Posts by Mick Torres

By Patrick Z. McGavin

In the South Side Hyde Park neighborhood on the first Saturday in December, Mount Carmel had Montini on the ropes.

The Caravan hosted the Broncos as part of a stacked quad. Mount Carmel was coming off the Class 7A state football championship, and the roster was still in flux.

The Montini roster, was also very much a work in progress. The natural experimentation marking the early season was on full blast.

The dual began at 220 pounds, and Nik Misha and heavyweight Eliot Lewis started things off hot with a decision and pin for the 9-0 Mount Carmel lead.

After Connor Gaynor won by forfeit at 145 pounds, Mount Carmel held a seemingly insurmountable lead at 26-12.  Then bam, bam, bam, the lights went out.

Montini reeled off five straight victories. Senior Josh LaBarbera, a transfer from Metea Valley, beat Robert Bowman 9-3 at 195 pounds for the thrilling 32-26 Montini victory.

Montini is the gold standard. Mount Carmel is the chaser. The two have been rated 1-2 in the Class 3A team rankings all year.

That was the backdrop to the latest collision of the two best teams in the state. The platform shifted to the Catholic League conference championship at Providence Saturday.

That December dual meet functioned as a primer and a time machine, as a way to survey the future. But the song remained the same.

Montini won 10 individual championships in capturing the team title with 373 points. The Broncos also had a second, third and fourth-place finish.

Nine of the 14 titles involved a showdown involving Montini and Mount Carmel. After all, that is the way it should be, best up against the best with heightened stakes and a demanding format.

Seven of those showdowns ended up in favor of the Broncos. Mount Carmel had two individual champions and eight runners-up in finishing second at 322.5 points.

Represented by the 113-pound title of defending state champion Diego Sotelo, Marmion finished third with 225.5 points.

Fourth-place finisher Providence accounted for the other individual champion as sophomore heavyweight Ryan Boersma pinned Mount Carmel’s Jalen Grant to run his record to 35-1.

At 6-foot-6, Boersma is long and rangy and virtually impossible to get in on. Grant showed admirable toughness and strength in countering Boersma.

With the match deadlocked at 1-1 midway through the third period, Boersma seized his chance and threw Grant down on his back for the pin at 5:04.

“I have had some common opponents against him, and I have seen him wrestle before,” Boersma said. “I knew what to expect. I knew he was going to be strong in his upper body, and I had to be patient and wear him down and wait for my opportunity.”

Mount Carmel also had two third-place finishers and a fourth-place. Marmion added two second-place finishes, and four third-place performers, while Providence had two second and two third-place wrestlers.

But Montini shaped the narrative, and the gulf between Montini and the field has widened. The conference meet underscored the dominance, roster flexibility and versatility of the Broncos.

“They are on top right now, and we have a month to try and catch them,” Mount Carmel coach Alex Tsirtsis said. “There are a ton of close matches that is going to decide the state championship this year.”

The meet also featured more top-ranked wrestlers than any other in Illinois.

Five Catholic League wrestlers are currently ranked No. 1 in their weight class: Sotelo, Mount Carmel’s Colton Drousias (120) and Connor Gaynor (145), Montini’s Trevor Swier (182) and Boersma. Sotelo and Drousias are also returning state champions.

Four CCL wrestlers are ranked No. 2: Montini’s Dylan Ragusin (126), Mount Carmel’s Noah Mis (132), Montini’s Fidel Mayora (145) and Joe Roberts (152).

Montini sophomore Joe Fernau started things right by defeating Mount Carmel junior Noel Rosales 5-0. 

The two had split 1-1 in their previous matches this season. Fernau was driven by that memory.

“We wrestled in the dual at the start of the year, and I had a couple of good takedowns and I beat him there,” Fernau said. “At Ironman, I was able to get to his legs a lot, but I was not able to finish. 

“The game-changer today was I got to his legs and this time I finished.”

Ranked No. 5, Fernau improved his record to 27-8. The conference meets effectively launches the state series. Establishing momentum is crucial.

“You always go through ups and downs during the season,” he said. “I lost to a kid I should have beat a couple of weeks ago, and I kind of brought myself down. Lately, I have had a couple of confidence boosts.

“Just getting back on my feet and grinding and building, that is my focus. I feel like I am better now than I was all season.”

Drousias and Montini junior Nain Vazquez are practically sparring partners. The 120-pound championship marked the fourth time this season the two have confronted each other.

Vazquez stunned Drousias 4-2 in that early dual meet. The memory also sparked Drousias in his 3-1 victory Saturday.

Nothing ever stays the same. The best always have to adapt on the fly.

