Boys tournament roundups for Plainfield North, Seneca, Sterling

By Gary Larsen for the IWCOA

Plainfield North Dual Team Tournament

Lincoln-Way East coach Collin McKillip got a fine day’s work from his boys at this year’s 16-team dual tournament at Plainfield North, as the Griffins went a perfect 5-0 against De La Salle (78-5), Willowbrook (72-3), York (63-11), Glenbard North (46-27) and Joliet West (49-23).

Only Glenbard North came within 20 team points of the Griffins in any dual.

“We competed really well,” McKillip said. “We are a different team than last year with a lot of guys getting their first crack at varsity wrestling and we are starting to adapt really well.

“GBN and Joliet West are quality teams which ended up as good wins for our team. We really head into the meat of our schedule over the next three weekends so it should be fun.”

Going a perfect 5-0 for Lincoln-Way East were Dino Dajani (113), Lucas Ankario (132), JT Theis (138), and Kaidge Richardson (150), Max Mularz (157) and Colton Zvonar (190).

“They went unbeaten and won some big matches for them personally, to show themselves where they are at here early in the season,” McKillip said. “(Theis, Richardson and Zvonar) really are the pulse of our team to go along with our heavyweights Gage LaDere and Ryan Stingily. And Max is a senior finally getting his chance to really put his toe to the line at every meet this year.”

Joliet West finished second overall and went 4-1 on the day, topping Wauconda (44-32), Hinsdale Central (64-11), Plainfield North (52-24), and Moline (47-30) before losing to Lincoln-Way East.

Going unbeaten on the day for Joliet West coach Awais Arain were Francisco Oliva (106/113), Jakob Crandall (126/132), and Aiden Brown (165/175).

Glenbard North finished third overall, beating Rantoul (81-0), Dundee-Crown (68-9), Deerfield (45-23), and Moline (56-16) and suffering its lone loss to Lincoln-Way East (46-27).

Vannak Khiev (126/132) went a perfect 6-0 for Panthers coach Travis Cherry. Also going unbeaten for Glenbard North was Xavier Smiley (5-0 at 175).

Fourth-place Moline went 3-2 on the day, beating Auburn (78-6), McHenry (51-26) and Sandwich (56-23) before losing to Joliet West and Glenbard North. Matthew Hoss (113) and Housseyn Ndiaye (138) both went 5-0 for Maroons coach Jake Ruettiger.

Other unbeatens at Plainfield North (minimum 4 matches wrestled):

Dundee-Crown’s Teigen Moreno (5-0 at 215); De La Salle’s Justin Forbes (5-0 at 120); Deerfield’s Jake Pechter (5-0 at 106) and Alex Shvartsman (5-0 at 144/150); York’s Jackson Hanselman (5-0 at 165) and Noah Blust (4-0 at 175); Hinsdale Central’s Logan Barrios (5-0 at 132); McHenry’s Ryan Johnston (5-0 at 144) and Marc Walsh (5-0 at 285); Plainfield North’s Aidan Durell (4-0 at 126); and Wauconda’s Nicholas Ruiz (4-0 at 120), Brian Hart (5-0 at 157), Brody McKenna (5-0 at 175) and Finn Loomis (4-0 at 215).

Final team standings:
1. Lincoln-Way East 2. Joliet West 3. Glenbard North 4. Moline 5. Deerfield 6. Wauconda 7. York 8. Sandwich 9. Plainfield North 10. Willowbrook 11. McHenry 12. Rantoul 13. Hinsdale Central 14. Dundee-Crown 15. De La Salle 16. Auburn

Seneca Fighting Irish Invite
Seneca’s 19-team Fighting Irish Invite saw Canton take the team crown 233-205 over host Seneca. Kewanee (181.5) was third followed by Pontiac (157), and Central (155.5) to round out the top five team finishes.

Canton coach Zach Crawford likes what he’s seeing from his boys thus far.
“We had a really great day of wrestling,” Crawford said. “Performing this well early in the season is a huge boost as we move into a busy December schedule.”

The Little Giants got individual titles from Dyllan Steele (120), Maddux Steele (126) and returning state medal winner and No. 2-ranked Connor Williams (285) to lead a group of 10 wrestlers finishing in the top six of their weight classes.

Dyllan Steele gutted out a 1-0 decision for the title at 120 over Seneca’s Raiden Terry, while Maddux Steele and Williams each won by fall in the finals.

1st: Canton (233)
Crawford also got a pair of second-place finishes from Jacob Hardesty (132) and Daniel Kees (165), thirds from Rhett Larson (106), Jireh Hedges (138) and Alex Carrier (157), a fourth from Alex Webster (215), and a sixth from Dean Bruketta (113).
Dyllan Steele, Maddux Steele, Hardesty, and Carrier are all returning state qualifiers ranked in the top 10 of their weight classes in 2A.
“As a team, we were aggressive and kept our pace high as we continued to look to score points and have fun while wrestling,” Crawford said. “We definitely have some room to grow and develop as we progress through the season, but this is a great early season victory for us.”

