By Curt Herron

For the IWCOA

PALATINE – After not being held last season for the first time since it began in 1955, Palatine’s Berman Holiday Wrestling Classic staged its return on Tuesday with 15 teams competing in the 66th-annual event, which is Illinois’ oldest regular season tournament. It’s named in honor of longtime assistant coach and tournament manager Al Berman, a 2001 IWCOA hall of famer who along with his wife Sally, were integral parts of an event which featured some of the best competition in the state for many years.

Considering that the United States is experiencing a record-setting number of COVID-19 cases, it’s not surprising that one half of the brackets had nine or less entrants, including one with only five, and the average for the tournament was just over nine individuals at each weight class. 

Fremd dominated the competition, placing 10 of its 11 individuals in the top three with seven of them advancing to the title mat and six winning championships. Coach Jeff Keske’s Vikings, who are tenth in Class 3A in the IWCOA rankings, scored 214 points to win the team title by 90 points as it became the fifth Mid-Suburban League school to win the event and just the third to do so since the last time that a Palatine school won a title, which was in 1988 when the host Pirates repeated as tournament champions.

The battle for the rest of the top-five spots was tight as Oak Forest used four finalists and three champions to claim second place with 124 points while Hinsdale South placed four in the top-three to take third place with 117.5 points, edging fourth-place York (116.5) and fifth-place Mundelein (114.5). 

Fremd, which took second in the 2019 Berman and turned in fifth-place finishes in its two earlier tournaments this season, Barrington’s Moore-Prettyman and Prospect’s Mudge-McMorrow, hopes that its balanced lineup that features several ranked individuals has what it takes to be a factor not only in the MSL but to also help it win its third regional title and first since 1996, when it made its lone appearance in the IHSA dual team finals.

Winning titles for the champion Vikings were Wiley Jessup (106), Evan Gosz (113), Maddox Khalimsky (132), Charlie Fifield (145), Casey Bending (220) and Cristian Gonzalez (285) while Matt Meehan (160) placed second and Jake Crandall (126), Jared Werner (170) and AJ Del Mar (182) all claimed third place.

“The Berman tournament has been going on for 66 years, so we take a lot of pride in winning this tournament,’ said Keske, a Libertyville graduate who competed for 2000 IWCOA hall of famer Dale Eggert. “Maybe there’s not as many teams as we originally thought but we still feel really good about our performance today, getting seven guys in the finals and having several guys who won tournaments for the first time ever today, so that was really cool to see.

“The work ethic has been great and everyone has been really supportive of this team and the leaders have really stepped up to make everyone feel part of the group, and not the varsity guys, so we feel really good about that and what we’re doing moving forward. Today we only had three seniors in the lineup today and we were missing three weight classes. We’re looking forward to the end of the season and this last month before the postseason and we know that in order to achieve our goals that we’re going to need all 14 wrestlers to pitch in and help out. We’re really looking forward to that challenge ahead of us in the next month.”

Oak Forest and Lake Park both had three champions while York and Leyden each had one. Winning titles for coach Shawn Forst’s runner-up Bengals were Tyler Evitts (120), Ivan Corral (152) and Joe Castaneda (170) while Caden Muselman (126) took second and Joe Loranger (132) placed fourth. 

Winning titles for Lake Park (82, ninth) were Dominik Mallinder (126), Mikey DiBenedetto (138) and Joey Olalde (160) while York got a title from Evan Grazzini (182), second-place finishes from Zach Parisi (113) and Sean Van Sleet (132) and a third from Dom Begora (285) while Sean Berger (126) had the most falls in the least time with three in 7:13.

The other champion in the field, Leyden’s Colin O’Neill (195), received the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler Award. Other top finishers for Leyden (92, seventh) were second-place finishers Sebastian Rojas (182) and Gus Tosterud (220) and Russell Klug (132), who placed third.

Leading the way for coach Steve Matozzi’s third-place Hornets were runner-up Alec Miller (152) and third-place finishers Oscar Choi (120), Manny Wallace (160) and Griffin Carr (220). Fifth-place Mundelein’s top finishers were runner-up Henri Ortiz (195) and third-place finisher Erick Nova (145).

Maine South (97.5, sixth) had six top-four finishers. They were Christos Vaselopulos (106) and Nathan Beltran (138) in second, Teddy Flores (113) in third and Nico Chisari (160), Cole Cichowski (170) and Tommy Porrello (195) in fourth. Rolling Meadows (85, eighth) had two second-place finishers, Alan Velasquez (120) and Dominic Andrejek (170) while Kyle King (113), Ben Escalante (126) and Jaiden Montgomery (145) placed fourth.

Grayslake North (81, tenth) was led by runner-up Connor Kozanecki (145), third-place finishers Armen Jerikian (138) and Alex Carbajal (152) and fourth-place finisher Nik Green (285). Zion-Benton (75, 11th) received a second-place finish from Sean Taylor (285) and fourths from Jon Marquez (106), Luis Medina (120) and Julian Zetina-Torres (152).

South Elgin (42.5, 12th) got a third from Will Ardson (195) and a fourth from Andre Rios (138) and Palatine (40, 13th) got a third from Emmanuel Rodriguez (106) and a fourth from Leonel Franco (220). And the top placer for short-handed Minooka (34, 14th), the tourney’s three-time defending champion, was Tyler Green (182), who took fourth.

Here’s a summary of the Berman Holiday Classic champions along with the other top-four finishers at their weight classes:

106 – Wiley Jessup, Fremd

When Fremd senior Wiley Jessup began his high school career, he didn’t get the opportunity to train against someone who was older and had experienced success. So as he finishes up with the Vikings, the sixth-place finisher in the IWCOA finals is happy to be able to practice with and give guidance to a talented newcomer, freshman Evan Gosz. 

The pair continued their tournament success as both won championships to kick off a dominant performance for the team champions as Jessup claimed top honors at 106 with a fall in 3:02 over Maine South sophomore Christos Vaselopulos and Gosz followed with a title at 113. For the third straight tournament, Jessup and Gosz both advanced to the title mat with the senior taking top honors at Prospect and second at Barrington while the freshman captured firsts at both events.

“It’s really awesome to see Evan as a freshman doing that well,” Jessup said. “I enjoy it because I wish I had someone like that for me when I was a freshman. I kind of try to pass on my knowledge to him because he’s a really good wrestler now. We’re very in line with each other (the team) and very supportive of one another and it’s really fun at dual meets and tournaments just watching how others do and supporting them. I’m really proud of what coach Keske has made of this program because he’s brought a lot of his experience and skills here. I’m really proud of how the whole team is doing this year and is performing really well against tough teams that we had tough losses to last year.”

Jessup (18-2), who’s ranked fourth at 106 in Class 3A, advanced to his third-straight tournament finals with a fall in 0:47 over Palatine junior Emmanuel Rodriguez. Vaselopulos (13-6) became one of two Hawks who advanced to the title mat in their initial individual invite when he recorded a 7-5 semifinal win over Zion-Benton freshman Jon Marquez. 

In the third-place match, Rodriguez (5-3) turned in his best tournament finish of the season and gave the host Pirates their top showing for the day when he captured a 5-2 victory over Marquez (10-8), who also finished fourth at Antioch in his initial prep tournament.

113 – Evan Gosz, Fremd

It certainly says a lot about a freshman when he can not only advance to three-consecutive tournament finals to begin his high school career but also win titles in all three of those events, and that’s just what Fremd freshman Evan Gosz has accomplished thus far.

Gosz (23-1), who’s ranked seventh in Class 3A, added to his championships at Barrington and Prospect with a Berman Classic title at 113 when he captured a 7-1 victory over York junior Zach Parisi in the finals. It was a rematch of the Mudge-McMorrow title match where Gosz won by fall in 3:25. The Vikings freshman recorded a fall in 1:15 in the semifinals over Rolling Meadows senior Kyle King.

“It feels good,” Gosz said. “I was told that high school was a lot tougher, and obviously it is with a lot stronger guys, but I think because of my background of wrestling in IK and wrestling around has really helped me out. He helps me out and teaches me the ropes and stuff, so that’s fun. I’m just hoping that I can finish as strong as I’ve started.”

Parisi (16-2), who has suffered both of his losses to Gosz, advanced to his second-straight tournament final with a 9-3 semifinals win over Maine South sophomore Teddy Flores.

Flores (14-3) claimed third place with a fall in 5:17 over King (7-11), who claimed a third-place finish in his initial tournament this season, which was at Vernon Hills.

120 – Tyler Evitts, Oak Forest

After qualifying for state for the last two seasons, Oak Forest senior Tyler Evitts is hoping that the third time will be the charm for him to reach the awards stand for the first time and he’s off to a good start after improving to 11-1 following an 8-2 victory over Rolling Meadows junior Alan Velasquez in the 120 title match.

Evitts was one of three champions and four finalists for the runner-up Bengals, who placed six of their seven competitors in the top five at their weights. He advanced to the title mat with a fall in 3:19 over Hinsdale South senior Oscar Choi.

“This feels pretty good because sophomore year when I came here I took fifth, so this is an improvement,” Evitts said. “I like how I’m shooting and I actually took a shot. As a  freshman, sophomore and junior I probably had 10 shots.”

Velasquez (12-7), whose previous best finish this season was a third at Rockford East, was one of two finalists for the Mustangs. He earned his spot opposite Evitts with a 5-3 semifinals decision over Zion-Benton freshman Luis Medina.

In the third-place match, Choi (8-7), a 2020 state qualifier who won a title at his school’s Matozzi Invite, became the first of three Hornets to take third place when he recorded a fall in 2:14 over Medina (6-4).

126 – Dominik Mallinder, Lake Park

After finishing second to Plainfield North’s Jacob Macatangay at 126 in Class 3A at the IWCOA finals, Lake Park senior Dominik Mallinder has understandably been focused on another trip to the awards stand this season in the IHSA finals.

Ranked eighth in a weight class that features four others who have placed first or second at state, Mallinder is 13-3 following a 6-1 win in the 126 finals over Oak Forest junior Caden Muselman. Mallinder, a Berman champ in 2019 and runner-up at Conant and Glenbrook South this year, had two falls, with one in 2:54 in the semifinals over Rolling Meadows sophomore Ben Escalante.

“Getting second place at that tournament (IWCOA) really put a fire under me and made me realize that I need to work harder to get first place,” Mallinder said. “It was a very good opportunity. There’s a lot more to be done but I feel good with where I’m at right now.”

Muselman (12-2), who’s ranked second in 2A at 132, is a two-time state qualifier who placed fourth in the IWCOA finals in 2A at 126. Competing in his first invitational tournament of the season, he earned his spot in the finals with a fall in his opener and then a 5-2 semifinals decision over Fremd junior Jake Crandall.

Crandall (19-7) was one of three Vikings to place third after winning by technical fall over Escalante (11-5), whose best finish this season was second-place at Rockford East.

132 – Maddox Khalimsky, Fremd

Boosted by a fourth-place finish at 126 in 3A at the IWCOA finals, Fremd junior Maddox Khalimsky hopes to make another run at the awards stand this season in Champaign. He improved to 19-3 and became one of his team’s six champions after winning a 9-3 decision over York junior Sean Van Sleet in the 132 finals.

Khalimsky reached his second tournament finals, with Prospect being the other, and won his first title of the season. Ranked ninth in Class 3A, he recorded a fall in 0:48 in his first match and then captured a win by technical fall in the semifinals over Oak Forest senior Joe Loranger.

“Everybody’s doing their part and we have good partners in the room, so everybody is getting better,” Khalimsky said. “Coach Keske is doing all of the right things and making sure we stick with the technique. He’s bringing in other coaches from outside of our room to come and wrestle with us to improve our technique. We’re building upon what we’ve already got and we will be better. Even though we didn’t have a complete season (last year), it was a complete season. In my freshman year, I didn’t even make it to sectionals so I’m glad that I kind of got to show off what I learned in that last-minute opportunity.”

Van Sleet (12-3) advanced to the finals with a pair of decisions, which included a 10-4 victory over Leyden sophomore Russell Kleg in the semifinals.

In the third-place match at 132, Kleg (10-3) claimed a 10-2 major decision over Loranger (4-3).

138 – Mikey DiBenedetto, Lake Park

After opening the season with a title at Conant, Lake Park junior Mikey DiBenedetto wasn’t so pleased with his next trip to a tournament finals, when he took second by sudden victory at Glenbrook South. He made his third trip to the finals and won a second title with a 10-3 victory over Maine South junior Nathan Beltran in the 138 title match.

DiBenedetto, a two-time state qualifier who’s ranked sixth in 3A, improved to 15-2 after recording a fall in 1:44 in his first match and then getting a pin in 4:50 in the semifinals against Grayslake North senior Armen Jerikian.

“Dominik is my partner and we’re pushing each other in the gym,” DiBenedetto said. “Even though I was a qualifier, I’m not satisfied with that, I really want a state title, I’m working for that. I’m running all of the time and lifting weights all of the time and am pushing me and Dom. As a team, we connect and we click, we know how to push each other and when we’re about to quit, we tell each other that you’ve got to keep going and pushing it. We’re not just teammates, we’re all friends outside of wrestling.”

Beltran (15-3), competing in his first invitational tournament of the season, advanced to the finals with a pair of falls, winning in 2:25 in his first match and then getting a pin in 1:48 over South Elgin junior Andre Rios in the semifinals.

Jerikian (14-3) equalled his third-place finish at Vernon Hills when he finished third with an 11-3 major decision over Rios (14-7), whose best finish was a second at Fenton.

145 – Charlie Fifield, Fremd

Fremd senior Charlie Fifield used a dominating performance to capture the 145 title and to become the fourth of six individuals from his team who won Berman Classic titles after winning by technical fall in the title match over Grayslake North senior Connor Kozanecki.

Ranked sixth at his weight, the 2020 state qualifier and 2019 Berman runner-up, also took second at Prospect and third at Barrington this season. He improved to 25-3 after recording a fall in his first match and then getting a win by technical fall over Mundelein’s Erick Nova in the semifinals.

“It was kind of a nice break coming to a tournament like this,” Fifield said. “It was nice to get in here and to dominate and see a lot of guys have success. I like our team camaraderie. We’re just really close and tight-knit as compared to other years. A lot of guys are leading in their own ways, whether that’s vocally or by example. It’s just a really good atmosphere and I love to be a part of the team.”

Kozanecki (17-5), who also claimed second place at Richmond-Burton, opened with a 6-0 decision before recording a fall in 2:54 in the semifinals over Rolling Meadows senior Jaiden Montgomery.

In the third-place match, Nova (3-1) captured the third win by technical fall in the bracket in his victory over Montgomery (4-2) for his team’s second-best finish of the day.

152 – Ivan Corral, Oak Forest

Last season could have been a frustrating one for Oak Forest’s Ivan Corral since it appeared that the 2020 state qualifier might not get a chance to go back to state. But thanks to the IWCOA, he not only qualified for state for a second time, he finished fifth at 132 in Class 2A.

Boosted by that trip to the awards stand, the Bengals senior has even bigger hopes for this season and is off to a strong start with a 13-3 record after capturing top honors at 152 in the Berman Classic, which was his first invitational tournament of the season. He had falls in his first two matches, including one in 4:52 in the semifinals over Zion-Benton junior Julian Zetina-Torres and then claimed a 9-3 decision over Hinsdale South sophomore Alec Miller in the title match.

“We’ve been shut down once or twice already this year because of COVID, so it was nice to get out here for our first tournament of the year,” Corral said. “I think I wrestled pretty good. I like the brothership that we’ve formed over the years.”

Miller (4-3), who entered the event with just one win in three matches, used a pin and a win by technical fall to advance him to the semifinals, where recorded a fall in 4:56 over  Grayslake North freshman Alex Carbajal. 

Carbajal (12-8), whose best tournament showing had been a fourth at Richmond-Burton, bounced back from his semifinal loss to get a fall in the third-place match in 2:20 over Zetina-Torres (7-8).

160 – Joey Olalde, Lake Park

For a while, it appeared as if Joey Olalde was Texas-bound and would complete his high school career there. But the move didn’t last long and the senior is happy to still be at Lake Park after he improved to 16-0 with a 6-0 decision over Fremd junior Matt Meehan in the 160 finals to give him his third invite title of the season.

Olalde, who’s tenth-ranked in Class 3A at 160, added to his previous championship wins at Conant and Glenbrook South. He opened the day with two falls, including one in 4:54 over Maine South senior Nico Chisari in the semifinals.

“I’m 16-0 right now,” Olalde said. “Dom Mallinder pushes me in the room every day. There’s a big weight difference but he’s still a guy who gets after it. It’s a crazy story that I moved to Texas before the state series, so I didn’t get a chance to wrestle in that. But I just moved back a few months ago, so I’m excited to get back out here and show Illinois what’s up. We’re up and coming. It’s good that we have me and Dom as senior captains to push each other and Mikey, too. It’s great to be back in Illinois. Nothing beats this.”

Meehan (20-4) was one of the seven Vikings who reached the title mat. He got there with a pair of major decisions, including by a 16-2 margin in the semifinals against Hinsdale South senior Manny Wallace. 

Wallace (14-5), who won a title at his own Matozzi invite, took third place with a fall in 1:29 over Chisari (8-5), who was competing in his initial individual invite of the season.

170 – Joe Castaneda, Oak Forest

There was a common theme for Oak Forest’s three champions and four finalists at the Berman Classic and that was that all of them were able to be state qualifiers at the IWCOA finals, which includes junior Joe Castaneda, who took first at 170 with a 7-4 decision over Rolling Meadows senior Dominic Andrejek.

Castaneda (14-6) made the most of his first individual invite of the season by advancing in his opener due to injury default and then capturing a 7-6 semifinal victory over Fremd junior Jared Werner.

“I weighed in at about 158, and I wrestled up to 170 and I still managed to take first,” Castaneda said. “I already took time off from staying in shape and being in practice and some of our teammates are getting sick again. If we weren’t down in numbers, I think we could do pretty good downstate, too, but it makes it harder in practice and in terms of competing for state as a team.”

Andrejek (16-6), whose best previous tournament finish this season was a third at Rockford East, won a pair of two-point decisions to advance to the finals, including a 10-8 overtime triumph over Maine South senior Cole Cichowski in the semifinals.

Werner (3-1) performed well in his season debut, getting two falls and bouncing back from his narrow semifinal loss with a 7-4 victory in the third-place match over Cichowski (8-6), who was competing in his first individual tournament this year.

182 – Evan Grazzini, York

York junior Evan Grazzini was one of only two Berman Classic champions who didn’t need to go the full six minutes in any of his three matches as he captured the title at 182 with a fall in 2:53 over Leyden’s Sebastian Rojas to improve to 15-4 on the season.

Grazzini opened with a win by technical fall before getting a pin in 3:37 over Fremd sophomore AJ Del Mar in the semifinals to become one of the three Dukes to reach the title mat and the only one to capture a title, which also was the initial championship for the team who had no title winners at Prospect, where Grazzini placed third.

“It feels great,” Grazzini said. “This is my first one in high school. I need to stay within myself. When I stick to my game plan and I wrestle like I know how to wrestle, I’m a pretty good wrestler and I think that will be the difference-maker when it gets time to go downstate. We have a really strong team and we work well together. Everybody has the same goals and we’re rolling. It allows us to thrive with us all wanting the same thing and being able to work together, it’s great.”

Rojas (2-1) won his first match of the season by injury default and advanced to the finals with a fall in 3:01 in the semifinals over Minooka’s Tyler Green, who was also seeing his first competition of the season.

Del Mar went 2-1 on the day with two falls, with the last one coming in the third-place match where he recorded a pin in 1:36 over Green.

195 – Colin O’Neill, Leyden

Leyden senior Colin O’Neill not only claimed his second tournament championship in two tries when he claimed top honors at 195 but he also was the Berman Classic’s Outstanding Wrestler Award winner after recording a fall in 3:55 over Mundelein senior Henri Ortiz.

O’Neill, who was ranked eighth in Class 3A at 182, added to the Conant championship that he won at 195 to start the season. He advanced to the title mat with a 9-4 decision over Maine South junior Tommy Porrello. He credits much of his improvement to his coach, John Kading, a 2000 IWCOA hall of famer.

“I started off kind of rough and missed the first week or so of wrestling,” O’Neill said. “I was no more so scared as I would say, determined, to push myself harder than I would before. I have a short amount of time in a week and x amount of hours at practice. There’s definitely a lot more to work on, not even for myself since I think I’m doing good, but more for what our coach wants us to do. He sees so much potential in every wrestler. He’s one of the best, so I’m grateful.”

Ortiz (2-1) recorded two falls to reach the finals, with one in 4:51 in the semifinals against South Elgin junior Will Ardson (13-5), who took third place after capturing a 10-4 victory over Porrello. 

220 – Casey Bending, Fremd

Fremd junior Casey Bending captured his first tournament title of the season and joined five Vikings teammates on top of the award stand after capturing top honors at 220 with a 3-0 victory over Leyden senior Gus Tosterud.

Bending, who finished third at Prospect, improved to 24-6 after opening with a pair of falls, including one in 3:00 over Hinsdale South junior Griffin Carr in the semifinals. 

“As a team, we definitely earned this spot after going through other tournaments,” Bending said. “We’ve had really great conditioning and I’d say that all of the conditioning has paid off. I don’t know where I’d be without coach Keske. I play in two other sports, football and track and field. Not only does wrestling help you physically, but it also changes you mentally and emotionally. I’m glad that I’ve been able to wrestle with them since junior high school. I’m glad that I could have someone just looking after me and also have someone that I can get some tips from.”

Tosterud (12-4), an IWCOA qualifier who placed fourth at Conant, recorded two first-period falls to become one of three finalists for the Eagles. In the semifinals, he won by fall in 1:38 over Palatine senior Leonel Franco.

Carr (11-7), who took third at the Matozzi invite, claimed third place again when he won by injury default over Franco (13-6), who placed third at Buffalo Grove.

285 – Cristian Gonzalez, Fremd

Fremd senior Cristian Gonzalez captured his initial varsity tournament title and did so by winning three decisions, with the last one being a 7-6 victory over Zion-Benton senior Sean Taylor in the 285 title match. 

Gonzalez, who is 10-1, won 3-1 in his opener and then captured a 5-0 decision over York junior Dom Begora in the semifinals to earn a spot as one of his team’s seven finalists and six champions that helped lead 10th-ranked Fremd to the team title.

“This was my first varsity tournament ever,” Gonzalez said. “It was a great feeling, surreal almost. I came off the mat and saw everyone cheering me on and knowing what our team accomplished was a great feeling. Our slogan is ‘all in’ and everybody is really committed to that this year. Everybody is doing everything that they can for the team at all times, whether that’s in practice or in a match, they’re leaving everything on the mat. We have some really good guys at our lighter weights that start us on a really good note and we have good guys throughout. It’s a really good program overall and we showed that today and I hope that we can continue to show that for the rest of the season.”

Taylor (12-2) opened with a pair of falls, with the second of those coming in 2:40 in the semifinals against Grayslake North junior Nik Green. Begora (7-5) recorded a fall in 1:56 in the third place-match against Green (6-4).

By Curt Herron, For the IWCOA

MACHESNEY PARK – There wasn’t very much separating the top two scoring teams at the 33rd annual Al Dvorak Invitational at Harlem in Machesney Park as Detroit Catholic Central and Mount Carmel battled throughout the two days for who would emerge as champions.

When all was said and done on Sunday, the Caravan had more champions, 3-2, and more finalists, 6-3, but the Shamrocks were able to place at 11 weights while Mount Carmel had nine medalists and that proved to be good enough to help the program that features four returning individual champions which has won eight Michigan Division 1 championships since 2010 to become the first program from their state to win a Dvorak title, prevailing by a 234.5-230 margin.

Coach Mitch Hancock’s championship squad got titles from Dylan Gilcher (138) and Manuel Rojas (182), a second-place effort from Drew Heethuis (120), third-place showings from Simon Dominguez (106) and Darius Marines (152) and a fourth-place finish from Clayton Jones (132).

Mount Carmel continued its success in the Dvorak, finishing second for the third time in six years and it’s placed among the top-four teams in each of the last seven tournaments.

