Feature Stories

By Curt Herron – for the IWCOA

When a program can boast that it’s one of only two in Illinois that had the top score at a sectional in both 2022 and 2023, and that it also is one of four that has qualified five or more individuals to each of the first two IHSA Finals and it’s also one of just 10 that have had three or more different state medalists thus far, the bar for success is naturally going to be very high.

So it’s understandable why there may have been some concern about Joliet Township after it took fourth place and was more than doubled up by Schaumburg in its opening tournament at Normal Community and then finished third to Oak Forest and Batavia at Larkin one week later.

But despite having a significant number of freshmen and sophomores on this season’s team, coach Liz Short’s Steelwomen benefited from appearances at the Walsh Women’s Ironman in Ohio and The Clash National Duals in Wisconsin and based on their showing at the Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament, they seem to be performing at their best at the right time.

Joliet Township had three champions, five runners-up and five others who finished fourth or better to help it capture top honors in the SPC Tournament, which it hosted at Joliet Central’s historic Steelmen gymnasium. The Steelwomen scored 197.5 points while defending champion Minooka took second with 163 points and West Aurora placed third with 117 points. Plainfield Central (102), Oswego (91) and Plainfield South (85) were next-best in the 11-team competition.

Joliet Township, a co-op of Joliet Central and Joliet West athletes, was led by champions Emma Schlismann (105), Eliana Paramo (110) and Izabel Barrera (135) while Chloe Wong (100), April Ortiz (120), Alexandra Rosas (130), Veronica Klobnak (140) and Fernanda Miranda (235) all  claimed second-place finishes.

Briahna Klobnak (125) and Trista Pisano (190) took third place, Isabella Sandoval (130), Vanessa O’Connor (145) and Valeria Hernandez (235) finished fourth and Noelie Perez-Bedolla (155) and Evelyn Perez-Bedolla (190) placed sixth. 

The Steelwomen hope to use the momentum of the SPC championship for this weekend’s Minooka Regional. Individuals that advance from that regional will join qualifiers from the Erie/Prophetstown Regional at the Geneseo Sectional on February 9-10 and then two weeks later the season concludes at the IHSA Finals at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.

Other SPC teams that will join Joliet Township and the hosts at the Minooka Regional are Plainfield Central, Plainfield South and Yorkville.  Southwest Prairie Conference schools West Aurora, Oswego, Oswego East, Plainfield East, Plainfield North and Romeoville will be at the Shepard Regional in Palos Heights, which feeds into the Schaumburg Sectional.

Short, who was honored as the IWCOA’s Girls Coach of the Year in 2023, likes the progress that she’s seen from her team. And she’s also understandably happy that she has some coaches helping her this season after she had to do a lot of coaching on her own in the past.

“I was really happy with the way that we performed,” Short said. “We’ve been working very hard in the practice room, so it’s all starting to come together and it’s at a good time. We did a lot of work this offseason and we had a lot of girls participate in Team Illinois and Fargo and do some spring wrestling. And spring wrestling really pays off and that’s what we’re wrestling in college for women. It just gets them really comfortable so they feel like they can move to the next level.”

Runner-up Minooka and fourth-place Plainfield Central also had three Southwest Prairie Conference champions while third-place West Aurora had two title winners and Plainfield North, Plainfield South and Romeoville each had one first-place finisher.

Top performers for coach Paige Schoolman’s Minooka Indians were title winners Addison Cailteux (130), Bella Cyrkiel (145) and Peyton Kueltzo (235) while Holli Coughlen (105), Daisy Musser (115) and Eva Beck (135) finished second. Palmer Calvey (140) took third, Abbey Boersma (155) placed fourth, Marian Nordsell (100), Brooklyn Doti (110), Ava Staley (115) and Keziah Gaston (190) took fifth place while Ezra Rodriguez (140) claimed sixth.

Leading the way for coach Charlie Graves’ West Aurora Blackhawks were title winners Aiyanah Sylvester (120) and Brittney Moran (190) while Ionicca Rivera (155) took second and Lailonie Molina (115) and Michelle Obasa (145) placed third. Mia Orozco (125) finished fourth, Allina Williams (130), Giselle Marin-Carrasco (140) and Vicky Stackowicz (235) were fifth and Joseline Saucedo (100), Diana Llanos (115), Charlotte Weiler (120), Denise Ruiz (135) and Reyna Esquivel (170) all claimed sixth-place finishes.

Plainfield Central’s Wildcats, coached by Terry Kubski, got first-place finishes from Courtni Chuway (115), Shania Davison (125) and Alicia Tucker (170) while Zyon Jordan (190) took second and Candice Cameron (110) finished fourth.

Other SPC champions were Romeoville’s Daniela Santander (100), Plainfield North’s Viktoriia Rodnikova (140) and Plainfield South’s Teagan Aurich (155).

Individuals who repeated as SPC champions were Bella Cyrkiel, Peyton Kueltzo, Brittney Moran, Eliana Paramo, Emma Schlismann and Alicia Tucker.

Also finishing in second place were Plainfield South’s Aliyaah Campos (110) and Kayla Ochotorena (125), Oswego’s Makayla Hill (145) and Oswego East’s Jessica Stover (170).

Additional third-place finishers were Oswego’s Mikaela Busse (110), Aaliyah Roldan (120), Harmony Evans (130) and Kiyah Chavez 155), Yorkville’s Analiese Garretson (100), Brooke Coy (135) and Janiah Murray (170) and Romeoville’s Josefina Orozco (105) and Henessis Villagrana (235)

Top records of individuals who were in the finals included Alicia Tucker at 170 (28-0, 1.000), Brittney Moran at 190 (25-1, .962), Viktoriia Rodnikova at 140 (15-1, .938), Bella Cyrkiel at 145 (31-4, .886), Eliana Paramo at 110 (23-3, .885) and Daniela Santander at 100 (21-3, .875).

There was a four-way tie for the most team points with 26 between Courtni Chuway, Eliana Paramo, Viktoriia Rodnikova and Alicia Tucker and a tie between Teagan Aurich, Brittney Moran, Daniela Santander and Aiyanah Sylvester for fifth place with 24 team points. Addison Cailteux, Shania Davison and Peyton Kueltzo tied for ninth with 22 team points.

Emma Schlismann had the most total match points with 32 while Oswego East’s Qianxi Brooks had 28 and Shania Davison had 26. Ava Staley led all competitors with four falls and Giselle Marin-Carrasco was seeded 11th and placed fifth for the biggest seed to place difference. 

Champion Joliet Township collected the most match points with 152 while runner-up Minooka was second with 125 match points. And the Steelwomen had the most falls with 19 while Minooka and West Aurora each recorded 18 pins.

“A lot of these girls, we see them during the spring, too, so I’m glad that it’s popular and that they really enjoy the sport,” Short said.  “It’s about getting them to buy into the sport and like it so that you get them to work hard. I love wrestling, I am for sure obsessed with wrestling. We’ve got some assistants and we’re still hoping  to have equal assistants as the boys. At first we were growing the sport, and now we see the quality, and that starts on the youth level. And we’re seeing a lot of women who graduated from college and they’re starting to give back and starting to coach. Before we were kind of stuck with people that got the girls, but now, people are clamoring to coach the women and that’s really exciting to see.”

Here’s a look at the champions for the Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament and their weight classes.

100 – Daniela Santander, Romeoville

Daniela Santander was just about as surprised as anyone in the gymnasium when she had her hand raised following the 100 title match. After all, the Romeoville sophomore was trailing Joliet Township junior Chloe Wong 7-1 with just over a minute remaining. But that’s when she turned the tide and was able to record a fall in 4:53, to stun Wong, a two-time state qualifier who went 32-8 last season and placed sixth at 100 at the IHSA Finals. Santander (21-3), who went 9-12 a year ago and failed to qualify from the rugged Schaumburg Sectional, used two falls to reach the title match, getting a pin in 2:15 over Yorkville’s Analiese Garretson in the semifinals. She was one of three Spartans to finish third or better and the only one that got to the title mat.

“I’m so excited about this, I think I might have a chance to make it to state,” Santander said. “She was so close to pinning me multiple times, but I was able to fight her off. I’m so happy. It’s been a lot of hard work but it’s finally paying off. My coaches are amazing and they’re really helping me.”

Wong was one of eight finalists for champion Joliet Township, which is a co-op team that features athletes from Joliet Central and Joliet West. Wong, who won an SPC title in 2023, advanced to the title match with two first-period falls, with the last of those coming in 1:20 over Yorkville’s Kayleigh Shannon in the semifinals. In a matchup of two Yorkville competitors for third place, Garretson (12-4) won by fall in 3:45 over Shannon (15-7). And for fifth place, Minooka’s Marian Nordsell recorded a pin in 0:23 over West Aurora’s Joseline Saucedo.

105 – Emma Schlismann, Joliet Township

On a day when all but four of the championship matches were decided by fall, the 105 finals were the closest of them all as Joliet Township senior Emma Schlismann (23-8) had to fight off a tough challenge from Minooka’s Holli Coughlen before prevailing in an 8-6 decision to become the first of three champions for coach Liz Short’s champion Steelwomen. Schlismann, an SPC champion in 2023 who finished with 15-9 record last season and came up one victory shy of qualifying from the Geneseo Sectional, opened with a win by technical fall before capturing an 8-0 major decision over Yorkville’s Danielle Turner in the semifinals.

“There’s been a couple of times where I’ve let stuff go that was in my head and I just didn’t do what I know that I have to do, and that lost me a couple of matches,” Schlismann said. “I’m trying to come out here and shoot as much as I can. And I have the best practice partner ever in Eli (Eliana Paramo). I just like how supportive the girls are and they’re really tough. There’s a couple of good girls this year that can make it really far and I’m really proud of them.” 

Coughlen (14-14), who lost to Schlismann in the 110 finals at the SPC Meet in 2023, went 12-7 last season and also competed in the Geneseo Sectional. She followed a pin in her opener with a 5-4 decision over Romeoville’s Josefina Orozco in the semifinals to become one of the six finalists for Minooka. Orozco (15-4), a senior, claimed third place by getting a fall in 3:46 over sophomore Turner (22-6). And for fifth place, Plainfield East junior Mahi Kansagara captured a 5-2 decision over her Bengals freshman teammate, Angelina Nettey.

110 – Eliana Paramo, Joliet Township

After going 37-5 last season and finishing in second place at 115 to Glenbard North’s Gabby Gomez at the IHSA Finals, Eliana Paramo is hoping to not only get back to the state title mat in Bloomington but to also become her school’s first state champion. The Joliet Township senior is heading in a good direction going into the postseason after improving to 23-3 by recording a fall in 1:45 in the 110 SPC title match over Plainfield South’s Aliyaah Campos to repeat as an SPC champion. Paramo, who also finished in fifth place at 115 in 2022 at the first IHSA Finals while competing for Joliet West, advanced to the 110 title match with a pair of first-period falls, with her pin in the semifinals coming in 1:08 over Plainfield Central’s Candice Cameron.

“It’s really exciting seeing the way that our team has developed, and how strong we are and how much of a force we’ve become, it’s really awesome,” Paramo said. “We started off the year with so many new girls and here we are at the end of the season and they’re well-seasoned now. It’s a really familial environment and everyone is there and supporting each other. We all just love supporting each other and hanging around each other. Now we start the state series at regionals and I’m really excited for that.”

Campos (6-5), a sophomore, became one of the Cougars’ three finalists after she won her first two matches by fall, which included a pin in 2:20 over Oswego’s Mikaela Busse in the semifinals. Busse (15-11), a junior, bounced back from that setback to claim third place with a win by fall in 0:31 over Cameron (12-13), who’s a sophomore. And in the fifth-place match, Minooka senior Brooklyn Doti (18-10), who was a state qualifier in the inaugural IHSA Finals in 2022, won with a fall in 3:18 over Oswego East’s Qianxi Brooks (11-12).

115 – Courtni Chuway, Plainfield Central

Courtni Chuway began a successful final round for Plainfield Central when she won the 115 title with a fall in 1:36 over Minooka’s Daisy Musser. She was the first of three champions for the Wildcats, with Shania Davison (125) and Alicia Tucker (170) later taking firsts. Chuway (26-5), a senior who went 15-9 a year ago and qualified for the IHSA Finals, used two falls to reach the 115 finals and recorded a pin in 2:56 over Oswego East’s Payton Lustrup in the semifinals. Last year, Chuway took third place in the SPC Tournament.

“The Wildcats had a great day and I’m very proud of myself and the rest of the team,” Chuway said. “I think that we’ve all come so far and we’ve worked very hard. It was very impressive (freshman Shania Davison’s title) and I’m very proud of her, too,she’s come a very long way. I think that I’ve come a long way. I’ve impressed myself a lot this season. There has been a lot of ups and downs but I just think that comes with the nature of the sport. I’m very excited for the future. I like how we’re all like a family. We have a very uplifting team.”

Musser (12-13) became the first of six freshmen to compete on a title mat when she faced Chuway. After opening with a quick fall, Musser earned her spot as one of six Minooka competitors to reach the title mat when she captured a 10-6 decision over West Aurora’s Lailonie Molina in the semifinals. Molina (18-8), who’s also a freshman, won third place after recording a fall in 1:21 over Lustrup, who’s a junior. Minooka and West Aurora each picked up additional medals in the fifth-place match as Indians’ junior Ava Staley (15-8) won with a pin in 1:48 over Blackhawks’ junior Diana Llanos (15-10).

120 – Aiyanah Sylvester, West Aurora

Aiyanah Sylvester gave West Aurora the first of its two titles and also became the first of three freshmen champions in the competition when she won by fall in 3:38 in the 120 title match over Joliet Township’s April Ortiz. Sylvester (24-7) earned her spot in the finals after recording two falls that each concluded within one minute. Her pin of Oswego’s Aaliyah Roldan in 0:52 in the semifinals made her one of three individuals from her team who reached the title mat.

“It feels really good,” Sylvester said. “As a freshman, I’ve been struggling a bit. But I keep practicing every day and keep working on what I need to work on, and eventually I’m getting there. My cousin, Kameyah Young, and I are both pushing each other at practice every day. I like how all of my teammates support each other. And if we support each other, we’re always winning. It’s great to have a big team and we’re all supporting each other.”

Ortiz (9-4), a junior, became one one of eight Steelwomen to reach the title match when she recorded her second fall of the tournament, in 4:54, over Romeoville’s Jesslynne Ochoa in the semifinals. In the third-place matchup of juniors who fell in the semifinals, Roldan (18-10) won by fall in 2:49 over Ochoa (10-9). And for fifth place, Plainfield North sophomore Meryn Finnegan (9-6) captured a 10-8 decision over West Aurora freshman Charlotte Weiler (5-4).

125 – Shania Davison, Plainfield Central

With two first-year high school competitors facing off in the 125 title match, a second freshman champion was assured and one of the few matches that were decided by fall that reached the third period, Plainfield Central’s Shania Davison won with a pin in 5:20 over Plainfield South’s Kayla Ochotorena. Davison (7-8) joined Courtni Chuway (115) and defending state champion Alicia Tucker (170) as champions for coach Terry Kubski’s Wildcats and reached the finals with a fall in her opener and then she prevailed 9-7 by sudden victory over Joliet Township’s Briahna Klobnak in a semifinals thriller.

“We’ve just been working hard together,” Davison said. “Even though we don’t have a lot of members of our team, we still work hard and we still do good. We have great coaches and they help us a lot with everything that we need. I first wanted to get into wrestling because of football, but now that I’m in wrestling, I just want to keep going since it’s so much fun. I like how we’re a family, we’re not just teammates, we’re basically best friends.”

Ochotorena (8-7), one of six freshmen who were able to advance to the title mat and one of three Cougars who were able to get there, only had to wrestle one match prior to the 125 finals, and she won that match in the semifinals with a fall in 1:33 over West Aurora’s Mia Orozco. For third place, sophomore Klobnak (23-16) recorded a pin in 2:26 over junior Orozco (6-7). And another freshman placed fifth, Romeoville’s Allison Cisneros (7-8), who received a forfeit win.

130 – Addison Cailteux, Minooka

After Minooka lost its first two title matches at the SPC Meet, its fortunes began to improve when Addison Cailteux stepped on the mat to face Joliet Township’s Alexandra Rosas in the 130 finals. Cailteux (18-4), a sophomore, recorded a fall in 2:52 over senior Rosas and that helped coach Paige Schoolman’s Indians to win titles in three of their last four finals matches to tie them with Joliet Township and Plainfield Central for the most individual champions with three apiece. Cailteux, who was later joined by Bella Cyrkiel (145) and Peyton Kueltzo (235) as SPC title winners, pinned another Joliet Township opponent in her only other match, recording a fall in 0:59 over Isabella Sandoval in the semifinals.

“I love our coaches,” Cailteux said. “They always help us on things that we need to work on. And they always talk to us straight after our matches about what we did good but they also talk about what we did wrong, even if we win, just to make sure that we can keep winning. Joliet and West Aurora are all great competitors and I like seeing them throughout the season because I know that I’ll end up getting a good match out of it. Ultimately, the better teams make me a better wrestler because I get better experience, it just helps so much. I like how we all hold each other to a certain standard. We encourage each other but we also aren’t afraid to call each other out to make sure that they’re working hard to keep the team standard high.”

Rosas, one of eight individuals from coach Liz Short’s champion Steelwomen who were able to reach the title mat, recorded falls in her other two matches, with the shorter of those two pins coming in the semifinals in just 0:24 over Oswego’s Harmony Evans. In the third-place match, junior Evans (10-11) followed her loss to one JT competitor with a victory over another individual from the host school, sophomore Sandoval, when she captured an 11-2 major decision. And for fifth place, West Aurora senior Allina Williams (19-9) won by fall in 1:12 over Yorkville junior Brianna Benninger (5-7).

135 – Izabel Barrera, Joliet Township

On a day where two of the seniors who’ve helped Joliet Township become one of the state’s top programs captured SPC titles, one of the younger members of the team who hope to carry on that legacy also claimed top honors as JT easily won the team championship at historic Steemen Gym. Izabel Barrera, a sophomore, joined seniors Emma Schlismann and Eliana Paramo as title winners for coach Liz Short’s Steelwomen when she won a 7-2 decision over Minooka’s Eva Beck in the 135 finals. Barrera (20-5), who was one of her team’s eight finalists, got to the title mat after winning her only other match by fall in 0:31 over Oswego’s Ameera Murphy in the semifinals.

“I’m very excited, this team has grown so much,” Barrera said. “Our coach, especially, has helped us so much. And all of the coaches who’ve come and volunteer, are very helpful and they have helped the girls grow and continue to get better. Wrestling is a really hard sport mentally and physically, so it’s nice to have other girls around that are helping you. I’ve been wrestling for two years now. I didn’t think about doing wrestling until my freshman year and when I got into it, I didn’t think it would be easy, but not as hard as it is, but it’s been a nice experience. The thing I like about Joliet’s program is that we all come together, no matter what, and we help each other become one as a team.”

Beck (20-9), a senior who was one of the six finalists for coach Paige Schoolman’s runner-up Indians, opened with a fall and then captured a 7-2 decision over Yorkville’s Brooke Coy in the semifinals. Beck went 21-12 last season and advanced to the Geneseo Sectional but fell one win shy of a trip downstate. In the third place match that featured two juniors, Coy (25-8) won by fall in 2:55 over Murphy. And for fifth place, Plainfield South senior Tannon Whitaker (10-8) recorded a pin in 3:19 over West Aurora freshman Denise Ruiz.

140 – Viktoriia Rodnikova, Plainfield North

As a newcomer to the United States from Russia, Viktoriia Rodnikova hoped to utilize some of the training that she had received in judo as she looked to be involved in a sport while attending Plainfield North. After getting off to a 15-1 start and winning a title in the Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament, it seems that wrestling might be the answer for the Tigers freshman. She captured the title at 140 with a fall in 3:26 over Joliet Township’s Veronica Klobnak. Rodnikova, one of two entrants for Plainfield North, also had falls in her first two matches, which both ended in the opening period. She earned her spot on the title mat with a pin in 1:50 over Plainfield South’s Lexi Kachiroubas in the semifinals.

“I worked really hard for this,” Rodnikova said. “I’m a freshman and this is my second year of wrestling. I came here from Russia three years ago and I did judo there. So I just wanted to try to do something similar, so I decided to do folkstyle and freestyle and this is my freshman year at Plainfield North High School. I’m doing this for college because I want to go to the University of Chicago. I’m going to get in there. I know that it’s hard and very expensive. My future plan is to win Fargo. I’m just enjoying it. I love wrestling.”

Klobnak (20-16), a sophomore who one of eight finalists for champion Joliet Township, recorded a quick fall in her opener and then captured a 4-1 decision over Minooka’s Palmer Calvey in the semifinals. A year ago, Klobnak won two matches in the Geneseo Sectional but fell a bit short of a state trip. For third, junior Calvey (17-12) won by fall in 0:44 over freshman Kachiroubas (13-8). And in the fifth-place match, West Aurora junior Giselle Marin-Carrasco (21-11) recorded a pin in 1:38 over Minooka’s Ezra Rodriguez.

145 – Bella Cyrkiel, Minooka

A year ago, Bella Cyrkiel was preparing for what turned out to be her initial appearance at the IHSA Finals, which put a nice close on a successful 28-9 season. After having gotten the taste of competing at state along with three of her teammates, the Minooka senior obviously wants not only to get back to Bloomington but to also win a few matches there. Cyrkiel improved to 31-4 and repeated as an SPC champion after claiming a 5-0 decision over Oswego’s Makayla Hill in the 145 title match to become one of her team’s three champions. She only had to wrestle in one other match, and that was in the semifinals, where she recorded a fall in 1:20 over West Aurora’s Michelle Obasa to become one of the runner-up Indians’ six finalists.

“I’m definitely excited because it’s like every weekend we have a new success and that just keeps pushing us,” Cyrkiel said. “I’m excited because we are a new sport, so it always pushes us to do more. We have a good rivalry (with Joliet Township) and we saw them at The Clash and it was a tie, 33-33. We’re definitely a hard-working team and we’re always getting pushed. The coaches are always pushing us, but then you also have teammates who are pushing you even more. And I’ve been putting in a lot of extra work whenever I can.” 

Hill, who’s a freshman, is off to a 25-5 start. Beside being one of the six freshmen who reached the title mat, she was the lone Oswego Panther to advance to the finals. She opened with a pair of falls, with her pin in the semifinals being the quickest of the two, in just 0:59 against Joliet Township’s Vanessa O’Connor. In the third-place match, Obasa was a winner by fall in 4:26 over O’Connor, who’s a sophomore. And for fifth place, Plainfield South freshman Mora Munoz recorded a pin in 3:41 over Yorkville senior Joanna Okunnu.

155 – Teagan Aurich, Plainfield South

Teagan Aurich got a good laugh when she found out that she was being referred to as Aurich Teagan at the SPC Tournament. But if anyone was unclear as to who the Plainfield South junior was before, it’s unlikely that they’ll forget her name now that she captured a 4-1 decision in the 155 title match over West Aurora’s Ionicca Rivera, who finished sixth at 170 in last year’s IHSA Finals and fell one win shy of winning a medal in 2022. Aurich, who improved to 18-3, became one of three finalists for the Cougars when she got her second fall, in 4:31, over Minooka’s 

Abbey Boersma in the semifinals. Aurich, who  qualified for state in 2023 and advanced to the quarterfinals, has been influenced by the Cougars’ 2022 IHSA champion, Alexis Janiak.

“I’ve been working on really shooting and I’m kind of upset with how that match went because when it comes to pushing matches, I get really nervous,” Aurich said. “But this is definitely a confidence booster and it’s going to help me going into regionals and sectionals. Alexis was one of the big reasons that I actually joined. They’ve made the program so much bigger now and they’re giving us so many opportunities to achieve great things. I really give most of that to Lexi because she really pushed to have a girls team. It’s great to be making history and for the new girls coming in and giving them more opportunities to compete and to do things they couldn’t do before.”

Rivera (26-5), who became the third individual from West Aurora to win a state medal after advancing to the quarterfinals last year, was one of three SPC  finalists for coach Charlie Graves’ Blackhawks. She earned her spot on the 155 title mat after getting two wins by fall, with her semifinal pin over Oswego’s Kiyah Chavez coming at 3:12. In the third-place match, junior Chavez (12-2) won by medical forfeit over senior Boersma (28-9). For fifth, Plainfield East sophomore Kaitlyn Bucholz (12-9) won 4-2 over Joliet Township senior Noelie Perez-Bedolla.

170 – Alicia Tucker, Plainfield Central

As the IHSA postseason begins this weekend with eight regionals being contested, all eyes will be focused on the four two-time state champions who seek a third title to be the first to achieve that feat. But there’s also nine others who wish to become two-time title winners, something that just six have accomplished thus far. Alicia Tucker is one of those nine and the Plainfield Central junior seems ready to add to her state title at 155 a year ago after improving to 28-0 and winning her second-straight SPC title with a fall in 3:04 over Oswego East’s Jessica Stover in the 170 finals. Tucker, who went 34-2 a year ago and will be at the Minooka Regional, used two pins to reach the 170 title mat, winning in 2:16 over Yorkville’s Janiah Murray in the semifinals.

“I think that our girls have been training very hard to get here and I think that all deserve being in the finals,” Tucker said of the tournament’s finalists. “And we have a few first-years that have training almost just as hard as anyone else. As captain, it’s my job to set the tone for everybody else. I have a few more to go. And I’m just going to keep getting better.”

Stover (21-6), a junior, was the lone Oswego East competitor to advance to the finals. She won her first two matches with falls and advanced to the 170 title match with a pin in 3:06 over Plainfield South’s Annika Lundgren. In the third-place match between two sophomores, Murray (15-14) recorded a fall in 3:49 over Lundgren. For fifth place, Oswego junior Rikka Ludvigson (16-10) won with a pin in 1:26 over West Aurora sophomore Reyna Esquivel.

190 – Brittney Moran, West Aurora

As one of the few athletes statewide who can say that they were placewinners at each of the first two IHSA Finals, Brittney Moran obviously has a lot to be proud of. But after finishing sixth at 190 in both 2022 and 2023, the West Aurora junior is looking to finish higher on the awards stand on February 24 in Bloomington. She improved to 25-1 and repeated as an SPC champion after recording a fall in 1:53 over Plainfield Central’s Zyon Jordan in the 190 title match. Moran, who went 28-5 a year ago and lost in the semifinals to the eventual state champ, Homewood-Flossmoor’s Ini Odumosu, became the first Blackhawk to be a two-time medalist. She got a quick fall in her first match and won by medical forfeit in the semifinals to reach the title mat.

“This is a lot different than last year or my freshman year,” Moran said. “I feel like people are getting more exposed to new wrestlers and that’s great. This is giving me more of a challenge than my freshman and sophomore years and I’m actually pushing myself to be better and tougher. And we have a couple of new coaches who are teaching us a lot more and motivating us so much more.  I like how we support each other. We have new girls and we push them as well as we push each other.”

Jordan (9-7), a junior who went 20-12 last year but fell short of qualifying from the Geneseo Sectional, was one of four finalists for coach Terry Kubski’s Wildcats. She won her first two matches by fall, needing just 0:24 in the semifinals to get past Joliet Township’s Trista Pisano. In the third-place match, sophomore Pisano won by medical forfeit over Plainfield East sophomore Jennifer Serna (7-6), who got injured in her semifinals match.  For fifth, Minooka sophomore Keziah Gaston won with a fall in 3:32 over Joliet Township freshman Evelyn Perez-Bedolla.