2nd: Seneca (205)
Fighting Irish coach Todd Yegge had four individual champions in Chris Thompson (113), Ethan Othon (132), Gunner Varland (157) and Landen Venecia (190), plus seconds from Logan Kubat (106) and Raiden Terry (120), and a fourth from Parker Jones (150).

3rd: Kewanee (181.5)
Boilermakers coach Charley Eads got an individual title from Hunter Vancil (138), a second from Doug Swearingen (190), a third from Landon Wier (215), fourths from Trenton Edens (120), Kingston Peterson (126), Lain Taylor (144), Ace Lafollette (165), and Airies Simmons (285), and sixths from Ryan Conway (106), Chance DeSplinter (150), and Brayden Johnson (175).

Additional individual champions:
Amboy’s Aden Spinelli (106), Kewanees Hunter Vancil (138), Eureka’s Finn Hoffman (144), Pontiac’s Noah Davis (150), Brayden Quas (165), and Lucas Maier (175), and Central’s Brody O’Connor (215).

Additional runners-up:
Orion’s Landyn Leech (113), St. Bede’s Michael Benge (126), Streator’s Jesus Martinez (138), Central’s Evan Cox (144), Heyworth’s Nate Godfrey (150), Amboy’s Jose Lopez (157), Beardstown’s Gunner Looker (175), Aurora Central Catholic’s Alex Lopez (215), and Central’s Josh McCurry (285).

Close calls:
In addition to the 1-0 match between tournament champ Dyllan Steele and Raiden Terry, Kewanee’s Hunter Vancil won a 2-1 decision for the title at 138 against Streator’s Jesus Martinez.

Final team scores:
Canton (233), Seneca (205), Kewanee (181.5), Pontiac (157), Central (155.5), Orion (119), Eureka (105.5), Heyworth (95), Amboy (89), Beardstown (77.5), Manteno (76.5), St. Bede (70), Wheaton Academy (55), Streator (44.5), Seneca JV (39), Aurora Central Catholic (27), Walther Christian (24), Somonauk (14), St. Edward (0)

Championship match results:
106: Spinelli (Amboy) d. Kubat (Seneca) TF 3:00
113: Thompson (Seneca) d. Leech (Orion) D 9-2
120: D. Steele (Canton) d. Terry (Seneca) D 1-0
126: M. Steele (Canton) d. Benge (St. Bede) F 1:56
132: Othon (Seneca) d. Hardesty (Canton) D 9-4
138 Vancil (Kewanee) d. Martinez (Streator) D 2-1
144: Hoffman (Eureka) d. Cox (Central) D 5-1
150: Davis (Pontiac) d. Godfrey (Heyworth) F 2:48
157: Varland (Seneca) d. Lopez (Amboy) TF 2:58
165: Quas (Pontiac) d. Kees (Canton) F 3:23
175: Maier (Pontiac) d. Looker (Beardstown) D 11-4
190: Venecia (Seneca) d. Swearingen (Kewanee) F 3:08
215: O’Connor (Central) d. Lopez (Aurora Central Catholic) F 5:37
285: Williams (Canton) d. McCurry (Central) Florida 1:06

Third-place results:
106: Larson (Canton) d. Chestnut (Manteno) F 0:27
113: Chapman (Seneca JV) d. Daley (St. Bede) TF 5:17
120: Williams (Central) d. Edens (Kewanee) F 3:20
126: Voigts (Pontiac) d. Peterson (Kewanee) F 3:24
132: Wiles (Pontiac) d. Watson (Eureka) D 4-1
138: Hedges (Canton) d. Opperman (Pontiac) F 1:18
144: Heath (Amboy) d. Taylor (Kewanee) F 1:39
150: Bailey (Central) d. Jones (Seneca) F 1:27
157: Carrier (Canton) d. Leingang (Orion) F 3:14
165: Medrano (Beardstown) d. Lafollette (Kewanee) fft.
175: Stamp (Heyworth) d. Rodriguez (Walther) TF 2:18
190: Fulcher (Heyworth) d. Radtke (Central) F 2:31
215: Wier (Kewanee) d. Webster (Canton) F 5:22
285: Fulcher (Heyworth) d. Simmons (Kewanee) TF 1:09

Sterling’s 47th Carson DeJarnatt Invitational

Dixon layed claim to the team title at this year’s 13-team DeJarnatt Invite, winning 261-206.5 over second-place Newman Central Catholic. Clinton IA (206) finished a mere 1/2 point behind Newman in third, followed by host Sterling (146) and Galesburg (142) to round out the top five team finishes.

Dixon coach Micah Hey’s Dukes had four individual champions at Sterling, in Riley Paredes (106), Jack Ragan (120), Charlie Connors (144) and Dylan Bopes (285). All four improved to 6-0 on the season. Ragan is top-ranked in 1A at 120 pounds, Paredes is No. 5 at 106, and Connors is No. 8 at 144.