Leading the way for coach Alex Tsirtsis’ Caravan, who are first in 3A in Rob Sherill’s IWCOA rankings, are champions Seth Mendoza (106), Sergio Lemley (126), and Ryan Boersma (285), second-place finishers Eddie Enright (132), Colin Kelly (160) and Elliott Lewis (195) and third-place finisher Damian Resendez (113). Boersma and Lemley also won titles in 2019 and Boersma placed for the third time.

“We’ve had three meat-grinder weeks in a row, we were in Iowa in the beginning of December, the Ironman last week and here this weekend and it’s really good to see growth of the kids,” Tsirtsis said. “Not necessarily our top three guys because they’ve been performing well week in and week out but getting those other guys to really step up and they’ve knocked a lot of rust off and they keep getting better. 

“This is going to be our first time of the year that we can have an extended training period, so we’re really looking forward to that for the next few weeks just trying to get better. We did a really good job getting better this week in the room with short time. I’m excited to get in there and have these guys really focus on polishing up things.”

DeKalb, which is second-ranked in 3A, took third place with 167 points. Leading coach Sam Hiatt’s Barbs were champion Tommy Curran (145), runner-up Bradley Gillum (182) and fourth-place finishers Danny Aranda (120) and Damien Lopez (152).

Lockport, which is ranked third in 3A, finished fourth with 150 points. Pacing coach Josh Oster’s Porters were champion Brayden Thompson (170), second-place finishers David Vukobratovich (113) and Andrew Blackburn-Forst (220) and fourth-place finishers Logan Swaw (145) and Paul Kadlec (160).

Amery, Wisconsin took fifth with 138.5 points while Aurora Christian, ranked fifth in 2A, was sixth with 131 points. Top performers for coach Danny Alcocer’s Eagles were champion Braden Stauffenberg (152), second-place finishers Deven Casey (106), Joe Fernau (126) and Taythan Silva (145) and third-place finisher Nate Wemstrom (195).

Marist, which is ranked fifth in 3A, took seventh place with 127.5 points. Leading the way for coach Brendan Heffernan’s RedHawks were champion Peter Marinopoulos (195) and third-place finisher Ghee Rachal (220), who placed in the event for the third time.

Hersey (112.5, eighth), Plainfield North (106, ninth), St. Charles East (105, tenth), Libertyville (98.5, 11th) and Dakota (97, 12th) rounded out the top third of the 36-team event.

Also winning championships were Crystal Lake South’s Josh Glover (113), St. Charles East’s Ben Davino (120), Plainfield North’s Jacob Macatangay (132), McHenry’s Chris Moore (160) and Amery’s Koy Hopke (220).

Other second-place finishers were Moline’s Kole Brower (138), Conant’s Ethan Stiles (152), McHenry’s Brody Hallin (170) and Glenbard North’s Paulie Robertson (285).

Davino was the recipient of the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler Award while Dakota’s Maddux Blakely had the most falls in the shortest amount of time, which was four.

Fifteen individuals added to the medals that they won in the 2019 tournament and another got to the awards stand for the first time since 2018.

Here’s a breakdown of the champions of the 33rd annual Al Dvorak Invitational along with the placewinners who are in their weight class:

106 – Seth Mendoza, Mount Carmel

Few Illinois high school wrestlers will be able to say that during their first month in the sport that they’ve already won two titles in elite tournaments and also posted a fifth-place showing in one of the nation’s top events. But that’s just what Mount Carmel freshman Seth Mendoza has achieved during his impressive debut after rolling to four decisive victories to capture the 106 pound Dvorak championship, following up on a fifth-place showing at the Walsh Ironman one week earlier and a championship at the Dan Gable Donnybrook in Iowa the previous weekend.

Mendoza, who is off to a 19-2 start and is top-ranked at 106 in Class 3A, recorded falls in his first match and in the quarterfinals against Plainfield North’s Maddox Garbis before claiming a win by technical fall against Jacobs’ Dominic Ducato in the semifinals. He capped off his tournament trifecta with a 9-2 victory in the championship over another freshman who is off to a great start, Aurora Christian’s Deven Casey.

“It makes me feel great,” Mendoza said. “Just going out there and dominating and having fun. I was unsatisfied (at the Ironman) because I know that I could have done a lot better and I’ll get them back later. We’re working hard every day in the room with all of our guys who have been in finals. But even the guys who haven’t been in the finals, they’re still coming out here and placing and doing pretty good. Our team in general has been doing really good so we just need to keep that up.”

Casey has also had a very impressive debut during which time he kicked things off with a title at Barrington’s Moore-Prettyman tournament and then fell just shy of a medal at the Ironman, when he lost to Mendoza in the blood round. He owns a 17-4 record and is ranked second at 106 in 2A after getting a fall in his first match and winning 18-5 over Yorkville’s Raymond Cavey in the quarterfinals. He captured a 3-2 semifinal victory over Belvidere/Belvidere North’s Brayden Tuenissen to reach the finals.

Ducato (16-4), a junior who placed fourth in the IWCOA finals and is ranked fifth in 3A after settling for fourth place following a 3-1 loss to Detroit Catholic Central’s Simon Dominguez (11-3). Three other freshmen also joined Mendoza and Casey on the awards stand. Tuenissen (15-3) claimed an 8-0 victory over Amery’s Brendan Burke (9-4) for fifth-place and for in the seventh-place match, Glenbard North’s Kalani Khiev (11-2), who won a title at Conant, claimed a 9-2 win over Edwardsville’s Levi Wilkinson (17-5).

113 – Josh Glover, Crystal Lake South

There’s no better way to kick off tournament performances than by winning a Dvorak championship in your initial individual competition of the season. That’s what Crystal Lake South senior Josh Glover accomplished in a new setting when he captured an 8-4 victory over Lockport’s David Vukobratovich to claim the 113 pound championship. 

Glover, who was third in the IWCOA finals and second in 2019 at state while at Marian Central Catholic, improved to 19-0 and is top-ranked in Class 2A. After getting a fall in his first match, he beat Marist’s Michael Esteban 8-0 in the quarterfinals and followed that with a 13-1 major decision over Plainfield South’s Rudy Silva in the semifinals.

“This is my first year here after transferring to South,” said Glover. “I love it and the team’s a lot of fun. I wanted to put it all on the line and to test myself against these 3A kids to try to scale how I’ll do at the tournament. I’ve expanded my variety of different leg attacks and that was a big part.”

Vukobratovich, a senior who is 9-2 and ranked second in 3A, definitely made a name for himself this week after winning an overtime tiebreaker over an Ironman placer, Homewood-Flossmoor’s Deion Johnson, in a dual meet and then being one of three Porters to reach the title mat. After recording falls in his first two matches, he won by technical fall over Hersey’s Maksim Mukhamedaliyev in the quarterfinals and claimed a 9-6 semifinals victory over Mount Carmel’s Damian Resendez.

Resendez (15-4), a sophomore who is ranked third at 113 in 3A with a third at the Donnybrook and a third at the IWCOA finals to his credit, claimed third place with a win by technical fall over Silva (15-4), a sophomore ranked eighth in 3A who was a finalist at Barrington. Freshman Esteban (14-4) placed fifth with a 13-6 decision over freshman Mukhamedaliyev (15-10) while Round Lake sophomore Alejandro Cordova (15-8) got a fall in 5:14 over Plainfield North sophomore Cayden Amico (18-5) to finish seventh.

120 – Ben Davino, St. Charles East

In order for an individual to win the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the Dvorak Invitational, you’d better leave quite an impression on the coaches and St. Charles East’s Ben Davino has already demonstrated that he’s very good at doing just that. The Saints sophomore received the ultimate recognition in the 36-team competition after wrapping up his two-day performance with a 13-4 major decision in the 120 title match over Detroit Catholic Central’s Drew Heethuis, who was a Michigan Division 1 state champion last season.

Davino, who improved to 15-1 and ranks first in 3A, was one of four Illinois individuals to wrestle for titles at the Ironman, where he lost a 5-2 decision to Blair Academy’s Mark Anthony McGowan in the 120 finals. A champion at 113 in the IWCOA finals in June, he kicked off his Dvorak run with a pair of wins by technical fall, with one coming in the quarterfinals over Aurora Christian’s Josh Vasquez. Davino earned his spot in the title match with a 3-1 victory over Libertyville’s Caelan Riley in the semifinals.

“It was nice, there was a lot of good competition and I had a lot of fun wrestling,” Davino said. “It’s the whole process of getting better throughout it. Taking the losses and using them as fuel and using them to learn. I’m super happy to be with my coaches, they are super helpful and they add a lot of value to my wrestling. They know what they are talking about, and it’s awesome.”

Riley (17-3), a senior who’s ranked fifth in 3A, claimed third place with a 7-0 victory over DeKalb sophomore Danny Aranda (13-4), who is ranked sixth in 3A. Riley took second at Barrington, was sixth at the IWCOA finals and placed third in the 2019 Dvorak. Aranda, who was second at the Gable Donnybrook and took fifth at the IWCOA, also reached the semifinals, where he dropped a 5-2  decision to Heethuis.

Marist freshman Will Denny (15-3) is ranked eighth in 3A after claiming an 11-3 victory over Conant junior Sammy Santangelo (9-3) in the fifth-place match. Vasquez (14-6), a freshman who is ranked sixth in 2A, suffered an injury in a consolation match and defaulted in the seventh-place match against Milton freshman Aiden Slama (16-2).

126 – Sergio Lemley, Mount Carmel

Sergio Lemley won his first Illinois tournament since capturing the IHSA 3A title at 113 as a freshman for the Caravan when he claimed a 5-1 victory in the Dvorak finals at 126 over Aurora Christian’s Joe Fernau, who also won an IHSA 3A title in 2020 at 106 competing for Montini Catholic. Lemley, who improved to 20-1 and is ranked second at 126 at 3A, also was a state champion last season in Indiana competing for Chesterton. Both were finalists in the 2019 Dvorak with Lemley taking first at 113 and Fernau second at 106.

After recording a win by technical fall in his first match, Lemley won a 14-5 major decision over Detroit Catholic Central’s Anthony Walker in the quarterfinals. He advanced to the title mat after getting a fall in 4:39 over Glenbard North’s Paul Woo in the semifinals. This is the second tournament championship of the year for the junior, who also won at the Gable Donnybrook and placed third at the Ironman where he suffered his lone loss, a 3-1 overtime defeat in the semifinals to Homewood-Flossmoor’s Vincent Robinson. 

“Right now I’m kind of unsatisfied,” Lemley said. “I still have Vincent ahead of me so that’s what I’m looking forward to and working toward every day. Right now I’m just taking my time and looking forward to Christmas break and it should be fun. Our 60-pounder, Colin Kelly, has been improving every day and these guys have been putting in the work and we’re improving.”

Fernau, a senior who has a 17-4 record and is ranked third in 2A, was a runner-up at Barrington and fell one win shy of placing at the Ironman. He opened with a fall and then claimed a 10-2 major decision over Jacobs’ James Wright in the quarterfinals. In a dramatic semifinal match, Fernau got a third-period escape to capture a 1-0 victory over Providence Catholic senior Billy Meiszner, who’s ranked fifth in 3A and was an IWCOA runner-up.

Dakota junior Phoenix Blakely (14-3), a 2021 IWCOA and 2020 IHSA 1A champion who is top-ranked in 1A, won a 10-0 major decision over Wright (17-4), a junior who is ranked sixth in 3A. Meiszner (9-2) claimed a 5-1 victory in the fifth-place match over Woo (8-4), a senior who’s ranked tenth in 3A and placed fifth in the Dvorak in 2019. And in the seventh-place match, Milton junior Matt Haldiman (16-3) won by fall in 5:02 over Marist junior Jesse Herrera (13-4), who placed fourth at the IWCOA.

132 – Jacob Macatangay, Plainfield North

A lot of competitors would be thrilled to have a perfect record at this point and to also have won a championship at the state’s top in-season tournament, but Jacob Macatangay saw on Sunday that he still has work on some things in order to make a run at another state championship, which he accomplished with an IWCOA 3A title at 126 in June.

The Plainfield North senior, who’s ranked second in 3A and is a two-time state placewinner, improved to 19-0 after winning the title at 132 by a 7-4 score over Mount Carmel sophomore Eddie Enright, who’s 11-6. He led 5-4 heading into the final period and got a late takedown to seal the victory. That came after he had a battle in the semifinals which he won 9-8 over Bolingbrook senior Joe McDermott. After getting a fall in his opener, he claimed a 16-2 victory over Dakota freshman T.J. Silva in the quarterfinals.

“He was just really long and tall so I had to get to my offense, I had to get my angles and set up my moves,” Macatangay said. “It was a close match, a little too close for comfort. It was a tough tournament and I’m just glad that I came up on top. Our team is really a close-knit team and we grew together, we’re all ;pretty old now and have experienced high school wrestling and we’ve just got better from there.”

Enright, who’s ranked fifth in 3A has a fourth-place finish at the Gable Donnybrook and a fourth in the IWCOA to his credit. He recorded a fall in 3:19 over Detroit Catholic Central’s Clayton Jones (10-2) in the semifinals. Enright also won 5-3 by sudden victory over St. Charles East sophomore Tyler Guerra (15-4) in the quarterfinals after opening with a win by fall. Guerra, who’s sixth-ranked in 3A and fell one win shy of earning a medal at the Ironman, captured third place with a 10-1 victory over Jones. 

Silva (11-3), who’s ranked fourth in 1A, took fifth place when he recorded a fall in 2:35 against McDermott (10-6). And in the seventh-place match, Glenbard North junior Solomon Gilliam (9-5), who placed second at Conant, claimed a 7-5 victory over Marian Central Catholic freshman Vance Williams (17-8), who’s ranked sixth in Class 1A.

138 – Dylan Gilcher, Detroit Catholic Central

Dylan Gilcher improved to 11-0 and became the first of three competitors from out of state and the first of two from his team to win a Dvorak title when he captured a 3-1 victory in the 138 finals over Moline’s Kole Brower. The Detroit Catholic Central junior, who’s a two-time Michigan Division 1 champion, got a takedown in the first period and led 3-0 going into the third period as he handed Brower his first loss in 18 matches. The Maroons senior, who was an IWCOA champ at 132, is top-ranked in 3A at his weight.

Brower, who won a title last week at Prospect, earned his spot in the finals after capturing a 10-3 semifinals victory over Dakota senior Maddux Blakely, who’s ranked second in Class 1A and placed third at state in both 2021 and 2020. After opening with a fall, Brower won by technical fall over DeKalb junior Austin Martin in the quarterfinals.

Blakely (16-1), who won the award for most falls in the least time with four and took fifth in the Dvorak in 2019, claimed third-place by injury default at 2:57 over Edwardsville senior Dylan Gvillo (19-2), who’s ranked third in 3A. Gvillo, an IWCOA runner-up who placed at the Dvorak in 2018, advanced to the semifinals where he fell 12-3 to Gilcher. 

Belvidere/Belvidere North sophomore Colin Young (16-4) captured a 12-3 victory over Martin (13-6) in the fifth-place match and St. Charles East sophomore Gavin Connolly (12-4) won a 2-0 decision over Mount Carmel junior Nam Doan (5-8) in the seventh-place match.

145 – Tommy Curran, DeKalb

When a competitor only needs two minutes to wrap up business in a Dvorak Invitational championship match, they’ll certainly take that result. And that’s just what DeKalb senior Tommy Curran did in the 145 finals when he recorded a fall in 2:00 over Aurora Christian junior Taythan Silva to remain perfect on the season with a 17-0 record.

Curran, who took second in the 2019 Dvorak, is top-ranked and won his second title of the season, with the Gable Donnybrook being the other. The two-time state runner-up and three-time placewinner clearly wants to end up on top of the awards stand in Champaign this season. Curran won 12-1 in the semifinals over Dakota’s Tyler Simmer after claiming a 3-1 quarterfinal win over Lockport’s Logan Swaw and recording a win by technical fall before that.

“It was a really good tournament that was really well run,” Curran said. “We came here as a team to compete and I feel like we did that. We’re still improving as a team and I definitely think that we can be team state champs at the end of the year, and that’s our goal as a team. I was state runner-up twice and I was a Dvorak runner-up two years ago. So it feels really good to get on top of the podium and I want to keep working hard and continue on with the season. It’s going to be a fun one, we’re really looking forward to it.”

Silva, a junior who’s 18-3 and top-ranked in 2A with a Barrington title to his credit, followed up on a major decision in his opener with a 4-3 quarterfinal win over Moline junior Noah Tapia, the IWCOA 3A champion at 138 who is second-ranked in 3A and won a title at Prospect last weekend and was unbeaten and is now 18-1. Silva earned his spot in the finals when he claimed a 6-2 semifinals victory over Belvidere/Belvidere North junior Antonio Alvarado, who’s ranked eighth in 3A. 

Tapia, who placed sixth in the 2019 Dvorak, bounced back from his quarterfinals setback to claim third place with a fall in 1:18 against Swaw (12-3), a junior who is ranked sixth in 3A. In the fifth-place match, Alvarado (10-3) won 8-2 over Dakota senior Simmer (14-3), who’s ranked second in 1A. The seventh-place match featured two out-of-state competitors going at it with Milton’s Royce Nilo (13-3) claiming an 8-0 major decision over Detroit Catholic Central’s Steven Shellenberger (8-4).

152 – Braden Stauffenberg, Aurora Christian

When you can pull out a dramatic win against an individual who won a state title in June and is a two-time placer, it’s definitely something to get pumped up about. And based on some of the other quality performances that Aurora Christian’s Braden Stauffenberg has already had this season, the senior should continue to be a contender in any event.

Stauffenberg improved to 23-2 after getting a late takedown and nearfall to record a 7-3 victory over Conant’s Ethan Stiles in the 152 championship match. Ranked second in 2A after finishing fifth at the Ironman and winning a title at Barrington, the senior is hopeful that he can greatly improve upon his sixth-place finish in 2020 while competing for Montini Catholic, where he was a teammate with Stiles. Stauffenberg, who took seventh in the 2019 Dvorak, advanced to the finals with a 3-0 semifinals win over DeKalb’s Damien Lopez after winning 3-2 against Detroit Catholic Central’s Darius Marines, a 2021 Michigan Division 1 state champ, in the quarterfinals that followed a major decision.

“It feels good coming in my senior year at Aurora Christian  and my last year at the Dvorak, so ending up with a ‘W’ feels great,” Stauffenberg said. “We all as a team have one goal and that’s to win the team state and individual state. Overall, our goal is to come out and perform our hardest and win these types of matches in hard-fought tournaments. I did not have my junior year, which is one of the biggest seasons for a wrestler. So we’re ready to grind and ready to win.”

Stiles, a junior who won the IWCOA 3A 145 title and took third place in 2020, suffered his first defeat in 11 matches. After opening the Dvorak with a fall, Stiles won by technical fall over St. Charles East’s Lane Robinson in the quarterfinals and won a 13-6 decision in the semifinals over Crystal Lake Central’s Dillon Carlson, who’s ranked fourth in 2A.

In the third-place match, Lopez (13-3), a senior who’s ranked third in 3A with a third-place showing at the Donnybrook to go with his sixth-place IHSA showing in 2020 and second at the Dvorak in 2019, dropped an 8-6 decision to Marines. Carlson (17-3), a runner-up at Barrington, won the fifth-place match by injury default over Milton’s Michael Schliem (15-5). And Edwardsville senior Jorden Johnson (19-2), who’s ranked tenth in 3A, claimed seventh place with a 7-4 victory over Amery’s Wyatt Ingham (7-4).

160 – Chris Moore, McHenry

The 160 Dvorak championship match featured a clash of the top two rated individuals in Class 3A, McHenry junior Chris Moore and Mount Carmel sophomore Colin Kelly, and Moore captured a 3-1 victory to improve to 21-0 on the season while Kelly fell to 16-4. 

Moore, an IHSA 2A champ at 113 in 2020 for Aurora Christian and an IWCOA 2A runner-up at 138 at Marian Central Catholic, added to a title win at Prospect by going 4-0 with two decisions following a pair of wins by technical fall, which included a quarterfinals win over Conant’s CJ Gilbert. In the semifinals, he defeated Marist’s Tommy Boland 14-7.

“I feel real good,” Moore said. “I felt like I had a good tournament and scored a lot of points and was moving a lot better than I have been. We wrestled a little bit over the offseason in a couple of tournaments but it mainly was just training hard and getting prepared for this year. There’s a little bit that we have to work on to get better and now it’s just getting prepared for the state series.”

Kelly, a third-place finisher in the IWCOA finals who was third at the Gable Donnybrook, followed up on a tech fall with a 6-2 quarterfinals win over Hersey senior Billy Spassov, who’s ranked fourth in 3A and has a Joliet Central title and third at Prospect to his credit, before winning 11-2 over Detroit Catholic Central’s Tatum Bunn in the semifinals.

Spassov (16-2) captured a 4-0 victory in the third-place match over Lockport senior Paul Kadlec (10-5), who’s ranked ninth in 3A and placed sixth at the IWCOA. Boland (14-2), who’s ranked fifth in 3A and was fifth at the IWCOA and in the 2019 Dvorak, won by injury default over Bunn (3-3) for fifth place. And Gilbert (12-4), who’s a senior, took seventh place by injury default over Plainfield North senior Jared Gumila (20-3), who’s ranked seventh in 3A and was fourth in the IHSA in 2020.

170 – Brayden Thompson, Lockport

Two unbeatens met up in the 170 championship match with Lockport junior Brayden Thompson claiming a 2-0 decision over McHenry senior Brody Hallin. Thompson, who’s 12-0 and top-ranked in 3A, advanced to the finals with an 8-5 victory over Milton’s Aeoden Sinclair while Hallin, who’s 20-1 and ranked third in 3A, prevailed 3-2 in his semifinals match against Amery’s Eddie Simes.

Thompson, who was a champion at the Dan Gable Donnybrook, took third in the IHSA in 2020 at Montini Catholic and placed fifth in the Dvorak in 2019, got a fall in his first match followed by a win by technical fall in the quarterfinals over Libertyville junior Austin Gomez, who’s ranked fifth with a second at Prospect and a third at Barrington.

“They have a good room with good coaches right now, so it’s awesome,” Thompson said. “Making weight and doing everything that we do as a team is awesome to be able to do that again this year. We’re coming man and we’re gunning for that state title, for sure, 100 percent. Jameson and Josh Oster have a lot of knowledge behind what they do and they’ve been there and done it. My goal is not to just win state, it’s to be the number one kid in the country.”

Hallin, a three-time state qualifier and fourth-place finisher in the IWCOA finals who won a title at Prospect, got a fall in his first match and then captured a 5-1 quarterfinals victory over Detroit Central Catholic’s Cameron Adams.

In an all-Wisconsin clash for third, Sinclair (17-1) won 5-3 over Simes (9-2). Gomez (17-6) claimed fifth place by injury default over DeKalb senior Lukes Schmerbach (15-4), who’s ranked sixth with a fifth in 3A. And for seventh place, Adams (9-3) was a 4-1 winner over Crystal Lake Central junior Ben Butler (15-9), who’s ranked ninth in 2A..

182 – Manuel Rojas, Detroit Catholic Central

DeKalb senior Bradley Gillum, who won an IWCOA 3A title at 170 and was second in the IHSA in 3A at 160 in 2020, hoped to capture a Dvorak title at 182 against Detroit Catholic Central senior Manuel Rojas, a two-time Michigan Division 1 state champ, but his hopes were dashed due to an injury, which forced him to default in 2:22.

Gillum, who is 16-2, is top-ranked in 3A after opening with a win by technical fall and then recording a fall in 1:36 over Marist’s Conor Phelan in the quarterfinals and capturing a 3-2 semifinal victory over Crystal Lake South’s Shane Moran, who’s top-ranked in 2A. Gillum, a three-time state qualifier, also took second place at the Gable Donnybrook.

For third place, Libertyville senior Josh Knudten (18-2) captured a 7-5 decision over Moran. Knudten is ranked third with a title at Prospect and a second at Barrington and also placed fifth at the IWCOA. Moran (18-2)  is a two-time state placewinner, finishing fourth at the IWCOA and sixth at the IHSA in 2020. 

In the fifth place match, Amery’s Grant Cook (11-2) was a 5-0 winner over Mount Carmel sophomore Rylan Breen (12-8), who’s ranked ninth in 3A. And for seventh place, St. Charles East sophomore Brandon Swartz (13-4) claimed a 5-2 decision over Belvidere/Belvidere North junior A.J. Piloni (11-4).