235 – Peyton Kueltzo, Minooka

After being a part of a group of four state qualifiers at both of the first two IHSA Finals, Peyton Kueltzo has the distinction of joining 2023 Minooka graduate Jaiden Moody as the first two-time state qualifiers in the program’s history. While the Indians senior wouldn’t mind being joined by a few more qualifiers next month, one thing that she really would like to do is what Moody did last year, becoming Minooka’s first state medalist when she took third at 190. Kueltzo improved to 26-8 and repeated as an SPC champion following a fall in 1:01 over Joliet Township’s Fernanda Miranda in the 235 finals. One of three champions and six finalists for Minooka, she won her only other match with a fall in 0:51 over Joliet Township’s Valeria Hernandez in the semifinals.

“We’ve gone against these teams multiple times and it’s always back and forth, especially between Minooka and Joliet,” Kueltzo said. “They’re winning now, but in our dual it was 33-33 and we won by criteria. I’m so grateful for the coaches that we were given. Coach Schoolman sacrificed coaching the boys to be our head coach and he’s obviously been really successful. He’s the perfect coach for this. I’m excited for the postseason and I hope to end up on the podium at state this year. I went last year and the year before and didn’t end up on the podium.”

Miranda (12-5), a senior who was one of eight finalists for the champion Steelwomen, won her first two matches with pins, earning her spot on the title mat with a fall in 3:00 in the semifinals over Romeoville’s Henessis Villagrana. For third place, freshman Villagrana (10-6) won with a pin in 3:21 over junior Hernandez. And in the fifth-place match, West Aurora sophomore Vicky Stackowicz recorded a fall in 2:48 over Plainfield South freshman Timi Mudasiru.

Championship matches for the Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament

100 – Daniela Santander (Romeoville) F 4:53 Chloe Wong (Joliet Township)

105 – Emma Schlismann (Joliet Township) D 8-6 Holli Coughlen (Minooka)

110 – Eliana Paramo (Joliet Township) F 1:45 Aliyaah Campos (Plainfield South)

115 – Courtni Chuway (Plainfield Central) F 1:36 Daisy Musser (Minooka)

120 – Aiyanah Sylvester (West Aurora) F 3:38 April Ortiz (Joliet Township)

125 – Shania Davison (Plainfield Central) F 5:20 Kayla Ochotorena (Plainfield South)

130 – Addison Cailteux (Minooka) F 2:52 Alexandra Rosas (Joliet Township)

135 – Izabel Barrera (Joliet Township) D 7-2 Eva Beck (Minooka)

140 – Viktoriia Rodnikova (Plainfield North) F 3:26 Veronica Klobnak (Joliet Township)

145 – Bella Cyrkiel (Minooka) D 5-0 Makayla Hill (Oswego)

155 – Teagan Aurich (Plainfield South) D 4-1 Ionicca Rivera (West Aurora)

170 – Alicia Tucker (Plainfield Central) F 3:04 Jessica Stover (Oswego East)

190 – Brittney Moran (West Aurora) F 1:53 Zyon Jordan (Plainfield Central)

235 – Peyton Kueltzo (Minooka) F 1:01 Fernanda Miranda (Joliet Township)

Third-place matches for the Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament

100 – Analiese Garretson (Yorkville) F 3:45 Kayleigh Shannon (Yorkville)

105 – Josefina Orozco (Romeoville) F 3:46 Danielle Turner (Yorkville)

110 – Mikaela Busse (Oswego) F 0:31 Candice Cameron (Plainfield Central)

115 – Lailonie Molina (West Aurora) F 1:21 Payton Lustrup (Oswego East)

120 – Aaliyah Roldan (Oswego) F 2:49 Jesslynne Ochoa (Romeoville)

125 – Briahna Klobnak (Joliet Township) F 2:26 Mia Orozco (West Aurora)

130 – Harmony Evans (Oswego) MD 11-2 Isabella Sandoval (Joliet Township)

135 – Brooke Coy (Yorkville) F 2:55 Ameera Murphy (Oswego)

140 – Palmer Calvey (Minooka) F 0:44 Lexi Kachiroubas (Plainfield South)

145 – Michelle Obasa (West Aurora) F 4:26 Vanessa O’Connor (Joliet Township)

155 – Kiyah Chavez (Oswego) M For Abbey Boersma (Minooka)

170 – Janiah Murray (Yorkville) F 3:49 Annika Lundgren (Plainfield South)

190 – Trista Pisano (Joliet Township) M For Jennifer Serna (Plainfield East)

235 – Henessis Villagrana (Romeoville) F 3:21 Valeria Hernandez (Joliet Township)

Team scores for the Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament

1. Joliet Township 197.5, 2. Minooka 163, 3. West Aurora 117, 4. Plainfield Central 102, 5. Oswego 91, 6. Plainfield South 85, 7. Romeoville 62, 8. Yorkville 56, 9. Oswego East 44, 10. Plainfield North 29, 11. Plainfield East 14.

Yorkville wins third-straight Southwest Prairie Conference title

Three-peating was a common theme at the Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament, which took place at Joliet Central, as Yorkville claimed top honors for the third year in a row and three members of the champion Foxes won titles for the third-consecutive time, Jack Ferguson, Luke Zook and Ben Alvarez,  while Joliet West’s Carson Weber pulled off the same feat. And several others reached the title match for the third time in three years.

Coach Jake Oster’s Yorkville Foxes easily grabbed the team title with 519 points while Minooka claimed second place with 427 points. It was a big step up for coach Michael Kimberlin’s Indians, who took seventh place in last year’s competition.

Plainfield North took third with 369 while Oswego (365) finished just behind. Joliet West (343.5), West Aurora (341.5) and host Joliet Central (314) were next-best in the 12-team competition.
Winning championships for the first-place Foxes were Donovan Rosauer (138), Jack Ferguson (150), Ryder Janeczko (157), Luke Zook (175) and Ben Alvarez (215) while Liam Fenoglio (113), Dominic Recchia (132), Dominick Coronado (144) and Ryan Stockl (190) took second place. Caleb Viscogliosi (165) placed third while Nathan Craft (126), Cam Peach (157) and  Sebastian Westphal (165) finished fourth.

“This was the third year that we had a boys and girls conference tournament together and it was run pretty well so we got to see girls and boys competing and it’s good to have both teams cheering for each other,” Oster said. “A lot of times we don’t get to watch them compete because we’re competing or practicing when they’re going, so it’s good.

“We have a lot of depth this year. We have guys that were sectional qualifiers or two-time sectional qualifiers that are backups this year. It’s hard for those individuals that they don’t get to start, but it’s good for us as a team because we can move guys around if someone gets hurt, we have a guy that is very capable that can step up. We had a couple of guys wrestling each other in the semis or in third-place matches, that’s a good problem to have. Some of those guys are seniors and they could have just walked away but they stuck around because they wanted to be part of the team.”

Top performers for the runner-up Minooka Indians were title winners Mason Vogt (106) and Cale Stonitsch (132) while Noah Avina (120) and Hunter Coons (175) took third. Kaden Meyer (150) and Lucas Shipla (190) were fourth and Chase Musser (126), Ben Cyrkiel (144), Mason Boles (165) and Santino Capodice (215) claimed fifth place.

Leading the way for coach Adrian Cervantes’ third-place Plainfield North Tigers were champions Maddox Garbis (113) and Leonardo Tovar (190) and third-place finishers Cayden Amico (126) and Luke Grindstaff (138) while Tristen Garbis (106), Aidan Durell (120) and Liam Corona (285) all finished in fourth place.Coach Chuck Rumpf’s Joliet West Tigers had three champions, Coehn Weber (126), Carson Weber (144) and Wyatt Schmitt (285). 

Other SPC title winners were Romeoville’s Brian Farley (120) and Oswego’s Joseph Griffin (165).

Plainfield East’s Bengals had three second-place finishers, Aidan Villar (120), Niko Duggan (157) and Jerry Nino (165), while Romeoville had two runners-up, Mason Gougis (175) and Jamir Thomas (285). 

Others who took second place were Joliet Central’s Yadiel Colon (106), West Aurora’s Aiden Massaro (126), Oswego’s Brayden Swanson (138), Oswego East’s Noah Demarco (150) and Plainfield South’s Matt Janiak (215).

In some of the closest title matches, Ben Alvarez won 2-1 on a tiebreaker over Matt Janiak at 215, Coehn Weber edged Aiden Massaro 1-0 at 126, Donovan Rosauer got past Brayden Swanson 2-0 at 138, Luke Zook prevailed over Mason Gougis 5-2 at 175, Maddox Garbis defeated Liam Fenoglio 8-4 at 113, Cale Stonitsch beat Dominic Recchia 7-3 at 132 and Joseph Griffin won a 6-1 decision over Jerry Nino at 165.

Wyatt Schmitt led all competitors with 49 team points while his teammate Carson Weber was second with 48.5. There was a four-way tie for third place with 48 team points between Ben Alvarez, Joseph Griffin, Ryder Janeczko and Leonardo Tovar and then there was a three-way tie between Jack Ferguson, Maddox Garbis and Cale Stonitsch, who all had 47.5 points.

Brian Farley, Maddox Garbis and Cale Stonitsch all won their second SPC championships.

Coach Andrew Plata’s West Aurora Blackhawks had four third-place finishers, Evan Matkovich (132), Noah Quintana (150), Dayne Serio (157) and Noah Chacon (285). 

Others who won medals for taking third place were Joliet West’s Jakob Crandall (106), Oswego’s Jonathan Theodor (113), Plainfield Central’s Matthias Hautzinger (144), Romeoville’s Isaiah Escobar (190) and Joliet Central’s Charles Walker (215).

Maddox Garbis had the most total match points with 64 while Wyatt Schmitt was second with 57 and Carson Weber ranked third with 52. Eight individuals recorded three falls and of those, Joseph Griffin did it in the least time, 3:53. Two teammates from Minooka, Mason Boles and Chase Musser, were seeded 10th but finished fifth, for the largest seed to place difference.

Some of the top records of top-four finishers in the SPC Tournament include Wyatt Schmitt at 285 (22-0, 1.000), Carson Weber at 144 (29-1, .967), Brian Farley at 120 (24-1, .960), Niko Duggan at 157 (30-2, .938), Leonardo Tovar at 190 (35-3, .921), Ben Alvarez at 215 (34-3, .919), Maddox Garbis at 113 (33-3, .917), Luke Zook at 175 (38-4, .905), Charles Walker at 215 (30-4, .882), Joseph Griffin at 165 (29-4, .879), Dayne Serio at 157 (29-4, .879) and Matt Janiak at 215 (31-5, .861).

Champion Yorkville edged runner-up Minooka 309-304 for the most total match points. The first-place Foxes also recorded the most falls with 21 while Oswego was next-best with 19 pins.

Championship matches for the Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament

106 – Mason Vogt (Minooka) TF 3:23 Yadiel Colon (Joliet Central)

113 – Maddox Garbis (Plainfield North) D 8-4 Liam Fenoglio (Yorkville)

120 – Brian Farley (Romeoville) MD 13-5 Aidan Villar (Plainfield East)

126 – Coehn Weber (Joliet West) D 1-0 Aiden Massaro (West Aurora)

132 – Cale Stonitsch (Minooka) D 7-3 Dominic Recchia (Yorkville)

138 – Donovan Rosauer (Yorkville) D 2-0 Brayden Swanson (Oswego)

144 – Carson Weber (Joliet West) Inj 0:00 Dominick Coronado (Yorkville)

150 – Jack Ferguson (Yorkville) F 3:49 Noah Demarco (Oswego East)

157 – Ryder Janeczko (Yorkville) MD 13-5 Niko Duggan (Plainfield East)

165 – Joseph Griffin (Oswego) D 6-1 Jerry Nino (Plainfield East)

175 – Luke Zook (Yorkville) D 5-2 Mason Gougis (Romeoville)

190 – Leonardo Tovar (Plainfield North) D 10-3 Ryan Stockl (Yorkville)

215 – Ben Alvarez (Yorkville) TB 2-1 Matt Janiak (Plainfield South)

285 – Wyatt Schmitt (Joliet West) TF 3:54 Jamir Thomas (Romeoville)

Third-place matches for the Southwest Prairie Conference Tournament

106 – Jakob Crandall (Joliet West) SV 9-7 Tristen Garbis (Plainfield North)

113 – Jonathan Theodor (Oswego) D 3-0 Liam Walsh (Joliet Central)

120 – Noah Avina (Minooka) D 9-2 Aidan Durell (Plainfield North)

126 – Cayden Amico (Plainfield North) D 9-3 Nathan Craft (Yorkville)

132 – Evan Matkovich (West Aurora) D 10-8 Alex Fernandez (Joliet Central)

138 – Luke Grindstaff (Plainfield North) MD 9-1 Adrian Ortiz (West Aurora)

144 – Matthias Hautzinger (Plainfield Central) D 8-6 Dillon Griffin (Oswego)

150 – Noah Quintana (West Aurora) F 5:44 Kaden Meyer (Minooka)

157 – Dayne Serio (West Aurora) TF 5:28 Cam Peach (Yorkville)

165 – Caleb Viscogliosi (Yorkville) F 1:01 Sebastian Westphal (Yorkville)

175 – Hunter Coons (Minooka) F 1:54 Garrett Patnoudes (Oswego East)

190 – Isaiah Escobar (Romeoville) Inj 0:26 Lucas Shipla (Minooka)

215 – Charles Walker (Joliet Central) D 13-6 Josh Edwards (Oswego East)

285 – Noah Chacon (West Aurora) D 4-1 Liam Corona (Plainfield North)

Team scores for the Southwest Prairie Conference Tournaments

1. Yorkville 519, 2. Minooka 427, 3. Plainfield North 369, 4. Oswego 365, 5. Joliet West 343.5, 6. West Aurora 341.5, 7. Joliet Central 314, 8. Plainfield East 263.5, 9. Romeoville 255.5, 10. Plainfield Central 230.5, 11. Plainfield South 218.5, 12. Oswego East 200.

By Curt Herron – for the IWCOA

Byron edges Riverdale for Orion Mitton Invite title

Byron got past Riverdale by a 189-184 margin to capture top honors at Orion’s 22-team Bob Mitton Invitational. Clinton edged Galesburg 154-151 for third place while Rockridge (140), Orion (135), Kewanee (128.5), University High (116), Sherrard (101.5) and Rock Falls (94) rounded out the top 10 teams in the competition.

Coach Mike Elsbury’s champion Tigers had no title winners but placed eight individuals in the top five to prevail over coach Aron Kindelsperger’s runner-up Rams, who had four champions and one second-place finisher.

Leading the way for Byron were second-place finishers Carsen Behn (165), Kyle Jones (190) and Jared Claunch (285) while Jackson Norris (120) and Brody Stien (150) took third, Damien Palacios (113) placed fourth and Will Julian (138) and Jarett Ross (215) finished fifth.

Top performers for Riverdale were championsTharren Jacobs (113), Dean Wainwright (120), Blake Smith (150) and Zac Bradley (175) while Ben Porter (106) was second, Kolton Kruse (138) finished fourth and Iyezaha Hill (190) was sixth.

Coach Matt Cooper’s third-place Clinton Maroons were led by champions Briley Carter (106) and Dawson Thayer (285) while Kristan Hibbard (175) placed second. Kayleb Kent (150) finished fourth and Logan Thoms (157) and Kael Morlock (215) took sixth place.

Galesburg’s Silver Streaks, who are coached by Greg Leibach, were led by title winners Rocky Almendarez (126) and Gauge Shipp (138) while Josiah Carter (150) finished second. Isaac Admire (144) took third, Orlando Castellano (132) was fourth, Nathan Maloy (165) placed fifth and Larry Randolph (285) claimed sixth place.

Capturing titles for coach Lucas Smith’s Rockridge Rockets were Jude Finch (132) and Ryan Lower (165) while Thomas Soward (126) took second place, Tanner McKeag (215) took fourth and Colton Bock (113) finished fifth.

Other Bob Mitton Invitational champions were University High’s Ethan Lowe (144), Marquette Academy’s Reily Leifheit (157), Orion’s Maddux Anderson (190) and Kewanee’s Alejandro Duarte (215).

Also finishing in second place were Kewanee’s Kingston Peterson (113) and Landon Mason (144), Amboy/Ashton-Franklin Center/LaMoille/Ohio’s Landon Blanton (120), Farmington/Cuba’s Keygan Jennings (132), Mercer County’s Ethan Monson (138), Monmouth-Roseville’s Gabe Ortiz-Mora (157) and Orion’s Aiden Fisher (215).

Ethan Lowe, Ryan Lower and Dawson Thayer had the most team points with 32 while Alejandro Duarte and Blake Smith were next-best with 31.5. Alejandro Duarte and Blake Smith tied for fourth with 31.5 points, Gauge Shipp had 30.5 points, Maddux Anderson had 30, Jude Finch collected 29 points and Tharren Jacobs and Dean Wainwright each had 28 team points.

Some of the best records of top-four finishers included Gauge Shipp at 138 (29-0, 1.000), Dean Wainwright at 120 (38-1, .974), Tharren Jacobs at 113 (32-1, .970), Rocky Almendarez at 126 (27-1, .964), Blake Smith at 150 (36-2, .947), Maddux Anderson at 190 (33-2, .943), Ryan Lower at 165 (30-2, .938), Alejandro Duarte at 215 (26-2, .929), Zac Bradley at 175 (37-3, .925), Keygan Jennings at 132 (30-3, .909), Ethan Monson at 138 (34-4, .895), Ethan Lowe at 144 (32-4, .889), Jude Finch at 132 (28-4, ,875) and Bawi Thing at 106 (27-4, .871).

Polo/Forreston/Eastland/Milledgeville’s Chase Bremer had the most match points with 79 while Gauge Shipp was second with 59 and Rock Falls’ Adan Oquendo third with 57. Marquette Academy’s Koby Clark, Geneseo JV’s Owen King and Galesburg’s Larry Randolph had five pins. Owen King was 20th-seed at 285 and took fourth for the largest seed to place differential.

Galesburg had the most total match points with 308 while Riverdale was second with 257 and Byron third with 240. Champion Byron recorded 25 falls while Clinton finished with 23 pins.

Championship matches for Orion’s Bob Mitton Invitational

106 – Briley Carter (Clinton) F 5:35 Ben Porter (Riverdale)

113 – Tharren Jacobs (Riverdale) F 3:49 Kingston Peterson (Kewanee)

120 – Dean Wainwright (Riverdale) D 7-2 Landon Blanton (Amboy/Ashton-Franklin Center/LaMoille/Ohio)

126 – Rocky Almendarez (Galesburg) TF 3:49 Thomas Soward (Rockridge)

132 – Jude Finch (Rockridge) D 3-2 Keygan Jennings (Farmington/Cuba) 

138 – Gauge Shipp (Galesburg) MD 13-4 Ethan Monson (Mercer County)

144 – Ethan Lowe (University High) F 3:15 Landon Mason (Kewanee)

150 – Blake Smith (Riverdale) F 1:39 Josiah Carter (Galesburg)

157 – Reily Leifheit (Marquette Academy) TF 5:31 Gabe Ortiz-Mora (Monmouth-Roseville) 

165 – Ryan Lower (Rockridge) F 5:04 Carsen Behn (Byron)

175 – Zac Bradley (Riverdale) F 4:36 Kristan Hibbard (Clinton)

190 – Maddux Anderson (Orion) SV 5-1 Kyle Jones (Byron)

215 – Alejandro Duarte (Kewanee) F 3:50 Aiden Fisher (Orion)

285 – Dawson Thayer (Clinton) F 3:37 Jared Claunch (Byron)

Third-place matches for Orion’s Bob Mitton Invitational

106 – Bawi Thing (Monmouth-Roseville) F 0:47 Luke Werner (Sherrard)

113 – Koby Clark (Marquette Academy) F 4:50 Damien Palacios (Byron)

120 – Jackson Norris (Byron) M For Kaleb Sovey (Orion)

126 – Lucas Nelson (Polo/Forreston/Eastland/Milledgeville) F 3:17 Blake Pender (Sherrard)

132 – Adan Oquendo (Rock Falls) TF 4:46 Orlando Castellano (Galesburg)

138 – Bradlee Ellis (Farmington/Cuba) F 5:06 Kolton Kruse (Riverdale)

144 – Isaac Admire (Galesburg) F 1:53 Andrew Knox (Sherrard)

150 – Brody Stien (Byron) F 3:27 Kayleb Kent (Clinton)

157 – Jake McElwee (Monmouth United) D 7-6 Tyler Shannon (Macomb)

165 – Nolan Loete (Orion) D 5-4 Alex Schaefer (Marquette Academy)

175 – Lucas Blanton (Amboy/Ashton-Franklin Center/LaMoille/Ohio) TF 5:04 Jamal Lasenby (Kewanee)

190 – Jonathan Weakley (Sherrard) TB 3-2 Colten Mooney (Geneseo JV)

215 – Joseph Hunt (University High) D 10-4 Tanner McKeag (Rockridge)

285 – Jacob Hosler (Rock Falls) F 1:52 Owen King (Geneseo JV)

Team scoring for Orion’s Bob Mitton Invitational

1. Byron 189, 2. Riverdale 184, 3. Clinton 154, 4. Galesburg 151, 5. Rockridge 140, 6. Orion 135, 7. Kewanee 128.5, 8. University High 116, 9. Sherrard 101.5, 10. Rock Falls 94, 11. Marquette Academy 92.5, 12. Amboy/Ashton-Franklin Center/LaMoille/Ohio 87, 13. Monmouth-Roseville 83, 13. Polo/Forreston/Eastland/Milledgeville 83, 15. Geneseo JV 74.5, 16. Farmington/Cuba 71, 17. Macomb 55, 18. Monmouth United 41, 19. ROWVA/Williamsfield 37, 20. Mercer County 26, 21. Illini West 22, 22. Walther Christian Academy 17.

Oakwood/Salt Fork captures LeRoy/Tri-Valley Bowman Invite title

Oakwood/Salt Fork easily won the title at LeRoy/Tri-Valley’s Randy Bowman Invitational, a 20-team competition that took place in LeRoy.

Coach Mike Glosser’s Oakwood/Salt Fork Comets scored 210.5 to take first place while Princeton edged the host Panthers 164-161 for second place. Auburn (153.5), Shelbyville (119), Oregon (114), Warrensburg-Latham (106.5), Knoxville (83), El Paso-Gridley (77) and Illini Bluffs (72.5) made up the top-10 in the field.

Leading the way for Oakwood/Salt Fork, who qualified for the IHSA Dual Team Finals for the first time last season and finished fourth in Class 1A, were champions Pedro Rangel (132), Bryson Capansky (157) and Dalton Brown (175) while Tyler Huchel (120) and Carter Chambliss (144) placed second. Steven Unden (106) and Brayden Edwards (113) took third, Jack Ajster (138) finished fourth, Thomas Wells (126) was fifth and Ezekiel Smith (215) claimed sixth.

Coach Steve Amy’s runner-up Princeton Tigers got titles from Augustus Swanson (106), Casey Etheridge (165) and Cade Odell (285) while Ace Christiansen (138) took second place. Ian Morris (215) was fourth, Preston Arkels (157) finished fifth and Eli Berlin (190) placed sixth.

Top performers for coach Brady Sant Amour’s third-place Panthers were title winner Jacob Bischoff (215), runners-up Brady Mouser (106), Connor Lyons (157) and Tate Sigler (285). 

Finishing fourth were Brock Owens (144) and Bo Zeleznik (165) while E.J. Choan (120) took fifth and Colton Prosser (138) finished sixth.

Coach Matt Grimm’s Auburn/Franklin/New Berlin Trojans were led by champion Joey Ruzic (126) and second-place finishers Jayden Brown (150) and Joey Barrow (175).

Winning championships for coach Shawn O’Connor’s Illini Bluffs Tigers were Hunter Robbins (113) and Jackson Carroll (144). Other Bowman Invitational title winners were Warrensburg-Latham/Maroa-Forsyth’s Logan Roberts (120), Dwight/Gardner-South Wilmington’s Dylan Crouch (138), Shelbyville’s Kaz Fox (150) and Pittsfield’s Tucker Cook (190).

Coach Joe Cliffe’s El Paso-Gridley Titans received second-place finishes from Ryden Barker (190) and Parker Duffy (215). Also finishing in second place were Oregon’s Nelson Benesh (113), Warrensburg-Latham/Maroa-Forsyth’s Kaden Roberts (126), Knoxville’s Gage Fox (132) and Pittsfield’s Waylon White (165).

Some of the best records of top-four finishers in the Randy Bowman Invite include Hunter Robbins at 113 (38-0, 1.000), Joey Ruzic at 126 (35-0, 1.000), Dylan Crouch at 138 (31-1, .969), Augustus Swanson at 106 (22-1, .957), Cade Odell at 285 (20-1, .952), Jackson Carroll at 144 (35-2, .946), Logan Roberts at 120 (35-2, .946), Pedro Rangel at 132 (34-2, .944), Brady Mouser at 106 (33-2, .943), Jacob Bischoff at 215 (31-2, .939), Dalton Brown at 175 (34-3, .919), Anthony Bauer at 157 (28-3, .903), Kaden Roberts at 126 (33-4, ,892), Bryson Capansky at 157 (29-4, .879), Danny Tay at 126 (29-4, .879) and Ian O’Connor at 138 (35-5. .875).

Casey Etheridge led all competitors with 28 team points while Jackson Carroll was next with 27.5. There was a four-way tie for third with 27 points between Dalton Brown, Kaz Fox, Logan Roberts and Joey Ruzic. Jacob Bischoff, Cade Odell and Pedro Rangel had 26 team points. 

Joey Ruzic led the way with 59 total match points while Warrensburg-Latham/Maroa-Forsyth’s Charlie Wittmer and teammate Logan Roberts tied for second with 53 match points. 

Oakwood/Salt Fork had the most total match points with 278 and Warrensburg-Latham/Maroa-Forsyth was second with 238. Princeston edged Oakwood/Salt Fork 22-21 for the most falls.

