of the dual after it kicked off at 165 with Washington’s Wyatt Medlin (University of Illinois) pinning Marian’s Josh Gawronski at 0:59.
Wrestling up a weight class, Marian’s Nic Astacio rose to the task, scoring a 13-4 major win over Wyatt Leman. It wasn’t just a huge early win for the Hurricanes but provided some early momentum as Dan French (190) followed with his 100th career win, a pin of Zane Heubi at 3:48, before Jimmy Mastny (215) earned a tech fall over Josh Hoffer in a big-time battle between Iowa State and University of Illinois recruits.
“I do like bumping up,” Astacio said. “It’s very nice, even though I do prefer wrestling at 165, I’ll wrestle at 175, it’s a different feel, but I like that feel. I’ve bumped up a few times this year. I can’t remember off the top of my head when I did it last. I even bumped up my freshman year the entire time.”
Despite the weight difference, Astacio said the mental battle was bigger than the physical one.
“I mean, when bumping up like that there’s really not much difference, it’s just like my mentality is no matter what weight, I’m going out no matter who I’m going to wrestle,” he said. “It’s my match. I got to wrestle my match. It’s just wrestling my match.”
Washington needed someone to step up in a big way and halt the Hurricanes in their place and there wasn’t anyone better – or bigger – than Sean Thornton to do it as the 285-pounder made quick work of Owen Nevzri, securing a pin in 29 seconds to pull the Panthers to within 15-12.
Washington’s Symon Woods followed at 106, picking up a quick six points for an 18-15 lead when Marian’s Trent Zomok went down with an injury a few seconds into the match.
Marian’s Diego Martinez earned a 7-3 decision against Sage Davis at 113 to tie the match at 18-18.
A forfeit victory by Marian’s Hogan Rice at 120 followed by teammate Cam Spiniolas’ 12-4 major win over Micah Jackson at 126 gave the Hurricanes their first double-digit lead of the dual at 28-18.
Washington’s Lucas Bach pinned Gio Ferriolo at 0:42 to pick up a much-needed bonus-points win at 132 for the Panthers. Bach’s teammate, Logan Makiney, followed with a 4-3 decision over Zane Mochocki at 138 to pull the Panthers to within 28-27 with three matches remaining.
In the meantime, Marian’s Austin Hagevold was breathing normally, getting ready to battle Cayden Park at 144.
“Before a match I like to isolate myself from everyone else in a dark hallway and pace back and forth and just like to breathe and slow everything down,” he said. “And I know I’m really good at wrestling so I know I can hang with anybody and beat anybody if I just get my mind right so I just like to breathe.”
Park went the distance with Hagevold, but Hagevold managed his breathing which helped ensure that he’d come away victorious.
“I wrestled him about two weeks ago and I pinned him in the second (period) so I knew it was definitely a match to win, and if I put him on his hands he would slow down,” Hagevold said. “And the coach came up and said if I win and get a decision it ices the dual so I wasn’t looking for big points, I was looking to control the match and make it a marathon.”
Freshman Brendan Nardin, who missed most of the season recovering from a knee injury, followed with a pin of Grey Slatten at 150 midway through the first period to give the Hurricanes a 10-point cushion heading into the final bout at 157.
With the result of the 157 match not going to change the outcome of the dual, the Hurricanes surrendered a forfeit to Cruise Brolley.
“We were ranked like 19th or something and I think they were like three so it was nice to knock them off again,” Mastny said. “We don’t really think about rankings, just come out here and wrestle and prove we can beat them again, you know? I think they had another kid this time so we proved we could beat them again with their full lineup. Nick Astacio bumped up and getting bonus points was a big deal for us.”
Last year, the Hurricanes finished in third place in the state in Class 1A and now find themselves making a deep run in the state series in 2A, which included getting past a Washington program that was looking for a fourth consecutive state appearance. Marian also won the Class 1A state title in 2024.
“I mean, among our teammates there was no doubt,” Astacio said. “All of us were pretty confident in our matches, all of us were like, ‘Ok, we’re all going to go out and wrestle.’ Coaches are talking about how this is the time we need to be peaking and we are peaking. It’s one of the things we focus on and the same thing you talked about with momentum in the dual meets I learned it was very valuable since the beginning was momentum, that when you start winning those matches you got to pick it up. It’s like a snowball rolling down a hill. It keeps picking up snow, keeps picking up momentum and that will lead to more dual victories.”
Hagevold acknowledged that the goal of getting to state again has been something his teammates have talked about often, without any fear whatsoever regarding the leap in classes.
“We talked about it a lot,” he said. “We were at 1A and took third and we knew we were going to get bumped up. And we lost about four seniors, four real good seniors, and knew it was going to be tough but we wanted this, not just to prove to the state that we’re a great team no matter where we are. We’ve beaten some high 3A teams and we like to wrestle outside the state with dual teams. We have a high standard for ourselves and just like we want to compete at 2A and we showed that.”