195 – Peter Marinopoulos, Marist

As a freshman, Peter Marinopoulos was a team manager for Marist. Two years later as a junior, he’s one of the 14 champions in the Dvorak Invitational following a 7-3 win over Mount Carmel senior Elliott Lewis in the 195 finals. And even though he qualified for the IWCOA Class 3A finals in June, Marinopoulos, who owns a 16-0 record, had an injury default in his first match and a medical forfeit in the next due to an injury that occurred in the sectional.

Marinopoulos, who’s ranked second in 3A, got a pin in his first match, claimed a 9-8 win over Aurora Christian’s Nate Wemstrom in the quarterfinals and won 4-2 over Avery’s Kale Hopke, a Wisconsin Division 2 state champion, in the semifinals. Lewis, who’s 11-5 and ranked third in 3A and took fifth in the Dvorak in 2019, won his first match by fall and beat Dakota’s Noah Wenzel on an ultimate tiebreaker. He won 6-3 over Conant’s Henry Chang in the quarterfinals and 7-3 over DeKalb’s Bryson Buhk in the semifinals.

“This is my first year coming here,” Marinopoulos said. “In my freshman year, I was a manager and watching all of my teammates wrestle. So now coming here and competing, it was actually really nice that I won. I was really excited to start wrestling with all of the good guys to get me better, so I’m just glad to be here. I was really excited to get back in the room and start wrestling again with all of my teammates to start getting better. It’s really exciting and it’s helping with the recruiting process, so it’s great.”

In the third-place match, Wemstrom defeated  Wenzel by a 9-1 score. Wemstrom (19-3), a senior who is ranked third in 2A, won a title at Barrington and was fourth in the 2019 Dvorak. Wenzel (16-2), a sophomore who is ranked second in 1A, claimed fourth place at the IWCOA finals.

For fifth place, Hopke (9-2) captured a 5-4 victory over Buhk (12-6), a senior who’s ranked fourth in 3A and placed fifth in the IWCOA finals. And in the seventh-place match, Detroit Catholic Central freshman Connor Bercume (11-2) won 8-3 over Libertyville junior Cole Matulenko (17-5). who won a title at Prospect.

220 – Koy Hopke, Amery

Lockport ‘s Andrew Blackburn-Forst isn’t likely going to find himself trailing 6-0 in the first period of many matches this season, but that’s just where the IWCOA champ and two-time placewinner who’s top-ranked in 3A was against Amery sophomore Koy Hopke in the 220 finals. After the Porter senior closed the gap to 7-4, Hopke claimed a 10-4 win.

Blackburn-Forst (4-1) had praise for his opponent, who won a Wisconsin Division 2 state title last season, but also admits that he hasn’t had much time to get into top shape after turning in an all-state season as a defensive lineman and helping Lockport to win the IHSA Class 8A football championship. Blackburn-Forst reached the finals with three first-period falls, pinning Hersey’s Manny Mejia in 0:39 in the quarterfinals and Plainfield South’s John Pacewic in 1:50 in the semifinals. Hopke (10-0), whose team won the Division 2 dual team championship, advanced with three falls, needing just 0:24 in the first two before requiring 2:19 in the semifinals against Marist’s Ghee Rachal.

Rachal (13-2), a senior who’s ranked second in 3A, recorded a fall in 4:58 over Pacewic (12-2), who’s fifth in 3A, to claim third-place. Both also placed in the 2019 Dvorak with Rachal taking third and Pacewic eighth. Rachal, who took fourth at the IWCOA finals, also placed at the Dvorak in his freshman year, making him one of two in the field to be a three-time medalist while Pacewic also has a Barrington title to his credit this season.

Providence Catholic senior Liam McDermott (18-2), who’s ranked sixth with a title at Antioch to his credit, won 3-1 over Detroit Catholic Central senior Sean Field (8-4) for fifth. And Yorkville sophomore Ben Alvarez (18-3), who’s ranked seventh and was third at Barrington, claimed a 13-6 win over Grant junior Cameron Lattimore (10-9) for seventh. .

285 – Ryan Boersma, Mount Carmel

Repeating as a Dvorak champion and being a three-time medalist at the Invitational is always an impressive accomplishment, but that’s especially the case when an athlete pulls off that performance in just three visits to the event, which is just what Mount Carmel senior Ryan Boersma achieved when he claimed a 4-1 victory over previously-unbeaten Glenbard North senior Paulie Robertson in the event’s final championship at 285. He placed third as a freshman and won a title as a sophomore at Providence Catholic.

Boersma (19-2), who’s top-ranked at 285 with a first in the Gable Donnybrook and a fifth at the Ironman to his credit, opened with two major decisions, including a 9-1 quarterfinals victory over Plainfield North’s Kaden McCombs, who’s ranked ninth in 3A. The Mount Carmel senior, who’s a three-time state qualifier who won the IWCOA title in June and was fifth at 285 in the IHSA in 2020, earned his spot in the finals with a fall in 3:25 over Crystal Lake South sophomore Andy Burburijia, who’s ranked eighth in 2A.

“It’s obviously not the result that I wanted there, but it’s good to know what I need to work on,” Boersma said of the Ironman. “That’s the whole purpose of going there early in the year so we know what to work on. I’m building toward state, and team state, especially. The official IHSA title, that’s what we’re in the hunt for. We had a really good tournament here and I think we’ll continue to improve. Coach Tsirtsis is awesome and we’re going to keep getting better and hopefully show that at both individual and team state.”

Robertson, who’s 11-1 and ranked second in 3A with a title at Conant and a third-place finish at the IWCOA to his credit, followed a fall with a 6-0 quarterfinal win over Hersey junior Oleg Simakov and won 3-1 in sudden victory over Amery senior Robert Beese. Beese (10-1) recorded a fall in 4:29 over Simakov (19-6) to claim third place, McCombs (18-6) captured a 5-0 decision over Burburijia (16-5) for fifth place and Crystal Lake Central junior Leo Diaz (17-5), who’s ranked ninth in 2A, got a pin in 1:34 against Bolingbrook senior Frank Oliveira (4-3) in the seventh-place match.

By Curt Herron

For the IWCOA

HARVARD – Tim Haak and his son Shane obviously have a lot of great memories about Harvard’s Sciacca/Holtfreter Tournament, a staple in the sport for over half a century, and they were fortunate to be able to add another special chapter to the fascinating story on Saturday.

For 27 years, Tim was the head coach at Harvard, where he set an IHSA record for wins at a program with 636, which also ranked in the top-five nationally when he retired in 2014 as head coach in both wrestling and football. His program advanced to dual team state 13 times, placed four times with a title in 1992 and won 26 regional titles. He coached 105 qualifiers, 40 placewinners and 10 state  champions and was on the IHSA wrestling advisory committee and also the IWCOA Board of Directors. Tim was inducted into the IWCOA hall of fame in 2001 and in 2018 he received the Lifetime Service to Wrestling award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Illinois Chapter.

Harvard has the rare distinction of having had three head coaches who were inducted into the IWCOA hall of fame, with tournament namesakes John Sciacca (1986) and Richard Holtfreter (1993) the others. Thanks to the efforts of their hall of fame coaches as well as six decades of dedicated Hornets athletes, the school has won over 1,100 dual meets, which ranks second behind Granite City.

On Saturday, the pair returned to Harvard with 2008 graduate Shane as head coach and Tim assisting him for Portage High from Portage, Wisconsin. Thanks to seven individuals placing fourth or better, the Warriors were able to capture the title of the 54th annual tournament with 170.5 points while Riverside-Brookfield finished in second place with 162.5 points and Harvard claimed third place with 157.5 points.

“This is gratifying,” said Tim Haak, who has assisted Shane for four years. “I know two years ago when we came, my wife asked how is it going to feel when you come back. I said that it was going to be surreal but as soon as the whistle blows, we’re going to be for our guys. The neat thing is that I get a chance to coach with my son and he’s taken a program that had very few kids in it and built it up. 

“I was at Woodstock, where I graduated from, when coach Sciacca coached here and I coached under coach Holtfreter when I first came here. It’s rewarding to see that former athletes are back coaching and you can see how tough they are and the style of wrestling continues. It’s exciting for me to come back because you give your whole life here, you want it to succeed, so I was real excited when David (Schultz) became the head coach. And it’s about building relationships. I’m close to many of them and still stay in contact with so many of our former wrestlers and football players. It’s humbling that you can build those life-long relationships and I’ve been very fortunate.”

Nine schools had individual champions with the host Hornets leading the way with three. Prairie Ridge (134), Woodstock (134) and Richmond-Burton (132) finished fourth-through sixth in the 12-team competition and all of those schools had two champions.

Winning titles for Harvard were Brian Hernandez (106), Ivan Rosas (145) and Nathan Rosas (195) while Riverside-Brookfield’s lone champion was Brock Hoyd (170) and Portage’s only title winner was Chase Beckett (126), who also was also received tournament’s outstanding wrestler award. He was one of several team members who competed in the tournament in 2019, when he won a title and his team took third place.

Harvard’s head coach is David Schultz, a 2001 graduate of the school who was a Class A runner-up at 275 during his senior season. He was coached by Tim Haak and his father, Neil Schultz, who is also a former Harvard wrestler who was Haak’s assistant coach for 20 years and ran tournaments there and the 2013 IWCOA hall of famer was on hand again to help during the tournament’s return following its one-year hiatus. 

“It’s a tournament that I wrestled in and obviously grew up in,” said Shane Haak, who’s in his seventh year at Portage. “It’s cool for Portage to bring them down here but just the tradition of the tournament since there’s countless Division I All-Americans and state place-winning teams that have wrestled in it.  

“Also what the sport does for your life as well and how it shapes you to be a better person and the Harvard program has certainly done that to countless individuals over the past 50-something years with the three hall of fame coaches and now David Schultz being here.”

The top two Illinois teams in the field made trips to the IHSA dual team tournament in 2020 with coach Nick Curby’s Riverside-Brookfield team advancing in 2A and Schultz’s Harvard squad qualifying in 1A. 

“We took second at the Fenton Invite a couple of weeks ago and were second here, it was a great job,” Curby said. “We had our hopes set and going into the second day we were leading. We didn’t have the semifinal round that we wanted, but we have a lot of young guys still in the lineup and they’re still learning. They’re going to take their lumps, but it’s about learning from that and continuing to move forward and to get better and it will start showing up in the matches.

“On that state team we had seven or eight sophomores so we knew that we’d have some experience going into last year and we got as much out of last year as we could. We’ll have a nice blend of upperclassmen and underclassmen on this team. And it’s just about how those guys step in and start filling the shoes that we have to fill at the varsity lineup and they’ve been doing a great job. They’re not want to be yet but they’re working on it. As a coach, I can’t ask for anything more than the hard work that they’re putting in.”

Prairie Ridge got titles from Tyler Evans (120) and Eddie Ferree (160), Woodstock’s champions were Alex Iversen (152) and Gavin Loiselle (220), and Richmond-Burton got titles from Emmett Nelson (113) and Brody Rudkin (132). Also winning tournament titles were Belvidere/Belvidere North’s Kamryn LaBeau (138), Woodstock North’s Henry Goetz (182) and Bremen’s Eric Perez-Nava (285).

Individuals who lost in the finals were Portage’s Landon Heitmeier (138), Jordan Starr (170) and Jack Callen (195), Richmond-Burton’s Clay Madula (106) and Isaac Jones (145), Bremen’s Charles Portis (113) and Jesus Sanchez (132), Riverside-Brookfield’s Mateo Costello (126), Prairie Ridge’s Charlie Ferree (152), Harvard’s Gabe Sanchez (182), Belvidere/Belvidere North’s TJ Mitchell (220), North Boone’s Ethan Delgado (285) and Portage extras Jayson Kreier (120) and Oz Gaytan (160).

The top three teams in the points standings all had seven medal winners for top-four finishes and the next three teams had six individuals who advanced to the awards stand. All but one of the schools in the 12-team event were able to have multiple medalists.

Here’s a list of the tournament champions and their weight classes:

106: Brian Hernandez, Harvard

Harvard’s Brian Hernandez became the first of three champions for the host school when he recorded a fall in 3:17 over Richmond-Burton’s Clay Madula in the 106 finals.

This was the second tournament finals appearance for the senior, who placed second at Vernon Hills and he is now ranked sixth in Class 1A. After getting a first period fall in his opening match, Hernandez defeated Elmwood Park’s Jack Dombeck 12-6 in the semifinals to earn his spot on the title mat.

“I’m excited to show what I can do this year,” Hernandez said. “I participated in a tournament and I got second there when I wrestled 113. I love my teammates. Everybody is very talented and has their own set of skills. I can always count on my team to come through and if it’s a tough meet, I’m confident sending out any one of them on the mat and am sure that they can get the job done.”

Madula reached the finals with a fall in 3:37 over Riverside-Brookfield’s Matt Decosola in the semifinals. Dombeck bounced back from his semifinal loss by getting a win by technical fall and then recording a fall in 5:12 in the third-place match against Woodstock North’s Anthony Matejzk, who pinned Decosola to assure himself of a medal.

113: Emmett Nelson, Richmond-Burton

Emmett Nelson used two falls and a victory by technical fall to become the first of Richmond-Burton’s two champions. In the 113 finals, he won by fall in 3:49 over Bremen’s Charles Portis.

Nelson, a freshman who won a title and was co-outstanding wrestler at his school’s DuBois Classic and took third at Rockford East, beat North Boone’s Gavin Eckberg by technical fall in 3:56 to earn his spot in the finals.

“It’s been a great season so far,” Nelson said. “In middle school, we didn’t get two seasons my last two years so it’s great to come back. I haven’t brought home any state medals yet but this year I’m hoping to. Our program has grown a lot over the years and there’s a lot of big guys coming in.”

Portis advanced to the title mat with a fall in his first match and a 2-1 decision over Woodstock’s Daniel Bychowski in the semifinals. Eckberg recorded two falls in the consolation bracket and claimed third place with a pin in 5:49 over Bychowski.

120: Tyler Evans, Prairie Ridge

Prairie Ridge’s Tyler Evans captured his first tournament title of the year following a second at Prospect and a fourth at Barrington when he recorded a fall in 0:28 in the title match over Portage’s Jayson Kreier.

Evans, a junior ranked seventh in Class 2A who placed fourth in the IWCOA finals, recorded a fall in 1:17 in the semifinals over another Portage opponent, Jeffrey Jones, to earn his spot on the title mat.

“In the years past, we haven’t really had that good of a team,” Evans said. “This year we have a brand new coach who is a younger coach who came into the room and he’s really everybodys’ season around. Everybody is putting in the work and It’s really paying off.”

Riverside-Brookfield’s Quintavius Murrell pinned Jones in 3:59 to reach the third-place match, where he was a winner by technical fall in 2:19 over Richmond-Burton’s Dalton Youngs.
126: Chase Beckett, Portage

Portage senior Chase Beckett received the tournament’s outstanding wrestler award after getting two pins and a win by technical fall to claim top honors at 126 which he secured with a fall in 2:35 in the finals over Riverside-Brookfield’s Mateo Costello. The 2020 Wisconsin Division 2 state runner-up and 2019 Sciacca/Holtfreter Tournament champion had never won an OWA before.

Costello, a senior and two-time state qualifier who is ranked eighth in 2A with a title win at Fenton, opened with a pair of falls before capturing a 4-2 victory over Woodstock’s Max Hodory in the semifinals.

“I was very happy coming to this tournament and not only winning it but also getting the most outstanding wrestler ,” Beckett said. “But I feel like our biggest accomplishment and the thing that I was most proud of is our team. It was a big goal of the Haaks to come here to win this tournament being how historically significant it is to their careers. So we were very excited to come here and ultimately come out on top as a team and I think we earned it. The fact that we had a solid wrestler at every weight class and they fought hard and fought for every team point.The Haaks do so much for me. They’ve developed me as a wrestler and I continue to improve no matter which level I’m at and that’s for every kid on our team, too. They’re always working on building the best team and making us the best wrestlers and the best versions of ourselves, on and off the mat.”

Prairie Ridge’s Mikey Meade got bumped into the consolation bracket after falling to Beckett in the quarterfinals. But he responded with two falls and a 12-6 decision over Hodory to reach the third-place match, where he won 5-3 over Harvard’s Marques Merida, who also had two falls and a decision in the consolation bracket following a quarterfinal loss to Hodory.

132: Brody Rudkin, Richmond-Burton

Brody Rudkin became Richmond-Burton’s second champion of the day when he went 4-0 which featured two falls and a decision to send him to the 132 title mat where he won by technical fall in 5:04 over Bremen’s Jesus Sanchez.

Rudkin, a sophomore who was second at Rockford East and third at his own tournament, earned his spot in the finals with a fall in 3:42 over Woodstock North’s Landan Creighton. Meanwhile, Sanchez reached the finals with two falls, including one in 0:46 over Riverside-Brookfield’s Josh Gonzalez in the semifinals.

“We’ve had a relentless training center going on with state champions Jordan Blanton and Ryan Prater and it’s a great experience,” Rudkin said. “I always try to get to state and I want to build up until I get to my senior year.”

Prairie Ridge’s Ryan Koelblinger bounced back from a quarterfinal loss to Sanchez to claim third place after recording a fall and a win by major decision over Creighton before recording a fall in 1:35 over Gonzalez in the third-place match.

138: Kamryn LaBeau, Belvidere/Belvidere North

Kamryn LaBeau was the only champion for Belvidere/Belvidere North after winning all three of his matches with first-period falls, capping his day with a title win at 138 with a pin in 0:45 over Portage’s Landon Heitmeier.

LaBeau, a senior who had a third-place finish at Rockford East, advanced to the finals with a fall in 1:36 over North Boone’s Maysen Smith while Heitmeier advanced with a pin in 1:59 over Richmond-Burton’s Nate Madula.

“It’s crazy,” LaBeau said. “I come out here and I’m nervous every time before my match, but as soon as you step on the mat, it all just goes away and you think back to the wrestling room and do what you practice. I want to win conference and go to state, so I’m going to just keep working toward that and wrestling like I know how to.”

Harvard’s Daniel Rosas lost his quarterfinals match to LaBeau but then recorded three-consecutive falls in the consolation bracket, including one in the third-place match in 1:38 over Woodstock’s Travis Cote, who had a pair of falls in the consolation bracket after losing in the quarterfinals to Heitmeier.

145: Ivan Rosas, Harvard

The host Hornets picked up their second of three titles when senior Ivan Rosas claimed top honors at 145 after winning by technical fall in 3:01 over Richmond-Burton’s Isaac Jones. Rosas, who is ranked fifth in 1A, was a sixth-place finisher at the IWCOA finals.

Rosas earned his spot in the semifinals with a 12-4 major decision over Prairie Ridge’s Xander York. Jones followed up on a pin by claiming a 7-4 semifinals victory over Riverside-Brookfield’s Jacob Noe to reach the finals.

“We usually do pretty good every year and the last time that there was an IHSA event at the end of the year, we qualified for team state, and that was pretty nice,” Rosas said. “We always have a good group of wrestlers and just like the way that we bond, it’s nice. I love all of my teammates.”

York bounced back from his semifinal loss to the eventual champion by recording a fall and then winning 6-0 over Portage’s Garret Crawford in the third-place match.

152: Alex Iversen, Woodstock

Alex Iversen captured Woodstock’s first of two titles when he capped a day in which he had three pins with a fall in 5:06 of the 152 championship match over Prairie Ridge’s Charlie Ferree. 

Iversen, a senior who also placed second at Richmond-Burton, recorded a fall in 2:29 in the semifinals over Riverside-Brookfield’s Cade Tomkins while Ferree won his first two matches by fall, which included a pin in 3:22 in the semifinals over Portage’s David Williams.

“I’ve been to this tournament before and I don’t think that I’ve placed before, so it’s really nice,” Iversen said. “This is a completely different feel than the duals because you’re watching everybody else wrestle and it gets you more hyped up for your own match. So it’s just a really nice  feeling out there.”

Belvidere/Belvidere North’s Nick Taylor lost to Ferree in his first match but responded with a win by technical fall and a pin against Tomkins to advance him to the third-place match, where he got a fall in 2:24 over Harvard’s Kaden Vest, who fell in the quarterfinals to Tomkins and then won three-straight consolation matches, including a pair of two-point decisions.

160: Eddie Ferree, Prairie Ridge

Prairie Ridge’s Eddie Ferree recorded three-consecutive falls to capture the championship at 160, with the final pin coming in 1:11 over Portage’s Oz Gaytan in the finals.

Ferree, a senior, advanced to the title match with a fall in 3:50 over Riverside-Brookfield’s Ethan Ranft while Gaytan reached the finals with a fall in 5:45 over Belvidere/Belvidere North’s Jorge Hernandez in the other semifinal match.

“We have a great team right now but we’re also a young team,” Ferree said. “We just got a new coach this year, Justin Peete. It was great to see him step up and show us exactly what we need to do to succeed. Obviously I’m going to only have one year with him but I’m going to take full advantage of that.””

Bremen’s Konya Lewis-Hunt lost his first match to Ranft in the quarterfinals but then recorded three-straight falls, including one in 1:59  over Ranft to claim third place.

170: Brock Hoyd, Riverside-Brookfield

Brock Hoyd rolled to three wins by fall to give runner-up Riverside-Brookfield its lone champion. He capped off his day with a pin in 2:43 over Portage’s Jordan Starr.

It was the second tournament title of the season for Hoyd, who’s a senior, with the other coming at Fenton. Hoyd, a senior who qualified for state in 2019, earned his spot in the finals with a pin in 0:33 over Prairie Ridge’s Jimmy Stone while Starr advanced with a fall in 3:47 over Belvidere/Belvidere North’s Tayvione Wilson.

“It was frustrating when our season got cut short, but we had to make the most out of it, and we got a lot of matches, which was good,” Hoyd said. “This was some of the better competition that I’ve gotten this year, so it felt good to come out with the win. In my freshman year, (coach Nick) Curby kind of said it was a restart of the program since we didn’t have many achievements in past years. And then in my sophomore year, we qualified for state as a team, which was really big.”

Richmond-Burton’s Alex Reyna lost his opener to Hoyd but won a 4-3 decision over Wilson and then claimed a 10-2 decision over Woodstock’s Zach Canaday, who fell to Wilson in his first match.

182: Henry Goetz, Woodstock North

Woodstock North received its only championship from Henry Goetz who followed up on a pair of falls with a 5-0 decision over Harvard’s Gabe Sanchez in the 182 title match.

Goetz, a senior, advanced to the title match with a fall in 2:36 over North Boone’s Garrett Louis in the semifinals while Sanchez, a junior, recorded two pins, including one in 2:39 over Woodstock’s Jovanni Murillo in the semifinals, to earn a spot in the finals.

“I’m going to make the most of this year and do as much as I can,” Goetz said. “I’ve just been working on my neutral game and getting better. I feel more competitive and stronger out there so I feel good.”

Riverside-Brookfield’s Liam Cote fell to Goetz in the quarterfinals but responded with three-consecutive falls, with the last of those coming in the third-place match where he got a pin in 2:42 over Louis.

195: Nathan Rosas, Harvard

The host Hornets claimed the advantage for champions on the day with three when Nathan Rosas defeated Portage’s Jack Callen in a 7-3 decision in the 195 title match.

Rosas, a senior who’s ranked third in 1A who also won a title at Vernon Hills, finished in fifth place at the weight in 2021 in the IWCOA finals and in 2020 in the IHSA finals. He recorded falls in his first two matches, winning in the semifinals with a pin in 0:34 over Riverside-Brookfield’s Thurman Givens. Callen advanced with an 11-1 semifinals victory over Elmwood Park’s Jack Pedersen.

“It was really tough last year not being able to wrestle as many times as we were used to,” Rosas said. “I feel like I have to make up for what I lost last year. Our team looks solid this year and I think we’re going to do quite amazing, especially with the people that we have in the room. Wrestling and fighting every day us what we want.”

Pedersen bounced back from his semifinal loss to claim third place with a 5-3 victory over Woodstock’s Sean Ryan, who also fell to Pedersen in the quarterfinals before advancing with a pin and an 8-4 win over Givens.