Championship matches for LeRoy/Tri-Valley’s Randy Bowman Invitational

106 – Augustus Swanson (Princeton) D 7-1 Brady Mouser (LeRoy/Tri-Valley)

113 – Hunter Robbins (Illini Bluffs) D 11-7 Nelson Benesh (Oregon)

120 – Logan Roberts (Warrensburg-Latham) D 6-2 Tyler Huchel (Oakwood/Salt Fork)

126 – Joey Ruzic (Auburn) TF 5:23 Kaden Roberts (Warrensburg-Latham)

132 – Pedro Rangel (Oakwood/Salt Fork) F 4:25 Gage Fox (Knoxville)

138 – Dylan Crouch (Dwight) SV 5-3 Ace Christiansen (Princeton)

144 – Jackson Carroll (Illini Bluffs) TF 3:49 Carter Chambliss (Oakwood/Salt Fork)

150 – Kaz Fox (Shelbyville) F 1:11 Jayden Brown (Auburn)

157 – Bryson Capansky (Oakwood/Salt Fork) D 7-3 Connor Lyons (LeRoy/Tri-Valley)

165 – Casey Etheridge (Princeton) F 3:09 Waylon White (Pittsfield)

175 – Dalton Brown (Oakwood/Salt Fork) D 9-4 Joey Barrow (Auburn)

190 – Tucker Cook (Pittsfield) D 5-1 Ryden Barker (El Paso-Gridley) 

215 – Jacob Bischoff (LeRoy/Tri-Valley) F 5:49 Parker Duffy (El Paso-Gridley)

285 – Cade Odell (Princeton) D 3-2 Tate Sigler (LeRoy/Tri-Valley)

Third-place matches for LeRoy/Tri-Valley’s Randy Bowman Invitational

106 – Steven Uden (Oakwood/Salt Fork) D 12-5 Taygan Gossard (Warrensburg-Latham)

113 – Brayden Edwards (Oakwood/Salt Fork) TF 4:57 Colin Wells (Shelbyville)

120 – Hunter Johnson (Knoxville) F 1:56 Drayven Hamm (Auburn)

126 – Danny Tay (Ridgeview/Lexington) F 5:17 Preston LaBay (Oregon)

132 – Charlie Wittmer (Warrensburg-Latham) MD 16-6 Owen Stoller (Eureka)

138 – Ian O’Connor (Illini Bluffs) F 5:02 Jack Ajster (Oakwood/Salt Fork)

144 – Quinten Chizmar (Auburn) F 3:01 Brock Owens (LeRoy/Tri-Valley)

150 – Joe Wall (Knoxville) F 2:43 Darius Williams (Rantoul)

157 – Anthony Bauer (Oregon) D 13-6 Ryne Peavler (Shelbyville)

165 – Wyatt Otto (Deer Creek-Mackinaw) D 6-4 Bo Zeleznik (LeRoy/Tri-Valley)

175 – Wyatt Zacha (Eureka) D 10-5 Bodine Marable (Pittsfield)

190 – Quentin Berry (Oregon) D 6-3 Aydan Fisher (Shelbyville)

215 – Isaac Coleman (Peoria Heights) D 5-2 Ian Morris (Princeton)

285 – Andre Townsend (Shelbyville) F 0:25 Cash Thomas (Auburn)

Team scores for LeRoy/Tri-Valley’s Randy Bowman Invitational

1. Oakwood/Salt Fork 210.5, 2. Princeton 164, LeRoy/Tri-Valley 161, 4. Auburn/Franklin/New Berlin 153.5, 5. Shelbyville 119, 6. Oregon 114, 7. Warrensburg-Latham/Maroa-Forsyth 106.5, 8. Knoxville 83, 9. El Paso-Gridley 77, 10. Illini Bluffs 72.5, 11. Pittsfield 71.5, 12. Deer Creek-Mackinaw 58, 13. Eureka 48, 14. Ridgeview/Lexington 39, 15. Dwight/Gardner-South Wilmington 33, 16. Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin/Armstrong 31, 17. Rantoul 27.5, 18. Peoria Heights 26, 19. Midwest Central 13, 20. Heyworth 12.

Seneca claims championship at Rochester Rocket Invite

Seneca captured top honors with 230.5 points while host Rochester took second with 194 points in its 15-team Rocket Invite and Lincoln placed third with 172.5 points. Jersey Community (118.5), Lanphier (108), Quincy Notre Dame (106), Springfield High (101.5) and Southeast (95.5) were next in line.

Top performers for coach Todd Yegge’s champion Seneca Fighting Irish were title winners Raiden Terry (106), Ethan Othan (120), Nate Othon (150) and Asher Hamby (175) and runners-up Gunner Varland (157) and Chris Peura (215) while Wyatt Coop (113) took third and Ryker Terry (132) and Landen Venecia (190) finished fourth.

Leading the way for coach Brad Alewelt’s second-place Rochester Rockets were champions Conner Carroll (113) and Ethan Fordham (157) and second-place finishers Pierce Bultmann (106), Drake Pfeiffer (144) and James Escobar (150) while Miles Carroll (120) took third place and Carly Ho (106), Nick Mrozowski (126) and Dylan Estes (144) finished fourth.

Coach Justin Dietrich’s Lincoln Railsplitters got a first-place finish from Dawson McConnell (165) while Cort Pentecost (120), Karter Hild (126) and Lakin Adams (138) took second, Paytan Bunner (190) and Logan Wachendorf (285) were third and Ryne Metelko (150) claimed fourth.

Coach Andrew Gardner’s Southeast Spartans had two title winners, Brayden McBride (132) and Chris Hull (190). Other Rocket Invite champions were Decatur Eisenhower’s Kayson Duffney (126), Springfield High’s Gabriel Ruvalcaba (138), Quincy Notre Dame’s Bradi Lahr (144) and East Alton-Wood River’s Drake Champlin (215).

Also claiming second-place finishes were Lanphier’s Cedar Ngiramoai (113), East Alton-Wood River’s Jamal Burgess (132), Hillsboro’s Zander Wells (165), Jersey Community’s Connor Chin (175), Quincy Notre Dame’s Ryan Darnell (190) and Williamsville’s Matthew Crouch (285).

The best records of top-four finishers in the Rocket Invite include Drake Champlin at 215 (37-2, .949), Taylin Scott at 215 (36-2, .947), Chris Peura at 215 (29-3, .906), Kayson Duffney at 126 (16-2, .889), Dawson McConnell at 165 (31-4, .886), Asher Hamby at 175 (30-4, .882) and Bradi Lahr at 144 (28-4, .875).

Chris Hull led all participants in the invite with 30 team points while Jeremy Gagnon, Brayden McBride and Dawson McConnell tied for second with 28 team points, Ethan Othon had 27.5 points and Asher Hamby scored 27 team points.

Hillsboro’s Gaven Vollintine had the most total match points with 67 while Springfield High’s Marshawn Brown was second with 49 points. Springfield High edged Lincoln 182-181 for total match points while Seneca was third with 180. And Champion Seneca had the most falls with 22 while runner-up Rochester was second with 20 pins.

Championship matches for Rochester’s Rocket Invite

106 – Raiden Terry (Seneca) D 3-0 Pierce Bultmann (Rochester)

113 – Conner Carroll (Rochester) D 4-0 Cedar Ngiramoai (Lanphier)

120 – Ethan Othon (Seneca) F 1:19 Cort Pentecost (Lincoln)

126 – Kayson Duffney (Decatur Eisenhower) D 6-4 Karter Hild (Lincoln)

132 – Brayden McBride (Southeast) F 0:12 Jamal Burgess (East Alton-Wood River)

138 – Gabriel Ruvalcaba (Springfield High) D 6-1 Lakin Adams (Lincoln)

144 – Bradi Lahr (Quincy Notre Dame) D 8-2 Drake Pfeiffer (Rochester)

150 – Nate Othon (Seneca) F 3:56 James Escobar (Rochester)

157 – Ethan Fordham (Rochester) D 7-1 Gunner Varland (Seneca)

165 – Dawson McConnell (Lincoln) F 2:46 Zander Wells (Hillsboro)

175 – Asher Hamby (Seneca) F 1:15 Connor Chin (Jersey Community)

190 – Chris Hull (Southeast) F 3:24 Ryan Darnell (Quincy Notre Dame)

215 – Drake Chamnplin (East Alton-Wood River) SV 7-5 Chris Peura (Seneca)

285 – Jeremy Gagnon (Seneca) F 4:49 Matthew Crouch (Williamsville)

Third-place matches for Rochester’s Rocket Invite

106 – Hunter Hodge (Jersey Community) F 0:57 Carly Ho (Rochester)

113 – Wyatt Coop (Seneca) F 2:20 Hector Alvarado (Illinois United)

120 – Miles Carroll (Rochester) F 2:51 Marshawn Brown (Springfield High)

126 – Oliver Moore (Quincy Notre Dame) D 6-0 Nick Mrozowski (Rochester)

132 – Cale Hibing (Quincy Notre Dame) D 9-4 Ryker Terry (Seneca)

138 – Matthew Miller (Williamsville) F 5:48 Gaven Vollintine (Hillsboro)

144 – Trevor Tucker (Jersey Community) D 1-0 Dylan Estes (Rochester)

150 – Cody L Stevens (Springfield High) F 1:52 Ryne Metelko (Lincoln)

157 – Christian Pollard (Sacred Heart-Griffin) F 2:32 Nicholas Hartley (Jersey Community)

165 – Trieontez Williams (Springfield High) D 6-3 Danny Thomas (Sacred Heart-Griffin)

175 – Jaylen Crowder (Lanphier) D 1-0 Dom Porter (Southeast)

190 – Paytan Bunner (Lincoln) F 1:03 Landen Venecia (Seneca)

215 – Taylin Scott (Quincy Notre Dame) F 1:02 Mayson Buckman (Williamsville)

285 – Logan Wachendorf (Lincoln) F 0:27 Sullivan Feldt (Seneca)

Team scores for Rochester’s Rocket Invite

1. Seneca 230.5, 2. Rochester 194, 3. Lincoln 172.5, 4. Jersey Community 118.5, 5. Lanphier 108, 6. Quincy Notre Dame 106, 7. Springfield High 101.5, 8. Southeast 95.5, 9. East Alton-Wood River 80, 10. Williamsville 78.5, 11. Hillsboro 63, 11. Sacred Heart-Griffin 63, 13. Illinois United 37, 14. Taylorville, 15. Decatur Eisenhower 

Belleville West captures title at the boys Blackcat Brawl

Belleville West got past Benton/Sesser-Valier 215.5-203 to capture top honors at the 2nd- annual Blackcat Brawl, a 21-team boys competition which was hosted by Goreville/Vienna and took place in Vienna. Marion finished third with 175 points.

Rounding out the top-10 were Carbondale (135), Red Bud/Valmeyer (130), Anna-Jonesboro (114), Salem (102.5), Goreville/Vienna (90.5), Johnston City (85.5) and Murphysboro (79).

Top performers for coach Bob Dahm’s champion Belleville West Maroons were title winners Tyson Seibel (126), Ethan Hofmeister (190) and Mathew Shamontae (285) while Rocky Seibel (113), Xander Goodwin (132), Aiden Colbert (138) and Justin Riley (215) took second place. DeMario Walters (106) placed third, Kadin Alexander (150) finished fifth and Landon Page (157) claimed sixth place.

Leading the way for coach Aaron Robinson’s runner-up Benton/Seeser-Valier Rangers were champions Zane Stanley (106) and Mason Tieffel (138) while Connor Dean (157) and Izaiah Dalton (190) took second. Cohen Sweely (113) placed third, Braxton Tittle (106), Kaden Blades (126), Anthony Hernandez (144) and Drake Spears (285) finished fourth, Peyton Robinson (175) claimed fifth and Tristen Gordon (150) was sixth. Tieffel improved his record to 43-0.

Coach Darren Lindsey’s third-place Marion Wildcats received first-place finishes from Caden Frey (144) and Caleb Ohnesorge (150) while Riddick Cook (120) claimed second place. Justin Murphy (157), Tate Miller (165) and Evan Francis (190) all finished fourth while Jkwon Williamson (113), Jaycen McBride (138) and Greyson Sanders (175) all took sixth place.

Preston Waughtel (113) and Tyson Waughtel (120) both won titles for coach Ben Wademan’s Indians and remained unbeaten with Tyson moving to 36-0 and Preston improving to 35-0.

Coach Rod Pipher’s Red Bud/Valmeyer Musketeers also had two champions, Alex Wolter (157) and Ty Carter (175). Other Blackcat Brawl champions were Carbondale’s Isaac Smith (132), Trico/Elverado’s Colin Hughey (165) and Johnston City’s Jude Beers (215).

A pair of Wildcats who had two second-place finishers were coach Chase Hargrave’s Anna-Jonesboro Wildcats with Zoee Sadler (106) and Drew Holshouser (175) and coach Brian Camp’s Salem Wildcats with Granger Motch (150) and Carter Moore (165). Others who placed second were Goreville/Vienna’s Jeremiah Pulliam (126), Murphysboro’s Jonathan Witzman (144) and Carbondale’s Zane Williard (285).

Some of the best records of top-four finishers coming out of the Blackcat Brawl include Mason Tieffel at 138 (43-0, 1.000), Tyson Waughtel at 120 (36-0, 1.000), Preston Waughtel at 113 (35-0, 1.000), Isaac Smith at 132 (35-2, .946), Jude Beers at 215 (25-2, ,926), Ty Carter at 175 (35-3, .921) and Rocky Seibel at 113 (31-3, .912).

There was a three-way for most team points with 30 between Caden Frey, Caleb Ohnesorge and Mason Tieffel and there was a four-way tie for fourth with 28 points between Jude Beers, Ty Carter, Ethan Hofmeister and Isaac Smith. DeMario Walters had the most total match points with 59 while Tieffel was next with 51.

Belleville West had the most total match points with 273 while Benton/Sesser-Valier was second with 228 points. And Benton/Sesser-Valier and Marion tied for the most falls with 27.

Championship matches for the boys Blackcat Brawl

106 – Zane Stanley (Benton/Sesser-Valier) D 14-7 Zoee Sadler (Anna-Jonesboro)

113 – Preston Waughtel (Carlyle) D 4-1 Rocky Seibel (Belleville West)

120 – Tyson Waughtel (Carlyle) TF 2:57 Riddick Cook (Marion)

126 – Tyson Seibel (Belleville West) D 5-0 Jeremiah Pulliam (Goreville/Vienna)

132 – Isaac Smith (Carbondale) F 0:50 Xander Goodwin (Belleville West)

138 – Mason Tieffel (Benton/Sesser-Valier) F 1:40 Aiden Colbert (Belleville West)

144 – Caden Frey (Marion) F 1:14 Jonathan Witzman (Murphysboro)

150 – Caleb Ohnesorge (Marion) F 1:52 Granger Motch (Salem)

157 – Alex Wolter (Red Bud/Valmeyer) D 9-6 Connor Dean (Benton/Sesser-Valier)

165 – Colin Hughey (Trico/Elverado) D 6-4 Carter Moore (Salem)

175 – Ty Carter (Red Bud/Valmeyer) F 3:30 Drew Holshouser (Anna-Jonesboro)

190 – Ethan Hofmeister (Belleville West) F 0:50 Izaiah Dalton (Benton/Sesser-Valier)

215 – Jude Beers (Johnston City) D 7-5 Justin Riley (Belleville West)

285 – Mathew Shamontae (Belleville West) D 7-2 Zane Williard (Carbondale)

Third-place matches at the boys Blackcat Brawl

106 – DeMario Walters (Belleville West) D 9-4 Braxton Tittle (Benton/Sesser-Valier)

113 – Cohen Sweely (Benton/Sesser-Valier) F 0:34 Jaxton Thompson (Trico/Elverado)

120 – Matt Crim (Goreville/Vienna) D 7-5 Ayden Swan (Carbondale)

126 – Daelan McNelly (Anna-Jonesboro) F 6:15 Kaden Blades (Benton/Sesser-Valier)

132 – Benjamin Harris (Johnston City) MD 17-9 Julian Wyant (Frankfort Community)

138 – Gavin Watson (Sparta/Steeleville) D 7-2 Carter Pryor (Metro-East Lutheran)

144 – Keyton King (Salem) D 5-1 Anthony Hernandez (Benton/Sesser-Valier)

150 – Bronco Morgan (Goreville/Vienna) F 0:59 Colt Hess (Red Bud/Valmeyer)

157 – Trevor Fath (Pinckneyville) M For Justin Murphy (Marion)

165 – Clayton Dent (Frankfort Community) F 1:08 Tate Miller (Marion)

175 – Jonathan Ramaker (Trico/Elverado) D 13-7 Connor Daly (Carbondale)

190 – Terry Henderson (Paducah Tilghman, KY) F 0:57 Evan Francis (Marion)

215 – Lucas Schwartzkopf (Red Bud/Valmeyer) F 3:22 Levi Jones (Anna-Jonesboro)

285 – Proper Livingston-Holmes (Paducah Tilghman, KY) F 1:18 Drake Spears (Benton/Sesser-Valier)

Team scores for the boys Blackcat Brawl

1. Belleville West 215.5, 2. Benton/Sesser-Valier 203, 3. Marion 175, 4. Carbondale 135, 5. Red Bud/Valmeyer 130, 6. Anna-Jonesboro 114, 7. Salem 102.5, 8. Goreville/Vienna 90.5, 9. Johnston City 85.5, 10. Murphysboro 79, 11. Carlyle 74,5, 12. Trico/Elverado 71, 13. Paducah Tilghman, KY 66.5, 14. Frankfort Community 48, 15. Pinckneyville 45, 16. Sparta/Steeleville 36, 17. Metro-East Lutheran 31, 18. Civic Memorial 12, 19. Robinson 10, 20. Breese Central 3.

Collinsville leads Illinois team at 2nd annual girls Blackcat Brawl

Union County of Morganfield. Kentucky scored 121.5 points to win the championship of the 2nd- annual girls Blackcat Brawl, which was a 26-team competition that was held in Vienna. 

Collinsville took second place with 90 points while Frankfort Community edged the hosts, Goreville/Vienna, 76-74 for third place. Robinson (70), Marion (56.5), Belleville West (52), Granite City (50), Civic Memorial (48) and Jacksonville (48) rounded out the top-10 teams.

Leading coach Jordan May’s runner-up Kahoks were champions Taylor Dawson (130) and Hannah Jones (170) and second-place finishers Emma Ford (125) and Leann Cory (135).

Top performers for coach Rick Arrington’s third-place Lady Redbirds were title winner Nikolette Ronketto (105) and third-place finisher Kaitlynn Childers (235) as well as Sophia Bechelli (110) and Lily Browning (170), who both finished fourth.

Coach Bart Pulliam’s host Goreville/Vienna Blackcats got a title from Alivia Ming (145) while Liberty McBride (190) took second, Krista McBride (190) placed third and Ariel Board (125) and Madalynn Lapatas (130) both finished fourth.  And the Robinson Maroons, coached by Tanner Keeler, had two champions, Macee Hammond (155) and Rylee Hammond (235).

Other Blackcat Brawl title winners were Union County, KY’s Tanya Bacon (110) and Sutton Fuller (115), Jacksonville’s Alexis Seymour (120), Red Bud/Valmeyer’s Avery Smith (125), Cumberland’s Natalie Beaumont (135), Vandalia’s Brynn Swyers (140) and Trico/Elverado’s Maddie Ramaker (190).

Also claiming second-place finishes were Benton/Sesser-Valier’s Halle Smith (115) and Mia Balota (120), Mt. Vernon’s Lilly Davis (105), Granite City’s Ma’Kayla Bonner (110), Civic Memorial’s Delaney Griffith (130), Belleville West’s Ju’Bri Edwards (140), Triad’s Harmony Martin (145), Union County, KY’s Hadlee Clevidence (155), Trico/Elverado’s Cynthia Macke (170) and Unity’s Phoenix Molina (235).

Five of the champions in the Blackcat Brawl have unbeaten records. They are Taylor Dawson at 130 (34-0, 1.000), Alivia Ming at 145 (24-0, 1.000), Tanya Bacon at 110 (24-0, 1.000), Sutton Fuller at 115 (21-0, 1.000) and Nikolette Ronketto at 105 (8-0, 1.000).

There was a five-way tie for the most team points with 26 between Taylor Dawson, Sutton Fuller, Macee Hammond, Alivia Ming and Brynn Swyers while Natalie Beaumont had 25.5 points. Taylor Dawson also had the most total match points with 45 and Nikolette Ronketto was the only individual in the field who recorded four falls. 

Union County had the most total match points with 134 while Collinsville was second with 85 and Marion was third with 81 points. And champion Union County had the most falls with 14, which was one more than Frankfort Community recorded.

Championship matches for the girls Blackcat Brawl

105 – Nikolette Ronketto (Frankfort Community) F 5:19 Lilly Davis (Mt. Vernon) round robin

110 – Tanya Bacon (Union County, KY) F 5:11 Ma’Kayla Bonner (Granite City)

115 – Sutton Fuller (Union County, KY) F 1:04 Halle Smith (Benton/Sesser-Valier)

120 – Alexis Seymour (Jacksonville) D 10-5 Mia Balota (Benton/Sesser-Valier)

125 – Avery Smith (Red Bud/Valmeyer) F 1:02 Emma Ford (Collinsville)

130 – Taylor Dawson (Collinsville) F 0:26 Delaney Griffith (Civic Memorial)

135 – Natalie Beaumont (Cumberland) TF 3:06 Leann Cory (Collinsville)

140 – Brynn Swyers (Vandalia) F 3:43 Ju’Bri Edwards (Belleville West)

145 – Alivia Ming (Goreville/Vienna) F 1:15 Harmony Martin (Triad)

155 – Macee Hammond (Robinson) F 4:57 Hadlee Clevidence (Union County, KY)

170 – Hannah Jones (Collinsville) F 2:22 Cynthia Macke (Trico/Elverado)

190 – Maddie Ramaker (Trico/Elverado) D 9-5 Liberty McBride (Goreville/Vienna)

235 – Rylee Hammond (Robinson) D 2-1 Phoenix Molina (Unity)

Third-place matches for the girls Blackcat Brawl

105 – Emma Smith (Red Bud/Valmeyer) F 1:28 Claire Crouch (Triad) round robin

110 – Jala Singleton (Belleville West) F 1:28 Sophia Bechelli (Frankfort Community)

115 – Kendal Smith (Civic Memorial) F 3:17 Kelsey Davis (Triad)

120 – Bailey Buchanan (Union County, KY) F 3:56 Deziare Jones (Mt. Vernon)

125 – Brailey Jackson (Union County, KY) F 2:47 Ariel Board (Goreville/Vienna)

130 – Joelene Nappier-Feth (Marion) F 2:37 Madalynn Lapatas (Goreville/Vienna)

135 – Audrey Barnes (Granite City) F 1:32 Roxie Royster (Murphysboro)

140 – Vada Gregory (Jacksonville) F 1:28 Daisjha Cooper (Marion)

145 – Rory Speidel (Jersey Community) F 1:33 Zoee Dozier (Belleville West)

155 – Charity Bolinger (Jacksonville) F 0:44 Melissa Comerford (Marion)

170 – Chloe West (Granite City) F 1:54 Lily Browning (Frankfort Community)

190 – Krista McBride (Goreville/Vienna) F 0:18 Kylie Cross (Union County, KY)

235 – Kaitlynn Childers (Frankfort Community) F 1:00 Olivia McDermott (Marion)

Team scores for the girls Blackcat Brawl

1. Union County, KY 121.5, 2. Collinsville 90, 3. Frankfort Community 76, 4. Goreville/Vienna 74, 5. Robinson 70, 6. Marion 56.5, 7. Belleville West 52, 8. Granite City 50, 9. Civic Memorial 48, 9. Jacksonville 48, 11. Triad 42, 12. Trico/Elverado 40, 13. Benton/Sesser-Valier 38, 14. Red Bud/Valmeyer 31, 15, Mt. Vernon 29.5, 16. Vandalia 26, 17. Cumberland 25.5, 18. Salem 25, 19. Unity 20, 20. Murphysboro 17, 21. Jersey Community 16, 22. Carlyle 11, 23. Carbondale 6, 24. Anna-Jonesboro 5.

Richwoods has four champions at own Lady Knights Scramble

Individuals from 18 schools took part in Richwoods’ Lady Knights Scramble and three of the schools had multiple champions, with the hosts leading the way with four.

Winning titles for coach Rob Penney’s Lady Knights were  Jaydah Green (120), Isabella Motteler (125), Kaila Williams (140) and Jaida Johnson (170) while Heaven Sewell (105), Aliyah Cockfield (125), Aaneshia Duffin (135) and Abby Ocoa (190) took second and Sydney Johnson (170) and Marley Clark (235) finished third.

East Peoria had two champions, Bailey Lusch (105) and Kennedy McMenimen (105) while Abella Brown (101) and Dezyrae Murray (145) both claimed second place.

And Macomb got first-place finishes from Raegen Hansen (135) and Kelly Ladd (145) while Mikeala Mwangong (155) placed second and Sifa Feruzi (190) took third place.

Other Scramble title winners were Newman Central Catholic’s Blair Grennan (101), Centennial’s Ava Beldo (115), Rock Falls’ Ellisa Russell (155), Urbana’s Jurdan Tyler (190) and Prairie Central’s Chloe Hoselton (235).

Urbana had two second-place finishers, Rickasia Ivy (140) and Franciana Kalanga (170) and Normal West also had two runners-up, Cheyenne Anderson (110) and Cadence Duvall (235). Others who took second place were Illinois Valley Central’s Lilyana Malagon (115) and Rock Falls’ Ryleigh Eriks (120).

Others who took third place where four places were awarded included Bloomington’s Alila Beck (135) and Alicia Swank (145), Prairie Central’s Yuri Vilchis (110), University High’s Allison Kroesch (115), Urbana’s Randi Campe (125) and Normal West’s Vivian Guither (140).

Five individuals tied for the most team points with 24 and they were Ava Beldo, Chloe Hoselton, Kennedy McMenimen, Jurdan Tyler and Kaila Williams. Isabella Motteler collected the most total match points with 25.

By Curt Herron – for the IWCOA

Washington Community continues Mid-Illini Conference title streak

The beat goes on for Washington Community as the defending IHSA Class 2A state champions won its 15th-straight Mid-Illini Conference title by scoring 218.5 points, which was 35.5 points better than runner-up Morton (183) in the eight-team competition that took place in Dunlap.

Canton (169) placed third while Metamora (98) finished fourth and Dunlap (74) took fifth.

Coach Nick Miller’s first-place Panthers had six champions, eight finalists and 12 who placed fourth or better.  Leading the way were title winners Noah Woods (120), Eli Gonzalez (126), Wyatt Medlin (138), Cael Miller (165), Zane Hulet (175) and Josh Hoffer (215) while JJ Rokey (144) and Cruise Brolley (157) placed second. Zed Hulet (106), Logan Makiney (113) and Tyler Brown (150) took third place while Luke Hoffman (285) finished fourth.

Washington Community, which is ranked third in Class 2A by Illinois Matmen, hopes to contend for another state championship. Since 2014 under Bryan Medlin and Nick Miller, the Panthers have won five IHSA  Class 2A titles, including four in a row from 2016-2019, placed second twice and qualified for the IHSA Class 2A Dual Team Finals each season but one, in 2022.

Coach Edward Henderson’s runner-up Morton Potters had four champions, eight finalists and 10 finishers in the top three. Top performers were title winners Harrison Dea (113), Caiden Robison (132), Steven Marvin (150) and Clayton McKee (157) while Noah Harris (106), Caleb Lenning (120), Lincoln Yerby (126) and Tyus Almasy (175) placed second and Colton McKee (165) and Benjamin Chaffer (215) finished third.

Coach Zach Crawford’s third-place Canton Little Giants had three champions, six finalists and 11 individuals placed fourth or better. Dyllan Steele (106), Danny Murphy (190) and Connor Williams (285) won titles while Maddux Steele (113), Jack Jochums (132) and Grant Kessler (215) took second place. Mason Bilbrey (126), Aden Greene (157) and Gus Lidwell (175) placed third and Alex Carrier (138) and Grady Smith (144) finished fourth.

Metamora, which is coached by Noah Trollope, had the other champion, Grady Neil (144), and one of the other second-place finishers, Conner Graham (138). Other top placewinners for the Redbirds were third-place finishers Zach Bumeter (120), Adam Sloan (190) and Ty Dykes (285) as well as Paul Reason (132), Karson Hale (150) and Seth Shaw (165) who finished fourth.

Also finishing in second place were Pekin’s RaMez Watson (150), Dunlap’s Nick Mueller (165), Limestone’s Ethan Dixon (190) and East Peoria’s Jose Del Toro (285).