After winning state titles in 2023 and 2024 and finishing second to IC Prep last year, Washington will have to wait at least another year for its 12th state appearance since 2014.
“I’m proud of them all,” Miller said. “After the meet was over and we were kind of walking around gathering things together to get ready and loaded on the bus, I was listening to conversations the seniors were having with underclassmen. Our group of seniors, a really large group of seven or eight seniors, and these kids talking, most of these guys were in the lineup as freshmen against Joliet Catholic Academy in the finals (2023). I feel for them not being able to finish the team way, but listening to their conversations with the underclassmen during a really tough moment showed how they continue to lead.”
Dual results
165: Wyatt Medlin (Washington) d. Josh Gawronski (Marian) (F 0:59)
175: Nic Astacio (Marian) d. Wyatt Leman (Washington) (MAJ 13-4)
190: Dan French (Marian) d Zane Heubi (Washington) (F 3:48)
215: Jimmy Mastny (Marian) d Josh Hoffer (Washington) (TF 18-3)
285: Sean Thornton (Washington) d. Owen Neuzil (Marian) (F 0:29)
106: Symon Woods (Washington) d. Trent Zomor (Marian) (INJ 0:03)
113: Diego Martinez (Marian) d. Sage Davis (Washington) (D 7-3)
120: Hogan Rice (Marian) d. Unknown (Washington) (FORF)
126: Cam Spiniolas (Marian) d. Micah Jackson (Washington) (MAJ 12-4)
132: Lucas Bach (Washington) d. Gio Ferriolo (Marian) (F 0:42)
138: Logan Makiney (Washington) d. Zane Mochocki (Marian) (D 4-3)
144: Austin Hagevold (Marian) d. Cayden Park (Washington) (D 5-2)
150: Brendan Nardin (Marian) d. Grey Slatten (Washington) (F 1:05)
157: Cruise Brolley (Washington) d. Unknown (Marian) (FORF)
GENESEO 55, BATAVIA 16
Looking for its third trip to state in four years, No. 6 Geneseo won six straight matches and 11 overall to power its way past No. 13 Batavia, 55-16, in the other team dual at Sycamore.
“I asked the guys to battle and that’s what they do no matter what, win or lose, six minutes, we’re going to go out and battle with everybody we can battle and hopefully we come out on top,” Geneseo coach Tom Rusk said. “No matter what, they’re going to know they’re in for a fight.”
After Batavia’s Colin Peyton opened the dual with a tech fall victory over Dawson Hull at 106, Geneseo responded with victories in the next six matches to build a 32-6 lead.
Kye Weinzierl, who bumped up from 175 to 190 for the Maple Leafs, got a tech fall over Jack Brown.
“It’s something we’ve done in the duals if we think that we have an opportunity to score more points,” Weinzierl explained. “We’re going to put the guys in the right spots and that’s something that us as wrestlers trust our coaches to do and that’s something when we hear it from the coaches we’ll just go out there and wrestle.”
The weight might be different, but it’s still wrestling.
“Just going out and wrestling like it’s any other match and just doing what’s best for the team is the thought process,” Weinzierl said. “So going out there and trying to dominate.”
Colten Mooney (215), Josh Stahl (285), Tad Moore (113), Emmitt Hill (132) and Malaki Jackson (144) earned pins to lead the Geneseo charge.
“It was fun.” Hill said. “I didn’t do the best in regionals, but my team did so that’s good. So today I wrestled pretty hard, you know, it was fun out there, our team did good, so yeah.”
Hill was itching to return to the mats after losing twice in last Saturday’s Sterling regional.
“I worked hard all week in practice so it was fun getting a good win out there,” he said. “I’ve done pretty good this season, but I’ve lost enough to know you got to work hard and come back and hope to (go against) the same dude and have a chance to beat him again. That’s what I’ve known from just losing, just got to keep working hard to get back, to get those wins.”
Harrison Hill (175) earned a tech fall win, Brycen Fohnestock (106), Landen Vincent (138) and Grady Hull (157) scored majors and Kie Smith (150) earned a 6-3 decision over Daniel Gonzalez for Geneseo’s other victories.
“This is the third time going to state for me and it’s just a great experience,” Grady Hull said. “It’s so fun to be up there with the team and to have another dual like this, just another tough match. You get the crowd going and just have a fun time with it.”
Hull began his day watching his brother Dawson drop a 17-2 tech to Peyton at 165.
“It’s difficult watching because I’m one yelling at him, telling him exactly what to do as opposed to my other teammates I’m kind of sitting back and trying to learn some things myself sort of thing,” Grady Hull said. “We’ve always been training together. We have a mat in our basement so sometimes we’ll go down there and work on some things kind of a thing and he’s held me accountable for some things over time. I guess just being there for each other to hold each other accountable kind of a thing.”
The Maple Leafs advanced to state last year but didn’t place. They took fourth in 2023.