220: Gavin Loiselle, Woodstock

Woodstock senior Gavin Loiselle followed a pair of first-period falls with a pin in 4:57 over Belvidere/Belvidere North’s TJ Mitchell to capture the 220 championship.

Loiselle, who also won a title at Richmond-Burton, recorded a fall in 1:12 in the semifinals over Portage’s Pierce Kristoff while Mitchell advanced to the finals with a fall in 0:37 over Elmwood Park’s Omari Evans.

“It’s really great to come out here every year,” Loiselle said. “This is really what we look forward to. Sure, the duals are nice, but coming out and getting to wrestle three or four matches in a day and getting to wrestle the better competition in the area. McHenry County is a really good area and a lot of people are cut from the same cloth.”

Kristoff beat teammate Eli Kimball by fall in 4:37 in the third-place match. 

285: Eric Perez-Nava, Bremen

Bremen became the ninth team to capture an individual title in the event when Eric Perez-Nava won by fall in 1:37 over North Boone’s Ethan Delgado in the 285 finals.

“This is a really big deal because it’s my third year wrestling and I’m going through everything pretty quick,” Perez-Nava said. “It’s going good so far and it’s fun going to places and wrestling. It’s back to normal. I just try hard and practice hard and practice how you play.”

After both bounced back from semifinals losses with first-period falls, Moyoti-Hernandez pinned Givens in 3:31 to claim third place.

By Mike Garofola

HINSDALE — In a thrilling race to the finish line, it was Lemont that won by a nose.

Erik Murry’s men found themselves chasing eventual runner-up Glenbard West all throughout the second day of the 55th annual Rex Whitlach Invitational. Lemont drew back even with the Hilltoppers 180-180 and then fell behind one last time at 191-188 before a strong finish at the upper weights ensured Lemont the team championship at host Hinsdale Central.

Final score: Lemont 197, Glenbard West 195. Joliet Catholic finished hot on their heels in third with 192 points.

“I cannot tell you how proud I am of this team, which stayed together all weekend, fighting for every point, especially in the final round when every point was the difference between winning this great tournament, or finishing second overall,” Murry said.

Glenbard West rode its hot hand late into the afternoon but was unable to hold off Lemont. Stevenson (177) finished fourth and Geneseo (161) rounded out the top five on the leader board in a tournament that would highlight the strength of 2A wrestling, with Nos. 1, 3 and 7 (Joliet Catholic, Lemont, and Geneseo) proving they belong with the big boys.

“We obviously would have liked to hold on to the lead and win it all, but we asked a lot of the guys this weekend, and they came through with some terrific results and against a great field, which included some really terrific 2A schools,” said Glenbard West head coach, Nick Posegay.

Joliet Catholic vied for the tournament title despite being shorthanded.

“We were down two state medal winners, one of which is a state champion, but the guys did all that they could to stay close,” Joliet Catholic coach Ryan Cumbee said. “We’re very proud of the effort and third-place finish.”

Sevenson also went into the Whitlatch minus a few contributors.

“We’re proving with each weekend that we’re a very good tournament team,” Stevenson senior Cole Rhemrev said. “When we get healthy and at full strength, we’ll be even better, and we’ll be ready to go when conference and state comes around.” Rhemrev and teammate Lorenzo Frezza continue to shine in the lower weights for head coach Shane Cook.

Geneseo got marvelous performances from brothers Zachary and Anthony Montez and company, finishing 11 points clear of Lincoln-Way West to grab a well-deserved fifth place.

“We were thrilled to be a part of this terrific tournament,” Geneseo coach Jon Murray said. “It gives us a chance to see where we are and it exposes what we need to work on from here on out. To come away with our best finish in recent memory says a lot about the effort all of our guys put in.”

The Rex Whitlach tournament is one of the longest running tournaments in the state of Illinois, alongside Prospect’s Mudge-McMorrow and Palatine’s Berman Holiday Classic. The Whitlatch is named after the former Urbana High School star and two-time IHSA state champion, who went on to be named captain at the University of Illinois, where he earned MVP honors his senior year.

Whitlach, who passed away in October at the age of 84, was responsible for turning his own tournament into a high profile tournament which began with a modest four teams at its inception to this year’s incarnation of 21 teams.

106 – Matt Soltis, Lincoln-Way West

Matt Soltis might soon find his name in the state rankings following his successful run to the 106-pound title Saturday afternoon in Hinsdale.

The Lincoln-Way West senior dropped down from 113 for this tournament, and the move proved a good one for both Soltis and his head coach Brian Glynn, who was thrilled with the effort Soltis turned in.

“Matt did very well today, made adjustments when needed, especially when we pointed out leading into this weekend that he was looking for the granby way too much,” said Glynn, a two-tiime IHSA state champion and a two-time All-American at Illinois. “We worked on looking for different ways to attack and you saw in the second period how that was the turning point in the match.”

After consecutive stalemates midway the second period, Soltis delivered his winning granby, which led to a near fall late in the period to extend his lead to 6-2 over Lemont sophomore Carter Mikolajczak, and an eventual 8-4 decision.

“We worked on ways to use the granby this week and I almost had it in the first period, but missed it,” Soltis said. “When it was there in the second period, I went for it and got it.”

Soltis also defeated top seed Rocco Hayes of Sandburg in a hard fought 3-2 semifinal match. 

113 – Zachary Montez, Geneseo

The odds were stacked in the 113-pound field when the top-rated man in 2A at 120, Joliet Catholic’s Gylon Sims dropped down to compete at 113.

The Hilltoppers’ junior came in as the reigning state champion, with another state medal on his resume (2nd at 106 in 2020) and figured to be the favorite in this division.

Enter Geneseo freshman Zachary Montez, No. 5 in Rob Sherrill’s IWCOA rankings before the Whitlach began and now at No. 2 after his smashing success at the tournament. Montez wrestled three marvelous matches to advance into his final with Sims, where he won a 6-4 overtime decision.

“I honestly felt like I was as good as (Sims) at the start of the tournament, and when I saw that he had to cut weight to make it to 113, I knew I’d be stronger and more conditioned against him because this is the weight I’ve been at this season,” said Montez, who won the Whitlatch OWA for his superb work over the two days.

“I’ve been working hard since the end of the season last year, especially with my fitness, so when we went to overtime, I knew I would be ready to go for whatever came my way,” Montez said.

Montez (18-2) started down after a scoreless first period, executed a nice escape and then a takedown near the edge after a wild scramble.

Sims roared back to level at 4-4 to force an extra session, which Montez quickly finished off with a takedown just 22 seconds into the overtime period.

“This was a big win for me, but there’s a lot of work to be done ahead of me to keep it going for the rest of the season,” said Montez, who also won at the Rockford East Invite after a third-place finish at Antioch.

120 – Bobby Conway, Brother Rice

When the aforementioned Sims dropped down to 113 for the Whitlatch, and a quartet of top 10-ranked 3A wrestlers at 120 in Sammie Hayes (Sandburg) Jalen Dunson (OPRF), Josh Killacky (Neuqua Valley) and Wilson Wright (New Trier) were out of action for the weekend, it created a window of opportunity.

Brother Rice freshman Bobby Conway climbed through that window, opening strong staying that way, ultimately recording a well-deserved 6-0 decision in his final over Jase Salin of Lincoln-Way West to claim his second individual crown of his career.

“It feel really amazing right now,” said Conway, who also collected the top prize at Lake County, Indiana recently.

“My plan going into the final was to get a lot of shots, keep moving and keep my balance, and to go to work each time I scored points.”

Conway did just that with a reversal at three minutes to go up 4-0 in the title match, before riding out the period to set up another strong two minutes, which culminated with a nicely-delivered takedown with 90 seconds remaining to ensure victory.

“(Rice) has been down a little bit but Alvaro Perez (138), James Crane (152), Tom Bennett (170) and myself are trying to help Brother Rice make a comeback,” said Conway, now 13-2 on the season.

126 – Lorenzo Frezza, Stevenson

The dynamic one-two punch of Lorenzo Frezza and his Stevenson teammate, Cole Rhemrev, continue to knock out the competition, with Frezza turning in another magnificent two days to win his first Whitlatch title.

Top-seeded Frezza defeated one of his biggest rivals in Brian Beers (20-4) of Barrington to collect his second major of the season, and to push the No. 5-rated Patriots junior’s overall record to 18-1.

“Obviously I would have liked to score more points but Brian and I know each other very well,” said Frezza, who also won a title at Barrington in November. “He’s not going to let me get much of anything off of him, so to get the lead and ride him hard in that second period was key.”

Frezza slipped free of Beers, who had his ankle, and during the ensuing scramble Frezza grabbed two points to increase his second period advantage to 3-0.

“(Beers) is a very talented wrestler and he’s tough to handle,” Stevenson coach Shane Cook said. “But Lorenzo’s ability to ride him throughout the second period and again in the third period was the way for him to seal the win.”

132 – Cody Tavoso, Hinsdale Central

On mat No. 1 and in his home gym, Cody Tavoso gave Red Devils fans reason to celebrate when the Hinsdale Central junior secured the top prize at 132 after his 3-1 decision over his West Suburban Conference rival, Luke Swan of Downers Grove South.

“It doesn’t get much better than this,” said an elated Tavoso (4-0) who held his top seed throughout, going ahead for good with a takedown of Swan (15-3) with just 45 seconds remaining in regulation.

“I was a little too passive in the second period but after getting below his knee on a couple of occasions, I was finally able to finish my shot for the winning takedown,” said Tavoso, who placed third at the Whitlatch as a freshmen in 2019.

“I just love everything about this sport,” Tavoso said. “My goal is to get downstate for a third straight time and come home with a state title.”

Tavoso defeated No. 6 Logan Kuhel-Trimmer (Joliet Catholic Academy) in his semifinal, 4-2, to advance.

“Cody is so passionate about this sport and his work ethic is second to none,” Hinsdale Central coach Jason Hayes said.

“He’s the first one in the room, and last one out. As our captain he sets an example for everyone to follow and he has high goals for himself, which include success in high school and at the collegiate level.”

138 – Cole Rhemrev, Stevenson 

Cole Rhemrev (18-0) opened his 138-pound final with an unstoppable attack against Downers Grove North’s Harrison Konder, taking an early lead and building it to an 8-1 advantage after two periods.

The Patriots star eventually defeated No. 7 Konder(14-1) by a score of 15-9 to further validate his spot as the No. 4 man in the latest IWCOA poll.

“It was a good win for myself and the team, but I didn’t particularly like that I gave up those points in the third period. It’s not something that I want to get in the habit of doing,” said Rhemrev, who won by tech-fall in his opener and followed with a pin during during his quarterfinal to advance.

Rhemrev conceded takedowns from Konder to bring the sophomore closer at 8-3, and then moments later at 9-5, before a thunderous throw from Rhemrev made it 11-5.The two traded takedowns before the final whistle ended this high- scoring contest.

Rhemrev, a three-time state qualifier who also won the title at the Moore-Prettyman this year, was fourth overall in Hinsdale in 2019.

145 – Mason Alessio, Joliet Catholic

On a roster filled with several high profile names, three of which are reigning state champions, it’s easy to understand why Gylon Sims, Shay Korhorn, and Dillon Johnson are mentioned before teammate Mason Alessio.

But that’s not the case among Alessio’s coach and teammates, who fully recognize what they have in the Hilltoppers junior.

“Mason is a great story for us,” coach Ryan Cumbee said. “He was out all last year after having back surgery and we are so proud of him because of the extra work he put in to get himself to where he has not only become an important piece in our lineup, but also an extremely good wrestler who can compete at a high level.

“He’s a terrific athlete who’s not afraid of hard work, and he really showed what he’s made of in here,” said Cumbee, pointing to his heart.

Alessio (13-1) dominated all four of his opponents, opening and finishing in style with pins in under two minutes, while recording a pair of majors in between.

Belleville West senior Will Dahm (11-4) was second, with Noah Quintana (19-4) from West Aurora third.

152 – Moses Quintana, West Aurora

Part of the resurgence of the wrestling program at West Aurora is due to the fact that brothers Noah and Moses Quintana, heavyweight Jordan Lishman, and others have turned in some wonderful early-season performances to help the Blackhawks earn the No. 15 spot in the current IWCOA team poll.

Moses Quintana’s 152-pound title came at the end of a terrific two-day effort which featured a pair of pins and a nicely played 8-0 victory over Brennan Skoda of Glenbard West on the title mat.

(COVID) last year was tough on all of us, both in the classroom and in the room,” Quintana said. “We had to take it easy a year ago but this season we’re all pushing each other, working hard, and we’re all seeing good results from all of our hard work.”

Quintana was quick to say with a smile that his sophomore brother Noah is no challenge to him in the room or at home when the two spar.

Quintana (16-2) entered the Whitlatch as the No. 2 seed just behind Skoda, and took an early lead the Glenbard West senior with a takedown and came out of the second period with a 5-0 advantage.

The No. 9 rated Quintana added an escape and another takedown to ensure the first major tournament victory for the 2021 IWCOA state qualifier.

160 -Anthony Montez, Geneseo

Anthony Montez (20-2) pinned his way into his 160-pound final against top seeded Max Konopka (14-2) of Glenbard West. Montez used a takedown at the end the first period and another in the second period to double his advantage, before holding off his talented opponent en route to a 6-2 decision.

“I would have liked to score more points along the way and I wasn’t happy with myself for keeping him around by not doing so, but I kept my focus and I was confident throughout the match to get the title,” Montez said.

The Geneseo senior is a three-time state qualifier and finished fourth at the IWCOA state finals in June. He also won the title at Rockford East this season to go with a third-place finish at Antioch on Thanksgiving weekend.

“This was a big day for me, and my brother (Zachary), and a really important weekend for Geneseo wrestling because we showed we can compete at a high level tournament, and finish in the top five against some really great teams,” said Montez, who plans on wrestling at the collegiate level. Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is one of a handful of programs Montez is considering.

Montez, while proud of his younger brother Zachary for his accomplishments, and OWA honors, echoed West Aurora’s Moses Quintana when quizzed as to who’s the best of the two in the Montez household.

“No way Zachary can beat me now, or ever,” the senior said with a smile.

170 – Alex Tagler, Lemont

When Alex Tagler claimed the top prize at 170 pounds for his Lemont teammates, it allowed the eventual team champions to stay neck-and-neck in the team race with Glenbard West.

Tagler started a late surge that earned he and and his mates the team trophy.

“Wrestling might be an individual sport, but it’s really a team sport when you’re in big tournaments like this one, so it was nice to help our team win the title,” said Tagler, now 15-1 after his 7-1 decision over top seed Nick Mabutas of Willowbrook.

“Throughout the tournament I felt like I kept good position, executed well with my attack, and defended just like I did in the final,” Tagler said. “I didn’t give much up and never allowed him to  get comfortable or in sync.” 

Tagler entered as the No. 7-rated man in 2A at 170 while Mabutas, champion last week at the Mickey Marchese tournament in Hoffman Estates, was No. 8 in 3A.

Tagler went up 5-0 with 30 seconds remaining in the second period, then prevented his opponent from taking a bite out of his lead after a wild scramble ended with both men falling far off the mat with seven seconds left on the clock.

“It felt good to get my first tournament win of the year. It’s something that will help motivate me heading into the second half of the year and into the state tournament,” said Taglor, whose victory drew Lemont within three points (191-188) of Glenbard West after the completion of the 170 matches.

182 – Ben Bielawski, Downers Grove North

In a title match at 182 between an experienced favorite and an upstart varsity newcomer, it was No. 1 Ben Bielawski of Downers Grove North who claimed the crown.

The Trojans’ junior was on his front foot against Barrington’s Ayden Salley (14-3), with some cutting-edge opening exchanges to race out to a 6-1 advantage, although the Broncos’ sophomore halved the lead to 6-3 after one period.

It was 10-5 when the second period came to a close in advance of an offensive explosion that ended 16-9 in favor of Bielawski.

“He was a tough opponent and one that I have respect for, but I made a couple of mistakes and mental errors to allow him to stay close, so that’s something we’ll get after back in the room,” said Bielawski, after celebrating his first major of the year, which moved his overall record to 14-0.

“Records and where my name is in the state rankings mean nothing to me — they’re just numbers. What’s important to me is to continue to work hard to earn a spot downstate, and win a state title,” admitted Bielawski, who has made that trip twice, both times with his older brother Drew, who is now at Western Michigan University.

“Ben is a terrific young man, whose work ethic is way up there,” Downers Grove North coach Chris McGrath said. “It’s that and his ability, drive, and desire that will help him reach his goals.”

Bielawski appreciates what the DGN program has given him.

“Coach McGrath and our staff are the reasons for my success thus far. He pushes me each and every day, and is the man that I trust to help me reach my potential,” said Bielawski, who is also a defensive end on the Trojans football team.

“I might be under the radar in my weight class but that’s okay, I like being there for now. But it only really matters when we’re down in Champaign.”

195 – Phillip Dozier, Glenbard West

Phillip Dozier continues to fight off the challenges associated with having the target of a No. 1 ranking on his back.

The Glenbard West senior tore through his first three opponents in just under 2 1/2 minutes before running into a stubborn and talented Zach Meyer of Barrington before being crowned champion at 195.

“Since eighth grade I’ve always been the one everyone is gunning for so it’s made me a better person and wrestler,” Dozier said. “So I don’t mind being the top- rated guy in the state.”

Dozier improved to 16-0 after his exciting match with Meyer (23-2) who came back from a 6-2 deficit to equalize at 8-8, before Dozier went ahead for good (10-8) late in the second period before winning a 12-9 decision.

“Dozier is so good, he has great hips, and he likes to use the headlock which we went in knowing,” Barrington coach Dave Udchik said. “If we get another chance with him it will be important not to chase the match early, because we feel Zach now knows he can go with him.”

Dozier is aware of the scouting report on him.

“I know a lot of my opponents think I’m a guy who exclusively uses the head lock, but the thing is it comes from a variety of angles and positions, and there are other parts of my game that I’ll use as well,” Dozier said.

Dozier, a two-time state qualifier and third-place state medal winner in June, plans to go into special education in college. Anderson College in South Carolina and Utica College in New York are two potential landing spots next fall for Dozier, who was also a Hilltoppers’ football player this past season.

220 – Marko Ivanisevic, Hinsdale Central

Marko Ivanisevic conjured up memories of the past when the Hinsdale Central sophomore joined his older brother Niko as a Whitlatch champion on Saturrday. Niko Ivanisevic won the crown at 220 four years ago.

Niko Ivanisevic went on to finish a spectacular final season for the Red Devils with a second-place state medal after falling to All-American Anthony Cassioppi and finishing the year with a sparkling 39-3 record.

Marko Ivanisevic would like nothing more to be the next decorated member in the Ivanisevic household. If his two-day performance in Hinsdale says anything it’s that his chance to enjoy a long postseason run is certainly a strong possibility.

“Marko (16-0) has a great support system at home with his family, and of course his big brother but he’s been putting in the extra work on his own, and it really showed this weekend,” said Red Devils head coach Jason Hayes, moments after Ivanisevics’ 6-1 decision over Tim Stohl of Geneseo.

“I was nine years old when Niko won this tournament, before going on a great run to reach the state final,” Ivanisevic said. “I remember all of the hard work and time he put in, in order to have the success he had. So I know it’s the only way to get to the next level.”

Like the heavyweight trio of Matt, Brian, and Jack Allen — all state champions — Ivanisevic would like nothing more than to give Hayes and the Red Devils another state championship at some point.

Interestingly, Niko Ivanisevic followed his brother Stefan to Princeton, where he has starred as an offensive lineman, while all three Allen brothers went on to do the same at Michigan State.

285 – Dillan Johnson, Joliet Catholic

All four of Dillan Johnson’s opponents were humbled by the brilliance of the Joliet Catholic Academy sophomore, whose masterclass effort over the two days here ended when he delivered his fourth and final pin of the tournament to earn first-place honors.

In all, the reigning 2A state champion needed just over six minutes to send off his rivals en route to claim his first major of the season, while running his overall record to a spotless 9-0.

“Dillan is a superb athlete, who has an incredible motor,” JCA coach Ryan Cumbee said. “He’s big, strong, and extremely quick for a guy his size. As a freshman he didn’t give up an offensive point.

“Dillan got a late start after being a part of our 4A state championship football team, but he’s making up for lost time with a lot of hard work and dedication.”

Johnson is inching his way back to form.

“I’ve been working hard with my footwork, drags, hitting my posts, and just getting in wrestling shape, but I feel like I’m getting closer with each week,” said Johnson, whose father Eric Johnson played in the NFL with the New York Jets.

Johnson pinned Downers Grove North heavyweight Jordan Lewis at 1:14 to win the title. Lewis is also working to get back into wrestling shape for coach Chris McGrath.

“Because of COVID, Jordan has basically been away from the sport for nearly 18 months, but he’s really come into his own since his sophomore year with us,” said McGrath, after Lewis survived in sudden death overtime (4-3) over Jordan Lishman of West Aurora to book his place in the final.

“Jordan is the first one in the room, has a big heart, and always finds a way to win the close ones, so we’re all very proud of him.”

For the IWCOA

El-Paso-Gridley edges Clifton Central/Iroquois West for Clinton Invitational title

El-Paso-Gridley edged Clifton Central/Iroquois West by the slimmest of margins, 206-205, to capture first place honors at Saturday’s Clinton Invitational. Farmington (145), Taylorville (130) and Ridgeview/Lexington (124) rounded out the top-five in the 12-team competition.

Leading the way for coach Joe Cliffe’s champion Titans were first-place winners Conlee Landrus (132), Dax Gentes (145) and Cody Langland (170) while Tyler Roth (126), Waylon Melick (138) and Ethan Whitman (160) placed second and Charlene Hamilton (120) and Jesse Gerber (285) finished third.

Top placewinners for coach Travis Williams’ second-place Comets were champion Kayden Cody (120), runners-up Kodey Krumweide (145), Gabe Alvarez (195) and Giacomo Panazzo (285), third-place Blake Hemp (113), Brayden Morris (138), Damian Bailey (160) and Auston Miller (182) and fourth-place Garron Perzee (170) and Hunter Hull (220).

Other title winners were Taylorville’s Gage Rusher (138) and William Blue (195), Rantoul’s Rashon Allen (160) and Keddrick Terhune (182), MacArthur’s Logan Roberts (106), Farmington’s Keygan Jennings (113), Clinton’s Cayden Poole (126), Illini West’s Lance Belshaw (152), Ridgeview/Lexington’s Evan Antonio (220) and University High’s Hunter Otto (285).

Also finishing in second place were Ridgeview’s Danny Tay (113) and Judson Stover (132), University High’s Zach Gross (152) and Isaiah Im (220), Farmington’s Austin Utt (170) and Reese Shymansky (182), Streator’s Nicholas Pollett (106) and Clinton’s Teegan West (120).

Others who turned in third-place finishes were Ridgeview/Lexington’s Daniel York (106) and Declan Bender (126), Farmington’s Connor Huber (132) and Chris Haggard (220), MacArthur’s Shaundell Watson (145), Clinton’s Trevor Willis (152), Rantoul’s Colyn Sarver (170) and University High’s Joe Hunt (195).

Also finishing fourth were MacArthur’s Jamarius Meyrick (106), Savion Essiet (113), Kadon Roberts (120), Mitchell Johnson (195) and Ethan Badon (285), Taylorville’s Aiden Seiler (132), Jordan Hamell (145), Hunter Gerlick (152) and Landon Molina (182), Farmington’s Jack Adams (126) and Connor Rutz (138) and Clinton’s Kristian Hibbard (160). 