There was a four-way tie for the most team points with 24 between Eli Gonzalez, Josh Hoffer, Cael Miller and Caiden Robison while Zane Hulet and Dyllan Steele both had 23 points. Harrison Dea, Clayton McKee, Wyatt Medlin, Grady Neil and Connor Williams tied for seventh with 22 team points and Noah Woods had 21.5 points and Steven Marvin had 21 team points.

Mason Bilbrey had the most total match points with 40 while Gus Lidwell was second with 38 points and Noah Woods ranked third with 37 match points. Bilbrey was also the lone competitor to record three falls. Colton McKee had the best seed to place differential, being seeded eighth at 165 and then finishing in third place.

Top records of medal winners from the Mid-Illini Conference Tournament include Danny Murphy at 190 (37-1, .974), Connor Williams at 285 (35-1, .972), Steven Marvin at 150 (35-2, .946), Nick Mueller at 165 (32-2, .941), RaMez Watson at 150 (29-2, .935), Wyatt Medlin at 138 (36-4, .900), Grant Kessler at 215 (34-5, .872), Harrison Dea at 113 (27-4, .871) and Dyllan Steele at 106 (29-5, .853).

Canton had the most total match points with 220 while Washington Community was second with 181 and Morton ranked third with 178. The champion Panthers recorded the most falls with 15 while the third-place Little Giants had 11 pins and the runner-up Potters collected 10 falls.

Championship matches for the Mid-Illini Conference Tournament

106 – Dyllan Steele (Canton) MD 10-2 Noah Harris (Morton)

113 – Harrison Dea (Morton) SV 10-8 Maddux Steele (Canton)

120 – Noah Woods (Washington Community) TF 4:57 Caleb Lenning (Morton)

126 – Eli Gonzalez (Washington Community) F 0:26 Lincoln Yerby (Morton)

132 – Caiden Robison (Morton) F 0:37 Jack Jochums (Canton)

138 – Wyatt Medlin (Washington Community) D 18-11 Conner Graham (Metamora)

144 – Grady Neil (Metamora) SV 4-2 JJ Rokey (Washington Community)

150 – Steven Marvin (Morton) D 7-5 RaMez Watson (Pekin)

157 – Clayton McKee (Morton) D 1-0 Cruise Brolley (Washington Community)

165 – Cael Miller (Washington Community) DQ Nick Mueller (Dunlap)

175 – Zane Hulet (Washington Community) MD 12-0 Tyus Almasy (Morton)

190 – Danny Murphy (Canton) D 9-3 Ethan Dixon (Limestone)

215 – Josh Hoffer (Washington Community) F 0:48 Grant Kessler (Canton)

285 – Connor Williams (Canton) TB 4-1 Jose Del Toro (East Peoria)

Third-place matches for the Mid-Illini Conference Tournament

106 – Zed Hulet (Washington Community) F 3:13 Tessa Donaldson (Pekin)

113 – Logan Makiney (Washington Community) F 1:07 Dakota Hentz (Limestone)

120 – Zach Bumeter (Metamora) F 4:15 Devon Swope (Dunlap)

126 – Mason Bilbrey (Canton) F 3:17 Kalan Delbridge (Dunlap)

132 – Tristan Mosack (Dunlap) F 3:53 Paul Reason (Metamora)

138 – Colton Mosack (Dunlap) D 2-1 Alex Carrier (Canton)

144 – Aydyn Artman (Pekin) F 3:42 Grady Smith (Canton)

150 – Tyler Brown (Washington Community) M For Karson Hale (Metamora)

157 – Aden Greene (Canton) F 5:37 Jayden Schmick (Dunlap)

165 – Colton McKee (Morton) F 3:11 Seth Shaw (Metamora)

175 – Gus Lidwell (Canton) D 10-3 Bruce Ryder (Limestone)

190 – Adam Sloan (Metamora) D 3-0 Joseph Weeks (Dunlap)

215 – Benjamin Chaffer (Morton) D 11-6 Alec Del Toro (East Peoria)

285 – Ty Dykes (Metamora) D 8-1 Luke Hoffman (Washington Community)

Team scores for the Mid-Illini Conference Tournament

1. Washington Community 218.5, 2. Morton 183, 3. Canton 169, 4. Metamora 98, 5. Dunlap 74, 6. Pekin 47, 7. Limestone 40, 8. East Peoria 28.Normal Community repeats as Big Twelve Conference champions

Normal Community had a big day at its own gym as it repeated as Big Twelve Conference champions for the first time in its history, thanks to 13 placewinners, including five champions and nine finalists, to give it 207 points, which was 82 points ahead of Normal West, with 125.

Bloomington took third with 106.5 points, Centennial (79) was fourth, Champaign Central (70) took fifth and Peoria Notre Dame (62) edged Danville (61) to finish sixth in the 11-team event.

Leading the way for coach Trevor Kaufman’s champion Ironmen were title winners Jackson Soney (106), Caden Correll (113), Cole Gentsch (120), Hunter Hardwick (150) and Cooper Caraway (215) while Carter Mayes (138), Jaren Frankowiak (157), Victor Reyes (165) and Mason Caraway (190) finished in second place. Taking third place was Ethan Cavallo (126) while Luke Eganhouse (132), Gavin Capodice (144) and Cole Kretsinger (175) placed fourth.

Top performers for coach Dave Lehr’s runner-up Normal West Wildcats were champions Jaxxon Long (126) and Evan Willock (157) and runners-up Abram Rader (120) and Gus Schreiber (175). Taking third were Jacob Payne (106) and Collin Lowery (150) while Dylan McGraw (113) and Matt Hanold (285) finished fourth.

Coach Savion Haywood’s third-place Bloomington Purple Raiders were led by first-place finishers Maddox Kirts (165) and Kenner Bye (190) while Jaylen Sandy (106) and Javier Enriquez-Lynd (126) placed second and Chet Swank (215) and Stephen Carr (285) took third.

The Centennial Chargers, who are coached by Andrew Nyland, also had two champions, Trevor Schoonover (138) and Jack Barnhart (285) while Nehemie Mbangi (144) took second place and Ettavias Holmen-Anderson (215) finished in fourth place.

The Danville Vikings, who are coached by Marcus Forrest, also had two title winners, Ty Rangel (132) and Phillip Shaw IV (175) while Josiah Williams (138) placed third and Sir Timothy White (126) placed fourth.

Champaign Central’s Ronald Baker III (144) was the other champion. Coach Merle Ingersoll’s Maroons also received third-place finishes from Talin Baker (113), Elliott Tanner (120), John Jones (157) and Aidan Walker (165) while Rowan King (138) finished fourth.

Others who claimed second-place finishes were Peoria Notre Dame’s Ian Akers (113) and Michael McLaughlin (285), Richwoods’ Rikyis Doss (132) and Anthony Marziani (150) and Manual’s Anijas King (215).

Phillip Shaw IV led all competitors with 24 team points while Hunter Hardwick ranked second with 23 points. There was a seven-way tie for third place with 22 team points between Ronald Baker III, Jack Barnhart, Cooper Caraway, Cole Gentsch, Trevor Schoonover, Jackson Soney and Evan Willock while Maddox Kirts was tenth with 21.5 points.

The best records among top finishers in the Big Twelve Tournament included Jack Barnhart at 285 (30-0, 1.000), Ronald Baker III at 144 (6-0, 1.000), Jackson Soney at 106 (37-1, .974), Evan Willock at 157 (.968), Phillip Shaw IV at 175 (28-1, .966), Cooper Caraway at 215 (37-2, .949), Cole Gentsch at 120 (32-3, .914), Caden Correll at 113 (29-3, .906), Trevor Schoonover at 138 (31-5, .861) and Ian Akers at 113 (29-5, .852).

Hunter Hardwick had the most total match points with 40 while Caden Correll ranked second with 37 points. Stephen Carr was the only individual to record three falls and he did so in 6:44. John Jones was seeded seventh at 157 and finished third to lead in seed to place difference. The champion Ironmen easily had the most total match points with 212 while Normal West was next-best with 140. And Normal Community edged Normal West in falls by a 13-12 margin.

Championship matches for the Big Twelve Conference Tournament

106 – Jackson Soney (Normal Community) F 0:09 Jaylen Sandy (Bloomington)

113 – Caden Correll (Normal Community) D 10-5 Ian Akers (Peoria Notre Dame)

120 – Cole Gentsch (Normal Community) F 0:32 Abram Rader (Normal West)

126 – Jaxxon Long (Normal West) D 5-3 Javier Enriquez-Lynd (Bloomington)

132 – Ty Rangel (Danville) D 5-3 Rikyis Doss (Richwoods)

138 – Trevor Schoonover (Centennial) MD 9-1 Carter Mayes (Normal Community)

144 – Ronald Baker III (Champaign Central) D 8-6 Nehemie Mbangi (Centennial)

150 – Hunter Hardwick (Normal Community) F 1:34 Anthony Marziani (Richwoods)

157 – Evan Willock (Normal West) F 1:31 Jaren Frankowiak (Normal Community)

165 – Maddox Kirts (Bloomington) TF 3:40 Victor Reyes (Normal Community)

175 – Phillip Shaw IV (Danville) D 6-0 Gus Schreiber (Normal West)

190 – Kenner Bye (Bloomington) D 6-1 Mason Caraway (Normal Community)

215 – Cooper Caraway (Normal Community) F 0:33 Anijas King (Manual)

285 – Jack Barnhart (Centennial) F 1:27 Michael McLaughlin (Peoria Notre Dame)

Third-place matches for the Big Twelve Conference Tournament

106 – Jacob Payne (Normal West) F 1:47 Freddie Couri (Peoria Notre Dame)

113 – Talin Baker (Champaign Central) D 4-2 Dylan McGrew (Normal West)

120 – Elliott Tanner (Champaign Central) D 4-0 Remi Joesting (Peoria Notre Dame)

126 – Ethan Cavallo (Normal Community) F 1:32 Sir Timothy White (Danville)

132 – Andrew Elward (Peoria Notre Dame) D 8-3 Luke Eganhouse (Normal Community)

138 – Josiah Williams (Danville) D 10-3 Rowan King (Champaign Central)

144 – Emiliano Bedello (Urbana) D 10-6 Gavin Capodice (Normal Community)

150 – Collin Lowery (Normal West) D 8-7 Jonnah Fonner (Urbana)

157 – John Jones (Champaign Central) F 3:37 Alex Martinez (Richwoods)

165 – Aidan Walker (Champaign Central) D 9-3 Edwin Villagomez (Urbana)

175 – Gabe Martinez (Richwoods) Md 10-2 Cole Kretsinger (Normal Community)

190 – Sargent Maubach (Peoria High) F 3:22 Joe Culp (Peoria Notre Dame)

215 – Chet Swank (Bloomington) MD 14-6 Ettavias Holmen-Anderson (Centennial)

285 – Stephen Carr (Bloomington) F 2:30 Matt Hanold (Normal West)

Team scores for the Big Twelve Conference Tournament

1. Normal Community 207, 2. Normal West 125, 3. Bloomington 106.5, 4. Centennial 79, 5. Champaign Central 70,  6. Peoria Notre Dame 62, 7. Danville 61, 8. Richwoods 55, 9. Urbana 31, 10. Manual 25, 11. Peoria High 24.

Morris wins Interstate Eight Women’s Championship

Morris scored 94.5 points to capture top honors in the six-team Interstate Eight Conference Women’s Championship which was held in Rochelle. Ottawa Township took second place with 81 points while Kaneland (60), LaSalle-Peru (38), Rochelle (33) and Sycamore (20) were next.

Leading the way for coach Lenny Tryner’s Morris team were champions Ella McDonnell (110), Destiny Garcia (135) and Morgan Congo (190) while Maggie Gordon (105), Danica Martin (110), Mackensi Martin (115), Tessa Neikirk (130) and Jordan Wilson (135) took second place. Finishing third were Ellie Evans (120) and Nicolette Boelman (130).

Top performers for coach Peter Marx’s runner-up Ottawa Township Lady Pirates were title winners Val Munoz (115), Ava Weatherford (130) and Juliana Thrush (235) while Emma Yawn (120) and Chloe Carmona (125) placed second and Brie Grady (105) took third place.

Turning in the best finishes for coach Josh West’s third-place Kaneland Knights were first-place finishers Dyani Torres (125) and Chloe Cervantes (140) while Sadie Kinsella (190) placed second and Natalie Naab (135), Falyn Soto (140) and Carly Duffing (190) finished third.

Coach Matthew Rebholz’s LaSalle-Peru Lady Cavaliers only had three competitors and they each placed third or better. Kiely Domyancich (105) won a title, Dania Scoma (140) placed second and Sarah Lowery (110) took third place.

Coach Alphonso Vruno’s host Rochelle Lady Hubs had two entrants, Cammyla Macias (120) and Dempsey Atkinson (155), and they both won championships.

And coach Randy Culton’s Sycamore Spartans received second-place finishes from both of their entrants, Ema Durst (155) and Jasmine Enriquez (235).

Ella McDonnell led all competitors with 19.5 team points while Chloe Cervantes, Morgan Congo and Ava Weatherford all scored 18 points. Kiely Domyancich beat out McDonnell 37-34 for the most total match points. Morris had the most total match points with 120 while LaSalle-Peru ranked second with 57 points. And Morris recorded nine falls to lead in that category.

Top two finishers in round robin for the Interstate Eight Women’s Championship

105 – Kiely Domyancich (LaSalle-Peru) TF Maggie Gordon (Morris)

110 – Ella McDonnell (Morris) F 0:31 Danica Martin (Morris)

115 – Val Munoz (Ottawa Township) SV 10-8 Makensi Martin (Morris)

120 – Cammyla Macias (Rochelle) F 1:52 Emma Yawn (Ottawa Township)

125 – Dyanni Torres (Kaneland) F 3:41 Chloe Carmona (Ottawa Township)

130 – Ava Weatherford (Ottawa Township) F 0:27 Tessa Neikirk (Morris)

135 – Destiny Garcia (Morris) F 5:20 Jordan Wilson (Morris)

140 – Chloe Cervantes (Kaneland) F 2:22 Danica Scoma (LaSalle-Peru)

155 – Dempsey Atkinson (Rochelle) F 0:39 Ema Durst (Sycamore)

190 – Morgan Congo (Morris) F 2:37 Sadie Kinsella (Kaneland)

235 – Juliana Thrush (Ottawa Township) F 1:58 Jasmine Enriquez (Sycamore)

Unity takes top honors at Illini Prairie Conference Duals

Unity defeated St. Joseph-Ogden 57-18 in the first-place dual meet of the Illini Prairie Conference Duals, an eight-team competition which took place at Unity in Tolono.

Pontiac beat Monticello 45-35 for third place, Prairie Central defeated Illinois Valley Central 45-36 for fifth and Rantoul won 36-18 over The High School of Saint Thomas More for seventh.

Coach Logan Patton’s Rockets defeated Pontiac 64-18 in the semifinals and The High School of Saint Thomas More 66-12 in the quarterfinals to go 3-0 during the competition.

Unity competitors who went 3-0 were Travis McCarter (113), Hunter Shike (126/132), Keegan Germano (138/144), Kaden Inman (144/150), Josh Heath (150/157), Abram Davidson (157/165) and Ryan Rink (165/175) while Thayden Root (175/190) and Hunter Eastin (190/215) went 2-1.

St. Joseph-Ogden went 2-1 after opening with a 71-9 win over Prairie Central and then claiming a 46-30 victory over Monticello in the semifinals. Individuals who went 3-0 for coach Bill Gallo’s runner-up Spartans were Emmitt Holt (106) and Holden Brazelton (132/138). Going 2-1 were Jackson Walsh (113), Camden Getty (120), Landen Butts (132/138), Coy Hayes (150), Quincy Jones (215/285) and Brodie Harms (215/285).

In the championship dual meet, the Rockets used falls from Ryan Rink (175), Thayden Root (190), Hunter Eastin (215) and Hudson DeHart (285) to grab a 24-0 advantage. And Unity closed with five wins as Josh Heath (157) recorded a fall, Austin Winters (138), Kaden Inman (150) and Abram Davidson (165) claimed major decisions and Keegan Germano (144) edged Thomas Ware. Travis McCarter (113) and Hunter Shike (126) added falls for the Rockets.

Also in the title dual meet, St. Joseph-Ogden received falls from Camden Getty (120) and Holden Brazelton (132) while Emmitt Holt (106) got a forfeit win.

Pontiac also went 2-1 after beating Illinois Valley Central 55-19 in the quarterfinals and falling to champion Unity in the semifinals. Posting 3-0 records for coach Vinnie Hobart’s Indians were Aidan Scholwin (106) and Hunter Melvin (157/215) while Noah Davis (120) went 2-0. Turning in 2-1 records were Drayden Ramsey (126/132) and Hunter Christenson (144).

Monticello opened with a 55-18 victory over Rantoul before falling to St. Joseph-Ogden. Going 3-0 for coach Andy Moore’s Sages were Will Osborne (126), Gavin Ridings (157), Russ Brown (165) and Wyatt Vaughan (175) while Hunter Romano (190) went 2-0 and Luke Andruczyk (120) had a 2-1 record.

Illinois Valley Central got 3-0 efforts from Logan Gargiulo (138) and Owen Moser (165) while Antonio Toliver (150) and Maison Toliver (157) went 2-0 and Hunter Toliver (132) went 2-1.

The High School of Saint Thomas More received 3-0 days from August Christhilf (175) and Robbie Vavrik (285) while Brody Cuppernell (215) went 2-0.

Prairie Central’s Ayden Mackey (144/150) went 3-0 while Yurithdzy Vilchis (106), Ruby Guzman (113), Wyatt Strait (120), John Traub (132) and Antontio Vilchis (157) went 2-1 for the Hawks.

Rantoul’s Erick Almanza (190) had a 3-0 day while Cody Culbertson (132), Christian Francis (138) and Drew Owen (215) all turned in 2-1 efforts for the Eagles.

Title meet for the Illini Prairie Conference Duals – Unity 57, St. Joseph-Ogden 18

175 – Ryan Rink (Unity) F 3:59 Corbin Smith (St. Joseph-Ogden)

190 – Thayden Root (Unity) F 1:26 Khaden Hallowell (St. Joseph-Ogden)

215 – Hunter Eastin (Unity) F 0:11 Quincy Jones (St. Joseph-Ogden)

285 – Hudson DeHart (Unity) F 1:00 Brodie Harms (St. Joseph-Ogden)

106 – Emmitt Holt (St. Joseph-Ogden) FFT 

113 – Travis McCarter (Unity) F 0:15 Jackson Walsh (St. Joseph-Ogden)

120 – Camden Getty (St. Joseph-Ogden) F 5:01 Bryce Martin (Unity)

126 – Hunter Shike (Unity) F 1:42 Maddie Wells (St. Joseph-Ogden)

132 – Holden Brazelton (St. Joseph-Ogden) F 1:03 Cohl Boatright (Unity)

138 – Austin Winters (Unity) MD 9-0 Landen Butts (St. Joseph-Ogden)

144 – Keegan Germano (Unity) D 6-4 Thomas Ware (St. Joseph-Ogden)

150 – Kaden Inman (Unity) MD 19-7 Coy Hayes (St. Joseph-Ogden)

157 – Josh Heath (Unity) F 2:50 Nathan Daly (St. Joseph-Ogden)

165 – Abram Davidson (Unity) MD 11-3 Devan Swisher (St. Joseph-Ogden)

Mid-Illini Conference holds girls invite

Twenty-two girls from seven teams competed in the Mid-Illini Conference Girls Invite in East Peoria with Canton and the host Raiders experiencing the most success. Seven weight classes featured two or more competitors while at three of the weights, there was only one entrant.

Winning titles for coach Zach Crawford’s Canton Little Giants were Kinnley Smith (125), Kennedy Smith (140), Katelyn Marvel (145), Abrianna Putman (155) and Emmie Waller (170) while LT Diephuis (105) took second place.

Claiming championships for coach Chad Dunham’s East Peoria Raiders were Abella Brown (100), Bailey Lusch (105) and Kennedy McMenimen (110) while Kyah Kaonohi (125) and Dezyrae Murray (145) finished second.

Other Mid-Illini Conference champions were Morton’s Karen Canchola (130) and Metamora’s 

Abrianna Schertz (120). Also finishing second were Pekin’s Madizyn Megrant (110) and Violet Pennington (130) as well as Dunlap’s Aerith Adams (100) and Metamora’s Olivia Prunty (140).

Contested championship matches for the Mid-Illini Conference Girls Invite

100 – Abella Brown (East Peoria) F 4:00 Aerith Adams (Dunlap)

105 – Bailey Lusch (East Peoria) F 1:01 LT Diephuis (Canton)

110 – Kennedy McMenimen (East Peoria) F 0:59 Madizyn Megrant (Pekin)

125 – Kinnley Smith (Canton) F 1:26 Kyah Kaonohi (East Peoria)

130 – Karen Canchola (Morton) TF Violet Pennington (Pekin)

140 – Kennedy Smith (Canton) D 13-8 Olivia Prunty (Metamora)

145 – Katelyn Marvel (Canton) F 5:00 Dezyrae Murray (East Peoria)

By Mike Garofola for the IWCOA

There were so many state-ranked men inside the Benedetti Center at Grant in Fox Lake, far too many to list, and several ended up in the finals, where some of the best in the state faced off.

Once the two wrestling powers of the North Suburban Conference and Northern Lake County Conference merged to become a wrestling super-power conference, fans of the sport would have the opportunity to watch dozens of young men who will vie for a spot on the podium in Champaign in late February.

On the team side, Warren held off Libertyville to lift the championship trophy of the Lake County Invitational with 196 total points, 2.5 more than Libertyville, which lost last year to Warren by eight points and two weeks later by 17 at the Grant Regional.

These two terrific clubs will have at it again on February 3 in Libertyville along with a quality group of wrestling rivals that includes Grant, McHenry, Mundelein and Round Lake.

“It feels good to win here today for the second straight year,” Warren coach Brad Janecik said. “It’s a great field comprised of some amazing 2A and 3A teams. For us, we were fortunate to get some big wins along the way plus bonus points, which usually can be the deciding factor.”

This sensational 2A/3A field would see top-rated stars validate their lofty status in the state polls, including Aaron Stewart (Warren) and Matty Jens (Grayslake Central) while seeing future No. 1’s like freshman Caleb Noble (Warren) and Vince DeMarco (Grayslake Central), who faced each other in the opening match of the finals.

Lake County Invitational championship results:

103 – Caleb Noble, Warren

Add another major trophy to the resume of Warren’s Caleb Noble after the Warren freshman recorded a pin over Grayslake Central’s Vince DeMarco.

Noble (29-2) now has four big trophies on the season, including trophies won at the Rex Whitlatch and at Wisconsin’s Cheesehead.

“It feels great to win my first Lake County Invite championship,” Noble said. “Vince is a great wrestler with plenty of success at Fargo, especially in Greco, so this was a good win. But I know that I’ve got to continue to push myself if I want to get on top of the podium in Champaign.”

This highly anticipated final would see the No. 2 man in 3A  in Noble versus the top-rated 106-pounder in 2A in DeMarco.

“Vince is off to a great start to his high school career, he has not lost to a 2A opponent yet – he’s an awesome young man, and he just comes in, and gets to work, and is making everyone around him better,” said Grayslake Central head coach Matt Joseph.

DeMarco (35-5) has two victories over 2A state runner-up, Wauconda’s Gavin Rockey (29-2). Rockey used a tech fall to beat Stevenson’s Evan Mishels (26-13) for third place while Antioch’s Jacob Smith (19-5) earned fifth place over Libertyville’s sixth-place Jake Shafer (19-12) who was forced out of action due to a medical forfeit.

113 – Vince Jasinski, Grant

Grant’s Vince Jasinski (27-6) was a hometown hero when the sophomore beat Stevenson’s Ayush Bajaj (24-13) to win the 113-pound title much to the delight of the Bulldogs faithful.

“Vince had a relentless offseason, where he wrestled nearly a hundred matches, traveling all around the country,” Grant head coach Mark Jolcover said.  “So as we continue to work on being consistent in his competition, we believe he’s quite capable of beating anyone, at any time.”

With his two pins recorded in advance of his 10-5 victory over Bajaj, Jasinski now has a team-high 20 pins.

“It feels great to win a conference title here at home, and to win at the same time my sister (Ayane) won last night in the girls’ conference tournament,” said Jasinski, who was a sectional qualifier a year ago with a record of 31-14.

Lake Forest’s Charlie Biddle (20-12) claimed third with a win by medical forfeit over Libertyville’s Tyler Wuh (13-11) and Antioch’s Quinton Cohen (17-13) took fifth over Warren’s Jonathan Marquez (22-7) due to a medical forfeit.

120 – Gavin Hanrahan, Antioch

Antioch’s Gavin Hanrahan (29-6) is aiming for a third consecutive appearance in the state tournament. Only this time, the Antioch junior is ready to bring back a 2A state medal.

“Getting so close to a state medal last year and then losing in my wrestle-back quarterfinal was a huge disappointment,” Hanrahan said. “But it gave me a ton of motivation to work harder in the offseason.” 

Hanrahan won a 6-0 decision for the title at 120 over No. 4 in 3A, Libertyville’s Luke Berktold (26-6).

“I knew Luke liked his drags but I thought I did well watching out for that,” Hanrahan said. Hanrahan, ranked No. 7 in 2A, reversed Berktold to start the second period to go up for good at 2-0, before adding two more takedowns and two back points before riding out the period.

Round Lake’s three-time state qualifier Alejandro Cordova (31-6) beat Stevenson’s Mikey Polyakov (22-14) in the third place contest while Warren’s Carlos Ordonez (17-9) majored Grayslake Central’s Krish Sahu (23-13) for fifth place.

126 – Tyler Weidman, Grayslake Central

Grayslake Central coach Matt Joseph is thrilled with how Tyler Weidman (32-3) has come back from a midseason injury to put himself in position to challenge for state hardware next month.

“He’s back to full strength, has had a real solid run in his final year with us, and really looks ready to make a strong run in the postseason,” Joseph said of Weidman, who is a three-time state qualifier, a fourth place 2A state medal winner, and is currently No. 7 in the state polls.

“My work ethic is so much stronger this year,” Weidman said. “I attribute that to my loss at state in the quarters, where I fell behind and then chased the rest of the way.” 

Weidman went 40-13 a year ago and leads his club with 21 pins.

“Nobody’s perfect but I was sloppy in that (state quarterfinal) match, so I decided to just go out and be the best that I can this season,” Weidman said. “So far it’s been very good for me.” 

Weidman won by fall at 5:44 over a league rival, Wauconda’s Lucas Galdine (24-14), in his final.

Round Lake’s Grayson Kongkaeow (30-11) won by fall over Stevenson’s Yash Jagtap (11-11) for third place and Carmel Catholic’s Matthew Lucansky (25-7) beat Warren’s Evan Glowinski 7-1 in the fifth-place match.

132 – Edgar Albino, Antioch

Antioch’s Edgar Albino (29-4) gave 2A teams their third consecutive title after his hard-fought 6-4 victory over Grant’s Erik Rodriguez (26-12).

Albino is a three-time state qualifier who has collected three state medals, his best coming in 2022 when he brought home a third-place medal at 120 pounds.

Albino dropped a 5-2 decision in his semifinal against the eventual state champion, Mascoutah’s Santino Robinson.

“Last year at state was disappointing but I guess it’s never a great success unless you’re on top of the podium on Saturday night,” said Albino, who wants to wrestle in college next fall at either UW-Parkside or Wabash College in Indiana.