“We are so familiar with each other,” Drousias said. “Anybody can beat anybody on any given day. I knew what I had to do as far as attacking, and what I had to do in the match.

“That early match of the year when he beat me, that has stuck with me the whole season. That motivated me to go into every single match doing whatever I had to do to beat him so I never have that feeling again.”

Mis secured the Caravan’s other individual title with his 5-1 victory Montini junior Ethan Stiles at 132 pounds. He improved to 28-3.

“I just wanted to make sure there was no debate,” Mis said. “I was just out to prove that I was best kid in the bracket. I was aggressive the whole match.”

From there, Montini ostensibly ran the table. In almost every instance, the Broncos’ wrestlers were able to bend the moment to their will, dictate the tempo or establish a more dominant rhythm.

Dylan Ragusin interrupted the Marmion and Mount Carmel runs with a dominant run at 126 pounds. He pinned Marmion sophomore Tyler Perry in 1:49.

Braden Stauffenberg (138), Fidel Mayora (145), Joe Roberts (152), Brayden Thompson (160), Cooper Wettig (170). Swier (182), Nathan Wemstrom (195) and LaBarbera (220) punctuated the superb team performance.

The frightening part for the rest of the Class 3A field is that Montini is getting better. In the marquee title at 145 pounds, Mayora avenged an earlier defeat against Gaynor with the 2-1 victory.

Past performance is not always predictive of future results. Nothing ever quite stays the same. Mount Carmel is a great team in its right. 

Now they are forced to play catch up.

“We have to get better every single day over the next month,” Tsirtsis said. “A couple of matches we wrestled really well. What was unfortunate is that we wrestled poorly on the bottom. 

“We practice on it all the time, and the kids know what to do. That is not acceptable.”

Every Montini wrestler has a different style or mode of working. Swier epitomized drive, power and remarkable consistency by wreaking havoc on the field at 182 pounds. 

Showcasing a staggering blend of athleticism, speed and power, he secured a pin against De La Salle senior Mikhel Teverbaugh in just 39 seconds. His record is now 31-6.

“I just wanted to wrestle very clear and direct, and not try anything special,” Swier said. “I wanted to be aggressive and be able to get to my attacks in the first period.”

LaBarbera sealed the comeback in the December dual meet. He completed the Montini run with the tactical and hard fought 1-0 victory over Mount Carmel’s Nik Mishka that improved his record to 30-8.

“My style is really about being calm, cool and collected,” LaBarbera said. “I can be explosive when I need to be. My main focus is maintaining my composure and never overreacting to anything that might happen out there.

“Especially at 220 pounds, not many kids in the country let alone the state are able to keep my pace. I know if I can pushing, pushing, pushing, kids are going to get tried and that is where they make mistakes and I am going to capitalize.”

Broncos best MSL field for second consecutive season

by Mike Garofola

Wheeling High School –

Luke Rasmussen continued to make his mark at another weekend tournament – this one the 50th Mid-Suburban League conference tournament – using a blistering attack to easily repeat as a league champion, while helping his mates from Barrington lift the championship trophy.

The Broncos 29-point (270.5-241.5) advantage over runner up Prospect gave Dave Udchiks’ club its second straight title, and 8th in program history, all of which have come after 2006.

“After our slow start on Friday night, it was nice to see us rebound (today) and come out and wrestle hard all throughout the brackets, avenge a few early season conference losses, and come out of here with the conference title,” said Udchik.

“We set a lot of goals as a team before the season: one of which is to win the MSL, and even though the ultimate goal is to get guys downstate and win medals, and later have us get to team state to compete for a trophy – it’s still a big deal for us to come in here and win the conference championship,” added Rasmussen, now a sparkling 36-0 after pinning his way to the 170-pound crown.

“We’ve got a great room, with great teammates, and former teammates (who) come in and work  with us each and everyday to help all of us be better,” said Rasmussen (27 pins), who spent all of 3:34 minutes combined in his three bouts on Saturday at host Wheeling High School.

Since the Broncos ‘three-peat’ from 2011 to 2013, the big trophy has been dominated by Prospect, Conant, and of course, Barrington – and on this day, try as they might, MSL East champion Prospect was never able to take a bit out of the Broncos lead.

“I said before the tournament that Barrington was the team to beat – too much firepower and depth – but we made it interesting with our four individual champions, almost two more, and (12) overall medals,” said a proud Prospect head coach, Tom Whalen.

“We still have a lot of work ahead of us before regionals, but I am pleased with our four champs, all of which continue to work hard in the room, are coachable, and (today) took chances in order to get us bonus points to help the cause.