Clinton Invitational championship matches:

106: Logan Roberts (MacArthur) over Nicholas Pollett (Streator), 7-0

113: Keygan Jennings (Farmington) over Danny Tay (Ridgeview/Lexington), F 4:47

120: Kayden Cody (Clifton C./Iroquois W.) over Teegan West (Clinton), TF 5:58

126: Cayden Poole (Clinton) over Tyler Roth (El Paso-Gridley), 8-1

132: Conlee Landrus (El Paso-Gridley) over Judson Stover (Ridgeview/Lexington), F 0:21

138: Gage Rusher (Taylorville) over Waylon Melick (El Paso-Gridley), F 3:05 [pool]

145: Dax Gentes (El Paso-Gridley) over Kodey Krumweide (Clifton C./Iroquois W.), 9-1 [pool]

152: Lance Belshaw (Illini West) over Zach Gross (University High), F 2:42 [pool]

160: Rashon Allen (Rantoul) over Ethan Whitman (El Paso-Gridley), 8-1

170: Cody Langland (El Paso-Gridley) over Austin Utt (Farmington), F 4:36

182: Keddrick Terhune (Rantoul) over Rese Shymansky (Farmington), F 3:20

195: William Blue (Taylorville) over Gabe Alvarez (Clifton C./Iroquois W.), F 4:57

220: Evan Antonio (Ridgeview/Lexington) over Isaiah Im (University High), F 3:44

285: Hunter Otto (University High) over Giacomo Panazzo (Clifton C./Iroquois W.), F 4:26

Civic Memorial tops at Mascoutah

Civic Memorial tops at Mascoutah

Civic Memorial captured this year’s 29-team Mascoutah Invitational, out-pointing second place Mattoon 219.5-202. The Eagles got team points from nine wrestlers, including two individual champions on the day.

Civic Memorial coach Jerry Christeson got individual titles from Bryce Griffin (138) and Abe Wojcikiewicz (170) and a second from Colton Carlisle (182). Placing third for the Eagles were Joey Ciciocchi (132) and Logan Cooper (285), fifth-place finishers were Brad Ruckman (106) and Ashton Reed (145), Brayden Moss (160) was sixth, and Nathen Herrin (120) placed seventh.

Triad (179), O’Fallon (173), Marion (141), Jacksonville (129), Morton (127), Quincy (119.5), Collinsville (115), and Normal (111) rounded out the top 10 team finishes.

Second-place Mattoon coach Brett Porter’s Green Wave had three champions in Brady Foster (113), Kiefer Duncan (145), and Aidan Spurgeon (195), and got a second-place finish from Logan Blackburn (120) and Leo Meyer (220). The Green Wave also got a third from Korbin Bateman (126) and a fifth from Aidan Blackburn (152).

Other individual champions included Normal’s Cole Gentsch (106), Morton’s Connor Kidd (120), Triad’s Colby Crouch (126), Marion’s Ricky Wade (132) and Nate Damphier (152), Quincy’s Owen Uppinghouse (160), Belleville East’s Dominic Thebeau (182), Waterloo’s Jordan Sommers (220), and O’Fallon’s Isaiah Hill (285).

Finishing second at Mascoutah were Normal’s Caden Correll (106), East Alton-Wood River’s Aaron Niemeyer (113) and Jason Shaw (126), Alton’s Deontae Forest (132), Murphyboro’s Arojae Hart (138), Jacksonville’s Trey Elliot (145), Carbondale’s Brenden Benz (152), Triad’s Sam Wheeler (160), Collinsville’s Austin Stewart (170), Normal’s Cooper Caraway (195) and Jersey’s Jayden Busch (285).

Also placing third at Mascoutah were Anna-Jonesboro’s Drew Sadler (106) and Caleb Mays (145), Morton’s Zane Ely (113), Triad’s Chase Hall (138), Jacksonville’s James Cotton (152), Highland’s Ben Mitchell (160), Quincy’s Kayden Garrett (170), Mt. Vernon’s Jared Shafer (182), Carbondale’s Aiden Taylor (195), and Roxana’s James Herring (220).

Fourth-place finishers included Fort Zumwalt North’s Nathaniel Provost (106), East St. Louis’ Jaymz Young (113), Waterloo’s Gavin Hearren (120) and Brandon Lloyd (170), and Murphysboro’s Liam Fox (126), Morton’s Steven Marvin (132) and Jamison Almasy (138), Triad’s Aiden Postma (145) and Jordan Clines (182), Collinsville’s Thomas Miller (152), O’Fallon’s Terence Willis (160), Marion’s Clayton Tanner (195), Mt. Vernon’s Ethan Rivera (220), and Roxana’s Justin Laws (285).

Mascoutah Invitational championship matches:
106: Gentsch (Normal) over Correll (Normal), 5-0
113: Foster (Mattoon) over Niemeyer (East Alton-Wood River), 6-0
120: Kidd (Morton) over Blackburn (Mattoon), F 3:55

126: Crouch (Triad) over Shaw (East Alton-Wood River), F :52
132: Wade (Marion) over Forest (Alton), 8-4
138: Griffin (Civic Memorial) over Hart (Murphysboro), SV-1
145: Duncan (Mattoon) over Elliot (Jacksonville), 5-3
152: Damphier (Marion) over Banz (Carbondale), F 3:56
160: Uppinghouse (Quincy) over Wheeler (Triad), F 4:58
170: Wojcikiewicz (Civic Memorial) over Stewart (Collinsville), TF 5:00
182: Thebeau (Belleville E.) over Carlisle (Civic Memorial), 12-5
195: Spurgeon (Mattoon) over Caraway (Normal), 12-5
220: Sommers (Waterloo) over Meyer (Mattoon), F 2:42
285: Hill (O’Fallon) over Busch (Jersey), F 3:49

Oakwood/Salt Fork claims top honors at Cumberland Skull and Crossbones

Oakwood/Salt Fork claims top honors at Cumberland Skull and Crossbones

Oakwood/Salt Fork won four titles and had six finalists to help it claim top honors with 219.5 points at Saturday’s Cumberland Skull and Crossbones Tournament in Toledo.

Fairfield edged Lawrenceville/Red Hill 141-135 for second while Shelbyville (131) and Cumberland/Newton (127) rounded out the top five squads in the 15-team competition.

Winning titles for coach Mike Glosser’s champion Comets were Pedro Rangel (126), Reef Pacot (132), Bryson Capansky (138) and Grant Brewer (145) while Carter Chambliss (120) and Harley Grimm (220) finished second. Taking third place was Brysen Vasquez (160) while Doug Meyers (182) and Jamison Van Vickle (285) finished fourth.

Leading the way for coach Jordan Griffith’s second-place Mules was champion Payton Allen (220) and second-place finishers Konnor Dagg (195) and Jaxon Combs (285). Cole Simpson (138) placed third while Chase Phillips (126) and Scotty Cuff (132) took fourth.

Other champions were Lawrenceville/Red Hill’s Brian Seed (170) and Nathan Blackwell (182), Cumberland/Newton’s Colby Ryan (195) and Noah Carl (285), Carlyle’s Tyson Waughtel (106), Harrisburg’s Tony Keene (113), Shelbyville’s Calvin Miller (120), Effingham’s Jon Perry (152) and Robinson’s Jared Hermann (160).

Taking second were Cumberland/Newton’s Hank Warfel (106), Jerod Carl (145) and Isten Syfert (170), Monticello’s Cal Spence (152) and Kaleb Reid (160),  Lawrenceville/Red Hill’s Dylan Aten (113), Harrisburg’s Briar Butler (126), Herrin’s Blue Bishop (132), Effingham’s Robert Reardon (138) and Litchfield’s Hunter Hancock (182).

Three of the closest title matches were decided by two points or less. Ryan won 8-7 over Dagg at 195, Seed prevailed 13-11 over Syfert at 170 and Pacot claimed a 5-3 victory over Bishop at 132.

Placing third were Robinson’s Keaton Ault (113), Austin Hargrave (195), Craig Markello (220) and Dalton Woods (285), Shelbyville’s Gage Smith (126), Kaz Fox (132), Will Fox (152) and Bradley Sanders (182), Litchfield/Mt. Olive’s Alex Powell (106), Herrin’s Brody Reagan (120), Monticello’s Jaxson Trent (145) and Carlyle’s Owen Birkner (170).

Finishing fourth were Mt. Carmel’s Satchel Taylor (106), Kenny Taylor (160) and Mason Rayborn (220), Lawrenceville/Red Hill’s Isaac Foster (120) and Hayden Fry (152), Warrensburg-Latham’s Vincent Fiore (145) and Mason Hawkins (170), Carlyle’s Franc Jackson (113), Monticello’s Eli Bailey (138) and Litchfield/Mt. Olive’s Devin Hansel (195).

Cumberland Skull and Crossbones championship matches:

106: Tyson Waughtel (Carlyle) over Hank Warfel (Cumberland/Newton), TF 3:19

113: Tony Keene (Harrisburg) over Dylan Aten (Lawrenceville/Red Hill), F 0:20

120: Calvin Miller (Shelbyville) over Carter Chambliss (Oakwood/Salt Fork), 6-1

126: Pedro Rangel (Oakwood/Salt Fork) over Briar Butler (Harrisburg), F 3:46

132: Reef Pacot (Oakwood/South Fork) over Blue Bishop (Herrin), 5-3

138: Bryson Capansky (Oakwood/South Fork) over Robert Reardon (Effingham), F 1:30

145: Grant Brewer (Oakwood/Salt Fork) over Jerod Carl (Cumberland/Newton), F 1:33

152: Jon Perry (Effingham) over Cal Spence (Monticello), F 5:15

160: Jared Hermann (Robinson) over Kaleb Reid (Monticello), F 2:52

170: Brian Seed (Lawrenceville/Red Hill) over Isten Syfert (Cumberland/Newton), 13-11

182: Nathan Blackwell (Lawrenceville/Red Hill) over Hunter Hancock (Litchfield/Mt. Olive), F 5:10

195: Colby Ryan (Cumberland/Newton) over Konnor Dagg (Fairfield), 8-7

220: Payton Allen (Fairfield) over Harley Grimm (Oakwood/South Fork), F 0:23

285: Noah Carl (Cumberland/Newton) over Jaxon Combs (Fairfield), F 3:20

LeRoy/Tri-Valley claims title at Metamora Holiday Classic

LeRoy/Tri-Valley claims title at Metamora Holiday Classic

LeRoy/Tri-Valley had three champions and seven individuals who reached the title mat and that helped it to claim top honors at Saturday’s Metamora Holiday Classic.

Coach Brady Sant Amour’s Panthers scored 145 points to claim top honors in the 11-team competition while Peoria High edged Galesburg 116-111.5 for second place while Notre Dame was fourth with 95.5 points and the host Redbirds edged Richwoods 79.5-79 for fifth place.

Winning titles for LeRoy/Tri-Valley were Kobe Brent (113), Ethan Conaty (152) and Tyson Brent (182) while Brock Owens (120), Colton Prosser (126), Jack Green (132) and Andrew Moore (220) all claimed second-place finishes and Brady Mouser (106) finished fourth.

“We are a fairly young team, and had a couple starters out sick this past weekend,” Sant Amour said.  “But our young freshman-sophomores really stepped up and performed this past weekend. Our upperclassmen performed how we expected with two first-place and two second-place finishes led by Ethan Conaty and Tyson Brent at 152 and 182.”

Top finishers for coach Shaun McGinnes’ runner-up Lions were champions Kenny Rutherford (138) and Tim Petty (285), second-place finishers Tuison Conner (145), Cedric Beckham (182) and Landon Newby-Holesome (285) and third-place performers Kaleb Lawson (170) and Saevion Brent (220).

Other champions in the competition were Notre Dame’s Ian Akers (106), Jac Couri (126), Chase Daugherty (132) and Joey Mushinsky (160), Galesburg’s Gauge Shipp (120) and Jeremiah Morris (220), Metamora’s Sam Ohl (145) and Brody Vancil (195) and Eureka’s Jack Godinez (170).

Also finishing in second-place were Kankakee’s Caleb Dickens (138) and Michael Bannerman (195), Morris’ Brandon Anderson (106), Notre Dame’s Eddie Couri (113), Galesburg’s Cheveyo Thomas (152), Putnam County/Hall Township’s Connor Brooker (160) and Pontiac’s Hunter Travis (170). 

Richwoods had six third-place finishers, Colton Boyer (106), Rykis Doss (113), Barnard Cox (126), Jayden Putts (145), Mike Vincent (152) and Misael Quintero (182). Also placing third were Galesburg’s Jashon Parks (195) and Tyler Kemp (285), Metamora’s Carter Atherton (132) and Chase Packman (138), Morris’ Ian Wills (120) and Eureka’s Dillon Wiles (160).

Other fourth-place finishers were Morris’ Ella McDonnell (113) and Julian Gonzales (152), Eureka’s Garrett Kean (120) and Noah King (145), Metamora’s Aaron Andrade (132) and Max Largent (170), Kankakee’s Travon Jordan (182) and Rojelio Cornejo (285), Galesburg’s Emilio Torres (195) and Benny Vargas (220), Pontiac’s Chance Smith (126) and  Notre Dame’s Tommy Miller (160). 

Metamora Classic championship matches:

106: Ian Akers (Notre Dame) over Brandon Anderson (Morris), 4-0 [pool]

113: Kobe Brent (LeRoy/Tri-Valley) over Eddie Couri (Notre Dame), 6-1 [pool]

120: Gauge Shipp (Galesburg) over Brock Owens (LeRoy/Tri-Valley), TF 21-6 [pool]

126: Jac Couri (Notre Dame) over Colton Prosser (LeRoy/Tri-Valley), 7-4 [pool]

132: Chase Daugherty (Notre Dame) over Jack Green (LeRoy/Tri-Valley), 7-0 [pool]

138: Kenny Rutherford (Peoria High) over Caleb Dickens (Kankakee), F 2:52 [pool]

145: Sam Ohl (Metamora) over Tuison Conner (Peoria High), 16-6

152: Ethan Conaty (LeRoy/Tri-Valley) over Cheveyo Thomas (Galesburg), 11-3

160: Joey Mushinsky (Notre Dame) over Connor Brooker (Putnam Co./Hall Twp.), F 3:25

170: Jack Godinez (Eureka) over Hunter Travis (Pontiac), 4-1

182: Tyson Brent (LeRoy/Tri-Valley) over Cedric Beckham (Peoria High), 14-2

195: Brody Vancil (Metamora) over Micheal Bannerman (Kankakee), F 2:36

220: Jeremiah Morris (Galesburg) over Andrew Moore (LeRoy/Tri-Valley), 6-1 [pool]

285: Tim Petty (Peoria High) over Landon Newby-Holesome (Peoria High), 5-3

Rockridge edges Lena-Winslow/Stockton for Erie/Prophetstown title

Rockridge edges Lena-Winslow/Stockton for Erie/Prophetstown title

Rockridge used five second-place and five third-place finishes to overcome Lena-Winslow/Stockton’s six titles to capture the team championship at Saturday’s Erie/Prophetstown Holiday Tournament in Erie by a 205.5-199 margin.

Newman Central Catholic (175), Erie/Prophetstown (136.5) and Illini Bluffs (114) rounded out the top five squads in the 14-team competition.

Coach Lucas Smith’s champion Rockets received second-place finishes from Cael Kuster (113), Jude Finch (126), Peyton Locke (160), Nathan Petreikis (182) and Sam Buser (285) while Bryan Blumenstien (132), Reese Finch (145), Cole McCabe (152), Zayd Evans (170) and Connor Shaffer (220) took third and Tyler Thiem (120) placed fourth.

Champions for coach Kevin Milder’s runner-up Panthers were Garrett Luke (145), Jared Dvorak (152), Marey Roby (160), Griffin Luke (170), Drew Mensendike (195) and Henry Engel (220) while Zach White (138) finished fourth.

Other champions were Newman Central Catholic’s Brady Grennan (120), Carter Rude (126) and Will Rude (138), Erie/Prophetstown’s Wyatt Goossens (113) and Elijah Friedrichsen (285), East Peoria’s Bailey Lusch (106), Illini Bluffs’ Ian O’Connor (132) and Morrison’s Kayden White (182).

Also finishing in second place were Illini Bluffs’ Fischer Dickinson (106), Avery Speck (120) and Paul Ishikawa (138), Newman Central Catholic’s Daniel Kelly (132) and Mason Glaudel (152), Erie/Prophetstown’s Jase Grunder (145) and Nick Ballard (220), Fulton’s Zane Pannell (170) and East Peoria’s Zach Eaton (195).

In a clash of IWCOA Class 1A state champions, Will Rude captured a 3-1 win over Ishikawa in the 138 finals. Rude was top-ranked in 1A at 145 while Ishikawa was ranked first at 138. Ishikawa won the 126 title in June and Rude was the champion at 138. In two other close title matches, Friedrichsen beat Buser 5-3 at 285 and Garrett Luke was a 7-5 winner over Grunder at 145. 

Other third place finishers were Sherrard’s Austin Fratzke (138), Ryder Roelf (182) and Walker Anderson (195), Erie/Prophetstown’s Sophia Wheeler (106), Illini Bluffs’ Carson Overton (113), Orion’s Luke Moen (120), Polo’s Wyatt Doty (126), Newman Central Catholic’s Tom Powers (160) and Morrison’s Nate Schaefer (285).

Finishing fourth were Sherrard’s Pierce Findlay (113) and Jayden Thomson (132), Newman Central Catholic’s Brenden Tunink (145) and Hunter Luyando (170), East Peoria’s Kaden Rowland (182) and Jose Del Toro (285), Rock Falls’ Ryan McCord (160) and Josh Woodard (220), Sterling’s Nakynzy Canazos-Hodge (106), Illini Bluffs’ Jackson Carroll (126), Orion’s Nolan Loete (152) and Erie/Prophetstown’s Andrew Bomleny (195).

Erie/Prophetstown Tournament championship matches:

106: Bailey Lusch (East Peoria) over Fischer Dickinson (Illini Bluffs), F 1:40 [pool]

113: Wyatt Goossens (East Peoria) over Cael Kuster (Rockridge), F 3:39

120: Brady Grennan (Newman Catholic) over Avery Speck (Illini Bluffs), F 0:54

126: Carter Rude (Newman Catholic) over Jude Finch (Rockridge), F 5:23

132: Ian O’Connor (Illini Bluffs) over Daniel Kelly (Newman Catholic), 8-4

138: Will Rude (Newman Catholic) over Paul Ishikawa (Illini Bluffs), 3-1

145: Garrett Luke (Lena-Winslow/Stockton) over Jase Grunder (East Peoria), 7-5

152: Jared Dvorak (Lena-Winslow/Stockton) over Mason Glaudel (Newman Catholic), 11-6

160: Marey Roby (Lena-Winslow/Stockton) over Peyton Locke (Rockridge), F 3:31

170: Griffin Luke (Lena-Winslow/Stockton) over Zane Pannell (Fulton), 8-1

182: Kayden White (Morrison) over Nathan Petreikis (Rockridge), F 5:34

195: Drew Mensendike (Lena-Winslow/Stockton) over Zach Eaton (East Peoria), 9-4

220: Henry Engel (Lena-Winslow/Stockton) over Nick Ballard (East Peoria), F 3:10

285: Elijah Friedrichsen (East Peoria) over Sam Buser (Rockridge), 5-3

Unity captures top honors in own invitational

Unity captures top honors in own invitational

Host Unity sent six individuals to the title mat and won two championships to help it capture top honors by a 218-202.5 margin over IC Catholic Prep in Saturday’s Unity Invitational, a 15-team tournament which was held in Tolono. Rochester (141), Peotone (130.5) and Benton (120) rounded out the top five in the field.

Winning titles for coach Logan Patton’s champion Rockets were Tavius Hosley (145) and Nick Nosler (195) while Braxton Manuel (152), Grant Albaugh (182), Karson Richardson (220) and Oran Varela (285) took second place and Kaden Inman (120), Hunter Eastin (195) and Chance Ingleman (285) finished third. 

Leading the way for coach Jason Renteria’s runner-up Knights were champions Andrew Alvarado (113), Nick Renteria (126), Michael Calcagno (182), Jadon Mims (220) and Isaiah Gonzalez (285) while Omar Samayoa (132) and Brandon Navarro (170) finished second and Joseph Gliatta (145) claimed third place.

Other champions were Rochester’s Conner Carroll (106) and Nolan Mrozowski (132), Hoopeston Area’s Angel Zamora (160) and Abel Colunga (170), St. Joseph Ogden’s Holden Brazelton (120), Peotone’s Marco Spinazzola (138) and Bishop McNamara’s Luke Christie (152).

Also finishing in second place were Benton’s Jaden Courter (106) and Mason Tieffel (126), Peotone’s Kevin Hogan (145) and Oscar Vilalobos (195), St. Joseph-Ogden’s Emmitt Holt (113), Bishop McNamara’s Jackson Jeck (120), Rochester’s Cole Peters (138) and Lanphier’s Connor Janssen (160).

The closest championship matches were four-point decisions with Alvarado over Holt 4-0 at 113, Renteria beating Tieffel 8-4 at 126, Colunga over Navarro 6-2 at 170 and Mims defeating Richardson 8-4 at 220.

Other third-place finishers were Peotone’s Santino Izzi (126) and Ian Kreske (132), Danville’s Dalton Wells (138) and Phil Shaw (182), Hoopeston Area’s Ethan Schwartz (152) and Hunter Cannon (220), Carterville’s Brawnsen Bloodworth (106), Urbana’s Cordero Sims (113), Centralia’s Noah Morris (160) and Lanphier’s Gabe Orosco (170).

Finishing in fourth place were Centralia’s Lane Griffin (126), Levi Shook (152) and Elijah Johnson (195), Rochester’s Luke Gribbins (106), Adam Gribbins (113) and Drake Pfeiffer (120), Beardstown’s Bryan Gil (132) and Treysean Grant (145), Benton’s Avery Grimes (138) and Connor Dean (160), Danville’s Dalton Brown (170), Peotone’s Jackson Bergeron (182), Urbana’s Andre Hunt (220) and Carterville’s Zechariah Miller (285).

Unity Invitational championship matches:

106: Conner Carroll (Rochester) over Jaden Courter (Benton), 17-7

113: Andrew Alvarado (IC Catholic) over Emmitt Holt (St. Joseph-Ogden), 4-0

120: Holden Brazelton (St. Joseph-Ogden) over Jackson Jeck (Bishop McNamara), F 1:37

126: Nick Renteria (IC Catholic) over Mason Tieffel (Benton), 8-4

132: Nolan Mrozowski (Rochester) over Omar Samayoa (IC Catholic), F 0:39

138: Marco Spinazzola (Peotone) over Cole Peters (Rochester), F 3:10

145: Tavius Hosley (Unity) over Kevin Hogan (Peotone), 13-2

152: Luke Christie (Bishop McNamara) over Braxton Manuel (Unity), 13-1

160: Angel Zamora (Hoopeston Area) over Connor Janssen (Lanphier), F 2:39

170: Abel Colunga (Hoopeston Area) over Brandon Navarro (IC Catholic), 6-2

182: Michael Calcagno (IC Catholic) over Grant Albaugh (Unity), 9-3

195: Nick Nosler (Unity) over Oscar Vilalobos (Peotone), F 4:28

220: Jadon Mims (IC Catholic) over Karson Richardson (Unity), 8-4

285: Isaiah Gonzalez (IC Catholic) over Oran Varela (Unity), 5-0

Centennial wins Springfield Joe Bee Memorial Tournament

Centennial wins Springfield Joe Bee Memorial Tournament

Centennial beat Cahokia 212-195 for top honors at Springfield High’s Joe Bee Memorial Tournament while LaSalle-Peru took third place with 134 points. Four of the eight teams had three champions, with Pekin (120) and Granite City (116) joining the top two teams in that distinction.

Winning titles for the coach Jeff Rieck’s champion Chargers were Trevor Schoonover (126), Kodiac Pruitt (160) and Jack Barnhart (220) while Jaiden Smith (106), Darell Dugar (113), Declan Pate (120), David Navarra (182) and Branden Harvey (195) were second while Freddy Mbangi (132), Nick Pianfetti (138), Leon Gordon (160) and Henry Spinela (170) took third place.

Capturing championships for coach Emanuel Brooks’ runner-up Comanches were Nicholas Scott (106), Nick Deloach Jr. (152) and Corron Midgett (170). Demerious McGill (126), Anthony Winters (145), Damien Phipps (160) and Berylonte Shegog (285) took second place while Dionte Scott (113) and Tyrese Brownlee (195) took third and Nehemiah Trimble (145) and Quinterrous Jones (220) finished fourth.

Other champions were Granite City’s Brenden Rayl (113), Caleb Scott (120) and Dylan Boyd (138), Pekin’s Ramez Watson (132), Shamon Handegan (182) and Tyler Haynes (285), Springfield High’s Alex Souva (145) and LaSalle-Peru’s Connor Lorden (195).

Also finishing second were Limestone’s Cosmo Palmgren (132) and Aydan Trueblood (220), Springfield High’s Chris Macklin (152) and Jackson O’Connor (170) and Granite City’s Braden Kelly (138).