“I decided to go out there this year and have more fun, and really enjoy my last season here at Antioch,” Albino said. “I really feel a lot better about myself and my chances (downstate) because of that.”

The Sequoits senior, who now is 104-11 during the past three years, is No. 3 in the most recent state polls.

Libertyville’s Orion Moran (27-10) majored Grayslake Central’s Liam Halloran (24-16) for third and Wauconda’s Brian Hart (29-13) took fifth after Zion-Benton’s Luis Medina (12-6) had to medical forfeit.

138 – Andrew Chamkin, Stevenson

It’s been a breakthrough season for Stevenson senior Andrew Chamkin, who claimed his second major of the season thanks to his 11-6 decision over Mundelein’s Ethan Banda (24-7).

Chamkin, who pinned his way to the 138-pound crown at Leyden’s Randy Conrad Invite just after the new year, stunned the top-seed, Wauconda’s Cooper Daun, in the semifinals via an 18-6 major decision.

In the other semifinal, third-seeded Banda sent off second-seeded Chase Nobiling (28-9) by 7-2 decision. In the title match, Chamkin (20-11) got the ever-important first takedown.

“That first take-down was so important, and even though (Banda) came back in the second period, I always felt confident thanks to that early take-down,” said Chamkin.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be in the room for three years with an amazing wrestler and an equally amazing person in Lorenzo Frezza (now wrestling at Columbia after a brilliant four-year career). He was a real inspiration to me when he was here.”

Chamkin has been looking at Texas A&M, Clemson, Penn State, among others, and will likely pursue a degree in finance.

Wauconda’s Cooper Daun (30-7) won 2-1 over Antioch’s Chase Nobiling (28-9) to take third place and Round Lake’s Marshawn Washington (23-16) pinned Libertyville’s Antonio Kelly (11-7) to earn fifth-place honors.

144 – Logan Andrews, Wauconda

Logan Andrews was the first of two-straight wrestlers from Wauconda to lift the championship bracket board.

The Bulldogs senior opened strong against Carmel’s Tony Hinojosa (26-5) with a 5-0 first period advantage. He extended his lead to 7-0 with an early reversal, before using a near fall at three minutes to make it 11-0 before Hinojosa could take a small bite of Andrews’ big lead.

“I had to get better with the mental part of my game this year – it just wasn’t strong enough to help me compete against the top guys in the state at my weight,” admitted Andrews, No. 7 in the state and 30-18 a year ago.

“We’ve had a good season as a team thus far, and I really feel like things are coming together for all of us. So there’s no reason why we cannot get back to (dual-team) state and bring home another team trophy.” 

Andrews is now 27-10, with 13 pins on the season.

“Logan has significantly improved over the last two years, and he put a ton of training in last summer, and it’s paying off,” Wauconda coach Trevor Jauch said. “He’s much more focused, and he’s staying disciplined in his training as well.”

Stevenson’s Val Vihrov (25-13) earned third place when Grayslake North’s Owen Anderson (19-9) was forced out with an injury at 1:39. Libertyville senior Will Carney(18-13) won by fall over Grant’s Adrian Khi (14-14) to finish fifth.

150- Cole Porten, Wauconda

Wauconda’s Cole Porten shifted all the momentum in his favor when he registered a takedown just moments into his final with Mundelein’s Kevin Hernandez (28-6) en route to a 6-0 decision.

Porten, No. 8 in the state, won 30 matches in 2023.

“I’m much more calm and composed than I was last year,” said Porten, who leads Wauconda with 15 pins. “It’s something I knew I had to be better at this year, as well as having a higher pace and better set-ups.

“We lost some quality guys from last year, but the new guys have filled in really well, so I feel like we’re a stronger team this season.” 

The Bulldogs finished third at the IHSA Class 2A Dual Team Finals last year, giving the program its second dual team state trophy in its history.

Grayslake North’s Jacobs Ronsman (29-13) majored Warren’s Warren Nash (30-14) in the third place bout while Warren’s Nicholas Hermsen (16-10) used a 11-4 decision over Antioch’s Marcus Macias (9-5) in the fifth-place match.

157- Aaron Stewart, Warren 

It was yet another blistering attack from Aaron Stewart that helped the Warren sophomore easily wrap-up his second-straight Lake County Invite title and third of the season for the No. 1 man in the state at 157 pounds.

Stewart (29-2) started slowly in the scoring column despite an all-action first two minutes with Lake Forest’s Seth Digby (27-1), and the fourth-ranked individual in Class 2A did his best to hold off the ever-attacking Stewart,  who led after one period, 2-1.

Stewart started down, grabbed a quick one-point escape, then in an instant, it became a 7-1 contest before the 2023 state third-place medalist ended the period with a takedown near the edge to increase his advantage to 9-3.

“People will watch Aaron’s final and think it’s just business as usual with him, but that would be further from the truth,” said Warren coach Brad Janecek.

“He’ll (Aaron) make it look easy at times, but what nobody knows is how much work he puts in, and away from the room, is free time, and the time he spends lifting for football, and track (his) work ethic is very high, which he takes into the classroom as well.”

Stewart’s 13-5 major decision ended Digby’s 27-match unbeaten streak, which along the way included individual titles at Richmond-Burton, and later at Glenbrook South’s Russ Erb.

“The biggest motivation for Seth which stands out for me is his failure to place the last two years,  he took that personal, and is on a mission this year,” said Lake Forest head coach, Nick Kramer.

With his pin in the semifinals, Digby now has collected 16 thus far.

Libertyville’s James Scanio earned third place over Mundelein’s Ethan Thomas (17-7) due to a medical forfeit and Stevenson’s Erick Wade was fifth following his pin of Grayslake North’s Jacob Deleon.

165 – Royce Lopez, Warren

Warren’s Royce Lopez (21-7) won a second championship trophy of this season after his impressive six-minute contest with Grant’s Christian Wittkamp (25-11) that saw the Blue Devils sophomore record a 16-3 major decision.

“I am very happy for Royce, he is a consummate hard worker, who just wants more, and today in his final, you saw how he just goes out there always looking to score points (right) up until the very end,” said Blue Devils coach Brad Janecek.

“He had a real solid freshman season last year but this year his expectation(s) are so much higher than a year ago and we’re seeing him getting those big points when he goes looking for them.”

Last year, Lopez came this close to 40 wins, falling one match short to earning a state medal  at 160 pounds, and later, proved to be a key figure in the Blue Devils advancing to its first-ever IHSA Class 3A Dual Team appearance.

Previously, Lopez, No. 7 in the state polls, had won at the Neuqua Valley Invite, and had finished fourth overall at the Rex Whitlach.

Antioch’s Ben Vazquez (27-10), a 2023 state qualifier, beat Stevenson’s Everett Ciezak 6-1 in the third place match and Libertyville’s Charlie Clark (24-15) finished fifth after his 7-5 decision over Wauconda’s Zac Johnson (22-14).

175 – Matty Jens, Grayslake Central

Libertville’s Matt Kubas will never compete for a tournament championship this season against his good friend, Grayslake Central’s Matty Jens, but if Jens has his way, both he and Kubas could be under the spotlight on that Saturday night inside State Farm Center in Champaign.

Jens is the reigning 182-pound IHSA 2A champion, and the No. 1 man in the state at 177, while Kubas is No. 2 in Class 3A and has a sparkling 33-3 overall record with his three defeats coming at the hands of Jens, now 31-1 after his hard-fought and tense, 5-1 decision.

“Matt is my great friend, I love the guy like a brother, he also happens to be an unbelievable wrestler and competitor and I see no reason why we both cannot be in the state final in February,” said Jens, who has beaten Kubas in the Moore-Prettyman, the Dvorak and now ther Lake County Invite final, by 6-5, 7-4, and 5-1 scores.

These two freight trains would collide head-on from the opening period with Jens’ returns the story of the second period which ended 0-0.

Jens started down to begin the third period, and earned an escape, then 90 seconds from time grabbed two points near the edge with a takedown.

Kubas drew closer with an escape of his own to make it 3-1 at five minutes but a late takedown by Jens ensured his victory.

“There was nothing easy about that match, it was exactly how I thought it would be,” said Jens, a state runner-up in 2023.

“The only loss of the year for Matty is against the defending state champ from Wisconsin in the Mid-State final, and that was a 3-2 match in UTB,” said Grayslake Central coach Matt Joseph.

“(He) has an incredible gas tank, and one that can go 8 1/2 minutes if needed.”

Jens has 15 pins on the season while Kubas has 22, tying the program record of 73 with 2004 state runner-up Mark Friend.

Stevenson senior Themba Sitshela (27-14) used a 1-0 victory over Warren’s Justice Humphreys (16-9) to claim third place and Grant’s Aaden Arroyo majored Lake Zurich’s Maciej Szelazek for fifth place.

190 – Caleb Baczek, Libertyville

Caleb Baczek had a brief call-up to the big club during his rookie season for Libertyville, going 3-3, yet still managed to earn a spot in the Barrington Sectional at 160 pounds.

Last year, a regional title eventually led to a berth in the 182-pound bracket of 16 in Champaign where a pair of losses saw Baczek finish with a respectable 18-11 record.

This season, Baczek has been difficult to get the best of as witnessed by his hard-fought 6-5 victory over a league rival, Warren’s Jeremija Hixson (15-6) to push his record to 27-6.

“I feel like I’ve come a long way this year, I was way too defensive of a wrestler a year ago, so this year I’ve become more aggressive in my attack, tried to push the pace more, and just turn up the pace in order to compete in this weight class,” said Baczek, who won earlier at Glenbard West and has a second-place finish at the high-profile Mudge-McMorrow.

“The experience of going downstate last year gave me a huge boost and to be going live against guys like Cole Matulenko (2023 state champion), Matt Kubas, and Owen McGrory (it) can make for some incredible time in the room,” Baczek said with a wry smile.

Baczek is third behind McGrory and Kubas with 15 pins on the season.

Wauconda’s Michael Merevick (26-7) pinned Waukegan’s Lamero Ceaser (12-6) to take third place and Grant’s Casey Gipson (20-15) won 6-4 over Antioch’s Colin Arquilla to finish fifth.

215 – Owen McGrory, Libertyville

The meteoric rise up the charts for Owen McGrory has been to marvel at with the Libertyville senior bursting onto the scene full time to advance into the state tournament where he came one victory away from earning a state medal in his first-ever trip downstate.”

“Last year was a good one, but there are/were still a lot of things that I needed to clean up, and improve on in order to compete with the best in my weight at state,” admits McGrory, now 33-2 following his 11-2 major decision over Warren junior Anthony Soto (19-5).

“(Anthony) Soto is a big, tough, solid opponent,  someone I’ve wrestled 3-4 times before, so we know each other and what to expect,” continued McGrory, who was 45-8 in 2023 and No. 3 in the most recent IWCOA state polls and also has a team-high 23 pins.

“I’m looking forward to the next two weeks to continue to work on a few of the little hiccups in my game, and to clean those up before regionals.”

Lake Forest’s Yaree Sandifer (27-9) pinned Zion-Benton’s Isaiah Tellado (18-10) in the third place match while Grant’s Matthew Longabaugh (19-12) claimed fifth place after Antioch’s Owen Shea (17-13) took a medical forfeit.

285 – William Cole, Round Lake

William Cole continues his remarkable junior campaign as all three of his Lake County Invite opponents on this day were unable to muster up any kind of attack on the Round Lake big man who won a second-straight league title at 285 pounds with a 9-3 victory over Mundelein’s Abisai Hernandez in the finals. 

“Winning here for the second time feels really good, it’s the first of many goals I’ve set for myself, and I am going to continue to work as hard as I can in order to reach my biggest goal of getting on the podium in Champaign,” said Cole, a junior who is 33-1.

The 6-6, 265 pound Cole, currently fifth in the state, made an early statement to the rest of the state when he pinned Hinsdale Central’s No. 3 Marko Ivanisevic, who is a two-time third place state medalist. Hernandez, a junior who is 28-5, recently won at the Sycamore Invite.

Waukegan’s Ivan Martinez (14-5) won 3-1 by sudden victory over Warren’s Jacob Bolender (20-10) to take third place and Stevenson’s Andrew Timmons (18-12) also won by sudden victory over Antioch’s James Kasprzak (12-2) to finish in fifth place.

Championship matches for the Lake County Invitational

106 – Caleb Noble (Warren) F 1:49 Vince DeMarco (Grayslake Central)

113 – Vince Jasinski (Grant) D 10-5 Ayush Bajaj (Stevenson)

120 – Gavin Hanrahan (Antioch) D 6-0 Luke Berktold (Libertyville)

126 – Tyler Weidman (Grayslake Central) F 5:44 Lucas Galdine (Wauconda)

132 – Edgar Albino (Antioch) D 6-4 Erik Rodriguez (Grant)

138 – Andrew Chamkin (Stevenson) D 11-6 Ethan Banda (Mundelein)

144 – Logan Andrews (Wauconda) D 12-6 Tony Hinojosa (Carmel Catholic)

150 – Cole Porten (Wauconda) D 6-0 Kevin Hernandez (Mundelein)

157 – Aaron Stewart (Warren) MD 13-5 Seth Digby (Lake Forest)

165 – Royce Lopez (Warren) MD 16-3 Christian Wittkamp (Grant)

175 – Matty Jens (Grayslake Central) D 5-1 Matt Kubas (Libertyville)

190 – Caleb Baczek (Libertyville) D 5-4 Jeremija Hixson (Warren)

215 – Owen McGrory (Libertyville) MD 11-2 Anthony Soto (Warren)

285 – William Cole (Round Lake) D 9-3 Abisai Hernandez (Mundelein)

Team Scores for the Lake County Invitational

1. Warren 196, 2. Libertyville 193.5, 3. Stevenson 172.5, 4. Wauconda 164.5, 5. Antioch 147.5, 6. Grayslake Central 145.5, 7. Grant 139, 8. Mundelein 111.5, 9. Round Lake 82, 10. Lake Forest 65, 11. Grayslake North 49, 12. Waukegan 42, 13. Carmel Catholic 39.0, 14. Lake Zurich 32, 15. Zion-Benton 28, 16. Lakes Community 0.

By Patrick Z. McGavin – for the IWCOA

Fittingly the girls city championship of the Chicago Public League saved their best for last.

Aaliyah Grandberry and Jasmine Meja have signified the best and the brightest of the nascent girls wrestling programs throughout the city.

Both are two-time state qualifiers and Grandberry is a two-time IHSA finalist. Curie Metro’s Grandberry defeated Rickover Naval Academy’s Meja in the state semifinals last year en route to her second-place finish at 235 pounds.

The two also dueled at the city final last season. They were also two of the nine state qualifiers to come out of Public League. Grandberry had the best state placement with her runner-up finish while Bowen’s Monica Griffin was third at 126 pounds and Meja was fifth at 235 pounds.

“She has been my biggest rival in the city,” Meja said. “This year I’d gotten a lot better, but so has she. I felt I’m not as disappointed by the end. I’ve been thinking about this match for a while.

“We also had some great matches last year. I think she beat me by one point in the championship. it didn’t go overtime like today.”

In a matchup of unbeatens, Grandberry (13-0) survived Meja (20-1) 3-2 in a tiebreaker to capture the 235-pound championship on Saturday at Curie.

“That was one of my favorite matches so far,” Grandberry said. “It really pushed me to the test.

“Triple overtime, okay. I thought it was really fun. Honestly it was amazing. I loved the fight, I loved the struggle.”

Grandberry and Meja brought down the curtain, but the larger show belonged to the developing and emerging programs were the major story.

In girls sports in the Public League, schools such as Lane Tech, Whitney Young Magnet, Walter Payton College Prep and Jones College Prep tend to dominate.

In wrestling, the field has been leveled, giving a rise to smaller programs eager to have a chance at the ring.

“I’ve coached girls in volleyball, swimming, hockey and now wrestling,” Phoenix Military Academy coach Daniel Curin said. 

“I have found if you give girls a fair opportunity and a decent program to compete in whatever sport it is, that’s all they want, something that they could be proud of. Give these kids something that they could actually work towards.”

Phoenix Military Academy ran away with the team championship by producing seven finalists and three individual champions to help it score 226 points.

The Firebirds lived up to their name with 12 place finishers, winning three championships as well as having four runners-up, one third, two fourths and two fifths.

A year ago, Phoenix Military Academy was one of the new programs looking to make a statement. The team had just four wrestlers, two of them won and all four showed great promise. Now that number has ballooned to 17.

“More impressively the whole program has about 45 kids, if you include the boys side,” Curin said. 

“We’re a school of less than 400 kids, so we have more than 10 percent of the student population on the wrestling team. “

The 110-pound champion, Diana Lopez, and the 145-pound winner, AJ Grant, repeated as CPL champions. Both wrestlers parlayed the city championship into qualifying berths at state.

“I told all the other girls, with these core girls, we could win the city,” Curin said. 

“That was our message out of the game. We’ll win the city title if you keep this together.”

Rickover Naval Academy, coached by Guillermo Mejia, finished second with 170.5 points. The Lady Sea Dragons had two great bookends in 100-pound champion Mia Vazquez and Meja. Vazquez also was a CPL champion in 2023.

“We started our program four or five years ago, and we’ve had girls on the team from the beginning,” Meja said. 

“I feel like we have been a leader in that. We had the most girls of any team in the city. I think with girls city and state now being a thing in Illinois, I think that really helps with growing girls wrestling.”

Like the rest of the state, the city is now the nerve center underscoring the growing popularity.

”Even last year, when girls teams weren’t as big, the girls teams were treated as side parts,” Meja said. 

“Now it is its own main thing. The level of competition has gone up, the number of girls has gone up,and it’s a great thing.”

Kelly College Prep (132) finished third, Back of the Yards College Prep (131) took fourth, host Curie Metro (100) placed fifth and Lane Tech (86) claimed sixth place. Kelly College Prep and Lane Tech were the other two programs with multiple champions with two apiece.

Winning titles for coach Stephan Kunca’s third-place Kelly College Prep Lady Trojans were Jaqueline Dimas (115), who also was a CPL champion last season, and Sara Martinez Lopera (155). Capturing firsts for coach Matthew Yan’s Lane Tech Champions were Nyah Lovis (120) and Lily Cohen (170).

Other Chicago Public League champions were Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences’ Carmen Jackson (105), Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville’s Tyhesia Goss (125), Back of the Yards College Prep’s Yesenia DePaz (130), King’s Harmoni Puckett (140) and South Shore International College Prep’s Nadia Johnson (190).

There was a five-way tie for the most team points with 30 between Lily Cohen, Yesenia DePaz, Tyhesia Goss, Nadia Johnson and Harmoni Puckett while Carmen Jackson and Sara Martinez Lopera were next-best with 28 points. Lane Tech’s Sofia Guerrero had the most match points with 49. Taft’s Jennifer Arenas and George Washington’s Beyonca Rodriguez both had five falls.

Phoenix Military Academy has the most total match points with 166 while Rickover Naval Academy was second with 154. Those two teams also had the most falls with the champion Firebirds recording 25 and the runner-up Lady Sea Dragons having 22 pins.

Some of the top records of CPL finalists include Carmen Jackson at 105 (20-0, 1.000), Aaliyah Grandberry at 235 (13-0, 1.000), Harmoni Puckett at 140 (10-0, 1,000), AJ Grant at 145 (23-1, .958), Jasmine Meja at 235 (20-1, .952), Nyah Lovis at 120 (25-2, .926), Tyhesia Goss at 125 (11-1, .917), Diana Lopez at 110 (18-2, .900), Mia Vazquez at 100 (26-3, .897), Sara Martinez Lopera at 155 (17-2, .895), Jaqueline Dimas at 115 (16-2, .889), Ariel Foreman at 135 (7-1, .875), Nadia Johnson at 190 (7-1, .875) and Jailynn Milam at 170 (14-2, .875). 

Here’s a look at the Chicago Public League Girls Championship title winners and weights

100 – Mia Vazquez, Rickover Naval Academy

Rickover Naval Academy junior Mia Vazquez put on a display of technique, speed and quickness to claim a win by technical fall in 2:44 over Michele Clark Academic Prep’s Asia Boss in the 100 championship match to improve to 26-3.

Curie Metro’s Evelin Martinez defeated Phoenix Military Academy’s Jitzel Aranda by fall in 0:42 for third place and Phoenix Military Academy’s Miles Gonzalez won 13-8 in sudden victory over Crane Medical Prep’s Katherine Gonzalez on the fifth-place mat.

105 – Carmen Jackson, Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences

Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences’ Carmen Jackson defeated Westinghouse College Prep’s Kimani Glasper with a fall in 2:57 in the 105 championship match. Jackson, a sophomore, extended her unbeaten season to 20-0.

Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville’s Melany Corona won by fall in 5:12 over Curie Metro’s Melani Martinez for third place. And Curie Metro’s Giselle Arambula won by fall in 3:10 over Lane Tech’s Sofia Guerrero on the fifth-place mat. 

110 – Diana Lopez, Phoenix Military Academy

Phoenix Military Academy’s Diana Lopez punctuated her standout performance with a fall in 1:43 over Back of the Yards College Prep’s Hida Thomas in the 110 championship match.

“I never wrestled until last year,” Lopez said, who improved to 18-2. ”I go out there and look to have fun and show what I can. I think I’m really quick and I’m good at shooting.

“Even though I won last year, I was still very nervous about today. I thought back to the success I had before. I wanted to try something new and I just showed up and I really liked it. Now the big thing is to do even better at state.”

Rickover Naval Academy’s Litzy Estrada won an 11-8 decision over Taft’s Alyssa Martel for third place and Hancock College Prep’s Ashley Lopez won by fall in 1:06 over Little Village Lawndale’s Julitza Marquez in the fifth-place match.

115 – Jaqueline Dimas, Kelly College Prep

Kelly College Prep’s Jaqueline Dimas used two takedowns to win a 5-3 decision over Phoenix Military Academy’s Mia Thomas in the 115 championship match. Dimas, a sophomore, improved to 16-2 while Thomas, a junior, fell to 18-5.

Taft’s Jennifer Arenas won by fall in 0:37 over Curie Metro’s Natalie Guzman for third place and Lindblom Math and Science Academy’s Danita Pallmore recorded a pin in 4:33 over Morgan Park’s Angelica Gutierrez on the fifth-place mat.

120 – Nyah Lovis, Lane Tech

Lane Tech’s Nyah Lovis showed why she is one of the city’s top wrestlers with a 7-0 decision over Phoenix Military Academy’s Marisol Castro in the 120 championship match.

Both juniors are returning state qualifiers. Lovis improved to 25-2 and Castro fell to 19-4.

Lake View’s Raynisha Sims recorded a fall in 1:39 over George Washington’s Elani Alvarez for third place and Taft’s Michaela Yu won by medial forfeit over Chicago Academy’s Isabella Thompson for fifth place. 

125 – Tyhesia Goss, Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville

Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville’s Tyhesia Goss improved to 11-1 after capturing the 125 championship with a fall in 1:04 over Back of the Yards College Prep’s Joseline Rodriguez.

George Washington’s Beyonca Rodriguez won by fall in 3:06 over Phoenix Military Academy’s Adrianna Tanguma for third place and Rickover Naval Academy’s Paulette Olson won by fall in 1:26 over Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville’s Lillianna Viramontes on the fifth-place mat.

130 – Yesenia DePaz, Back of the Yards College Prep

Back of the Yards College Prep’s Yesenia DePaz captured the 130 championship with a fall in 5:24 over George Washington’s Itzel Jimenez. DePaz, a senior, improved to 13-3.

Phoenix Military Academy’s Jocelyn Quirox won by fall in 1:46 over Clemente’s Catalina Pacheco for third place and Hancock College Prep’s Cristin Moreno prevailed over Taft’s Jazmin Avila for fifth place.

135 – Ariel Foreman, Phoenix Military Academy

Phoenix Military Academy’s Ariel Foreman recorded a fall in 2:37 over Lane Tech’s Zabby Badru in the 135 championship match. Foreman is in her first year wrestling. She has shown a highly natural and intuitive talent.

“I can’t really explain why I’ve been so successful, but I really like the commitment,” Foreman said. “I practice a lot, and I listen to my coaches and follow what they say.”

Fenger’s Theresa Sewell won by fall in 3:40 over Hancock College Prep’s Mia Luecht for third place and Mather’s Dana Mikhail won with a pin in 5:31 over Wendell Phillips Academy’s Kayla Nolan for fifth.

140 – Harmoni Puckett, King College Prep

King College Prep’s Harmoni Puckett staked her claim to being the CPL’s outstanding wrestler following her fall in 2:21 over Phoenix Military Academy’s Alexia Ramos in the 140 title match.

The sophomore (10-0) extended her unbeaten start to the season. 

Kelly’s Leylani Bahena won by fall in 2:30 over Rickover Naval Academy’s Natalia Ribeiro for third place and Back of the Yards College Prep’s’ Evelyna Perez won by forfeit over South Shore International College Prep’s Ava Woods for fifth place.

145 – AJ Grant, Phoenix Military Academy

Phoenix Military Academy’s AJ Grant was dominant in the finals at 145 after recording a fall in 0:27 over Kenwood’s Nymeia Massenat. Grant went 32-4 last season and qualified for state.

Her blend of speed, power, grace and toughness sets her apart. The wild part is that she never stepped on any kind of mat until a year ago.

“What made me want to do it is that I wanted to get some work in and I wanted to get in shape,” Grant said. “My coach ended up believing in me, and that made me believe in myself.  I didn’t know what wrestling was. I was physical. There were times when I felt as though I didn’t want to continue, but the support was great.”

Grant (23–1), a junior, has been virtually untouchable this season. She has parlayed the confidence into an unstoppable force.

“I’m going to keep going, and I’m going to do better than this,” Grant said. “Winning the city last year in my first season was a boost. These are girls from all over the city and I just told myself I wanted this. I am working to actually get on the state podium this year.”

Rickover Naval Academy’s Jocelyn Quillay won by fall in 0:27 over Curie Metro’s Yaretzi Avila for third place and Back of the Yards College Prep’s Abigail Dominguez recorded a pin in 1:27 over Rickover Naval Academy’s Alisa Burk in the fifth-place match.

155 – Sara Martinez Lopera, Kelly College Prep

Kelly College Prep’s Sara Martinez Lopera emerged as a top freshman with her fall in 5:40 over Phoenix Military Academy’s America Cabrera in the 155 title match.

Martinez Lopera improved to 17-2 while Cabrera, a sophomore, fell to 19-4.

Rickover Naval Academy’s Camila Martinez won by fall in 1:52 over Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville’s Mia Johnson for third place. And Marshall’s Cecilia Colon claimed a 9-8 decision over Back of the Yards College Prep’s’ Ayatzary Villegas on the fifth-place mat. 

170 – Lily Cohen, Lane Tech

Lane Tech’s Lily Cohen captured the 170 championship with a fall in 3:16 over Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences’ Jailynn Milam.

Rickover Naval Academy’s Clara Biela won by fall in 1:00 over Back of the Yards College Prep’s Nyomi Ascensio for third place. And Phoenix Military Academy’s Annie Johnson won with a pin in 5:12 over Kelly College Prep’s Liana Andrade for fifth place. 

190 – Nadia Johnson, South Shore International College Prep

South Shore International College Prep’s Nadia Johnson made short work of ITW David Speer Academy’s Aileen Galvez, recording a fall 0:35 in the 190 championship match.

Johnson, a junior, is another first-time wrestler who has demonstrated remarkable progress.