Six clubs would own the top of the podium on this second day of action: Barrington and Prospect each claiming four titles each, Buffalo Grove and Fremd two, while Hersey and Schaumburg grabbed one a piece.

One of the championship trophies lifted by a Buffalo Grove Bison came near the very end of the tournament in what was the most anticipated, and highly entertaining bout of the day.

Bison senior, Gio Jackson and Barrington junior, Evan Roper, who have each held the No. 1 spot in the state at 220 pounds at varying times this season – met on center stage in what would be the second, and potentially four matches between these two terrific young men.

Jackson would defeat Roper 5-3 way back in the second week of the regular season, and up until last weekend, was the No. 1 man, according to the IWCOA polls.

His fall from the spot came after Jacobs star, Ryan Golnick sent shockwaves through the old gym at Batavia when he pinned Jackson in the final moments of their final at the Batavia Invite.

“Yeah, that loss to Golnick was the wake-up call I needed,” admitted Jackson, who entered this tournament at No. 2, while Roper held down the No. 3 spot.

An edgy, first period of play would end scoreless, but Jackson’s easy escape, followed by a nice take-down from Roper (25-3) at three minutes made it 2-1, until Jackson recorded another escape thirty seconds later to level the proceedings heading into the third period.

“Their was a lot of hand fighting in our match, and (he) was going to my head from the opening whistle, so I did my best to ‘swat’ his hands off my head – and just looking for my shots while all of that was going on,” said Jackson.

Roper executed a sweet take-down near the edge – carefully keeping his toes inside the line to go up 5-2 after his escape opened the final period.

The big crowd came alive – roaring its approval when Jackson drew back even with 30 seconds left in regulation.

After a whistle stopped the action, Roper, starting down, was allowed an easy escape at 16.8 seconds – until Jackson set the audience into orbit with his game-winning take-down with the clock ready to go to zeros.

“Coach (Kurt Kutska) told me afterwards to pull the trigger more on my shots – I took only two in that match, and both were good,” said an exhausted Jackson, now 32-1.

“That loss to Golnick gave me some new life, and the motivation to work harder this week in advance of knowing that Evan and I would probably meet in the final today,” continued the Bison big man.

“It was a great match, one that everyone here was looking forward to, and they were not let down with all of the action and last second results,” said Udchik.

“We obviously were looking for a better outcome, but those two could meet again at the Stevenson regional, and later sectionals at Barrington, so that will be something to watch later for sure.”

While that final was one of epic proportions – others, while not providing the same dramatic outcome, were still marvelous to watch because of the superb talent competing down on the floor.

Will Basingar and Jack Milos were brilliant at 106 and 132 for Prospect – neither man rarely challenged – both doing so with a relentless, ferocious, all-action attack that left each of their opponents rendered helpless.

The freshmen Baysingar (37-0) is No. 1 at 106 in the state, and the affable Knights rookie says  his lofty spot in the polls has had a positive effect on his overall game.

“Coming in(to) high school, I figured I would be the guy chasing all of the top wrestlers, but being No. 1 doesn’t mean anything (except) having that target on my back has made me work and train harder than I ever have,” says Baysingar, who needed just under four minutes to pin three opponents.

His teammate Milos, himself undefeated in 37 matches, yet surprisingly, behind three others in the polls at 132 – tore through the field on his way to a second MSL crown, his first coming two years ago as a freshmen.

“I think I’ve come a long way from being away from the sport last season, to the Moore-Prettyman where I was gassed in my final, and very sloppy with the way I wrestled,” began Milos, who was a state qualifier two years ago as well.

“Since then, I’ve been working hard in the room, really pushing myself, thanks to my teammates and coaches, and making sure my conditioning improves each week,” added Milos.

The sophomore-senior duo of Charlie Fifield and Isaih Pettigrew from Fremd, were just as magnificent as Baysinger-Milos, as each left little doubt as to whom were the best at 126 and 195.

Fifield, just 22-20 last season, improved his record to an astounding 35-2 following his tech-fall performance at 126.

“When I found out that coach (Jeff) Keske was coming over to run our program at Fremd, I knew he was a great wrestler in high school, was a key guy at Poeta, and was someone that could turn all of us around,” said an appreciative Fifield, who won the Mudge-McMorrow earlier in the season.

“It’s because of him that I feel my game has improved so much, and will continue to do so,” said an appreciative Fifield.

Pettigrew, one match from going downstate a year ago in his first full season of varsity play, echoed those statements from Fifield, while adding:

“Coach (Keske) is all about the technical and tactical side of things, and he’ll put the extra work in with (you) – whatever it takes,” said the 195-pound champ, Pettigrew (28-1) who in the early morning lifts and wrestles as part of his training regimen.