Others claiming third place finishes were Pekin’s Dalton Davis (106) and Karso Lamb (220), LaSalle-Peru’s Reegan Kellett (120) and Connor Sines (152), Sacred Heart-Griffin’s Michael Ference (126) and Cor y West (182), Limestone’s Gabe Hodges (145) and Springfield High’s Shamar Richardson (285).

Also finishing fourth were Springfield High’s Ryan Hayes (113), Kaden Rios (120), Oliver Record-Frank (132) and Elijah Bell (170), LaSalle-Peru’s Kaleb Vela (126) and Gunnar Skoog (138), Sacred Heart-Griffin’s Lennon Long (152) and Jack Ludolph (195) and Granite City’s Jaylen Williams (160) and Mason Kelly (285).

Springfield High Joe Bee Memorial Tournament championship matches:

106: Nicholas Scott (Cahokia) over Jaiden Smith (Centennial), F 1:25 [pool]

113: Brenden Rayl (Granite City) over Darell Dugar (Centennial), F 2:30 [pool]

120: Caleb Scott (Granite City) over Declan Pate (Centennial), F 0:54

126: Trevor Schoonover (Centennial) over Demerious McGill (Cahokia), 9-1

132: Ramez Watson (Pekin) over Cosmo Palmgren (Limestone), 12-6

138: Dylan Bond (Granite City) over Braden Kelly (Granite City), Inj.

145:Alex Souva (Springfield High) over Anthony Winters (Cahokia), F 2:00

152: Nick Deloach Jr. (Cahokia) over Chris Macklin (Springfield High), F 4:52

160: Kodiac Pruitt (Centennial) over Damien Phipps (Cahokia), 10-4

170: Corron Midgett (Cahokia) over Jackson O’Connor (Springfield High), F 0:34

182: Shamon Handegan (Pekin) over David Navarra (Centennial), F 3:06 [pool]

195: Connor Lorden (LaSalle-Peru) over Branden Harvey (Centennial), F 0:22

220: Jack Barnhart (Centennial) over Aydan Trueblood (Limestone), 13-3

285: Tyler Haynes (Perkin) over Berylonte Shegog (Cahokia), F 1:27

By Patrick Z. McGavin

“First impressions,” the great English writer Chaucer said, “are lasting.”

The wrestling equivalent are fast starts, the template for success and early confidence that creates a down-the-line influence.

At the 56th annual Rus Erb Tournament at Glenbrook South, Batavia’s lead wrestlers, sophomore Ino Garcia (106) and Aidan Huck (113), created their own downhill momentum.

The two precocious young talents revealed dazzling technique, toughness and athleticism in capturing the first two championships.

Garcia utilized two three-point near falls in the second period to dominate Wauconda’s Lucas Galdine 10-0.

Huck dominated Oswego’s Brayden Swanson with a second period fall.

The Bulldogs rode that early success to the team championship with 195 points, gliding past Oswego, who finished runner-up with 177.50.

Ranked No. 12, Batavia thrived despite not having a full team available. The Bulldogs did not field representatives at 220 and 285 pounds.

It didn’t matter.

The Bulldogs had five wrestlers reach the championship stage in their weight class. Batavia finished with three individual championships, two runner-ups and three fourth-place finishers

“We knew coming in we had a good chance to compete favorably here,” Batavia coach Scott Bayer said. “I knew if we were going to do it, that would take a team effort.

“Those lightweight guys came out and really set the tone. Round by round, we had to press for major decisions and pin points. We got that.”

The 16-team field offered a superb showcase for some of the state’s top wrestlers in Class 2A and 3A. Eight of those champions remain undefeated. Three others have just one loss.

Seven different schools produced champions.

Batavia and Class 2A power Sycamore each produced three individual champions.

The tournament finish had a clear line of demarcation that separated the top five finishers—Batavia, Oswego, Wauconda, Lincoln-Way Central and Sycamore—from the balance of the field.

Led by its lone individual champion, Cruz Ibarra (195) pounds, the Panthers had four finalists and three runner-up placers.

Wauconda, ranked No. 19 in 2A, produced a champion with Colin Husko (145) and two second-place finishes. The Bulldogs also had two third-place finishers.

Lincoln-Way Central standout Joey Malito (120) was its top finisher, who also had two second-place performers.

What it lacked in quantity, Sycamore made up for in high quality with three elite undefeated wrestlers capturing individual titles with Brayden Peet (152), Zach Crawford (170) and Lincoln Cooley.

“A tournament like this is very beneficial,” Peet said. “I don’t have to see the same guys all the time where I go, and I get to see new looks, different wrestlers, and that helps prepare us for the state tournament.

“We’re in 2A, so obviously going up against bigger schools and better people helps me prepare.”

St. Patrick senior Sean Conway (132) earned the most outstanding wrestler award. He recorded two falls. In a riveting title against previously undefeated Conor Smetana of Lincoln-Way Central, he recovered from an early deficit to secure the 6-5 overtime victory.

The top-ranked wrestler in 2A, he improved his record to 19-1

The highest rated showdown was at 138 pounds as No. 5 Kaden Fetterolf survived No. 6 Mike DiBenedetto with an overtime takedown for the 7-5 decision.

By improving to 17-0, Fetterolf posted his second victory of the season against DiBenedetto (12-2).

Fetterolf was also a strong candidate for the most outstanding wrestler. He posted two falls in the preliminary rounds.

“We had a dual against Lake Park, and it was a very similar match that went down to the end,” Fetterolf said. “One thing I learned from wrestling him before is that he is a very heavy right leg shooter, so I tried to counter that.

“He also adjusted to me, and that’s what made it such a great match.”

The other elite showdown involving two highly rated wrestlers played out at 182 pounds.

Lake Forest’s Charlie Heydorn utilized an early five-point throw and near fall to capture the 8-3 victory over Batavia’s previously unbeaten Jackson Tonkovich.

Heydorn (12-1) is ranked No. 4 in 2A; Tonkovich (16-1) is ranked No. 4 in 3A.

“We wrestled before down at the College Showcase,” Heydorn said. “It was a similar match, and I got a few throws in there as well. 

“I’ve been doing a lot of judo. I feel pretty comfortable there. I just felt like I was in a very good position.”

In addition to Malito, Fetterolf, Husko and the three Sycamore individual champions, Loyola’s Massimino Odiotti (19-0) sustained a perfect start

Odiotti (126) defeated No. 6 Dominik Mallinder of Lake Park with a third period fall. 

Lake Park’s Joey Olalde (160) extended his perfect start to 13-0 with a 5-1 victory over No. 8 Andrew Johnson of Oswego.

The other second-place finishers were Wheeling’s Jatuthep Rattanahattaukul (120), Batavia’s Cael Andrews (145), Oswego’s Joseph Griffin (152), Wheeling’s Leo Giron (170), Loyola’s Michael Williams (195), Wauconda’s Matthew Merevick (220) and Lincoln-Way Centrla’s Braeden Barrett (285).

Batavia was the first—and last—team standing.

“Our big guns really came through for us,” Bayer said.

“Every kid on our roster contributed, and that is how you win tournaments.”

Here are the tournament champions and the other place-winners:

106 – Ino Garcia, Batavia

Batavia’s Ino Garcia (14-3) utilized two three-point near falls in the second period to dominate Wauconda’s Lucas Galdine 10-0 for the championship.

“I never wrestled him before,” Garcia said. “He was pretty good. I just try to wrestle my style and get to my moves.

“I like to wrestle from a distance, or neutral. On top I try to be aggressive with turfs and stuff. On the bottom, I just try to get out, and I also like to waste time in that situation as well.”

He said the two near falls in the second period developed out of rigorous practice habits.

“I just always try to get it really tight and go for it.”

Garcia posted two falls to get to the championship. Ranked No. 10 in 2A, Galdine (9-2) also recorded consecutive pins to reach the final.

Batavia’s Jack Duraski defeated Oswego’s Jonny Theodor for third place. Lincoln-Way Central’s Gracie Guarino finished fifth.

113 – Aidan Huck, Batavia

Batavia’s Aidan Huck (13-4) established the dominant tone with a quick takedown en route to the second period pin of Oswego’s Brayden Swanson.

“I always like to grab those first two points,” he said. “I just try to work on nice turns, and keep the pace going.

“I think my takedowns have been very good. That mindset is just perfect for the match.”

Just as impressively, Huck pinned top-seeded Olin Walker of St. Patrick in the first period during the semifinals. Swanson won two decisions to reach the final.

St. Patrick’s Olin Walker defeated Niles North’s Trent Toni for third place. Lake Forest’s Bobby Birdie captured fifth.

120 – Joey Malito, Lincoln-Way Central

Lincoln-Way Central Joey Malito also engineered an early second period fall of Wheeling’s Jatuthep Rattanahattaukul for the championship.

Malito started the season wrestling at 126 pounds. He felt sluggish and slow.

“I cut down to the lower weight, and now I have cleared my mind of the rougher matches,” he said. “Now I am just going to work.”

He just blitzed Rattanahattaukul with a succession of quick actions and rarely let up.

“I like to go as fast as I can, and get those takedowns,” Malito said. “I like to misdirect my opponents, and then just attack them, especially those with slow or heavy feet.”

Malito had three pins for the tournament.

Rattanahattaukul (10-4) by by fall over Buffalo Grove’s Bryan Benitez and by decision over Oswego’s Ryan Goddard.

Loyola’s Patrick Zimmer defeated Goddard in the third-place match. Lake Forest’s Julian Olenick was fifth.

126 – Massimino Odiotti, Loyola Academy

Loyola’s Massimino Odiotti (19-0 ) defeated No. 6 Dominik Mallinder of Lake Park with a third period fall. 

Leading just 4-3 midway through the second period, he expanded his advantage with a takedown that ballooned to a 9-3 edge. He defeated Mallinder at 5:07.

Mallinder (9-3) posted two falls to qualify for the final.

Marian Catholic’s Joey Baranski defeated Batavia’s Zach Szuberla for third. Wauconda’s Cooper Daun was fifth.

132 – Sean Conway, St. Patrick

Sean Conway’s enthralling 6-5 overtime victory over previously unbeaten Colin Smetana of Lincoln-Way Central ended on a controversial note, with St. Patrick’s Conway awarded a point by referee’s judgment in the overtime.

Smetana had a pin and captured a 12-8 decision over Lake Forest’s Seth Digby to reach the final.

Digby recovered for the third-place victory over Batavia’s Chase Osborne. Colin Brown of Oswego was fifth.

138 – Kaden Fetterolf, Batavia

The showdown between Batavia’s Kaden Fetterolf and Lake Park’s Mike DiBenedetto seized the headlines, with Fetterolf earning the takedown with 30 seconds into overtime for the win.

“I noticed he was tired, and kind of standing up during the overtime, so I just chose that as a good time to attack,” Fetterolf said about the decisive takedown.

Fetterolf had two falls in the preliminaries. DiBenedetto won by technical fall and an 8-4 decision over Wauconda’s Cole Porten.

Porten defeated Oswego’s Aidan O’Meara by major decision for third. Evan Guarino was fifth.

145 – Colin Husko, Wauconda

In a superb final, Wauconda’s Colin Husko (12-0) outmaneuvered Batavia’s Cael Andrews 9-7 in a back-and-forth matchup.

“My whole approach is about staying offensive,” said Husko who is ranked No. 6 in 2A. “That is the only way you can win. If you wrestle defensively, guys just have more chances to take you down.

“If you take that away, you are going to be more successful.”

Husko had two falls in the lead up to the final. Andrews had a decision and a .22 second pin of Lane’s Finn Merrill to qualify for the final.

Merrill fought back to defeat Palatine’s Joey Spizzirri for third place. Lincoln-Way Central’s Max Becker was fifth.

152 – Brayden Peet, Sycamore

Sycamore’s Brayden Peet (18-0) used his excellent strength and riding skills for the 5-0 victory over Joseph Griffin of Oswego.

“If you watch college, I like to ride out a lot,” Pet said. “I’m really good on my feet. When I am on the bottom, I am very explosive and I like to scramble.”

Peet won two first period falls as part of his title run. Griffin (15-2) won by major decision and 6-3 over Lincoln-Way Central’s Timmy Key.

Wauconda’s Nick Cheshier defeated Gustavo Cardenas of Niles Roth for third place. Loyola’s Danny Herbert finished fifth.

160 – Joey Olaide, Lake Park

In a showdown of two top-10 ranked athletes, Lake Park’s No. 7 Joey Olalde defeated No. 8 Andrew Johnson of Oswego 5-1.

Olalde had an early pin and a 6-3 decision over Lane’s Fernando Lopez. Johnson posted two pins as part of his backstory.

Sycamore’s Gus Cambier defeated Lane’s Fernando Lopez for third place. Wauconda’s Zac Johnson was fifth.

170 – Zack Crawford, Sycamore

Ranked No. 1 in 2A at 160 pounds, Sycamore’s Zack Crawford (13-0) jumped up a class and wiped out the competition.

He needed just two over two minutes of match time to record three pins. He took out Wheeling’s Leo Giron in 0:34 seconds for the individual title.

St. Patrick’s second-seeded Gio Hernandez (17-4) was forced to withdraw due to injury in an earlier round. Giron won by decision over Batavia’s Asher Sheldon.

Hernandez returned to capture third place over Sheldon. Oswego’s Noel Alvarez was fifth.

182 – Charlie Heydorn, Lake Forest

The Charlie Heydorn and Jackson Tonkovich match lived up to the hype. Both had two pins in the preliminary rounds, before Lake Forest’s Heydorn used a 5-point move en route to an 8-3 win over Batavia’s Tonkovich.

“I like to work out a lot, so I like to muscle kids,” Heydorn said. “You never really see me doing very flashy moves. I like to just stick to the basics and use my strength.”

Buffalo Grove’s Vlad Federchenko (18-11) defeated Fable Carrick of Sycamore in the third-place match. Wauconda’s Sean Christensen was fifth.

195 – Cruz Ibarra, Oswego

Oswego’s Cruz Ibarra (14-3) used his superior athleticism and movement to offset the size advantage of Loyola’s Michael Williams for the 5-1 victory.

Ibarra is a football quarterback who is explosive and dynamic in space. He earlier won by forfeit and a first period pin.

Williams edged Lincoln-Way Central’s Paul Claussen 7-5 in the semifinals.

Palatine’s Sam John beat Claussen for third. Wheeling’s Erik Giron was fifth.

220 – Alex Goworowski, St. Patrick

Two highly-regarded wrestlers in 2A met confronted each other in the final. St. Patrick’s Alex Goworowski (17-1) continued his torrid start with a 16-3 major decision over Wauconda’s Matthew Merevick.

Ranked No. 7, Goworowski also won by forfeit and fall. Honorable mention performer Merevick defeated second-seed Jackson Funderburg of Sycamore with a late fall.

Niles North’s Betim Jahovic won by fall over Palatine’s Leonel Franco for third place. Funderberg was fifth.

285 – Lincoln Cooley, Sycamore

In an exhilarating end to the tournament, Sycamore’s Lincoln Cooley (13-0) used a dramatic reversal for the 4-2 overtime victory over previously unbeaten Braeden Barrett of Lincoln-Way Central.

Lake Forest’s Max Terlap defeated Lane’s Mendi Tilch for third place. Lake Park’s Armand Voloder was fifth.

For the IWCOA

Dundee-Crown edges Princeton at Stillman Valley

Dundee-Crown won this year’s 11-team Stillman Valley Holiday Tournament, edging second-place Princeton 140-135.5 in the final team score. Stillman Valley (122.5), Marengo (118), and Wheaton Academy (109) rounded out the top five team finishers.

Dundee-Crown advanced five wrestlers to the finals, and coach Tim Hayes’ squad got titles from Thomas Taylor (138), Matt Impastato (145), and Porter Leith (195), and seconds from Juan Jasso (220) and Kyle Lessner (285) in the win.

The Chargers also got a third from Christian Gerardo (113), a fourth from Jose Baeza (120), and a fifth from Jose Gavina (160). Eight of the nine wrestlers D-C brought to Stillman Valley finished among the top five of their respective weight classes.

“I was very happy with the effort and growth of all of my wrestlers this week, both jayvee and varsity,” Hayes said. “We changed a few areas of focus at practice and have been seeing positive changes in all of our guys.”

Hayes applauded the day’s work put in by Leith and Taylor after they both pinned their way to winning titles, Lessner wrestled well, and Hayes loves the hard work and leadership Jasso is showing a young team. Hayes also liked the toughness freshman Gerardo showed him in his first varsity tournament, and credited Baeza and Gavina for posting two wins apiece that helped the Chargers take home the team title.

Impastato was named outstanding wrestler for the lower weights at Stillman Valley, after topping Princeton’s top-seeded and previously unbeaten Augie Christiansen by 8-3 decision in his semifinal match, before pinning Oregon’s Anthony Bauer for the title.

“(Christiansen) was tough and continued wrestling through all positions, which is something we have been working on with Matt,” Hayes said. “We had a few good exchanges on our feet that went out of bounds, but in the third Matt got a takedown and back points to seal the victory.”

Champions for Princeton were Steven Benavidez (113) and Matthew Harris (126), while Ace Christiansen (120) placed second among Tigers who reached the title mat. Princeton also got thirds from Augie Christiansen (145) and Justin Wicaryus (285), fourths from Kaydin Gibson (113), Carlos Benavidez (132), Carson Etheridge (160), and Drew Harp (182), and fifths from Preston Arkels (138) and Jesse Wright (220).

The Tigers brought 11 wrestlers to the tournament and all 11 won place-medals. All nine of third-place Stillman Valley’s entered wrestlers also medaled, led by individual champions Jack Seacrist (160) and Aiden Livingston (170), and second-place finisher Mack Jones (106).

Lisle, Oregon, Genoa-Kingston, Johnsburg, Winnebago, and Rockford Lutheran rounded out the field at Stillman Valley.

Other individual champions at Stillman Valley were Lisle’s Ryan Hsu (106), Wheaton Academy’s Will Hupke (120), Marengo’s Ethan Struck (132), Johnsburg’s Logan Kirk (152), Winnebago’s Mannix Faworski (182), Wheaton Academy’s Peter Johanik (220), and Marengo’s Michael Macias (285).

Also placing second in their weight classes were Marengo’s Gavin Prudlick (113), Matthew Rose (126) and Eddie Solis (195), Johnsburg’s Landon Johnson (132), Wheaton Academy’s Will Anliker (138) and Hunter Kazmierczak (182), Oregon’s Anthony Bauer (145) and Gabe Eckerd (160), Genoa-Kingston’s Brady Brewick (152), and Winnebago’s Lucas Cowman (170).

Third-place finishers included Genoa-Kingston’s Shayden McNew (106), Michael Sauber (195) and Ben Younker (220), Stillman Valley’s Henry Hildreth (120), Porter Needs (152) and Andrew Forcier (182), Lisle’s Brady Collins (126), Nolan Kelly (132), and Norbert Guzik (138), Winnebago’s Charley Murray (160), and Oregon’s Ethan George (170).

Taking fourth were Rockford Lutheran’s Kyle Gnewuch (126), Oregon’s Jared Glendenning (138) and Briggs Sellers (285), Stillman Valley’s Cullen White (145) and Braxton Jennings (220), Wheaton Academy’s Caden Smith (152), Lisle’s Vinny Brummel (170), Lisle’s Joe Raineri (195).

Glenbard South Invitational

Glenbard South Invitational

Elgin and Wetosha (WI) finished tied atop the team leaderboard at this year’s 8-team Glenbard South Invitational with 62 points apiece, with host Glenbard South finishing right behind with 58 points. Westmont (57), Northridge Prep (42), Goode (40), Kelly (39) and Guilford (20) rounded out the field.L

Here are the individual champions:
106: Julius Avendano, Elgin 113: Mission Hitchell, Westmont 120: Tyre Davis, Glenbard South 126: Allen Liguigon, Elgin  132: Dominic Wagner, Westmont 138: Andre Calalang, Glenbard South 145: Marcus Gillimore, Westosha  152: Evan Beth, Westosha 160: Mike Kopecky, Northridge Prep 170: Malek Howard, Goode 182: Steve Orsolini, Glenbard South 195: Jaylan lacy, Westmont  220: Leonardo Pascual, Kelly 285: Adam Lambatz, Elgin

Lincoln-Way East wins 4th Rob Porter crown at Niles West

The 4th Annual Robert E. Porter Invitational at Niles West saw 23 teams compete on Saturday, and when it was over Lincoln-Way East won the team title, posting a 489.5 to 431.5 edge over second-place Lake Zurich in the scramble format in Niles.

Coach Kevin Rockett’s Griffins got individual titles from Jack Marion (152) and Gavin Jones (182), seconds from Tyson Zvonar (120) and Dominic Adamo (160), thirds from Domanic Abeja (145), Ari Zaeske (170), Connor Lindaur (195) and Alex Knaperek (285), a fourth from Brayden Mortell (113), fifths from Noah Ciolkosz (106), Kevin Byrne (132) and Jacob Hassan (220), and a sixth from Jackson Zaeske (138).

“Our coaching staff is happy with how our team has competed this year,” Rockett said. “The Niles West Tournament was our first tournament of the year so it was nice to wrestle well as a team.

“Our early success is attributed to the leadership of our upperclassman and underclassman willing to do their part. Our team mantra this year has been happy not satisfied, our goal is to peak February.”

All 13 of Lincoln-Way East’s wrestlers entered in the tournament finished among the top six of their weight classes. Second-place Lake Zurich had nine of its 13 wrestlers present finish in the top six.

Schaumburg led all teams with three individual champions in Brady Phelps (106), Callen Kirchner (113) and Caden Kirchner (126).

Lake Zurich sent three wrestlers to the title mat and got individual titles from Scott Busse (138) and Matt Luby (195) and a second from Tomas Troutman (145). The Bears got a third-place finish from Nolan Schuetz (160), fourths from Tallon Smith (126), Nick Costis (170), Dan Hull (182), and Ethan Medina (220), and a sixth-place finish from Aiden Foley (152).

Normal West (367), Bartlett (286), Taft (283.5), Schaumburg (279.5), Waubonsie Valley (254.5), Geneva (248.5), Elk Grove (242.5), and Notre Dame (241) rounded out the top 10 team finishers in Niles.

Other individual Porter champions were Normal West’s Froylan Racey (120), Taft’s Colin Roque (132) and Ryan Porebski (220), Joliet West’s Austin Perella (145) and Wyatt Schmitt (285), Waubonsie Valley’s Antonio Torres (160), and Grayslake Central’s Aaron Cramer (170).

Second-place finishers included Grayslake Central’s Anthony Alanis (106), Reavis’ Vladamir Vasquez (113), Taft’s Patrick Diete (126), Bartlett’s Jack Kaneshiro (132) and Jacob Kucharski (182), Maine West’s Claudio Castellanos (138), Geneva’s Nicky O’Keefe (152), Burlington Central’s Nathan Kim (170), Waubonsie Valley’s Ashton Phillips (195), and Notre Dame’s Aodan O’Sullivan (220) and Karl Schmalz (285).

Also placing third in Niles were Geneva’s Joey Sikorski (106), Elk Grove’s Grant Madl (113) and Chance Guziec (220), Grayslake Central’s Tyler Weidman (120), Reavis’ Ahmad Suleiman (126), Normal West’s Austin Johnston (132) and Brock Leenerman (182), Saint Viator’s Austin Kanyuh (138), and Bartlett’s Anthony Verges (152).

Additional fourth-placers were Burlington Central’s Jack Aguirre (106), Waubonsie Valley’s Elias Gonzalez (120) and Ethan Wojtowich (132), Normal West’s Cody Sears (138) and Matthew Marsaglia (145), Notre Dame’s Jack Shevlin (152), Schaumburg’s Logan Meyer (160), Addison Trail’s Apolonio Ramon (195), and Taft’s Grzegorz Krupa (285).

Rich Township’s Raptor Invite title goes to Merrilville (IN)

The 13-team field at Rich Township saw team champion Merrilville (IN) post a 256.5 to 183.5 edge over second-place Antioch, with Romeoville (176.5), Evergreen Park (121), and Morton (114) rounding out the top five team finishes.