“My style is really freestyle and I also listen to my coaches’ advice,” Johnson said. “This is my first year. I don’t know much, but I know some things about wrestling that I have to go in very aggressive.

“I never wrestled before, but I knew I had a lot of strength, and I should put it to good use.”

Kelly College Prep’s N’Dyia Mahon-Godfrey won by fall in 1:02 over Mather’s Julissa Az for third place. And Rickover Naval Academy’s Julia Aguello recorded a fall in 1:17 over Morgan Park’s Denali Luna in the fifth-place bout.

235 – Aaliyah Grandberry, Curie Metro

Curie Metro’s Aaliyah Grandberry made the encore something special, defeating Rickover Naval Academy’s Jasmine Meja 3-2 in a tiebreaker.

Grandberry (13-0), a senior who won her third straight city championship, placed second at 235 in the IHSA Finals in both 2023 and 22 to Belleville East’s Kiara Ganey.

“One big difference from the last time we wrestled is that I lost a lot of weight, and a lot other heavyweights are not really used to my quickness,” Grandberry said.

“I feel like I also lost some strength, and I can’t necessarily always do the same mass like before. I have to use my speed.”

The moment was bittersweet though illuminating for Meja (20-1), who suffered her first defeat.

“You learn more from losses, and a lot of my previous matches were not all that challenging, with most of them first or second period falls,” Meja said. “I can take my lessons from this match and know what I have to work on.”

Kelly College Prep’s Milan Montgomery won a 7-5 decision over her teammate, Laura Sofia Martinez Lopera for third place. And Taft’s Rim Ayouchi defeated Hancock’s Ariana Gutierrez-Soria by fall in 2:35 in the fifth-place match.

Title matches for the Chicago Public League Girls Championship

100 – Mia Vazquez (Rickover Naval Academy) TF 2:44 Asia Boss (Michele Clark Academic Prep)

105 – Carmen Jackson (Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences) F 2:57 Kimani Glasper (Westinghouse College Prep)

110 – Diana Lopez (Phoenix Military Academy) F 1:43 Hida Thomas (Back of the Yards College Prep) 

115 – Jaqueline Dimas (Kelly College Prep) D 5-3 Mia Thomas (Phoenix Military Academy)

120 –  Nyah Lovis (Lane Tech) D 7-0 Marisol Castro (Phoenix Military Academy)

125 – Tyhesia Goss (Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville) F 1:04 Joseline Rodriguez (Back of the Yards College Prep) 

130 – Yesenia DePaz (Back of the Yards College Prep) F 5:24 Itzel Jimenez (George Washington) 

135 – Ariel Foreman (Phoenix Military Academy) F 2:37 Zabby Badru (Lane Tech)

140 – Harmoni Puckett (King College Prep) F 2:21 Alexia Ramos (Phoenix Military Academy) 

145 – AJ Grant (Phoenix Military Academy) F 0:27 Nymeia Massenat (Kenwood) 

155 – Sara Martinez Lopera (Kelly College Prep) F 5:40 America Cabrera (Phoenix Military Academy)

170 – Lily Cohen (Lane Tech) F 3:16 Jailynn Milam (Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences)

190 – Nadia Johnson (South Shore International College Prep) F 0:35 Aileen Galvez (ITW David Speer Academy)

235 – Aaliyah Grandberry (Curie Metro) TB 3-2 Jasmine Meja (Rickover Naval Academy)

Third-place matches for the Chicago Public League Girls Championship

100 – Evelin Martinez (Curie Metro) F 0:42 Jitzel Aranda (Phoenix Military Academy)

105 – Melany Corona (Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville) F 5:12 Melani Martinez (Curie Metro)

110 – Litzy Estrada (Rickover Naval Academy) D 11-8 Alyssa Martel (Taft)

115 – Jennifer Arenas (Taft) F 0:37 Natalie Guzman (Curie Metro)

120 – Raynisha Sims (Lake View) F 1:39 Elani Alvarez (George Washington)

125 – Beyonca Rodriguez (George Washington) F 3:06 Adrianna Tanguma (Phoenix Military Academy)

130 – Jocelyn Quiroz (Phoenix Military Academy) F 1:46 Catalina Pacheco (Clemente)

135 – Theresa Sewell (Fenger) F 3:40 Mia Luecht (Hancock College Prep)

140 – Leylani Bahena (Kelly College Prep) F 2:30 Natalia Ribeiro (Rickover Naval Academy)

145 – Joceyln Quillay (Rickover Naval Academy) F 0:27 Yaretzi Avila (Curie Metro)

155 – Camila Martinez (Rickover Naval Academy) F 1:52 Mia Johnson (Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville)

170 – Clara Biela (Rickover Naval Academy) F 1:00 Nyomi Ascencio (Back of the Yards College Prep)

190 – N’Dyia Mahon-Godfrey (Kelly College Prep) F 1:02 Julissa Az (Mather)

235 – Milan Montgomery (Kelly College Prep) D 7-5 Laura Sofia Martinez Lopera (Kelly College Prep)

Team scores for the Chicago Public League Girls Championship

1. Phoenix Military Academy 226, 2. Rickover Naval Academy 170.5, 3. Kelly College Prep 132, 4. Back of the Yards College Prep 131, 5. Curie Metro 100, 6. Lane Tech 86, 7. Taft 75, 8. Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville 71, 9. George Washington 65, 10. Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences 56, 11. Mather 42, 12. Hancock College Prep 40, 12. Westinghouse College Prep 40, 14. ITW David Speer Academy 34, 14. South Shore International College Prep 34, 16. King College Prep 30, 17. Morgan Park 26, 18. Lake View 22, 19. Michele Clark Academic Prep 20, 20. Clemente 18, 20. Kenwood 18, 22 Little Village Lawndale 17, 23. Chicago Academy 16, 24. Fenger Academy 15, 24. Lindblom Math and Science Academy 15, 26. Marshall 14, 27. Crane Medical Prep 6, 27. Wendell Phillips Academy 6,  29. Schurz 2, 30. Eric Solorio Academy 0, 30. Hubbard 0.

By Chris Walker For the IWCOA

The defending Class 3A state champs are now getting ready for their next challenge of an encore performance at the individual and team state finals after they finished the regular season by dominating the DuKane Conference Meet on Saturday.

St. Charles East had 11 wrestlers advance to the finals with eight crowned as champions, including Dom Munaretto (113), Ben Davino (132) and Jayden Colon (144) – who also won state titles last February.

Their champions included Munaretto (113), Davino (132), Tyler Guerra (138), Colon (144), Gavin Connolly (150), Anthony Gutierrez (165), Brody Murray (175) and Matt Medina (285). The Saints also matched their total of eight champions from a year ago with Munaretto (106), Davino (126), Guerra (138), Colon (145), Gutierrez (160) and Murray (182) winning back-to-back titles. It also was the third straight DuKane title for Davino and Guerra as the duo won at 120 and 132 respectively as sophomores.

“My standard hammers did their usual thing,” Saints coach Jason Potter said. “I feel bad overlooking them. It  stinks for them because everyone expects it, but at the same time they’re professionals and take care of business.”

Kaden Potter (106), Ryan McGovern (157) and Cooper Murray (215) each advanced to the finals and placed second for the Saints. Murray came closest to joining his teammates as a conference champion losing on a sudden victory against Batavia junior Ben Brown who remains undefeated.

Liam Aye (120) and Gavin Woodmancy (126) fought back to win their third-place matches while Brandon Swartz (215) took fourth place.

“I thought our young guys all the way around just gave great effort,” Jason Potter said. “They made some mistakes and we lost a couple of matches, gave a couple of them away, but the good thing about this team is they address it right away. They’re open to it. They’re coachable and I’m confident that we can fix those couple of little mistakes.”

The Saints outdistanced themselves from the rest of the field with 325 points. Runner-up Glenbard North finished with 219.5.

The Panthers produced a pair of champions in Kalani Khiev (120) and Christian Chavez (126) and a runner-up Dominick Marre (113). They were equally impressive on the third-place mats as Rylan Kradle (144), Treshon Williams (150), Tyler Ott (175), Brian Petrancosta (215), and Dylan Hendee (285) all finished the day with victories.

Wheaton North also had a pair of champs and took third with 201.

Batavia (165) and Geneva (143) followed in fourth and fifth place while Wheaton Warrenville South (107.5), Lake Park (80) and St. Charles North (64) rounded out the team finishes.

DuKane Conference tournament championship results:

106 – Rocco Macellaio, Wheaton North

Competing for the first time in the DuKane Conference Meet, Macellaio (28-12) earned a 17-6 major decision over St. Charles East’s Kaden Potter (19-20).

“Winning it is big,” he said. “It’s really cool. It’s what I’ve been working towards. We had a really close match earlier in the year, but (today) I hit my quick tilts a lot and scored a lot of points.”

Geneva junior Sammy Sikorsky (27-9) won by decision over St. Charles North’s Declan Sons (19-4) for third place while Glenbard North junior Jaden Quito (8-13) received a bye to take fifth place.

113 – Dom Munaretto, St. Charles East

After winning each of his 50 matches as a freshman en route to the state title at 106, one had to wonder what Munaretto would do for an encore this winter. The answer is a simple and obvious one: keep winning. Munaretto (40-2) finished off the regular season with a tech fall victory over Glenbard North senior Dominick Marre (29-5). Marre had taken second at 120 a year ago and won at 113 as a freshman in 2022.

Geneva junior Drew Holman (20-11) scored a major decision victory over Wheaton North sophomore Dylan Le (9-14) for third place. There was no fifth place match.

120 – Kalani Khiev, Glenbard North

Khiev (31-4) and Batavia senior Ino Garcia (19-5) battled for the title at 113 a year ago and Garcia prevailed 2-0. On Saturday, Khiev reversed the result, earning a 6-3 win to become a conference champion.

“We’ve wrestled during the season and the off-season the past two years,” Khiev, a junior, said. “But this is just the beginning, It doesn’t matter until you’re on the orange mats in Champaign. So yes I was able to get the win but it’s still not over. There’s no need to be satisfied or anything now. The point is to keep moving forward and keep wrestling and whatever comes, it comes.”

St. Charles East’s Liam Aye (19-20) prevailed by decision against fellow sophomore Caden Cahill (16-19) from Wheaton North to take third place while Wheaton Warrenville South sophomore Nolan Scholl (10-10) slipped past Geneva sophomore Caleb Fleck (9-24) for fifth place.

126 – Christian Chavez, Glenbard North

Chavez (31-4) is pleased so far with a regular season that has culminated with a major decision win over Lake Park sophomore Nick Merola (2-1) for the 126 title. Last year Chavez was injured during a semifinal match at 126 against Batavia’s Aidan Huck.

“So far this season I have nothing to complain about,” Chavez said,. “I feel like I’m doing my best and I’m coming for that title this year.”

He understood his game plan coming in against Merola and he followed it to rack up a 9-1 win.

“I just went into that match and just figured to put him away and score teams points for the team,” he said. “I just pretty much just got it done for the team, that’s it. You just need to get your mind right and just go out there and be ready to battle.”

About a month ago at the Al Dvorak tournament, Chavez placed fourth at 126.

“I did pretty well at Dvorak,” he said. “Maybe I could’ve made it to the finals. I beat the kid who ended up beating me in the finals.”

Over on the third-pace mat, St. Charles East freshman Gavin Woodmancy (25-16) won by decision over Batavia sophomore Kyle Pasco (25-17) while on the fifth-place mat Geneva junior Ben Deasy (18-16) won by fall over Wheaton North sophomore Joey Petruczenko (9-17)

132 – Ben Davino, St. Charles East

There are a couple of realities to consider regarding Davino (41-0), a three-time state champion senior. He’s already one of the state’s all-time best wrestlers. But also, his time competing for the Saints is almost over before he moves on to The Ohio State University.

Davino is now 160-1 after winning by fall against Wheaton North sophomore David Hyde (23-14) for the title at 132. The kid is one career match short of the number of games teams play in a Major League Baseball season. Coincidentally, MLB spring training begins the same weekend of the IHSA individual state tournament.

Since there wasn’t a conference meet in 2021 due to COVID, Davino didn’t wrestle in his first DuKane Conference meet until his sophomore year where he defeated a future champion in Glenbard North’s Christian Chavez. While Davino pinned Chavez in the 120 title bout two years ago, Chavez joined Davino on the award stand this year, winning the 120 title.

Batavia senior Ryan Adams (7-4) earned a major decision over Lake Park junior Sergio Hernandez (26-13) for third place while Geneva junior Andrew Wendt (19-15) won by ball over Glenbard North sophomore Trey Thompson (6-13) for fifth place. Wendt had met Davino in the semifinals earlier, losing by tech fall.

138 – Tyler Guerra, St. Charles East

Guerra (40-1) called his win by fall in 44 seconds over Wheaton Warrenville South senior Cooper Hills (26-8) at 138 a small step towards the ultimate goal of a state title.

“It’s a little, mini achievement to keep your head there,” the senior said. “These are good little check-ins to make sure I’m doing the right things to get the job done.”

While not officially the post-season, Guerra wrestled Saturday like is was, winning convincingly by fall in both of his matches.

“For me I’m in post-season (mode),” he said. “It’s go time. I’m feeling good. It feels good coming back and winning it with the team is awesome. Having all my guys with me in the finals felt great it’s good to get it done as a team. Feels good to get it done myself pretty quick. I got the pins. I feel good about today.”

Lake Park senior Vince Merola (22-8) won by decision over Batavia senior Ethan Brauer (23-15) for third place while Glenbard North junior Richard Morales (16-17) won by fall over Geneva sophomore Colin Huminsky (1-3) for fifth.

144 – Jayden Colon, St. Charles East

Colon (33-5) finished his final DuKane meet in strong fashion, earning an 8-3 decision against fellow senior Aidan Huck (34-5) from Batavia.

Huck advanced to the finals for the third straight season, losing last year to St. Charles East’s Ben Davino at 126 and at 113 to Dominick Marre two years ago. Marre was runner-up at 113 this year, falling to St. Charles East’s Dom Munaretto.

“I felt I got to my openings and my shots,” Colon said. “I’m getting back to wrestling how I would like to wrestle in a high-paced match and keeping up the pace and pushing the pace to wear these guys down.”

Call him Colon the aggressor.

“I would say what motivates me to keep going in my matches is fine-tuning my technique and getting to my offense rather than letting some of the other guys keep matches close,” he said, “I like to try to open up that distance and show how dominant I really am in the bracket.”

The two-time state champion is ready for the post-season again with eight fellow Saints champions including five who are also seniors.

“I’m feeling pretty excited, ready to go,” he said. “I’m ready to take on the next part of the season which is kind of what we call it. We have our calendar clock posted up there and it’s about 30-something days until the whistle for team state and little less for the individual tournament. That’s what keeps all the top level guys pushing towards the next tournament.”

Glenbard North junior Rylan Cradle (32-6) earned a major decision victory over Lake Park’s Bela Mohapp (15-10) to take third place at 144 while St. Charles North’s Brogan Sons (98) took fifth place as his opponent, Wheaton North junior Dane Fitzenreider (1-6), suffered an injury earlier.

150 – Gavin Connolly, St. Charles East

Connolly (33-10) won in his home gym again, earning a fall over Wheaton North sophomore Ryan Rosch (27-13) for the 150 title.

Meanwhile, on the third-place mat, Glenbard North junior Treshon Williams (17-18) won by fall over Batavia sophomore Dylan Wells while St. Charles North junior Liam O’Brien (9-8) won by decision against Geneva sophomore David Rueth (5-6).

157 – Thomas Fulton, Wheaton North

Last year Fulton pinned three straight opponents to win the title at152  in the JV II DuKane Conference Meet.

This year, he’s the varsity champ at 157.

“Well, I was in the mix last year with two other seniors; we were fighting for the varsity spot,” Fulton said. “But it feels pretty good to win the varsity conference. I think my weight class wasn’t as stacked as some of the others but it still feels good.”

Fulton, now a junior, was one of just three wrestlers to upend a St. Charles East wrestler in the finals as the Saints advanced 11 wrestlers to the championship round.

Fulton (34-8) won by fall against Saints junior Ryan McGovern (15-18) for the 157 title.

“I wrestled him earlier in the season and pinned him,” Fulton said. “He got a takedown at the beginning and then with twelve seconds left I shot off the whistle and he kind of went to his back. He should’ve let go of his hands so he pinned himself, kind of.”

Humble in victory, Fulton said he felt a little lucky with result.

“This match I kind of felt like I got a lucky pin there and wanted to show I was the better wrestler,” he said. “He got a takedown again at the beginning but I shot a double with 10 seconds left and got that too, so I was up in the second period and then he got an underhook, and I was able to hit my fireman’s that me and coach Rob talked about, which felt pretty satisfactory.”

But it’s got to feel good to be a conference champion, right?

“I guess so,” he said. “I’m just focusing on each match one at a time and not overlooking any opponents.”

Geneva senior Peyton Marzen (20-6) won by fall over Batavia freshman Jack Brown (9-12) to capture third place while over on the fifth-place mat Glenbard North sophomore Erik Esquivel (8-22) earned a win by decision over St. Charles North sophomore Damon Hill (5-6).

165 – Anthony Gutierrez, St. Charles East

Gutierrez (31-8) met Wheaton North sophomore Julian Flores (26-12) in the 165 title match but the two didn’t wrestle during the regular season. 

“I had too many matches already when we went against Wheaton North and you can’t have a certain amount of matches before regionals,” Gutierrez explained. “So I sat out that dual but didn’t have to sit out anything else.”

Unfamiliarity with Flores didn’t seem to affect Gutierrez as the junior won by fall .

“It was just pretty good to come out and execute all my shots and get to my offense and get a little practice in before the state series,” he said.

For third place in the DuKane, St. Charles North junior Nathan McLoughlin (14-3) won by fall over Batavia sophomore Colin Peyton (10-15) while Wheaton Warrenville South senior Corey Gul (22-15) took fifth place after also winning by fall over Glenbard North senior Jonathan Stakenas (2-10).

175 – Brody Murray, St. Charles East

Murray (34-8) handed Wheaton Warrenville South senior Sedeeq Al Obaidi (32-2) just his second loss of the season to win the 175 title. Last year Murray pinned Al Obaidi in the 160 semifinals before losing by decision in the finals to Lake Park’s Joey Olaide.

For third place at 175, Glenbard North junior Tyler Ott (24-11) won by decision over Wheaton North’s Nikolas Schaafsma while Geneva senior Charlie Faith (11-12) won by fall over Lake Park senior Elias O’Neill (8-6) to take fifth place.

190 – Ben Brown, Batavia

Brown needed sudden victory to get there, but the Batavia senior pulled off the rare awesome feat of completing the regular season undefeated.

Brown (27-0) kept his poise to defeat St. Charles East sophomore Cooper Murray (26-14) to become the conference champ at 190.

“I knew it was going to be a slow-paced match, but I just had to stay solid with my feet, not get in bad position and just kind of wear him down,” he said. “I could start to feel him going down in overtime and I eventually won.”

Last year Brown was on the other end of a tight battle, falling by a 4-3 decision to St. Charles North’s Drew Surges in the 195 semis. Surges would go on to win the 195 title.

Senior Elvin Muja (23-8) bounced back to beat Wheaton North junior Milo Saenz Palencia (21-16) by decision to take third at 190 while Glenbard North junior Julian Holland (12-16) received a bye to take fifth place.

215 – Joe Pettit, Geneva

Watching film of himself from early on the season and especially from a year ago, Pettit doesn’t see the same wrestler. 

When he goes back and watches the 215-pound final match against Batavia junior Asher Sheldon, he’s going to see the champion he’s become.

“My dad records all of my matches so I can see how I’m wrestling compared to last year,” he said. “I’ m like a different wrestler this year, even from earlier this season.”

Pettit won in sudden victory over Sheldon, getting back at the Bulldog who defeated him earlier this season in conference action.

“It was a pretty close match and it was a crazy atmosphere there at Batavia,” Pettit said. “I kind of got to my head a little bit and ended up just pinning myself. That loss kind of stuck with me so there was definitely some blood in the water going into the match. I really wanted to win.”

Focusing on technique and awareness has helped Pettit make the leap from taking fourth during the DuKane meet last year to being the top dog at 215 this year.

“I’m continuing to work on my technique and awareness,” he said. “That’s really the difference this year. Last year I would kind of go out there and freestyle, and this year I’m trying to control the match and control my ties, take shots when they’re there, and take advantage of their mistakes and that’s what I did today.”

Winning the third-place match was Glenbard North senior Brian Petrancosta (27-9) who was awarded the victory with St. Charles East senior Brandon Swartz (30-14) forfeiting, while Wheaton Warrenville South junior Mason Monte (20-16) won by fall over Wheaton North junior Zeke Psenicka (12-18) for fifth place.

285 – Matt Medina, St. Charles East

When Medina last squared off against Wheaton Warrenville South junior Ashton Kibbe the sophomore was down points in the third period and got pinned.

Medina (25-12) returned the favor on Saturday, pinning Kibbe in 1:51.

“I came back with a different mindset going in there,” Medina said. “I let up my grip and kind of got (put) on my back and my coach was like, ‘Medina, don’t do that roll unless you’re a hundred percent going to get through that roll,’ and for a second there mid-roll I was like coach (Jason Potter) is going to be really mad at me. But I was able to get through and I was looking at my other coach, and he helped me stick him and I got the job done.”

In the third-place final at 285, Glenbard North junior Dylan Hendee (13-13) won by fall over Wheaton North junior Dylan Stallings while Geneva’s Wesley Klein (5-5) received a bye to take home fifth place.

Top Individual statistics:

Most pins, least time – 3 in 5:39 by Geneva’s Peyton Marzen

Most tech falls, least time – 1 in 2:15 by St. Charles East’s Jayden Colon

Fastest fall – 0:09 by St. Charles East’s Brandon Swartz

Fastest tech fall – 2:15 by St. Charles East’s Jayden Colon

Most single-match points – 25 by Glenbard North’s Treshon Williams

Most total-match points – 45 by St. Charles East’s Gavin Woodmancy

DuKane Conference tournament championship match results:

106 – Rocco Macellaio (Wheaton North) MF 176 Kaden Potter (St. Charles East)

113 – Dom Munaretto (St. Charles East) TF-1.5 5:57 (17-2) Dominick Marre (Glenbard North)

120 – Kalani Khiev (Glenbard North) D 6-3 Ino Garcia (Batavia)

126 – Christian Chavez (Glenbard North) MD 9-1 Nick Merola (Lake Park)

132 – Ben Davino (St. Charles East) F 1:29 David Hyde (Wheaton North)

138 – Tyler Guerra (St. Charles East) F 0:44 Cooper Hollis (Wheaton Warrenville South)

144 – Jayden Colon (St. Charles East) D 8-3 Aidan Huck (Batavia)

150 – Gavin Connolly (St. Charles East) F 1:42 Ryan Rosch (Wheaton North)

157 – Thomas Fulton (Wheaton North) F 3:46 Ryan McGovern (St. Charles East)

165 – Anthony Gutierrez (St. Charles East) F 2:56 Julian Flores (Wheaton North

175 – Brody Murray (St. Charles East) D 3-1 Sedeeq Al Obaidi (Wheaton Warrenville South)

190 – Ben Brown (Batavia) SV-1 3-1 Cooper Murray (St. Charles East)

215 – Joe Pettit (Geneva) SV-1 3-1 Asher Sheldon (Batavia)

285 – Matt Medina (St. Charles East) F 1:51 Ashton Kibbe (Wheaton Warrenville South) 

Third-place results:

106 – Sammy Sikorsky (Geneva) D 9-7 Declan Sons (SC North)

113 – Drew Hosman (Geneva) MD 15-6 Dylan Lee (Wheaton North)

120 – Liam Aye (SC East) D 9-3 Caden Cahill (Wheaton North)

126 – Gavin Woodmancy (SC East) D 4-2 Kyle Pasco (Batavai)

132 – Ryan Adams (Batavia) MD 12-1 Sergio Hernandez (Lake Park)

138 – Vince Merola (Lake Park) D 5-0 Ethan Brauer (Batavia)

144 – Rylan Kradle (Glenbard N) MD 13-1 Bela Mohapp (Lake Park)

150 – Treshon Williams (Glenbard N) F 3:34 Dylan Wells (Batavia)

157 – Peyton Marzen (Geneva) F 2:48 Jack Brown (Batavia)

165 – Nathan McLoughlin (SC North) F 1:13 Colin Peyton (Batavia)

175 – Tyler Ott (Glenbard N) D 4-1 Nikolas Schaafsma (Wheaton N)

190 – Elvis Muja (WW South) D 5-2 Milo Saenz Palencia (Wheaton N)

215 – Brian Petrancosta (Glenbard N) fft. Brandon Swartz (SC East)

285 – Dylan Hendee (Glenbard N) F 1:21 Dylan Stallings (Wheaton N)

By Gary Larsen for the IWCOA

ICE Conference champion: Coal City

Coal City rolled to this year’s ICE conference title, as last year’s Class 1A state champs and the team currently ranked No. 2 by Illinois Matmen sent 12 wrestlers to the championship mat and won seven individual ICE titles.

Coach Mark Masters got titles from Owen Petersen (106), Cooper Morris (113), Brody Widlowski (126), Noah Houston (132), Brant Widlowski (150), Landin Benson (165) and Cade Poyner (190).

Also reaching the finals and placing second for the Coalers were Culan Lindemuth (120), Brock Finch (144), Trace Wilson (157), James Keigher (175) and Emmett Easton (215). Coal City also got thirds from Evan Greggain (138) and Payton Vigna (285) to complete a run of 14 Coalers placing in the top three.

Coal City finished with a 248.5-128 lead over second-place Wilmington. Streator (90.5), Peotone (77.5), Reed-Custer (71), Lisle (60.5), Herscher (48) and Manteno (47) rounded out the eight-team field.

Wilmington got an individual title from Parker Adams (157) and seconds from Logan VanDuyne (190) and Brody Benson (285), plus thirds from Landon Dooley (120), Oakley Rivera (126), Blake Adolfino (132), Matt Swisher (150), and Will Wilson (175).

Third-place Streator had a pair of champions in Aydan Radke (215) and Aiden Ferris (285) and also winning conference titles at Coal City were Lisle’s Alexander Ferari (120), Reed-Custer’s Sam Begler (138), Peotone’s Micah Spinazzola (144), and Manteno’s Carter Watkins (175).

Also reaching the finals and placing second were Streator’s Nicholas Pollett (106) and Lily Gwaltney (113), Herscher’s Gerrit Osenga (126) and Logan Norris (138), Lisle’s Adam Drake (132), and Peotone’s Conor Pasch (150) and Ian Kreske (165).