“Our program has been the same throughout my four years and growing up watching Geneseo wrestling, we hold ourselves to a high standard and maintain that everyday in practice and competition,” Weinzierl said. “And we set a very high standard for ourselves as wrestlers and our coaches do an amazing job of holding ourselves to that standard so we’re going to come into practice and work hard and wrestle tough every match.
“All the guys on the team just wrestle hard and tough, and wrestle six minutes every time and give their all. And that’s kind of the image we want to have at Geneseo and we did a great job of representing that tonight.”
Batavia was seeing sectional action for the first time in 20 years so its wrestlers weren’t even alive when the Bulldogs last won a regional when they captured the Class 2A St. Charles East Regional in 2006, which was also when there were just two classes. The Bulldogs became a part of the newly added 3A class during the 2008-2009 season, in which they placed third at the Wheaton North regional. Logan Arlis (113), Charlie Ryan (130) and Danny Watson (171) won regional titles that year for the Bulldogs under coach Tom Arlis.
Batavia picked up its second win at this year’s sectional when Kai Enos earned a 15-0 tech fall win at 120 to put an end to Geneseo’s six straight victories. Colin Johansen then followed at 126, pinning Phoenix Heller at 3:04.
“I had kind of known going in we’d have our work cut out for us at upper weights so we had to get some matches,” Bulldogs coach Seth Winkle said. “When we weren’t getting those matches, we had to make an aggressive lineup move to give ourselves a chance. We haven’t been in this dual in a long time so go down swinging.”
Johansen most certainly did that.
“We made a little move throwing a second year wrestler who started as a freshman, Winkle said. “He’s been a great JV guy all year as a sophomore. He fired us up and put some wind in our sails. Obviously it didn’t work overall, but it’s not something we regret and our kids were ready to take a big swing and Colin had about a minute-and-a-half notice so that was pretty cool.”
Battling tough 3A teams in the DuKane every year, like Wheaton North, Glenbard North and especially St. Charles East has certainly allowed the Bulldogs to enter the post-season battle-tested.
“We’re seeing tough teams throughout the season and it provides a lot of growth and learning opportunities,” Winkle said, “So to have it all come together at a regional and learn from all this tough competition throughout the year and apply what we worked on to get better in the room was pretty cool to see. We took some lumps during the year, but winning a regional was a big step and confidence booster.”
The Bulldogs will lose seven starters, six who are alive in the individual state tournament.
“We lose a good number but have some pretty tough returners as well,” he said. “We have quite a few JV guys who we feel really good about going forward and developing for the off-season. We’ll try to get better every day and come back stronger and competitive.”
The efforts of their seniors should make a lasting impression.
“I speak highly of them and six are still fighting next week,” Winkle said. “Their contributions have been great and quite a few of them are in their first year in the lineup so they’ve seen success from working their butts off for so long. They’ve trusted the process and come through which is what a strong public program takes. Those guys develop over four years. The guys who come through our program, we definitely take pride in turning them into great young men, good members of society.”
While on the subject of impressions, both teams impressed one another.
“That’s a really well coached team with experience and poise,” Winkle said. “You could tell they were prepared and focused. We were proud to share the mat with them.”
Rusk said the Bulldogs won’t quit.
“What a solid, solid group of kids at Batavia,” Rusk said. “They battled, they never quit. They had a couple kids who didn’t have the records some of the kids have and those kids probably fought harder than the rest of the kids.”
Dual results
165: Colin Peyton (Batavia) d. Dawson Hull (Geneseo) (TF 17-2)
175: Harrison Hill (Geneseo) d. Blake Vandeloo (Batavia) (TF 20-4)
190: Kye Weinzierl (Geneseo) d. Jack Brown (Batavia) (TF 21-6)
215: Colten Mooney (Geneseo) d. Jaden Lehman (Batavia) (F 2:37)
285: Josh Stahl (Geneseo) d. Alex Linde-Marin (Batavia) (F 1:27)
106: Brycen Fohnestock (Geneseo) d. Joey Calvillo (Batavia) (MAJ 16-2)
113: Tad Moore (Geneseo) d. Nico Frechmann (Batavia) (F 1:01)
120: Kai Enos (Batavia) d. Esref Onder (Geneseo) (TF 15-0)
126: Colin Johansen (Batavia) d. Phoenix Heller (Geneseo) (F 3:04)
132: Emmitt Hill (Geneseo) d. Ricardo Alfaro (Batavia) (F 4:39)
138: Landen Vincent (Geneseo) d. Kyle Pasco (Batavia) (MAJ 13-0)
144: Malaki Jackson (Geneseo) d. Elias Chaney (Batavia) (F 0:54)
150: Kie Smith (Geneseo) d. Daniel Gonzalez (Batavia) (D 6-3)
157: Grady Hull (Geneseo) d. Cole Hubbard (Batavia) (MAJ 8-0)