Rich Township, Eisenhower, Crete-Monee, Tinley Park, Hillcrest, Thornton-Fractional South, Bloom Township, and Thornwood rounded out the field.

Merrilville advanced seven wrestlers to the title mat and got individual championships from David Maldonado (126), Caleb Carter (160), and Ryan Gonzalez (182), and seconds from Matthew Maldonado (113), Nasir Christion (120), Lucas Clement (132) and Adrian Pellot (145). Ruben Padilla (138), Taijon Span (152), Cameron Crisp (170), and Theodore Sparks (285) placed third for Merrilville, who also got fourths from Joy Cantu (106) and James Veal (220), and a fifth from Tyler Knight (195) as the Indiana team entered 20 wrestlers in the Raptor Invite and 14 of them were scoring wrestlers who all finished in the top five of their weight classes.

Second-place Antioch sent six wrestlers to the title mat, getting individual titles from Edgar Albino (120), Anthony Streib (120) and Ben Vazquez (160), and seconds from Caleb Nobiling (138), Evan Vazquez (160) and Seth Gomez (182). The Sequoits got a third from Gavin Hanrahan (106), fourths from Ethan Castillo (113), a fifth from Donald Carson (220), and a sixth from Brock Jurinek (145).

Other Raptor Invite champions included Romeoville’s Brian Farley (106), Sergio Dondiego (145) and Johnathan Espinoza-Luna (195), Morton’s Anthony Lopez (113) and Oscar Bonilla (220), Rich Township’s Nasir Bailey, Evergreen Park’s Mike Torres (170), and Crete-Monee’s Vincent Arebalo (285).

Wrestlers placing second included Rich Township’s Diondre Henry (106), Tinley Park’s Alfonso Insalaco (126), Eisenhower’s Nate Pacetti (152) and Esteban Valesquez (195), Romeoville’s Mason Gougis (170) and Francisco Gonzalez (285), and Evergreen Park’s Eduardo Antunez (220).

Also winning third-place medals were Romeoville’s Alex Bahena (113), Eisenhower’s Juan Carlos Jurardo (120), Evergreen Park’s Axle Rubalcava (126), Aseal Rubalcava (160), James Williams (182) and Connor Rinearson (195), Merrilville’s Marlone Kirksy (132), Ruben Padilla (138), Taijon Span (152), Cameron Crisp (170) and Theodore Sparks (285), and Hillcrest’s Jovan Williams (145) and Rodney Sims (220).

Finishing fourth were Romeoville’s Bryson McDonald (120), Morton’s Rafael Lopez (126), Anthony Rivera (145) and Giovanni Rodriguez (182), Tinley Park’s Andrew Koepke (132) and Sam Zyyad (138), Merrilville’s Anthony Zacarias (152) and James Veal (220), Crete-Monee’s Elijah Grayer (160) and Brandon Alexander (195), Eisenhower’s Alberto Esparza (170), and Bloom Township’s Anggelo Dawson (285).

By Gary Larsen

If any further proof was needed that girls are simply cut from a different cloth than boys, consider this from Larkin’s defending 170-pound state champion Maria Ferrer, who was in no hurry in a tournament title match Saturday against West Aurora’s Ionicca Rivera at Maine East on Saturday.

Ferrer pinned Rivera late in the first period.

“I pinned (Rivera) at Fenton a few weeks ago and to be honest, knowing I pinned her the first time, I wanted to let it go longer today so she could get something from the match, too,” Ferrer said.

“It’s not only about me; it’s about her, so she can get some experience, too,” Ferrer explained. “I get to put more work in and she gets some experience from the match.”

Good luck finding a boys’ wrestler willing to mentor an opponent during a title match. But that’s the extra support for each other that girls in every sport are noted for, and it was on full display at the 3rd Annual Emiliano Hernandez Girls Open.

Hernandez was the long-time head wrestling coach at Maine East, retiring after the 2018-19 season. He was present and working Saturday’s event, along with Maine East coaches Austin Bautista and Lizeth Torres.

Torres wrestled for Maine East and wrestled in the first IWCOA state tournament for girls, as a high school senior in 2017. She placed second in state at 106. Her story in the sport is one that girls today no longer have to tell, now that girls wrestling are an IHSA-sanctioned sport.

“I started wrestling in middle school and there was no girls wrestling,” Torres said. “My senior year was the first year for a girl’s state tournament. I wrestled here with all boys. (Hernandez) was my coach and I was the only girl. So it’s been really amazing to see how this sport has evolved for girls.

“I joined the sport because it taught me so many life lessons about being aggressive, and being tested mentally and physically.”

Female wrestling coaches like Torres can now pass down their expertise to today’s girls in the sport, during a school year that will see the first IHSA state tournament in history for girls wrestling.

And it will be wrestlers like Larkin’s Ferrer helping the next generation of Illinois girls take the sport even farther and higher.

“Some people say it’s a guys’ sport — I say no,” Ferrer said. “Girls can do it, too. And now that I’m really into the sport, I want to learn as much as I can about it and I want to coach someday.”

There was no team champion crowned at Maine East but Morton led all schools present with four champions in Paris Flores (105), Jennifer Villagomez (110), Karla Topete (140), and Diana Rodriguez (190). There are 20 girls in Morton’s program this year.

“We’ve got girls that are very excited about the sport,” Morton coach Joe Helton said. “They’re in the varsity room with the boys, working just as hard as the boys, working their tails off.

“We’ve got a number of girls that are interested in wrestling in college, they’re in a competitive room, and they’re really driving a whole movement for girls over at Morton right now.”

Other individual titles came from Lane Tech’s Sharon Moreno (115), Maine East’s Hanna Suboni-Kaufman (120), Hoffman Estates’ Emmylina O’Brien (125), West Aurora’s Dyani Rivera (145), Downers Grove South’s Violet Cherap (155), and Rickover Naval Academy’s Jasmine Mejia (235).

Here’s a breakdown of the 11 individual champions at Maine East:

105 – Paris Flores, Morton
The junior Flores posted pins over Oak Park-River Forest’s Ana Banuelos and then Ottawa’s Anastaisia Sheptenko to win the title at 105. Banuelos went on to place third by decision against Morton’s Ariana Diaz and Maine East’s Elyssa Guleng placed fifth.

Flores began wrestling as a freshman and took last season off due to COVID. She’s back as an undersized 105-pounder but opponents shouldn’t let her size fool them.

“When she’s on the mat she can get real tough with people,” Helton said. “She’s working so hard and just scrapping with the other girls. She wants to do something special in her senior year and she’s going to go out and fight with whoever is across the line from her.”

Flores is happy to be back in the fold after a year’s hiatus.

“I just have to wrestle smart and try to get stronger,” Flores said. “But these girls are like my second family and we have a real bond with each other.”

110 – Jennifer Villagomez, Morton
Three pins and a tournament championship made for a good Saturday for Villagomez, who captured the title at 110 in Park Ridge.

Villagomez pinned West Aurora’s Emmaly Vargas, Huntley’s Taylor Casey, and Lane Tech’s Ellie Frost during her three-pin run to the title. Maine East’s Emily Villegas won by fall on the third-place mat against Casey to round out the top four finishers.

The second of Morton’s four champions placed sixth in state at the IWCOA finals in June and is one of the Mustangs’ hungriest wrestlers.

“Jennifer is one of those girls who has been there since my first day in the building and she’s just a very hard worker,” Helton said. “She’s always looking for the best competition and she works whoever she has in front of her to their limit.

“She’s one of those people who might get frustrated if her practice partner isn’t doing enough. We really love having her in the room.”

115 – Sharon Moreno, Lane Tech
Lane Tech’s Sharon Moreno improved to 8-1 this season with her title match win at 115 over Rickover Naval Academy’s Kemely Trujillo. In her lone loss this season, Moreno was up 14-0 late in a match when she fell victim to a headlock and a pin.

Moreno went 1-2 at the IWCOA state finals in June and has used that experience to her benefit.

“I learned a lot there and I look back on that a lot,” Moreno said. “My shots had to improve — entries, finishing — and really just being confidence in myself going in. Being more confident means going to my shot first, making first contact, setting the pace. That’s what confidence means to me in wrestling.”

Moreno was never involved in sports to any great extent — until she discovered wrestling.

“This sport is completely different,” Moreno said. “Physically moving someone the way I want to, getting my hands on them and knowing that I have them there. And it’s really emotionally balancing when you win. You just feel good about yourself.”

120 – Hanna Suboni-Kaufman, Maine East
Now in her fourth year in the sport, Maine East senior Hanna Suboni-Kaufman is turning the corner from a defensive to a more offensive-minded wrestler.

Suboni-Kaufman opened with a pin against Huntley’s Addison Drews, then won by major decision against Hoffman Estates’ Evelyn Simon in a semifinal match.

After pinning Hoffman Estates’ Sophia Bell on the title mat, Kaufman was pleased with the way she wrestled Saturday.

“I took a lot of shots today, I did that in the last tournament, and I’m glad I’m getting in there,” Suboni-Kaufman said. “In my last match I saw an opportunity and I went for it.”

Morton’s Lellany DeLeon pinned Lane Tech’s Nyah Lovis for third place, and Simon pinned Morton’s Neida Arreola for fifth place.
Suboni-Kaufman’s approach to the sport echoes what all the best wrestlers have always embraced.
“I love that it’s so hard, and that you just rely on yourself,” Suboni-Kaufman said.

“And just going against the best person I can find — anyone who is better than me that I can wrestle. I always want to go for those matches because even if you lose, you learn a lot.”

125 – Emmylina O’Brien, Hoffman Estates
Hoffman Estates sophomore Emmylina O’Brien is proof positive that there is a popular endeavor away from the sport that can pay huge dividends for a wrestler.

“I’m a dancer as well so I can work on footwork, speed, flexibility, and agility,” O’Brien said. “And strength is obviously important so I was in the weight room a lot last year, even if I didn’t get to wrestle.”

O’Brien began wrestling in eighth grade but sat out of the sport last season because of the pandemic.

O’Brien’s pin on the title mat at 125 against Morton’s Ximena Jaurez upped her season record to 7-0. She pinned Rickover Naval Academy’s Annabella Guzman to start her day, then won a major decision in her semifinal match against Oak Park’s Pearl Lacey to reach the finals.
Morton’s Nayeli Rodriguez pinned Lacey for third and Lane Tech’s Uyen Le pinned Larkin’s Mia Reyes for fifth place.

O’Brien’s hip toss worked well for her all day, and her sprawling ability stood out against Jaurez in the finals. She led 4-2 after a period and 9-4 after two periods before posting a third-period pin.

“This is the only sport I do. I don’t really like running but I like hard, physical sports,” O’Brien said. “I watched the sport in seventh grade but I was too chicken to actually do it.

“But in eighth grade I got into it, I met some of the varsity wrestlers and I’d watch someone who was down in a match but then get a cradle or something and come back and win. I was inspired.”

140 – Karla Topete, Morton

Every team needs a veteran wrestler in the practice room who can help whip the younger wrestlers in the room into shape, and get them to understand what it takes to succeed in the toughest sport.

After Morton’s Karla Topete won the title at 140 Saturday, coach Joe Helton pointed at her directly for being that veteran leader in the Mustangs’ practice room.

Topete placed 7th at the IWCOA state finals in June.

“Karla is a young lady we’ve had since she was a young kid in the Little Mustangs program,” Helton said. “She’s been a lifer for us. She’s a great leader with a lot of the girls in taking kids under her wing. She’s making sure our freshmen know how to work, she loves to have fun, and I’m very proud of her mentality.”

Ottawa’s Sara Meyer forfeited to Topete in their title match, Morton’s Faith Comas won by major decision for third against Hoffman Estates’ Abby Ji, and Larkin’s Quetzali Lara finished fifth with a major decision against Emma Schmidt.

145 – Dyani Rivera, West Aurora
There were only four wrestlers entered at 145, with West Aurora’s Dyani Rivera posting two pins to win the title. She opened with a forfeit win and then pinned Hoffman Estates’ Annie Rakoci before pinning Lane Tech’s Noemi Marchan for the crown at 145. Marchan went 2-1 on the day, with pins over Rakoci and Oak Park-River Forest’s Mayan Awaeli.

Rivera’s win at Maine East came one week after she won an individual title in tournament action at Conant, and two weeks after a runner-up finish at Normal.

“This is really her first time competing against girls,” West Aurora coach Andrew Plata said. “She’s spent ten-plus years competing against boys and holding her own just fine.”

Rivera — who is also a varsity softball player and cheerleader — has a quality Plata highly prizes, and one she shares with sister Ionicca, who competes for the Blackhawks at 170 pounds.

“She’s such an awesome person,” Plata said. “She has such a positive energy day in and day out, always working hard with a huge smile on her face. Her sister Ionicca is the same way. She’s a sophomore and carries the same positive vibes in and out of the wrestling room.”

155 – Violet Cherap, Downers Grove South
At 155, Downers Grove South freshman Violet Cherap showed what DGS coach Sean Lovelace knows all too well.

“Violet has all the tools to be a phenomenal wrestler,” Lovelace said. “She is strong, aggressive, and has a high wrestling IQ. And she hates losing.”

Cherap won by major decision over Oak Park and River Forest’s Megan Barajas in her opening match, then pinned Lane Tech’s Ninnette Martinez in a semifinal match.

Cherap then pinned Lane Tech’s Keira Parker to win the title. Lovelace points to a loss Cherap suffered in a tournament title match earlier this year that propelled her forward.

“Since that match, I’ve noticed a much more cerebral and introspective approach by Violet,” Lovelace said. “She is aggressive but now she’s much more calculated. I really do think that she is going to be a special wrestler for us and for the state of Illinois for the next four years.”

Parker opened with a major decision over Larkin’s Giselle Ayala and then pinned Huntley’s Gretchen Sweeny in a semifinal to reach the finals.
Ayala pinned Sweeny to finish third.

170 – Maria Ferrer, Larkin
Larkin junior Maria Ferrer is unbeaten this season, after winning the IWCOA state title at 170 in June. A major decision win in her semifinal match Saturday against Huntley’s Alexandra Strzelecki set up her match in the finals, where she pinned West Aurora’s Ionicca Rivera late in the first period.

Rivera pinned Downers Grove South’s Camilla Quiroz and then Rickover Naval Academy’s Clara Biela to reach the title match.

Ferrer’s success at the state level last season as a sophomore came when began opening up her offense, which she had working on Saturday.

“I was too passive as a freshman but I was better about shooting more last year,” Ferrer said. “This year I’m shooting even more and trying to learn anything I can that will help me for state.”
Strzelecki pinned Biela on the third-place mat and Maine East’s Claudia Domusiewicz placed fifth with a pin over Morton’s Alejandra Velazquez.

190 – Diana Rodriguez, Morton
Pin, pin, pin, title.

If that’s the preferred path of champions, Morton’s Diana Rodriguez followed it on Saturday. Rodriguez pinned Lane Tech’s Scarlett Ramirez, Hoffman Estates Anjali Gonzalez, and then Downers Grove South’s Gracie Swierzynski on the title mat to win the crown at 190 pounds.

“She’s been able to scrap with the best of them,” Morton coach Joe Helton said. “She’s gone up in weight to wrestle bigger girls and has worked her butt off. She has treated everything like it’s all business this year.”

Swierzynski pinned Maine West’s Lilly Garrett in her opening match before winning by forfeit in her semifinal against Morton’s Sofia De La Sancha.

Hoffman Estates’ Gonzalez won by decision on the third-place mat against Morton’s De La Sancha, and Garrett placed fifth with a decision win against Rickover Naval Academy’s Camilla Martinez.

235 – Jasmine Mejia, Rickover Naval Academy
Rickover Naval Academy freshman Jasmine Mejia opened her day with a pin of West Aurora’s Veronica Sanchez, and won by forfeit in her semifinal match before pinning Oak Park and River Forest’s Tamera Erving to win the title at 235.

In her first year in the sport, Mejia already has a good handle on arguably the greatest life lesson that wrestling has to offer:
“When you feel like you’re beat, to keep on going,” Mejia said. “I do that pretty well but I want to keep working on that.”

Mejia particularly likes the family aspect of the sport that she has experienced at Rickover thus far; in fact, that family aspect was what pulled her into the sport in the first place.

“My dad is the assistant coach, so is one of my teachers, so I thought ‘maybe I can do this’,” Mejia said. “At first I was (resistant) to it. But it’s such an honorable sport and it helps you develop as a person. For girls, especially, it can help you build confidence. It helps you grow into yourself.”

Erving reached the finals with a pin of Downers Grove South’sKat Rodriguez and a fall against Taft’s Kennedi Atkocaitis. Sanchez also went on to pin Rodriguez on the fifth-place mat.

For the IWCOA

Two significant accomplishments that had only been done once before by competitors from Illinois were witnessed again this past weekend at the Walsh Jesuit Ironman XXVII Tournament in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

For only the second time, individuals from multiple schools won championships as Homewood-Flossmoor junior Vincent Robinson captured top honors at 126 and Rich Township junior Nasir Bailey followed him by claiming the championship at 132.

The only other time that had been done was in Illinois’ best year for winning titles, 2006, when Montini Catholic received titles wins from Mike Benefiel and Garrett Goebel and Glenbard North got a first-place finish from Tony Ramos.

Also for the second time, a champion and two other placewinners appeared on the awards stand in the same weight class. That also involved Robinson, who was joined on the next-highest spots on the podium by Washington Community junior Kannon Webster, who took second place, and Mount Carmel junior Sergio Lemley, who finished third.

The only other time a similar scenario occurred was in 2015, when Montini’s Dylan Duncan won the 132 title and was accompanied by Oak Park and River Forest’s Gabe Townsell, who took fourth, and Marmion Academy’s Anthony Cheloni, who placed eighth.

Thanks to the titles won by Bailey and Robinson, Illinois ended a three-year drought in champions which was the longest that the state hadn’t had a first-place finisher in the event since Benefiel captured the first title there in 2004. Illinois now has 13 individuals who’ve won 15 Ironman championships from eight schools with Montini winning eight and seven others with one champion.

One other individual competed in a championship match, St. Charles East sophomore Ben Davino, who took second place at 120. But the Saints missed out on having another medalist when sophomore Tyler Guerra fell one win shy at 132.

Mount Carmel had two other medal winners, both of whom took fifth place, freshman Seth Mendoza at 106 and senior Ryan Boersma at 285. 

Another fifth-place finisher from the state is Aurora Christian senior Braden Stauffenberg at 150. Two others from that school came up one win shy of a medal, senior Joe Fernau at 126 and freshman Deven Casey at 106.

Homewood-Flossmoor also received a seventh-place finish from junior Deion Johnson at 106 while sophomore Jaydon Robinson, Vincent’s brother, fell one win shy of a medal at 144.

Bailey, a 2020 IHSA 2A champion and 2021 Texas 6A champion who’s first at 132 in 3A in Rob Sherrill’s IWCOA rankings, added to tournament titles at Antioch and Joliet Central when he went 5-0, winning three of his matches by fall, one by technical fall and another in a major decision.

A fifth-place finisher in the Ironman in 2019, Bailey recorded a fall in 6:28 over Waynesburg Central’s Mac Church to win the 132 championship. After winning with a first-period fall in the quarterfinals, he advanced to the finals with a 10-2 major decision over Tampa Jesuit. For his efforts, received the Mendoza Award for scoring a tournament-high 34.5 team points.

“This is arguably the hardest high school tournament in the nation and Nasir won the 132 pound title,” Rich Township coach Alex Pell said. “He dominated his opponents from the first match to the last. He finished with a major decision, a tech fall, and three pin falls collecting bonus points from every match wrestled.  With his dominant performance, he was able to win the Mendoza Award for winning the most team points in the tournament.  I’m beyond proud of how hard this young man has worked and the success that he has created.”

Vincent Robinson’s road to the championship and 6-0 performance featured much more drama. His largest win was a major decision in his opening match and then he won two-point decisions in four of his next five matches.

Robinson, a 2020 3A runnerup at Marian Catholic who’s top-ranked at 126 in 3A and was competing in his first tournament of the season, advanced to the semifinals with a 3-1 win over Malvern Prep’s Nick O’Neill and then won 3-1 in sudden victory over Lemley in the semifinals. In the championship match at 126, Robinson captured a 5-3 victory over Webster in an all-Illinois finals. He was second in the  voting for the Bill Barger Outstanding Wrestler Award, which went to Aurora’s Dylan Fishback.

“It was just fun being in that atmosphere,” Vincent Robinson said. “I went there my freshman year and went 1-1 and messed my shoulder up in the second round, so I already knew that you had to wrestle in every match and it wasn’t going to be a breeze. We’re real tough and we go into the practice room and work hard and come in there with a positive attitude. I’m the leader of the team so I have to bring the energy every day.”

“What can be said about Vincent Robinson’s tournament that hasn’t already been said?,” H-F coach Jim Sokoloski said. “He finished in second place for the OW of the tournament, defeating the second-, third- and fourth place finishers in the finals, semis, and quarters, respectively and he defeated two Illinois wrestlers as well. Vincent was absolutely locked in from match number one and kept it rolling the entire tournament. Winning this tournament is such an accomplishment and I really had no idea until I was able to see it first hand. To be able to navigate a bracket that is this difficult is truly special.”

Webster, a 2020 2A champion who’s top-ranked at 126 in 2A, went 5-1 in his first tournament of the season with a fall, a win by major decision and three decisions. After winning 7-2 over Blair Academy’s Matthew Lopes in the quarterfinals, he advanced to the title match with a 9-5 semifinal win over Crescent Valley’s Gabe Whisenhunt.

Davino, a 3A IWCOA state champion who’s top-ranked at 120 in 3A, went 4-1 in his initial tournament of the season to advance to the 120 finals. He won a major decision in his first match and then won three-straight decisions, prevailing 7-2 over Legacy Christian’s Dillon Campbell in the quarterfinals and then 5-2 over Nixa’s Zan Fugitt. In the finals, he dropped a 5-2 decision to McGowan.

The Saints just missed getting another placewinner at 132 as Guerra went 4-2 thanks to four straight wins in the consolation bracket before falling 5-2 to Gonzaga Preparatory’s Joshua Neiwart in his final match.

“Having Ben and Tyler get an invite to the Ironman was a huge step for our program,” St. Charles East coach Jason Potter said. “We knew they could compete with the best and this gave us the opportunity to prove. They performed at a high level and we feel confident they have opened the door for our team and future Saints wrestlers. Our goal is to put our wrestlers in a situation to compete and beat the best and the Ironman did not disappoint.  

“Ben had a great weekend and I am very proud of his performance.  I know he was disappointed not to take home the title, but second place in the Ironman is an amazing accomplishment.  He beat multiple athletes who are nationally ranked ahead of him and avenged a previous loss dominating Ohio’s Campbell. His goal is to be the number one wrestler in the country, and this performance moves him closer to that goal.

“Tyler was a late entry into the tournament and was not seeded. This put him against the number-five seed right out of the gates.  Tyler lost the closely-contested match but bounced back with four wins to get to the blood round. He competed hard and was in the match but fell just short of the podium. I am extremely proud of his effort and am excited to see what he can do at the Dvorak.”

Mount Carmel was the top-scoring Illinois team in the tournament, finishing in 11th place with 70.5 points. 

Lemley, a 3A champion in 2020 and Indiana champion in 2021 who’s ranked second at 126 in 3A, went 5-1 with three falls, a win by major decision and a one-point victory following up on his first-place finish at the Dan Gable Donnybrook.

After beating Bixby’s Clay Giddens-Buttram 18-5 in the quarterfinals, Lemley lost 3-1 in sudden victory to Robinson but bounced back with a fall over Bethlehem Catholic’s Dante Frinzi and an 8-7 triumph over O’Nell to capture third place at 126.

Mendoza went 5-2 after opening with two falls before falling 11-6 in the quarterfinals to Malvern Prep’s Anthony Mutarelli. The state’s top-ranked individual at 106 in 3A who also won a title at the Gable tournament in Iowa, responded with a decision and win by technical fall before dropping a 6-1 decision to send him into the fifth-place match, where he claimed a 3-0 victory over Broken Arrow’s Christian Forbes.

Boersma, a two-time placer and IWCOA 3A champion who’s top-ranked in 3A at 285 and also took first at the Gable Donnybrook, went 5-2 with three falls, a major decision and a decision. After falling 4-3 in the quarterfinals to Mesa Ridge’s Matthew Moore, he recorded a fall and won a decision before losing a one-point match and finishing with a 13-2 major decision over Waynesburg Central’s Noah Tustin for fifth.