All 12 Dixon wrestlers entered in the tournament finished in the top six of their weight classes.
“It was a great weekend for all of our wrestlers,” Hey said. “Usually, you think of how you let some matches slip away, but this weekend those 50-50 matches mostly all went our way.”

1st: Dixon (261)

Dixon’s big guns showed up.

“Dylan Bopes (285) and Riley Paredes (106) looked real tough with three first-period pins,” Hey said.

Charlie Connors at 144 was named outstanding wrestler for the lower weights and our other champion, Jack Ragan, had two techs and a pin.”

Hey also got second-place finishes from Doolan Long (126), Preston Richards (150) and Dawson Kemp (215), thirds from Channing Sarver (138) and Adam Staples (157), fifths from Caz Barber (132) and Blake Dingley (175), and a sixth from Seth Shaffer (190).

2nd: Newman Central Catholic (206.5)

Comets coach Brody Ivey had a pair of individual champs in Landon Near (113) and Landon Blanton (132), plus seconds from Joe Morse (106), Javen Reyes (120) and Mathew Murray (285), thirds from Tyler Grennan (106) and Zhyler Hansen (126), fourths from Aiden Volz (138) and Ayden Gutierrez (165), a fifth from Ben Geske (157) and a sixth from Matthew Blackert (175).

3rd: Clinton IA (206)
The team from Clinton, Iowa had a pair of individual champs in Danny Peters (150) and Hayden Chandler (215), a pair of seconds from Alfonzo Herrera (138) and Nolan Eggers (165), and a pair of thirds from Jakob Litherland (120) and Brody Harrington (132). Clinton also got fourths from Ty Sander-Welzien (144), Damarius Robinson (190), Angel Lines (215) and Sloan Weaver (285), and sixths from Joaquin Donaire (138), Chase Collender (144), and Isaiah Lines (157).

Additional individual champions:
Woodstock’s Taqiuldin Baker (126), Rock Falls’ Tucker Ullrich (138), Galesburg’s Jack Bernardi (157) and Anthony Makwala (165), Fulton’s Mason Kuebel (175), and Macomb’s Jeshua McPheeters (190).

Additional tournament runners-up:
Sterling’s Evan Jones (113), Cael Lyons (132) and Colt Buntjer (190), Woodstock’s Landyn White (144) and Logan Wisner (157), and Galesburg’s Braiden Tucker (175).

Final team scores:
Dixon (261), Newman Central (206.5), Clinton IA (206), Sterling (146), Galesburg (142), Fulton (129.5), Woodstock (125.5), Rock Falls (119), LaSalle-Peru (74), Polo (41.5), Limestone (40), Macomb (34)

DeJarnatt championship match results:
106: Paredes (Dixon) d. Morse (Newman) F 1:51
113: Near (Newman) d. Jones (Sterling) F 3:04
120: Ragan (Dixon) d. Reyes (Newman) TF 3:52
126: Baker (Woodstock) d. Long (Dixon) D 7-5
132: Blanton (Newman) d. Lyons (Sterling) F 1:35
138: Ullrich (Rock Falls) d. Herrera (Clinton IA) F 1:58
144: Connors (Dixon) d. White (Woodstock) F 1:51
150: Peters (Clinton IA) d. Richards (Dixon) D 7-2
157: Bernardi (Galesburg) d. Wisner (Woodstock) D 7-2
165: Makwala (Galesburg) d. Eggers (Clinton IA) TF 1:33
175: Kuebel (Fulton) d. Tucker (Galesburg) F 0:42
190: McPheeters (Macomb) d. Buntjer (Sterling) D 3-1
215: Chandler (Clinton IA) d. Kemp (Dixon) MD 14-0
285: Bopes (Dixon) d. Murray (Newman) F 0:40

Third-place match results:
106: Grennan (Newman) d. Hartman (Fulton) MD 9-1
113: Price (Fulton) d. Malo (Woodstock) D 9-7
120: Litherland (Clinton, IA) d. Keller (Fulton) F 1:53
126: Hansen (Newman) d. Thome (Rock Falls) MD 15-5
132: Harrington (Clinton IA) d. Oquendo (Rock Falls) F 0:57
138: Sarver (Dixon) d. Volz (Newman) F 3:37
144: Tarbill (Rock Falls) d. Sander-Welzien (Clinton IA) TF 3:19
150: Calvin-Garcia (Woodstock) d. Fisk (Galesburg) MD 21-11
157: Staples (Dixon) d. McCarren (Polo) D 12-5
165: Watson (LaSalle-Peru) d. Gutierrez (Newman) F 3:03
175: Taylor (Galesburg) d. Lawrence (LaSalle-Peru) F 2:52
190: Johnson (Galesburg) d. Robinson (Clinton IA) D 4-3
215: Small (LaSalle-Peru) d. Lines (Clinton IA) F 1:37
285: Petty (Galesburg) d. Weaver (Clinton IA) D 5-3