“Watching Isiah’s self confidence grow the past year has been impressive,” begins Keske, a former star under Dale Eggert at Libertyville.

“He (Isiah) needed to compete more in the offseason in order to make up for his lack of experience, he’s done that, plus he’s taken his strength training very seriously the past two years, and it has shown.”

“Charlie is becoming a real student of the game, and after wrestling nearly 100 matches during the offseason, he now has the experience needed to compete at a high level,” said Keske of the sophomore Fifield.

The aforementioned Jackson from Buffalo Grove was joined atop the podium by teammate, Alejandro Mejia (22-3) who after missing nearly three weeks to an injury – won his first MSL title at 152 pounds.

“I felt a little rusty in my first two matches, but a lot more comfortable and ready to go for my final,” said Mejia.

“It feels great to win a conference title (it’s) been one of my goals, but there’s more work to do if I want to get downstate.”

Barrington’s Jack Hartman (182, 31-5) collected his first league title after his third pin of the tournament insured victory – while sophomore Brian Beers (113, 32-6) won his second straight, and Kai Conway became the 25th in MSL history to win three individual titles.

“It would have been nice to get four, but (Jack) Lingle (Schaumburg) was deserving of his championship last year,” said a gracious Conway, who lost in overtime a year ago to Lingle, who would later advance to the state tournament.

Conway, a state qualifier as a sophomore, began his Barrington career at 106.

Beers figures his second take-down of Marcus Santos (26-7) in the later stages of the third period was key in his eventual 5-4 decision over his opponent from Prospect as it gave the 2019 state qualifier a little breathing room after Santos drew one point closer (3-2) following his early third period take-down.

“It was big to get those extra points to extend my lead, and it felt good to do my part for the team with my championship, with every point so important in the final team race,” said Beers.

Hartman, also a 2019 state qualifier, admits his first year with the big club was a difficult one, despite his success.

“Coming in at the varsity level and competing at 182 is tough – but it was really tough being at 175 pounds,” said Hartman, who would offset the weight difference with his quickness, despite a more defensive approach and lack of quality shots.

Grant Hansen (27-9) was thrilled with his first league title, which came at 145 pounds following his 6-0 decision over Barrington senior, Trey Cysewski.

“Despite plenty of ups-and-downs this season, the reason for my success today is that I have great teammates, and coaches in our room who continue to work us hard – pushing us to be better each time out,” said Hansen, who was one win away from going downstate last season.

Lennon Steinkuehler and Joe Miller were the other half of quartet of champions from Prospect – both first-time winners, Steinkuehler at 120, Miller 138.

“I tried to stay cool and calm after he (Russell Hoeft, Conant, 25-7) got back into the match and tied it up in the third period,” began Steinkuehler, who is in his first full year with the big club.

The Knights freshmen would explode for (7) points in the second period, fueled by a near fall midway through to take a 7-2 advantage into the final period.

Hoeft would make it 8-4, then 8-6, before drawing level at (8) with a minute remaining – setting up an escape from Steinkuehler (30-9) who held on for the last 14.9 seconds to earn the 9-8 victory.

Tom Whalen would praise Miller for his 138-pound triumph, who would move his overall record to 29-13 after his 11-2 major decision victory over Christian Gilbert (17-6) from Conant.

“What an impressive tournament for (Joe) – he beat the No. 2 seed to get to the final, then the top seed to win it all,” said Whalen of the Knights junior.

Last, but not least, and only due to the usual scheduling protocol that has the 285-pound division at the end of most tournaments – Hersey senior, Austin Korba (29-3) won his second major of the season – this one breaking a long dry spell for the Huskies program.

Korba, a football star, who has transioned nicely into his second sport, earned a MSL crown for the first time in program history since Hunter Rollins, state runner-up in 2013, did so, at 160 pounds.

“This is such a fantastic day for Hersey wrestling, for Austin, and Hunter, who is the guy who coaches Austin,” said a proud Huskies head coach, Joe Rupslauk.

“To think-that (Austin) nearly quit his sophomore season when he started at 0-10 (and) to see how far he’s come in just two short years is really quite impressive.”

“It’s because of Hunter, coach (Jim) Wormsley and coach Shin (Shinhoster) that I’ve been able to improve each time out this year – they have put all the extra time in with me, and have never stopped believing in me,” said Korba, who registered a pin at 4:38 in his final.

“Austin is a real source of pride for our program, is so coachable, and he’s a big reason for the success the guys have had this year – especially compared to last season at this tournament,” added Rupslauk.

For the record: Hersey, fifth overall on this day with 167 points, (10) top six medals, after finishing a dreadful 11th one year ago, with just 61 points, and three medals.