Despite having just four competitors, Homewood-Flossmoor finished in 21st place with 49 points. Johnson, ranked third at 106 in 3A and a title winner at Joliet Central, went 5-2 to place seventh at 106. After falling in an ultimate tiebreaker in round three, he won two decisions and claimed a forfeit win before losing to Mendoza. He won 5-0 over Greeneville’s Carson Dupill for seventh place.

Jaydon Robinson went 3-2 after advancing to round three where he lost a decision. He bounced back with a win on a tiebreaker and then got a fall but lost his next match to miss out on a medal at 144.

“Overall, we finished in 21st place and we only brought four wrestlers,” SokoIoski said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our wrestlers and coaches. We have an incredible thing going at H-F right now and it continues to build momentum. Deion Johnson grinded through an incredibly tough bracket as an unseeded wrestler to finish in seventh place.”

Aurora Christian finished 26th with 42.5 points. Stauffenberg, a 2020 3A placer who is ranked second at 152 in 2A and won a title at Barrington, went 6-2 to claim fifth at 150. After dropping a 5-4 decision in the third round, he responded with four-straight close wins, with three coming by sudden victory. After falling 7-5 by sudden victory in his next match, he won 3-0 over Palmetto Ridge’s Carson Miller for fifth.

Fernau, a 2000 3A champion at 103 while at Montini who is ranked third at 126 in 2A, went 3-2 after getting a major decision and two decisions to reach the 126 quarterfinals, where he fell 11-3 to Whisenhunt. His hopes for a medal came up a win short when he fell 4-2 in the next match. 

By Curt Herron

One of the smallest schools in Illinois that has a wrestling program also has some of the biggest dreams as to what special things they may be able to accomplish this season.

With an enrollment of 64.5 students per the IHSA, Yorkville Christian is hoping that its championship in the return of Plano’s Reaper Classic on Saturday after a one-year hiatus is the start of something big for a young program that had just four individuals competing four years ago.

Coach Mike Vester’s Mustangs captured five titles, had six second-place finishers and placed in the top-six at each weight class after advancing all 14 individuals to the semifinals to claim the title of the 38th annual Reaper Classic with 229 points, which was well ahead of runner-up Sandwich, who had 179.5 points.

Princeton claimed third place with 143 points while Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/Fisher edged Prairie Central 100-99 for fourth place and the host Reapers were sixth with 84 points in a competition that featured 15 teams.

Winning championships for Yorkville Christian were Aiden Larsen (106), Isaac Bourge (120), Tyler Martinez (160), Jackson Gillen (170) and Michael Esquivel (285). It missed out on winning another title when Noah Dial (132) was disqualified in the late stages of a match where he had a big lead.

Others finishing second for the Mustangs were Grason Johnson (126), Braulio Flores (138), Jeremy Loomis (145), Drew Torza (152) and Chris Durbin (195). Brooklyn Sheaffer (113) finished fifth while Jackson Mehochko (182) and Garrett English (220) took sixth place.

Yorkville Christian, which finished fourth in its first tournament at Antioch, has a challenging schedule for a small school with a young program that features a significant percentage of the students who are wrestlers. The Mustangs have already met Deerfield and are scheduled to face highly-ranked teams like Joliet Catholic Academy and Washington in 2A and Lockport in 3A, as well as taking part in DeKalb’s Flavin Invite, the Cheesehead Invite in Wisconsin and Mahomet-Seymour’s Marty Williams Invite.

One of the Mustangs’ assistants who is excited about what’s happening at the young school in Kendall County and also happens to have his name on the wall at Plano is Travis Martinez. He was a state runner-up at 275 in Class A in 1998 for the Reapers and is the father of the tournament’s 160 champion, Tyler Martinez. 

“It was very exciting to give him a hug afterward and to tell him that in this gymnasium he was able to do something that his father never did, I never won the Reaper Tournament,” Travis Martinez said. “It was great to see the competition here and we’ve been wrestling a lot of 2A and 3A schools and that’s what we’ve been looking for. We want to get battle-tested early since we have some big intentions of trying to go deep into the tournament this year, both individually and as a team. We know the potential of the kids and they’re starting to realize their potential. We went 14 of 14 of getting the kids into the semifinals and 11 made the finals. All in all, you have to be proud of their efforts.”

Sandwich had three champions, Evan Reilly (138), Aidan Linden (152) and Alex Alfaro (182) while Ashlyn Strenz (106) and Samuel Dale (170) both took second. Bryce Decker (160) finished third, Miles Corder (126) and Kaiden Gustafson (195) were fourth, Sy Smith (132) and Nolan Bobee (145) placed fifth as all 10 Indians won medals.

Princeton had nine of its 11 competitors finish sixth or better with Matthew Harris (126) and Augie Christiansen (145) leading the way with championships while Ace Christiansen (120) claimed second place. Taking third for the Tigers were Drew Harp (195) and JJ Wicaryus (285), while Kaydin Gibson (113), Carlos Benavidez (132) and Carson Etheridge (160) all placed fourth and Preston Arkels (138) finished in sixth place. 

Three other teams each had one champion and two of those were recognized with the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler Award for lower and upper weights. 

Earning the honor as outstanding wrestler for lower weights was Somonauk’s Shea Reisel (113), who not only made history as a girls champion in the tournament but also by claiming one of the two OWA awards, for the lower weights. 

“Her biggest thing is that she just outworks everybody, that’s what it comes down to,” Somonauk coach Mike Otto said. “She’s a hard worker and doesn’t give up and doesn’t complain. Even if she’s behind in the score, I always think that she’s going to win because she’s never going to stop. She’s got a goal in mind and that’s what she’s aiming for.”

Receiving the outstanding wrestler award for the upper weights was TF North’s Alex Jackson, who also happened to claim his first title in a varsity tournament. He had been unable to break into the lineup due to the presence of a pair of state champion brothers, Bilal and Sincere Bailey.

The other tournament champion hadn’t even expected to be at the Reaper Classic until just the past week. Prairie Central’s Connor Steidinger (220) was supposed to compete in The Munch Invite in Pontiac, but after that event got canceled, his program was offered the chance to take part and made of the opportunity, which also featured Jerome Brown (138) recording a tournament-best six falls to place third.

Others claiming second-place finishes were Saint Ignatius College Prep’s Nate Sanchez (113) and Dylan Kabance (132), Marian Catholic’s Lloyd Mills (160), Wheaton Academy’s Hunter Kazmierczak (182), TF North’s Bryant Bobadilla (220) and Plano’s Alex Diaz (285).

Seventeen individuals who were placewinners in the last Reaper Classic returned to the awards stand again and eight of those, East Aurora’s Zamir Castanon, Bourge, Flores, Harp, Harris, Kazmierczak, Linden and Reisel are three-time placewinners in the tournament with 2019 first-place finisher Gillen and 2018 title winners Bourge and Harris became two-time champions in the competition.

Teams that have won Reaper Classic titles have fared very well in the IHSA Class A and 1A dual team series. Twenty of the 37 championship squads have won trophies for top-four showings while 15 have competed for titles and nine have captured state championships.

Here are the tournament champions and the other place winners at their weight classes:

106 – Aiden Larsen, Yorkville Christian

Yorkville Christian freshman Aiden Larsen won by fall in 2:18 over Sandwich sophomore Ashlyn Strenz at 106 to start the Reaper Classic finals. He advanced to the title match after getting a quick fall in his first match in the semifinals while Strenz, who joined Shea Reisel as one of the two girls who advanced to consecutive title matches, moved on with first-minute pins in both the quarterfinals and semifinals. Larsen, who is ranked third at 106 in 1A, took second place at Antioch’s DeRousse Tournament.  

“It’s a great school and we’ve been together since we were eight or nine years old,” said Larsen of his school and teammates. “It feels good to get your first high school tournament win. I had a tough loss against Hanrahan (Antioch’s Gavin), who’s a good opponent. It’s going to be a good year.”

De La Salle Institute’s Raymond Alvarado bounced back from his semifinal loss to Larsen to claim third-place with a fall in 2:24 over Saint Ignatius’ Mike Marafino, who lost to Strenz in the other semifinal. Prairie Central’s Drake Clemons took fifth place in the weight class.

112 – Shea Reisel, Somonauk

Saturday marked an historic day for Somonauk senior Shea Reisel, who not only earned her third trip to the awards stand in the event and was one of two girls who competed in the first two title matches, but she claimed top honors at 113 with a 4-1 decision over Saint Ignatius College Prep freshman Nate Sanchez. Reisel got a fall in the quarterfinals and then claimed an 11-6 decision in the semifinals over Princeton’s Kaydin Gibson to help her earn the tournament’s outstanding wrestler award for the lower weights.

“I’m so grateful that the numbers are increasing in female wrestling,” Reisel said. “It’s such an amazing sport but I think that people tend to overlook it. I’ve been wrestling boys all of my life, the same as other girls my age, and I like now that there’s more availability in girls wrestling. But I think overall, wrestling boys up until this time has made me the wrestler who I am. I’m really grateful and I appreciate all of the opportunities that I’ve been given and not just for me but for so many female wrestlers. And I have a load of support., so I’m grateful for that, too.”

Sanchez advanced to the finals with a 7-0 victory over Yorkville Christian’s Brooklyn Sheaffer.  Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/Fisher’s Jakob Howell won the third-place match with a fall in 3:55 over Gibson while Sheaffer took fifth place by previous decision against East’s Aurora’s Leo Cardoza.

120 – Isaac Bourge, Yorkville Christian

Yorkville Christian senior Isaac Bourge captured the championship at 120 with a 4-0 decision over Princeton freshman Ace Christiansen. Bourge, who’s ranked seventh in Class 1A, also won the tournament in 2018 when his team had just four competitors and he is also a three-time placewinner in the event. He won a major decision in the quarterfinals and claimed a 5-1 decision over Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/Fisher’s Shawn Schlickman in the semifinals. 

“It’s very exciting,” Bourge said. “We’ve all been trying really hard in practice and just working on our moves and it’s really paying off. We have really good communication and unity since we’ve all known each other since we were little. We grew up together so we’re really friendly with each other and so our teamwork is amazing. Four years ago, there was just four of us, there was just me and three other kids and they’re gone now and now there’s just me left. We went from four to eight and 11 and from there we’ve just skyrocketed and have a full lineup and it’s just amazing to watch how we grow. This tournament gave us great opportunities since it had kids that we’ll see at state and there were good matches that we got in. This year is really about me placing at state since I’ve qualified my last two years, that will make my dad proud.”

Christiansen earned his spot in the finals with a pair of first-period falls, including a pin in 0:56 against Somonauk’s Mason Smith in the semifinals. Schlickman recorded a fall in 2:39 over Wheaton Academy’s Will Hupke to claim third place while Prairie Central’s John Traub got a fall in 3:58 over Smith to finish fifth.

126 – Matthew Harris, Princeton

Princeton senior Matthew Harris claimed a 7-2 victory over Yorkville Christian sophomore Grason Johnson to claim top honors at 126. Harris, who is ranked fourth in Class 1A and a title winner in 2018 and a three-time medal winner in the tournament, opened with a win by technical fall in the quarterfinals and followed that up with a fall in 1:37 over Somonauk/Leland’s Aiden Rowan in the semifinals. Johnson got a fall in the quarterfinals and then claimed a 3-1 semifinal victory over Marian Catholic’s Joey Baranski. 

“We’ve got a good practice room, for sure,” Harris said. “Once you figure out how to use your leverage, it’s good and I’ve got pretty funky hips. This spring I got fourth at 126 so I’m excited for this season. One of the real nice things  about the finals match is that was actually my 100th career win.”

Baranski bounced back from his narrow semifinal loss to capture a 4-2 victory over Sandwich’s Miles Corder to claim third place. Rowan also responded to his semifinal defeat with an 8-5 decision over Prairie Central’s Mekonnen Steidinger to finish fifth. 

132 – No championship awarded

Yorkville Christian junior Noah Dial was only seconds away from wrapping up a decisive major decision in the 132 finals against Saint Ignatius senior Dylan Kabance when the  situation deteriorated following a late escape. Before the match was able to be concluded, there was contact between the two and during that, the referee got hit and landed on the mat where he was attended to for a few minutes before being assisted out of the gym. As a result, both individuals were disqualified and no championship was awarded.

Dial, who’s ranked fourth in 1A and was fourth at Antioch, followed a pin in the quarterfinals with a win by technical fall in 2:49 over Sandwich’s Sy Smith in the semifinals. Kabance, who was third at Hinsdale South, got a quick fall in the quarterfinals and captured a 6-5 semifinal victory over Princeton’s Carlos Benavidez. In the third-place match, East Aurora’s Zamir Castanon, a three-time medalist in the event, won 5-4 over Benavidez. Smith took fifth place with a fall in 3:38 over Wheaton Academy’s Daniel Kersey. 

138 – Evan Reilly, Sandwich

Sandwich senior Evan Reilly claimed top honors at 138 when he captured a 6-3 victory over Yorkville Christian senior Braulio Flores. Reilly, who is ranked sixth in 1A and was seventh at Barrington, recorded first-period falls in both the quarterfinals and semifinals, pinning Princeton’s Preston Arkels in 1:27 to reach the finals. Flores, a three-time medalist in the tournament who placed fifth at Antioch, opened with a fall before capturing a 2-0 semifinal victory over Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/Fisher’s Carson Maxey.

“Being a senior is definitely an advantage,” Reilly said. “Being an older guy, you get the same competition but you feel a little bit better mentally knowing that, hey, I’m an older guy here, so I have a little more experience. It’s good to come into the season with some confidence, especially from last year, when it was a weird season. So to come into the next year and say I made it down there gives me some confidence. This upcoming season, and especially with all of our guys, it’s going to be a good season, for sure.”

In the third-place match, Prairie Central’s Jerome Brown recorded a fall in 0:52 over Maxey to collect his sixth-straight pin, which was the highest total in the event. And in the fifth-place match, Plano’s Norbert Gajda was a 10-4 winner over Arkels.

145 – Augie Christiansen, Princeton

Princeton junior Augie Christiansen won a 15-8 decision over Yorkville Christian junior Jeremy Loomis in the 145 finals to give the Tigers a second title in the event and also to join his brother, Ace, who competed at 120, as one of the team’s three finalists. He won by fall in the quarterfinals and claimed a win by technical fall in the semifinals over East Auora’s Emmanuel Gutierrez. Loomis, who was fifth at Antioch, used two first-period falls to reach the finals, pinning Sandwich’s Nolan Bobee in 1:42 in the semifinals.

“This is a very big year for me,” Christiansen said of his state hopes. “I want to be able to get there and to be able to compete with the best of the best and to hopefully come home with some hardware in Champaign. You need to have tournaments like this, especially with the postseason, because you have to have the stamina to come in and wrestle four matches in a day. Especially for this being our first tournament, it was very good for us, we needed that. We’re still super young, too, with a lot of freshmen and sophomores and juniors. We just need to keep working hard in the wrestling room, obviously, and everyone’s got stuff they need to work on. Now it’s just about getting ready for February.”

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/Fisher’s Altin Nettleton captured third place after recording a fall in 1:22 over De La Salle’s Nicholas Arvetis. At the start of the finals, there was a malfunction of a recording of the national anthem and after a brief delay, Aaron Nettleton came down to the head table and volunteered to sing and turned in a well-received performance of the anthem. In the fifth-place match, Bobee won by fall in 1:13 over Gutierrez. 

152 – Aidan Linden, Sandwich

Sandwich senior Aidan Linden captured a 6-4 win over Yorkville Christian junior Drew Torza in the 152 championship match. Linden, who’s ranked second in 1A and was fourth at Barrington, is a three-time medalist in the tournament. He followed a fall with a win by technical fall in 1:57 in the semifinals over Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/Fisher’s Carter Kallal. Torza, who’s ranked seventh in 1A and was sixth at Antioch, recorded two falls to reach the title mat, winning in the semifinals with a pin in 3:06 over Plano’s Gio Diaz.

“We have an amazing team,” Linden saiid. “We’re rebuilding again with a lot of seniors on the team and we have some good kids that are coming in, too, which should fill our spots well. This season, we’re just working on getting better and take it one day at a time. We have a team of leaders and we’re always giving each other high fives and talking to each other if someone loses a match. We’re like, hey, we’ll get them next time, you work toward the future. Since I was young, I’ve always had dreams and wanted to accomplish my dreams and I’m just taking it one step at a time. I’ve had a bunch of setbacks with injuries the last couple of years, but this is my final ride so I have to make it count.”

In the third-place match, Diaz was a winner by fall in 1:39 over Wheaton Academy’s Caden Smith and in the fifth-place match, Marian Catholic’s Evan Fitzgerald recorded a fall in 3:30 over Kallal.

160 – Tyler Martinez, Yorkville Christian

Yorkville Christian junior Tyler Martinez accomplished something that his dad, Travis, a 1998 state runner-up at 275 in Class A for Plano, didn’t do, which was to win a Reaper Classic title. Martinez, who’s ranked fifth in 1A, recorded a fall in 1:09 over Marian Catholic junior Lloyd Mills in the 160 finals to add to the title that he won at Antioch. All of his wins were by first-period fall, including one in 0:45 over Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/Fisher’s Kellen DeSchepper in the semifinals. 

“My dad’s an assistant coach at Yorkville Christian and is helping coach to run the program,” Martinez said. “It brings a little bit of competition into the household, always trying to one-up him, We performed really well and I think it was a good way to set the pace for the team as we head toward the end of the season and the state tournament. We went to a solid-sized 3A tournament and went 4-1 for the duals and took seventh as a team. Our team looks really solid and we’re able to fill out all of the weight classes and something we weren’t able to do in past years. I’m really glad to be able to help lead this team and hopefully we can come out with a team state championship this year.”

Mills recorded three falls to reach the finals, including one in 5:15 in the semifinals against Plano’s Vincent Herbig. Sandwich’s Bryce Decker claimed third place with a fall in 4:31 over Princeton’s Carson Etheridge while Verbig got a pin in 1:54 over DeSchepper in the fifth-place match.

170 – Jackson Gillen, Yorkville Christian

Yorkville Christian junior Jackson Gillen won 6-0 over Sandwich senior Samuel Dale in the 170 finals. Gillen, who’s ranked fifth in Class 1A and placed second at Antioch, also won a Plano title in 2019. He got a fall in the quarterfinals and won a 2-1 decision in the semifinals over Putnam County/Hall Township’s Connor Brooker. Dale, who’s ranked seventh in 1A and was ninth at Barrington, advanced to the finals with two falls, including one in 5:14 over Saint Ignatius’ George Akkawi in the semifinals.

“It’s good having a bunch of people in the room who want to push each other and want to get better,” Gillen said. “We’ve got the best kids in the state in the room, so it’s a really good atmosphere. We started with four, then we got to eight and now we’re here. I’m really grateful to have all of these people around me and pushing me. We’re pushing each other every day, and that’s nice. I wrestled him (Dale) the week before and pinned him so today I tried to make sure I didn’t mess anything up, just win, and it was fun. ”

Brooker bounced from his tough semifinal loss to claim third place after recording a fall in 2:53 over Akkawi, who placed third at Hinsdale South. East Aurora’s Ashton Gutierrez got a fall in 1:25 over Plano’s William Collins in the fifth-place match.

182 – Alex Alfaro, Sandwich

Sandwich senior Alex Alfaro entered the Reaper Classic as top-ranked at 182 in 1A and maintained that designation after recording three falls, with his shortest match in the finals, in 1:00, over Wheaton Academy senior Hunter Kazmierczak. Alfaro, who took third at Barrington, got a fall in 3:17 in the semifinals against TF North’s Marcos Gomez. Kazmierczak, a three-time medalist in the event, advanced to the finals with two falls, including one in the semifinals in 3:46 over Yorkville Christian’s Jackson Mehochko.

“I have to give a big thanks to the coaches because if it wasn’t for the coaches who’ve pushed us hard every day, I feel that our team wouldn’t be where it should be right now,” Alfaro said. “And also, everybody on our team right now is very dedicated and going to the gym all of the time. We want to get a really good and fun season and have a good time. Since the beginning of the season, our coach has been telling us that he wants the whole team going to state with everyone working hard and pushing it past their limits. The first months are the roughest because everyone’s trying to get back into conditioning and after that, everyone has picked up their rhythm and we’re going from there.”

In the third-place match, Prairie Central’s Owen Steidinger won by fall in 3:34 over Gomez while Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/Fisher’s Aiden Sancken claimed fifth place with a fall in 3:41 over Mehochko.

195 – Alex Jackson, TF North

It was a long wait for Alex Jackson to win a varsity tournament title, but that’s what happens when you have a pair of state champions around your weight. The TF North senior who had brothers Bilal and Sincere Bailey ahead of him during his career, captured the title at 195 when he recorded a fall in 2:53 over Yorkville Christian junior Chris Durbin. After recording three falls for the day, including one in 3:53 in the semifinals over Princeton’s Drew Harp, Jackson received the outstanding wrestler award for the upper weights.

“This was the first one that I’ve ever won on varsity,” Jackson said. “I’ve always been a younger guy on the team. In my freshman year I was 13 and we had the Baileys and I was always between them. I was wrestling at 152 and almost made it to state but lost in the blood round. I feel different this year and feel like nobody can do anything to me.”

Durbin, who was one of 11 Mustangs who competed on the title mat, advanced to the finals with a 6-1 semifinal win over Sandwich’s Kaden Gustafson. In the third-place match, Harp, who is a three-time medalist in the tournament, claimed a 13-4 major decision over Gustafson while in the fifth-place match, Marian Catholic’s Leo Mendez won by fall in 0:30 over Prairie Central’s Hunter Shawback.

220 – Connor Steidinger, Prairie Central

It’s a pretty good feeling when you can win a major tournament title that you hadn’t anticipated being at. But that’s what happened for Prairie Central junior Connor Steidinger, who was unable to compete in the canceled Munch invite in Pontiac but instead made the most of the good fortune of competing in the Reaper Classic. Steidinger recorded a fall in 1:10 over TF North senior Bryant Bobadilla in the 220 finals to cap a day where the nine-man Hawks finished fifth and had seven placers, including three Steidingers.

“I’m grateful for this since we got the chance to be able to wrestle,” Steidinger said. “You take every opportunity that you can get and just get better. This was pretty big for us since we had a meet on Tuesday but then we weren’t going to have a meet on Thursday because we had a big tournament coming up., so we would have gone almost a whole week without any competition. Last year I did the IWCOA tournament and almost placed and this year I’m just trying to wrestle as much as I can and try to get good competition and go against harder people and just get better.”

In the semifinals, Bobadilla won by fall in 3:42 over Plano’s Andrew Harrelson while Steidinger recorded a pin in 0:53 over Yorkville Christian’s Garrett English. In the third-place match, Wheaton Academy’s Peter Johanik claimed a 6-5 decision over East Aurora’s Bryan Romero and Harrelson pinned English in 1:05 in the fifth-place match.

285 – Michael Esquivel, Yorkville Christian

Yorkville Christian senior Michael Esquivel claimed a 7-1 victory over Plano junior Alex Diaz in a clash of state-ranked competitors in the 285 finals. Esquivel, who’s ranked fourth in 1A and also won a tournament title at Antioch, recorded a fall in 3:59 over Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley/Fisher’s Markus Miguel in the semifinals. Diaz, who’s ranked seventh, recorded a pair of falls to advance him to the championship mat, including a pin in 2:48 against East Aurora’s Arnold Walker in his semifinal match.

“I know how good this team can be, this is a heck of a team,” Esquivel said. “We only had eight guys last year and were trying to get a regional title and we lost by half a point and that hurt and we could have had them if certain things played out. Going into this year, I want that regional title and the sectional title and hopefully the state title. We have a bunch of hammers on our team now that we can make a run at that team state title. I’ve known Vester for awhile, since club at Team 1006. Our coaches want  to push me to be the best that I can be. I knew right away that we could make  an impact on the tournament. As a team, we wanted the team title, and we got the team title.”

Princeton’s JJ Wicaryus claimed third place with a fall in 1:56 against Walker while Saint Ignatius College Prep’s Corinthian Gladney took fifth by injury default over Miguel.