Top individual statistics:

Most pins, least time – 3 in 6:05 by Wilmington’s Matt Swisher

Fastest fall – 0:34 by Coal City’s Landin Benson

Fastest tech fall – 3:52 by Streator’s Steven Goplin

Most team points – 24 by Streator’s Aiden Ferris

Most single-match points – 21 by Herscher’s Trevor Hoffeditz

Most total match points – 45 by Herscher’s Trevor Hoffeditz

ICE Conference tournament championship match results:

106 – Owen Petersen (Coal City) D 6-1 Nicholas Pollett (Streator)

113 – Cooper Morris (Coal City) F 0:41 Lily Gwaltney (Streator)

120 – Alexander Ferari (Lisle) F 3:40 Culan Lindemuth (Coal City)

126 – Brody Widlowski (126) D 10-3 Gerrit Osenga (Herscher)

132 – Noah Houston (Coal City) F 3:51 Adam Drake (Lisle)

138 – Sam Begler (Reed-Custer) F 3:27 Logan Norris (Herscher)

144 – Micah Spinazzola (Peotone) D 3-0 Brock Finch (Coal City)

150 – Brant Widlowski (Coal City) D 5-2 Conor Pasch (Peotone)

157 – Parker Adams (Wilmington) D 11-10 Trace Wilson (Coal City)

165 – Landin Benson (Coal City) F 0:34 Ian Kreske (Peotone)

175 – Carter Watkins (Manteno) D 7-0 James Keigher (Coal City)

190 – Cade Poyner (Coal City) F 1:37 Logan VanDuyne (Wilmington)

215 – Aydan Radke (Streator) F 0:55 Emmet Easton (Coal City)

285 – Aiden Ferris (Streator) F 2:23 Brody Benson (Wilmington)

ICE third-place match results:

106 – Blake Anderson (Peotone) F 1:19 Owen Bollino (Herscher)

113 – Judith Gamboa (Reed-Custer)

120 – Landon Dooley (Wilmington) F 1:38 Jesus Martinez (Streator)

126 – Oakley Rivera (Wilmington) D 11-8 Jayden Sanchez (Reed-Custer)

132 – Blake Adolfino (Wilmington) SV-1 8-6 Trevor Hoffeditz (Herscher)

138 – Evan Greggain (Coal City) D 10-5 Brandon Adolfino (Wilmington)

144 – Johnny Consuegra Lopez (Lisle) D 7-6 Jeremy Eggleston (Reed-Custer)

150 – Matt Swisher (Wilmington) F 3:54 Jason Davis (Reed-Custer)

157 – Santino Izzi (Peotone) MD 10-2 David Skonieczny (Lisle)

165 – Steven Goplin (Streator) TF 3:52 Brayden Crews (Herscher)

175 – Will Wilson (Wilmington) F 2:14 Laith Abunijmeh (Peotone)

190 – Logan Smith (Manteno) D 11-4 Dominic Alaimino (Reed-Custer)

215 – Jon Burner (Manteno) F 1:51 Memphis Iwen (Wilmington)

285 – Payton Vigna (Coal City) D 5-2 Christian Mounts (Reed-Custer

Chicago Catholic League champion: Mount Carmel

Mount Carmel saw 10 wrestlers reach the CCL title mat and had four champions in topping the 16-team field at this year’s CCL Championships.

Mount Carmel posted a 321.5-211.5 edge over second-place Montini, followed by IC Catholic (207), Marmion (125.5) and Loyola Academy (115) to round out the top five team finishes.

Mount Carmel coach Alex Tsirtsis got individual titles from Seth Mendoza (126), Evan Stanley (132), Edmund Enright (157) and Colin Kelly (175). Placing second for the Caravan were Kavel Moore (106), Justin Williamson (113), Damian Resendez (138), Liam Kelly (150), William Jacobson (190) and Alex Poholik (285).

Jaxon Jorgensen (120), Jairo Acuna (144), Kevin Kalchbrenner (165), and Leonard Siegal (215) placed third for Mount Carmel.

Coach Mike Bukovsky’s second-place Montini squad got an individual CCL title from David Mayora (150), and seconds from Josh Vazquez (126), Kam Luif (132), Harrison Konder (157), and AJ Tack (165).

IC Catholic had four champions in Deven Casey (120), Bryson Spaulding (138), Joe Gliatta (165), and Mike Calcagno (285), while Marmion got titles from Nicholas Garcia (113) and Ashton Hobson (144). Other CCL champions were St. Rita’s Jack Hogan (106) and Loyola Academy’s Quinn Herbert (190) and Kai Calcutt (215).

Also reaching the finals and placing second were Loyola’s Gavin Pardilla (120), St. Rita’s Sean Larkin (144), Providence Catholic’s Michael O’Connor (175), and St. Laurence’s Xavier Bitner (215).

Top individual statistics:

Most pins, least time – 4 in 11:37 by St. Laurence’s Joey Barnett

Most tech falls, least time – 3 in 12:32 by Marmion’s Nicholas Garcia

Fastest fall – 0:29 by Loyola Academy’s Kai Calcutt

Fastest tech fall – 2:06 by Mt. Carmel’s Edmund Enright

Most team points – (tie) 30 by Loyola’s Kai Calcutt and Mt. Carmel’s Seth Mendoza

Most single-match points – 29 by Marmion’s Nicholas Garcia

Most total match points – 81 by Marmion’s Nicholas Garcia

Chicago Catholic League championship match results:

106 – Jack Hogan (St. Rita) D 13-8 Kavel Moore (Mount Carmel)

113 – Nicholas Garcia (Marmion) TF 6:00 Justin Williamson (Mount Carmel)

120 – Deven Casey (IC Catholic) F 1:42 Gavin Pardilla (Loyola Academy)

126 – Seth Mendoza (Mount Carmel) F 3:21 Josh Vazquez (Montini)

132 – Evan Stanley (Mount Carmel) F 1:54 Kam Luif (Montini)

138 – Bryson Spaulding (IC Catholic) D 5-4 Damian Resendez (Mount Carmel)

144 – Ashton Hobson (Marmion) D 8-6 Sean Larkin (St. Rita)

150 – David Mayora (Montini) D 9-4 Liam Kelly (Mount Carmel)

157 – Edmund Enright (Mount Carmel) D 8-4 Harrison Konder (Montini)

165 – Joe Gliatta (IC Catholic) D 7-5 AJ Tack (Montini)

175 – Colin Kelly (Mount Carmel) TF 3:38 Michael O’Connor (Providence Catholic)

190 – Quinn Herbert (Loyola) D 10-5 William Jacobson (Mount Carmel)

215 – Kai Calcutt (Loyola) F 0:29 Xavier Bitner (St. Laurence)

285 – Mike Calcagno (IC Catholic) F 1:14 Alex Poholik (Mount Carmel)

CCL third-place matches:

106 – James Hemmila (Loyola) D 7-3 Logan Conover (Marmion)

113 – Mikey Malizzio (Montini) D 5-0 Kannon Judycki (IC Catholic)

120 – Jaxon Jorgensen (Mt. Carmel) SV-1 5-3 Isaac Mayora (Montini)

126 – Tommy Banas (Providence) D 3-2 Donny Pignoni (Marmion)

132 – Nino Protti (St. Rita) D 7-5 Omar Samayoa (IC Catholic)

138 – Oliver Davis (Brother Rice) D 12-9 Enzo Canali (St. Rita)

144 – Jairo Acuna (Mt. Carmel) MD 17-5 Nate Sanchez (St. Ignatius)

150 – Brody Kelly (IC Catholic) F 2:30 Frank Miceli (Brother Rice)

157 – Geno Papes (Providence) F 2:50 Christian Favia (Marmion)

165 – Kevin Kalchbrenner (Mt. Carmel) F 1:26 Malik Warren (De La Salle)

175 – Dan Costello (Brother Rice) D 1-0 Josue Hernandez (De La Salle)

190 – Foley Calcagno (Brother Rice) D 11-6 James Crane (Brother Rice)

215 – Leonard Siegal (Mt. Carmel) SV-1 7-5 Charley Stec (Brother Rice)

285 – Nick Armour (Leo) D 3-2 Joey Herbert (Loyola)

Final team scores: 1. Mount Carmel (321.5) 2. Montini Catholic (211.5) 3. IC Catholic (207) 4. Marmion Academy (125.5) 5. Loyola Academy (115) 6. Brother Rice (111.5) 7. St. Rita (97.5) 8. Providence Catholic (97) 9. De La Salle (86), DePaul College Prep (86) 10. St. Laurence (64) 11. St. Ignatius (48) 12. Fenwick (41) 13. Leo (26) 14. St. Francis (5) 15. Aurora Central Catholic (2)

DuPage Valley Conference champion: Naperville Central

Naperville Central sent 13 wrestlers to the DVC championship mat and got five individual titles for coach Noah Fitzenreider, as the Redhawks topped second-place DeKalb 273-257.

Naperville North (213.5) placed third, followed by Neuqua Valley (110), Waubonsie Valley (93) and Metea Valley (50).

Naperville Central’s DVC champions were Ty Martin (120), Mitchell Kaszuba (126), Christopher Bern (157), Nicolas Besteiro (215) and William Erbeck (285). The Redhawks also got seconds from Jacob Cochran (113), Vince Bern (132), CJ Bierman (138), Hagan Taylor (144), Javier Sevilla (150), John Carens (165), Henry Rydwelski (175), and Jacob Smetters (190), and a third from Dalton Meluch (106).

Second-place DeKalb sent nine wrestlers to the title mat and led the field with six individual champions in Kaden Klapprodt (113), Hudson Ikens (138), Mekhi Cave (144), Cam Matthews (150), Jacob Luce (165), and Sean Kolkebeck (175). Placing second for Barbs coach Sam Hiatt were Jayden Bradley (106), Eduardo Castro (120) and Lamar Bradley (215).

Naperville North had the remaining three DVC champions in Adam Beedon (106), Tyler Sternstein (132) and Matthew Murphy (190). Coach Tom Champion also got a second-place finish from Ben Messier (126)

Other DVC second-place finishers were Neuqua Valley’s Dzhamaludin Nurudinov (157) and Waubonsie Valley’s Leonidas Hobson (285).

Top individual statistics:

Most pins, least time – 3 in 3:12 by DeKalb’s Jeremiah Piniera

Most tech falls, least time – 1 in 6:00 by Naperville North’s Jackson Pease

Fastest fall – 0:23 by DeKalb’s Jeremiah Piniera

Most team points – (tie) 24 by Naperville Central’s William Erbeck, Naperville North’s Tyler Sternstein, and DeKalb’s Jacob Luce

Most single-match points – 19 by Naperville North’s Jackson Pease

Most total-match points – 28 by DeKalb’s Mekhi Cave

DVC championship match results:

106 – Adam Beedon (Naperville N) F 1:33 Jayden Bradley (DeKalb)

113 – Kaden Klapprodt (DeKalb) D 6-4 Jacob Cochran (Naperville C)

120 – Ty Martin (Naperville C) SV-1 3-1 Eduardo Castro (DeKalb)

126 – Mitchell Kaszuba (Naperville C) D 6-1 Ben Messier (Naperville N)

132 – Tyler Sternstein (Naperville N) F 4:37 Vince Bern (Naperville C)

138 – Hudson Ikens (DeKalb) D 3-1 CJ Bierman (Naperville C)

144 – Mekhi Cave (DeKalb) D 10-6 Hagan Taylor (Naperville C)

150 – Cam Matthews (DeKalb) MD 13-1 Javier Sevilla (Naperville C)

157 – Christopher Bern (Naperville C) D 17-11 Dzhamaludin Nurudinov (Neuqua)

165 – Jacob Luce (DeKalb) F 3:57 John Carens (Naperville C)

175 – Sean Kolkebeck (DeKalb) D 12-8 Henry Rydwelski (Naperville C)

190 – Matthew Murphy (Naperville N) MD 10-1 Jacob Smetters (Naperville C)

215 – Nicolas Besteiro (Naperville C) D 3-0 Lamar Bradley (DeKalb)

285 – William Erbeck (Naperville C) F 1:28 Leonidas Hobson (Waubonsie)

DVC third-place match results:

106 – Dalton Meluch (Naperville C)

113 – Alexander Paunkov (Naperville N) F 3:22 Brady Podracky (Neuqua)

120 – Connor McDonald (Naperville N) F 2:52 Nate Duffield (Waubonsie)

126 – Grady Fowler (DeKalb) F 3:34 AJ Ramirez (Waubonsie)

132 – Ayden Shuey (DeKalb) F 2:43 Jayden Amin (Metea)

138 – Juan Arroyo (Metea) F 312 Christian Loaiza (Waubonsie)

144 – Ethan Wojtowich (Waubonsie) D 7-6 Zachary Mally (Naperville N)

150 – Nicholas Pape (Neuqua) Inj. Evan Marschitz (Naperville N)

157 – Nick Oblazny (Naperville N) F 3:22 Jayden Allen (DeKalb)

165 – Maddox Menendez (Neuqua) D 8-3 Jackson Pease (Naperville N)

175 – Kyle Gatlin (Naperville N) F 3:14 Deividas Lewiston (Neuqua)

190 – Magomed Nurudinov (Neuqua) F 5:22 Elvis Mora (DeKalb)

215 – Tavkif Ibragimov (Naperville N) D 6-0 Josh Housour (Waubonsie)

285 – Jeremiah Piniera (DeKalb) F 1:17 Brady Jones (Metea)

South Suburban Conference tournament champion: Lemont

Lemont topped the competition at this year’s SSC tournament, winning 210-167.5 over second-place Oak Forest. Evergreen Park (164) was a close third, followed by Hillcrest (113) and Bremen (78) to round out the top five finishers in the 14-team field.

Lemont coach Erik Murry sent seven wrestlers to the championship mat, getting individual titles from Carter Mikolajczak (132) and Alex Pasquale (285), and runner-up finishes from Matteo Vitro (106), Ewold Trickle (113), Cory Zator (138), Aiden Rudman (144) and Noah O’Connor (150). Lemont also got thirds from Julian Vallanatos (126), Nico LoCoco (157) and Dan Taylor (190), and a fourth from Mike Patino (165).

Second-place Oak Forest had six individual champions in Jacob Sebek (106), James Mair (120), Austin Perez (138), Hunter Daniel (157), Jackson Castaneda (165) and Jason Janke (190), and a fourth from Blake Bussie (175) for coach Shawn Forst.

Third-place Evergreen Park got a pair of titles from Johan Bonilla (113) and Chance Woods (126) for coach Ron Zimmerman, seconds from Angel Ramirez (120), Genesis Ward (190), and Eduardo Antunez (215), a third from Gerald O’Hare (285), and fourths from Adrian Cervantes (132), David Johnson (144) and Ryan Serna (150).

Also winning SSC titles were Hillcrest’s Kiaven Sullivan (144) and Trevon Williams (150), Bremen’s Adrian Esparza (175), and Tinley Park’s Sebastian Sanderson (215).

Reaching the title mat and placing second were Bremen’s Izaiah Gonzalez (126) and Marco Olvera (285), Hillcrest’s Jovan Williams (132), Thornton-Fractional North’s Joseph Merritt (157), and Richards’ Mike Taheney (165) and Jeremiah Gill (175).

Top individual statistics:

Most pins, least time – 4 in 8:03 by Oak Lawn’s Ammar Elayyan

Most tech falls, least time – 1 in 4:56 by T-F South’s Jayden Scott

Fastest fall – 0:22 by Argo’s Carlos Gutierrez

Most team points – (tie) 26 by Lemont’s Alex Pasquale and Hillcrest’s Trevon Williams

Most single-match points – 19 by Bremen’s Dionte Jones

Most total-match points – 43 by T-F South’s Jayden Scott

SSC championship match results:

106 – Jacob Sebek (Oak Forest) F 4:25 Matteo Vitro (Lemont)

113 – Johan Bonilla (Evergreen Park) D 6-2 Ewold Trickle (Lemont)

120 – James Mair (Oak Forest) F 5:16 Angel Ramirez (Evergreen Park)

126 – Chance Woods (Evergreen Park) D 5-4 Izaiah Gonzalez (Bremen)

132 – Carter Mikolajczak (Lemont) D 6-4 Jovan Williams (Hillcrest)

138 – Austin Perez (Oak Forest) D 10-5 Cory Zator (Lemont)

144 – Kiaven Sullivan (Hillcrest) D 9-7 Aiden Rudman (Lemont)

150 – Trevon Williams (Hillcrest) F 0:37 Noah O’Connor (Lemont)

157 – Hunter Daniel (Oak Forest) F 1:36 Joseph Merritt (TF North)

165 – Jackson Castaneda (Oak Forest) D 8-7 Mike Taheney (Richards)

175 – Adrian Esparza (Bremen) F 0:52 Jeremiah Gill (Richards)

190 – Jason Janke (Oak Forest) D 10-8 Genesis Ward (Evergreen Park)

215 – Sebastian Sanderson (Tinley Park) SV-1 4-2 Eduardo Antunez (Evergreen Park

285 – Alex Pasquale (Lemont) F 0:33 Marco Olvera (Bremen)

SSC third-place results:

106 – Amari Brown (Hillcrest) F 1:55 Muhammad Hamad (Richards)

113 – Jayden Scott (TF South) F 5:26 LeKeith Rodgers (Hillcrest)

120 – Elijah Bywater (Shepard) F 3:57 Logan Gray (Oak Lawn)

126 – Jullian Vallianatos (Lemont) F 2:52 Ammar Elayyan (Oak Lawn)

132 – Vladamir Vasquez (Reavis) F 2:40 Adrian Cervantes (Evergreen Park)

138 – Kevin Bustillos (Argo) F 3:44 Jordan Haskett (Shepard)

144 – Nicholas Gomez (Reavis) SV-1 6-4 David Johnson (Evergreen Park)

150 – Dom Paul (Richards) D 6-0 Ryan Serna (Evergreen Park)

157 – Nico LoCoco (Lemont) F 1:51 Colton Pennington (Hillcrest)

165 – Isaac Barba (Oak Lawn) D 4-3 Mike Patino (Lemont)

175 – Damari Dogan (TF North) D 3-2 Blake Bussie (Oak Forest)

190 – Dan Taylor (Lemont) F 3:11 E’Mon Arnold (TF South)

215 – Terry Ferguson (Reavis) SV-1 4-2 Jesus Ibarra (Argo)

285 – Gerald O’Hare (Evergreen Park) F 3:23 Lavar Davis (Eisenhower)

Final team scores: 1. Lemont (210) 2. Oak Forest (167.5) 3. Evergreen Park (164) 4. Hillcrest (113) 5. Bremen (78) 5. Richards (78) 7. Oak Lawn (76) 8. Reavis (65), 9. Shepard (56) 10. TF North (52) 11. Argo (50) 12. TF South (41.5) 13. Tinley Park (35) 14. Eisenhower (23)

Upstate Eight Conference champion: Glenbard East

Glenbard East topped the 10-team UEC field at Bartlett, winning 229-204 over second-place West Chicago. Bartlett (174) was third, followed by South Elgin (170.5), Fenton (136.5), Streamwood (99.5), East Aurora (92.5), Glenbard South (79), Larkin (39), and Elgin (31).

Glenbard East coach Don Pool got a pair of UEC titles from Waleed Binmahfooz (113) and Blake Salvino (190), plus runner-up finishes from Lorenz Rios Loud (106), Ismael Chaidez (126), and Shane Salerno (132) to lead the way.

Also keying the Rams’ win were third-placers Jesus Chaidez (138), Aaron Dotson (165), Gus Winkler (215) and Cooper Conliss (285), a fourth from Orlando Hoye (175), fifths from Ethan Campos (120) and Donte Hudson (150), and sixths from Nathan Quintanilla (144) and Leo Mundinger (157).

West Chicago coach James Phillips had a trio of UEC champions in Emanuel Rangel (106), Donovan Avila (138) and Santino Milazzo (144), plus seconds from Jonathan Antonio (113) and Ryan Alvarado (120).

Third-place Bartlett had a pair of champions in Cameron Engels (126) and Emilio Duenez (157) and a runner-up finish from Ryan Gura (215).

Fourth-place South Elgin led all teams with four champions in Demetrios Carrera (120), Aamir Nieves (132), Leo Rosas (150) and Tommy Roath (285).

Also leaving Bartlett as UEC champions were Fenton’s Jovany Zuniga (165), Streamwood’s Gabe Inorio (175), and East Aurora’s Arnold Walker (215).

Top individual statistics:

Most pins, least time – 3 in 4:31 by Glenbard East’s Jesus Chaidez

Most tech falls, least time – 2 in 6:26 by Fenton’s Jovany Zuniga

Fastest tech fall – 2:10 by Fenton’s Jovany Zuniga

Most team points – (tie) 26 by East Aurora’s Arnold Walker, and Streamwood’s Gabe Inorio

Most single-match points – 23 by South Elgin’s Aamir Nieves-Allen

Most total-match points – 46 by South Elgin’s Aamir Nieves-Allen

Upstate Eight Conference championship matches:

106 – Emanuel Rangel (West Chicago) D 5-2 Lorenz Rios (Glenbard East)

113 – Waleed Binmahfooz (Glenbard East) F 1:29 Jonathan Antonio (West Chicago)

120 – Demetrios Carrera (South Elgin) TF 4:49 Ryan Alvarado (West Chicago)

126 – Cameron Engels (Bartlett) D 5-3 Ismael Chaidez (Glenbard East)

132 – Aamir Nieves-Allen (South Elgin) D 16-12 Shane Salerno (Glenbard East)

138 – Donovan Avila (West Chicago) D 4-3 Jin Tai (Glenbard South)

144 – Santino Milazzo (West Chicago) D 13-7 Juan Cortes (Streamwood)

150 – Leo Rosas (South Elgin) MD 14-2 Omar Diaz (Fenton)

157 – Emilio Duenez (Bartlett) F 0:48 Reid Sebahar (Glenbard South)

165 – Jovany Zuniga (Fenton) F 2:27 Kosta Carrera (South Elgin)

175 – Gabe Inorio (Streamwood) F 5:11 Rulin Palacios (Fenton)

190 – Blake Salvino (Glenbard East) MD 16-5 Fabian Ramirez (Elgin)

215 – Arnold Walker (East Aurora) F 5:18 Ryan Gura (Bartlett)

285 – Tommy Roath (South Elgin) Inj. Thomas Klos (Fenton)

UEC third-place matches:

113 – Anthony Bigham (Fenton) MD 17-8 Anthony Lazare (S Elgin)

120 – Salvador Garcia (Larkin) D 7-5 Jayden Edger (Elgin)

126 – Israel Milazzo (West Chicago) MD 9-0 Kyle Quaid Bowman (Glenbard S)

132 – Uli Rojas (Streamwood) D 9-4 Filip Szeszko (Bartlett)

138 – Jesus Chaidez (Glenbard E) F 0:56 Damari Miller (Larkin)

144 – Nick Barton (Bartlett) Inj. Josh Dickeson (Fenton)

150 – Scotty Zentner (West Chicago) MD 16-6 Jeff Li (Streamwood)

157 – Gerardo Caudillo (E Aurora) D 6-5 Brian Correa (West Chicago)

165 – Aaron Dotson (Glenbard E) D 3-0 Logan Price (Glenbard S)

175 – James Smrha (Bartlett) MD 10-1 Orlando Hoye (Glenbard E)

190 – Jace Wolf (Streamwood) MD 12-0 Alan Munoz (West Chicago)

215 – Gus Winkler (Glenbard E) F 3:05 Joey Cronin (S Elgin)

285 – Cooper Conliss (Glenbard E) D 3-1 Leonardo De Alba (East Aurora)

Southwest Suburban Conference tournament champion: Lockport

Lockport Township took the prize at this year’s SWSC Tom Lahey tournament, out-pointing second-place Lincoln-Way East 170.5-144 at Stagg on Saturday.

Lincoln-Way West (140.5) finished third, followed by Carl Sandburg (117) and Lincoln-Way Central (114) to round out the top five team finishes.

The annual SWSC tournament is named for long-time Andrew coach Tom Lahey,   who amassed a 270-106-2 dual meet record over 20 years (1980-2000). Lahey was inducted into the IWCOA hall of fame in 2001.

Lockport coach Jameson Oster sent five wrestlers to the championship mat, getting individual titles from Justin Wardlow (138) and Durango Valles (165), and second-place finishes from Liam Zimmerman (132), Jaedon Calderon (144), and Wojtek Chrobak (285). 

John Churnovic (106), Timothy O’Connor (113), Anthony Sutton (120), and Isaac Zimmerman (126) had third-place finishes and the Porters got fourths from Drew Silzer (157), Nuh Abukhudair (190) and Cyrus Czyz (215).

Lincoln-Way East had three individual champions for coach Kevin Rockett, in Tyson Zvonar (132), Alexander Lizak (157) and Caden O’Rourke (215). The Griffins also got second-place finishes from Kaidge Richardson (126) and Jackson Zaeske (175), and thirds from Brayden Mortell (138), Kevin Byrne (144), and Domanic Abeja (150).

Lincoln-Way West coach Brian Glynn got a pair of second-place finishes from Brady Glynn (106), Luke Siwinski (138) and Jase Salin (150), and thirds from Jakob Siwinski (132), Jimmy Talley (175), Brandon Bavirsha (190), and Nick Kavooras (285). Shane Stream (113) and and Haden Anderson (126) also placed fourth for the Warriors

Also winning individual SWSC titles were Carl Sandburg’s Rocco Hayes (106) Zac Ritter (150) and Ahmad Jaffal (190), Homewood-Flossmoor’s Diondre Henry (113), Stagg’s Anas Ahmed (120), Andrew’s Max Siegel (126) and Michael McDonough (285), Bolingbrook’s Aaron Camacho (144), and Bradley-Bourbonnais’ AJ Mancilla (175).

Also reaching the finals and placing second were Stagg’s Jaime Corral (113), Carl Sandburg’s Madden Parker (120), Lincoln-Way Central’s Caden Harvey (157), Aiden Hennings (190) and Colin Welsh (215), and Bolingbrook’s Tommy McDermott (165).

Top individual statistics:

Most pins, least time – 3 in 5:59 by Lincoln-Way Central’s Tim Key

Most tech falls, least time – 1 in 2:33 by Lincoln-Way West’s Brady Glynn

Most team points – 24 by Carl Sandburg’s Rocco Hayes

Most single-match points – 22 by Lockport’s Anthony Sutton

Most total-match points – 47 by Lockport’s Anthony Sutton

SWSC Tom Lahey championship match results:

106 – Rocco Hayes (Sandburg) F 5:12 Brady Glynn (LW West)

113 – Diondre Henry (Homewood-Flossmoor) Inj. Jaime Corral (Stagg)

120 – Anas Ahmed (Stagg) F 0:51 Madden Parker (Sandburg)

126 – Max Siegel (Andrew) D 12-5 Kaidge Richardson (LW East)

132 – Tyson Zvonar (LW East) D 4-3 Liam Zimmerman (Lockport)

138 – Justin Wardlow (Lockport) D 5-1 Luke Siwinski (LW West)

144 – Aaron Camacho (Bolingbrook) MD 13-3 Jaedon Calderon (Lockport)

150 – Zac Ritter (Sandburg) D 4-1 Jase Salin (LW West)

157 – Alexander Lizak (LW East) 3-2 Caden Harvey (LW Central)

165 – Durango Valles (Lockport) D 9-5 Tommy McDermott (Bolingbrook)

175 – AJ Mancilla (Bourbonnais) D 7-1 Jackson Zaeske (LW East)

Central Suburban League champion: Maine South

The word ‘barnburner’ doesn’t begin to describe what happened between Maine South and Deerfield at this year’s CSL conference tournament.

When the dust settled and the fur stopped flying, Maine South finished a single point ahead of Deerfield in the team standings, winning 240-239.

Glenbrook South (152) finished third, followed by Glenbrook North (134) and New Trier (132.5) to round out the top five team finishes.

Maine South sent seven wrestlers to the finals to Deerfield’s six, and each team had four CSL champions. Maine South’s titles came from George Georgiev (106), Teddy Flores (120), Luke Morrison (132) and Tyler Fortis (285).

Also reaching the finals for Maine South and placing second were Christos Vaselopulos (113), Jack Handley (126), and Gavin Hoerr (144). The Hawks got thirds from Jake Colleran (138) and Leo McDonald (215), a fourth from Tommy Behzad (190), and sixths from Aidan Swenson (165) and Evan Rioch (175).

Deerfield’s conference champs were Luke Reddy (126), Jordan Rasof (138), Mark Martinez (144), and Max Dumke (215), and coach Marc Pechter also got seconds from Adrian Cohen (120) and Jackson Palzet (132). The Warriors also got thirds from Charlie Cross (150), Chris Mauer (175), and Kevin Sabau (190), a fourth from Jorey Becker (106), a fifth from Luca Davila (157), and a sixth from Alex Berry (285).

The other wrestlers crowned as CSL champions were Glenbrook North’s Ayaan Rizwaan (113), New Trier’s Tagg Miller (150) and Bailey Cornelison (175), Evanston’s Rodrigo Salinas (157) and Josh Marty (190), and Vernon Hills’ Ilya Dvoriannikov (165).

Others reaching the title mat and finishing second were Glenbrook South’s Urmuun Urnasan (106) and Nathan Crecan (190), Vernon Hills’ Jack McGowan (138) and Dylan Moncayo (157), Niles North’s Oliver Quiros (150), Glenbrook North’s Shane Onixt (165), Kieran O’Sullivan (175) and Cray Paich (285), and Maine East’s Edgar Torres (215).

Top individual statistics:

Most pins, least time – 4 in 11:12 by Glenbrook South’s Henry Downing

Most tech falls, least time – 2 in 8:20 by Glenbrook South’s Max Brown

Fastest tech fall – 3:03 by Glenbrook South’s Max Brown

Most team points – (tie) 28 by Deerfield’s Luke Reddy, Mark Martinez, and Max Drumke, Maine South’s Teddy Flores and Luke Morrison, and New Trier’s Tagg Miller.

Most single-match points – 21 by Glenbrook South’s Max Brown

Most total-match points – Glenbrook South’s Max Brown

Central Suburban League championship match results:

106 – George Georgiev (Maine S) D 12-5 Urmuun Urtnasan (Glenbrook S)

113 – Ayaan Rizwaan (Glenbrook N) D 5-1 Christos Vaselopulos (Maine S)

120 – Teddy Flores (Maine S) F 4:19 Adrian Cohen (Deerfield)

126 – Luke Reddy (Deerfield) F 0:17 Jack Handley (Maine S)

132 – Luke Morrison (Maine S) F 3:20 Jackson Palzet (Deerfield)

138 – Jordan Rasof (Deerfield) D 5-2 Jack McGowean (Vernon Hills)

144 – Mark Martinez (Deerfield) F 3:02 Gavin Hoerr (Maine S)

150 – Tagg Miller (New Trier) F 1:58 Oliver Quiros (Niles N)

157 – Rodrigo Salinas (Evanston) MD 10-1 Dylan Moncayo (Vernon Hills)

165 – Ilya Dvoriannikov (Vernon Hills) D 6-0 Shane Onixt (Glenbrook N)

175 – Bailey Cornelison (New Trier) F 1:59 Kieran O’Sullivan (Glenbrook N)

190 – Josh Marty (Evanston) D 2-0 Nathan Crecan (Glenbrook S)

215 – Max Drumke (Deerfield) F 1:38 Edgar Torres (Maine E)

285 – Tyler Fortis (Maine S) F 4:55 Cray Paich (Glenbrook N)

CSL third-place matches:

106 – Alex Gudgeon (Highland Park) D 8-1 Jorey  Becker (Deerfield)

113 – Jaiden Casillas (Highland Park) SV-1 6-4 Daud Chaudry (Niles W)

120 – Trent Tono (Niles N) MD 14-3 Matthew Miralles (New Trier)

126 – Logan Battersby (Maine W) D 6-1 Michael Schick (Glenbrook S)

132 – Max Brown (Glenbrook S) TF 5:17 Dulguun Nyamdavaa (Maine E)

138 – Jake Colleran (Maine S) F 1:39 Mike Tsendayush (Glenbrook S)

144 – Micah Eickbush (New Trier) F 5:14 Ebin Fladeland (Glenbrook N)

150 – Charlie Cross (Deerfield) SV-1 4-1 Ilan Ruderman (Glenbrook N)

157 – Henry Downing (Glenbrook S) F 1:06 Henry Hafner (Glenbrook N)

165 – Julian Slaastad (New Trier) F 1:06 Peter Greco (Maine W)

175 – Chris Mauer (Deerfield) F 1:18 Dionisi Ballas (Niles N)

190 – Kevin Sabau (Deerfield) F 1:58 Tommy Behzad (Maine S)

215 – Leo McDonald (Maine S) D 1-0 Ahmad Musa (Niles N)

285 – Jeremy Marshall (Evanston) D 12-8 Victor Nitchev (Maine E)

Final team scores: 1. Maine South (240) 2. Deerfield (239) 3. Glenbrook South (152) 4. Glenbrook North (134) 5. New Trier (132.5) 6. Evanston (122) 7. Niles North (105) 8. Vernon Hills (81.5) 9. Maine East (77) 10. Maine West (57) 11. Highland Park (34) 12. Niles West (27.5)

By Curt Herron – for the IWCOA

Two programs who’ve enjoyed rich histories in the sport are hoping that 2024 turns out to be one of the most significant ones that they’ve experienced.

Hinsdale South and Evergreen Park met up twice in eight days and while the Hornets got the better of the Mustangs on both occasions, both teams have a lot to be excited about as they prepare for what they both hope will be historic postseasons. 

A week after Hinsdale South beat Evergreen Park 39-23 in a mega duals in Evergreen Park to hand the Mustangs their first defeat in 23 dual meets, the teams met in a tournament level on Saturday at Lisle Senior’s Steve Melichar Memorial Tournament and again the Hornets prevailed, taking top honors in the 12-team competition with 205.5 points while Evergreen Park beat out Glenbard East 169.5-164 to claim second place. Streamwood (76), Argo (60), Lisle Senior (52), Northridge Prep (51) and Westmont (45) were next in line.

Both Hinsdale South and Evergreen Park are ranked in Illinois Matmen’s top 25 for Class 2A with the Hornets 22nd and the Mustangs 23rd. 

Leading the way for coach Steve Matozzi’s champion Hornets were title winners Andrew Musil (150), Ben Miller (157), Jovani Piazza (175) and Alec Miller (190) while Al Amir Almannai (138), Darrion Glover (165), Andrew Miller (215) and Gavin Slaughter (285) took second place as the squad split their eight championship matches, which featured the three Miller brothers all competing on the title mat.

Placing third for Hinsdale South were Jamarion Moffett (106) and Mikey Wallace (113) while Mario Lagunas (120) took fourth place with Noah Koeller (126) and Apollo Cobb (132) filling out the 13-man lineup for the Hornets, who also captured a championship at their own Matozzi Invite on December 6 and placed sixth at Lakes Community’s DeRousse and Palatine’s Berman in addition to competing at Hinsdale Central’s Whitlatch.

“We also had big performances from Darrio Glover at 165 and Gavin Slaughter at heavyweight,” Hornets assistant coach Tony Poro said. “It was nice to have them in the finals, they kind of gave us an extra boost. And we had a good performance from freshman Ben Miller at 157, too. There’s great friendships with all of these guys and even our younger guys, they’re feeling welcome all of the time.”

Top performers for coach Ron Zimmerman’s runner-up Mustangs were champions Chance Woods (126), Ashton Gray (138), David Johnson (144) and Eduardo Antunez (215) while Johan Bonilla (113) and Genesis Ward (190) took second place. Angel Ramirez (120), Adrian Cervantes (132) and Gerald O’Hare (285) took third while Andrew Viravec (165) placed fourth. Woods was the recipient of the Melichar Memorial Tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler Award.

This was the third time that Evergreen Park finished first or second in a tournament. It also won a title on December 9, Pontiac’s Munch, and it placed second at Rich Township one week later.

“I’m super proud,” Zimmerman said. “This is our sixth or seventh year here and we’ve had back-to-back second places and hopefully we close some ground on these guys next year. They’ve got a tough team. We’re not making excuses, but we were missing a starter today. Regardless, our guys battled the best that they could and I’m super proud of my guys. Four champs, a couple of runners-up and some thirds so I thought we had a great final round. We want some momentum going into the tournament season, conference and regionals. And just to keep the lineup strong, that’s the key right now. Be healthy and strong going into the regionals.”

Coach Don Pool’s Glenbard East Rams finished strong in the medal round to just fall short of second place. Winning titles for Glenbard East were Waleed Binmahfooz (113), Ismael Chaidez (120) and Cooper Conliss (285) while Lorenz Rios Loud (106) took second, Jesus Chaidez (138), Donte Hudson (150), Leo Mundinger (157), Aaron Dotson (165) and Gus Winkler (215) placed third and Orlando Hoye (175) finished fourth.

“I am proud of the way our kids wrestled,” Pool said. “This tournament was our last preparation for the Upstate 8 Conference tournament. I think our kids are focusing on getting better every day and it showed during this tournament. A lot of guys battled back and got third and fourth after taking tough losses. This is something we need to carry over to the conference tournament.

“Waleed and Ismael have been great all year. They are doing some of their best wrestling. Cooper Conliss has been wrestling so much better the last few weeks, taking second place at Geneva and first this weekend at Lisle.”

Turning in the best finishes for coach Bill Peach’s Streamwood Sabres were title winner Uli Rojas (132), runner-up Juan Cortez (144), third-place finishers Gabe Inorio (175) and Jace Wolf (190) as well as Luis Martinez (113), who finished fourth.

Coach Matthew McMurray’s Argo Argonauts were led by runner-up Carlos Gutierrez (132) as well as fourth-place finishers Kevin Bustillos (138), Darell Ortiz (157) and Jacob Fries (190).

Leading the host Lisle Senior Lions, who are coached by Brandon Wolak, were second-place finishers Alexander Ferari (120) and David Skonieczny (157) while Adam Drake (132) and Ramon Ortega (285) finished in fourth place.

Northridge Prep’s Knights, who are coached by Joseph Rhee, got a title win from Jon Suter (165) while Adam Haddad (175) took second and George McShane (144) placed fourth.

Aurora Central Catholic’s Chargers, coached by Josh McCarty, only had four participants but got a championship from Vince Hefke (106) and a third from Matt Gaylor (126).

The Westmont Sentinels received a third-place finish from Mission Hatchell (144) while Christian Rosa (126), Sean Patterson (150) and Rafael Castrejon-Tello (215) all took fourth.

Coach Denis Laughlin’s Nazareth Academy Roadrunners were led by runner-up Ben Lukes (150) and fourth-place finisher Alek Ramos (106).

Leading the way for coach Tim Eberhard’s Walther Christian Academy Broncos was runner-up Caleb Peterson (126).

In some of the closest title matches, Ashton Gray edged Al Amir Almannai 3-2 at 138, Alec Miller prevailed 1-0 over Genesis Ward at 190, David Johnson got past Juan Cortez 7-5 at 144, Uli Rojas won 11-8 over Carlos Gutierrez at 132 and Ismael Chaidez was a 10-6 victor over Alexander Ferari at 120.

Top records following the tournament included Eduardo Antunez at 215 (28-1, .966), David Johnson at 144 (30-2, .938), Chance Woods at 126 (27-2, .931), Jon Suter at 165 (25-2, .926), Ismael Chaidez at 120 (27-3, .900), Vince Hefke at 106 (16-2, .889), Genesis Ward at 190 (27-4, .871), Johan Bonilla at 113 (19-3, .864), Jovani Piazza at 175 (22-4, .846), Waleed Binmahfooz at 113 (27-5, .844), Alexander Ferari at 120 (21-4, .840), Adam Haddad at 175 (21-4, .840), Gerald O’Hare at 285 (21-4, .840), Andrew Musil at 150 (25-5, .833), Angel Ramirez at 120 (17-4, .810), Alec Miller at 190 (23-6, .793), Jace Wolf at 190 (19-5, .792), Gabe Inorio at 175 (7-2, .778) and Kevin Bustillos at 138 (21-7, .750).

There was a six-way tie for the most team points with 24 between Waleed Binmahfooz, Ben Miller, Andrew Musil, Jovani Piazza, Jon Suter and Chance Woods. Vince Hefke scored 23 points while Eduardo Antunez, Ismael Chaidez, Cooper Conliss and Alec Miller tied for eighth with 22 team points.

Donte Hudson had the most total match points with 45 while Mikey Wallace was next-best with 36 points. Nine individuals recorded three falls with Kevin Bustillos needing just 4:22 to achieve that feat. Jacob Fries and Donte Hudson made up six spots from their seeds to their finish.

Champion Hinsdale South recorded the most falls with 24 while Glenbard East was next with 17 and Evergreen Park had 15 pins. Evergreen Park had the most total match points with 225 while Glenbard East was second with 213 and Hinsdale South third with 177 points.

Although the top three finishers in the tournament have enjoyed a good deal of success and all had Hall of Fame coaches, only one of them has ever qualified for the IHSA Dual Team Finals, Evergreen Park, which advanced to the Class A Finals in 1993 and lost in the quarterfinals. 

Hinsdale South enjoyed a great run of success under Mike Matozzi, who was hand as an official at the tournament. The 2011 IWCOA Hall of Fame Inductee, 2013 IWCOA Person of the Year and 2020 Grand Marshall who also served as the IWCOA’s President in 2012-2013, coached in the Hornets program for 33 years, which included 25 seasons as their head coach, during which time the program won 390 dual meets.

Evergreen Park’s program was led early on by 1977 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee and 2002 National Wrestling Hall of Fame Lifetime Service Award recipient John George for 20 years and Mike Kladis led the Mustangs to six-straight regional titles, including their lone Dual Team appearance in 1993, during the 1990’s. 

Glenbard East was led for over 20 years by 2018 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee Kevin Carlson, who won the school’s lone IHSA championship in 1981. During his coaching tenure the had eight-straight 20-win seasons and won their only regional title in 2010. The school also had a long run of not only hosting the Al Dvorak Memorial Tournament, which was named in honor of a Glenbard East wrestler, but also in helping to establish it as one of Illinois’ top tournaments.

But having individuals win medals at state has been a challenge considering the difficult postseason paths that each of the programs have had to face throughout the years.

Evergreen Park had 18 individuals who won medals from 1960 when Bob Griffith won the school’s first title and 1982 IWCOA Hall of Famer and 2002 National Wrestling Hall of Fame Lifetime Service Award recipient Tom Heniff took third through 1996 when Dan McNulty placed fourth. The Mustangs are hopeful that the long drought might finally end this season.

Fourteen individuals from Hinsdale South have been IHSA medalists since 1975 when Andy Bazan was a state runner-up. The last time that a Hornet reached the awards stand in Champaign was in 2016 when Joshua King won his second-straight state championship.

Glenbard East has had 15 individuals win medals since 1966 when Mike Hemmerich was a state runner-up. That includes its recent coaches, Carlson a state champion in 1981, and Pool, a runner-up in 1996. It’s been a few years since any Rams have won a medal at the IHSA Finals, with D’Andre Johnson being the last to do so when he took fifth in 2015.

Tournament champions Vince Hefke, Uli Rojas and Jon Suter have a little extra motivation knowing that Aurora Central Catholic has had just five medal winners with the last in 2014, Streamwood had one medalist in 2007 and Northridge Prep hasn’t had any medal winners.

As for dual team prospects in Class 2A, Hinsdale South will be in the Lemont Regional along with the hosts, Providence Catholic and St. Laurence. And Evergreen Park hosts a regional that includes teams such as Brother Rice and St. Rita. The Hornets lost their first dual meet of the season to Downers Grove South and haven’t lost since then. And the Mustangs owned a 22-1 record heading into this past week with a win over Lemont being among the highlights.

The winners of those two regionals meet up with the champions at the Oak Forest and Riverside-Brookfield regionals at the Brother Rice Dual Team Sectional to determine which two teams will advance to the IHSA Finals in Bloomington.

The host Lions are the school in the tournament with both the most individual medalists with 30 and Dual Team Finals appearance with three, which featured fourth place finishes in Class A in 2006 for coach John Ruettiger, an IWCOA Hall of Famer, and in 2008 for coach John Davis.

The Steve Melichar Tournament is named in honor of Lisle Senior wrestler Steve Melichar, who died as the result of being hit by a car in 1986 when was 16 years old.

Here’s a look at the champions and their weight classes at Lisle Senior’s Steve Melichar Memorial Tournament:

106 – Vince Hefke, Aurora Central Catholic

Aurora Central Catholic and Mooseheart had the smallest teams that competed in Lisle Senior’s Steve Melichar Invitational, with just four individuals apiece, but that didn’t mean that ACC walked away from the event without winning any significant medals. In fact, coach Josh McCarty’s Chargers had two finishers in the top three with Vince Hefke taking first at 106 and Matt Gaylor placing third at 126. Hefke (16-2), a junior who won a match at the rugged Class 1A Oregon Sectional last season, captured an 11-0 major decision over Glenbard East’s Lorenz 

Rios Loud in the 106 championship match. Hefke won his first two matches with quick falls, including in 1:03 over Evergreen Park sophomore Brayden Mateja-Bates in the semifinals.

“We just have to keep pushing at practice and working hard and keep the tempo up and we strive to keep it going no matter what,” Hefke said. “There’s just four, we’re four-strong. And I wrestle my coach (Josh McCarty) a lot too, and he’s got me a lot better this year. He knows what he’s doing. He wrestled ast Byron and coached at Sandwich for a long time. I’ve really taken that step forward this year and we’re going to keep it going and we’re not stopping it, until I get stopped, I just don’t plan on that. It’s all about individual state, so that’s the end goal, obviously winning state is the goal for me and we’re going to try to make that happen. I just go to practice every day and keep the tempo up. And conditioning is a big thing and I feel good after every match. And I lift a lot of weights and work at getting stronger. And I love pull ups.”

Lorenz Rios Loud (13-6), a freshman, became one of four finalists for the Rams after he won a 5-2 decision over Nazareth Academy freshman Alek Ramos in the semifinals. Hinsdale South sophomore Jamarion Moffett (19-10) bounced back from a quarterfinals defeat with three victories in the wrestlebacks and took third place with a 3-0 decision over Ramos (19-10).

113 – Waleed Binmahfooz, Glenbard East

After winning 31 matches a year ago but getting eliminated in the Class 3A Hinsdale Central Sectional, Waleed Binmahfooz has much bigger plans for this season and the Glenbard East senior is definitely moving in a positive direction toward those goals after following up on a title at Geneva’s Newbill Invite with a Melichar Tournament title at 113. He improved to 27-5 after recording a fall in 3:19 over Evergreen Park’s Johan Bonilla in the championship match. Binmahfooz, who was one of three champions and four finalists for the Rams, opened with a pair of falls, including one in 1:53 over Hinsdale South’s Mikey Wallace in the semifinals.

“I think that a lot of guys at our lower weights are very focused on this sport specifically and they want to see that success,” Binmahfooz said. “We’ve been putting in the work throughout the offseason, too. Ish has been my practice partner in the room and in the offseason, as well, and it’s very competitive. Last year we had a little bit of a rough year but this year we’re bouncing back, we’re looking a lot tougher and I like to see that improvement, Obviously winning is great and seeing your partners and yourself win. So being able to compete and actually win is a great thing. I think the quality that I like about us is that we’re really tough. We don’t give in when things are looking bad because we’ve been through bad situations and we persevere through it. We always fight back and we stick together.”

Johan Bonilla (19-3), a senior who went 28-14 last season and was one of Evergreen Park’s four IHSA Class 2A state qualifiers, recorded a fall in 0:51 over Nazareth Academy’s Charlie Dvorak in the semifinals, which was his only other match in the tournament. Junior Mikey Wallace (23-11), who went 19-9 last season and qualified for the IHSA Class 2A Finals, became one of the 10 individuals from the champion Hornets who finished third or better when he recorded a fall in 3:26 over Streamwood freshman Luis Martinez in the third-place match.

120 – Ismael Chaidez, Glenbard East

Ismael Chaidez followed in the footsteps of teammate Waleed Binmahfooz and became one of the three champions for Glenbard East when he captured a 10-6 decision over Lisle Senior’s Alexander Ferari in the 120 championship match. Chaidez (27-3), a sophomore who went 31-12 last season and fell a bit short of qualifying from the Class 3A Hinsdale Central Sectional, like Binmahfooz, also added to a Newbill Invite title from one week earlier. He earned his spot on the 120 title mat with a fall in 1:33 over Hinsdale South’s Mario Lagunas in the semifinals.

“I have really strong hips and we all work hips in the Glenbard East room,” Chaidez said. “Hips are a big thing, especially for Waleed, he teaches me a lot. We all came out strong and we were trying to push today. At first we came in with the idea of winning and we found some tough opponents, but we’re still coming through. I feel like we all come together and we all support each other. We’re all just a big family. My coaches always push us and they’re like family. It’s always tough with back-to-back tough teams, but I feel like we’re always up for the battle.”

Alexander Ferari (21-4), a sophomore who was one of two finalists for the host Lions, reached the 120 title match after capturing a 6-4 decision over Evergreen Park’s Angel Ramirez in the semifinals. A year ago, Ferari went 30-10 but he like many others, came up a bit short in his efforts to advance out of the Class 1A Oregon Sectional. The two semifinal losers bounced back with victories to meet up in the third-place match and Mustangs junior Angel Ramirez (17-4) won by fall in 1:35 over Hornets freshman Mario Lagunas.

126 – Chance Woods, Evergreen Park

Not only was Chance Woods one of the six finalists and four champions for coach Ron Zimmerman’s runner-up Evergreen Park Mustangs at Lisle Senior’s Steve Melichar Memorial Tournament, he also was the recipient of the event’s Outstanding Wrestler Award after claiming the championship at 126 with a fall in 2:54 over Walther Christian Academy’s Caleb Peterson. Woods (27-2), a sophomore, earned his spot on the title mat after recording a fall in 2:58 over Mooseheart junior Jaime Briceno in the semifinals. Last season, Woods made an impressive debut for the Mustangs by going 31-12 and qualifying for the IHSA Class 2A Finals.

“We’ve been training pretty hard and the fact is that we’re trying to hone in our moves,” Woods said. “I think we could be a little higher, but right now, we’re doing pretty good. We beat Lemont at the beginning of the year and I think that was the first time we beat them in over five years. They (the coaches) want us to hone in on our one and two moves and just being really focused on good positioning. And they’re pushing us pretty hard, too. I think that we all push each other. If someone is down, we’re like, ‘come on, let’s go’. If you’re running slow, you’ve got to run faster, and I think we do a pretty good job on that. We’re winning and we’re having fun doing it.”

Caleb Peterson (17-6), a junior and the lone medalist for coach Tim Eberhard’s Walther Christian Academy Broncos, only needed nine seconds to record a fall in the 126 semifinals over Aurora Central Catholic’s Matt Gaylor. Last season, Peterson went 32-13 and fell one win shy of advancing to the IHSA Class 1A Finals from the Coal City Sectional. Gaylor responded to his quick semifinals loss to capture a 6-5 decision over Westmont junior Christian Rosa (11-9) for third place. The pair also met in the quarterfinals with Gaylor winning 11-9 by sudden victory.

132 – Uli Rojas, Streamwood

Uli Rojas is quick to admit that he probably didn’t deserve to be brought up to the Streamwood varsity when he was a sophomore. But as the Sabres senior reflects back on some of the tough losses that he took, it seems to have paid off for him after he was able to stand on top of the awards stand with a bracket board for the first time in his varsity career as the result of his 11-8 decision over Argo’s Carlos Gutierrez in the 132 title match. Rojas (13-5), one of two finalists and the lone champion for coach Bill Peach’s Sabres, reached the finals with two decisions, with the last of those a 7-2 win over Evergreen Park’s Adrian Cervantes in the semifinals.

“It was very tough,” Rojas said. “I was so tired, all I was thinking about was the win and I didn’t know if I could do it but I pulled through. This was my first ever first-place win. It’s my last year so I feel like it’s a good achievement, this is what I’ve wanted since my freshman year. I was always looking at the seniors getting first place and now it’s finally happened. Last year there were probably about 30 kids and this year we have 70 or 80, so there’s a lot of kids and we have a girls team, so that’s good. From when I started, I was so bad. They put me on varsity my sophomore year but I don’t think I was ready for it and I lost a lot but I learned a lot, too.”

Sophomore Carlos Gutierrez (12-11), who entered the competition with a 10-10 record, was the lone finalist and one of four medal winners for coach Matthew McMurray’s Argonauts. After opening with a major decision, Gutierrez won a 10-5 decision over Lisle Senior’s Adam Drake in the semifinals. The two individuals who lost in the semifinals met for third place and Mustangs sophomore Cervantes (20-7) won by fall in 4:33 over Lisle Senior freshman Drake (15-7).

138 – Ashton Gray, Evergreen Park

While many of his Evergreen Park teammates competed in the regional and some of those advanced to the Hinsdale South Sectional and then on to Champaign a year ago, Ashton Gray hopes that he can be a part of this year’s postseason team that not only wants to get individuals through the sectional and back to state, but the Mustangs would like to be in the mix among those that are vying for spots in the IHSA Dual Team Finals, something the program did just once, in 1993. Gray (21-10), a junior, did his part on Saturday as he was one of his team’s four champions after edging Hinsdale South’s Al Amir Almannai 3-2 in the 138 title match. Gray opened with a fall and  won a 10-5 decision over Westmont’s Joseph Salerno in the semifinals.

“I met the guy from Hinsdale South at our home mega dual and I won that match,” Gray said. “They’ve been great competition for us and there were a lot of tough matches today. In my second match, I got elbowed in the mouth and started to bleed. So I just had to wrestle smart and just listen to my coaches. I trust them when I go on the mat and one of them wrestled DI at Purdue. Our main goal this season is that we want to get to super Tuesday and we want to win team state. We believe that we have the firepower this year. I would definitely say that it’s our bonds together outside of the practice room. After multiple meets, we’ve got out and had team meals and it’s about building that family sense because it truly does strengthen you. It feels great to be a part of this and I hope that even after I graduate that we keep getting better.”

Al Amir Almannai (14-10) was one of eight Hornets who advanced to the title mat and just missed being a title winner in the competition. He reached the finals with a fall in 1:06 over Glenbard East’s Jesus Chaidez in the semifinals. A year ago he qualified for the sectional at his school. In the third-place match at 138, Glenbard East’s Chavez (16-16), a senior, won a 12-2 major decision over Argo senior Kevin Bustillos (21-7) in a rematch of the quarterfinals match, which Chaidez also won with a 12-2 major decision.

144 – David Johnson, Evergreen Park

One year ago, David Johnson was one of 12 Mustangs who qualified for the Class 2A Hinsdale South Sectional and finished 28-13. Now he and the other six individuals who were sectional qualifiers look for even better success there as Evergreen Park hopes to have more than four individuals advance to the IHSA Finals. Johnson (30-2) already has more wins than he had last season after getting past Streamwood’s Juan Cortez 7-5 in the 144 title match. Opening with a fall, he captured a 7-6 decision in the semifinals over Lisle Senior’s Johnny Consuegra Lopez.

“We just work hard and keep going,” Johnson said. “We listen to the coaches and trust the coaches. They’re really passionate about what they do and we just feed off of that. Whatever they do and whatever they say, that’s what we do. This year we’ve had a lot of first-place winners. (Placing at state) That should be a goal for me and a lot of other guys. I really do like our coaches because of how passionate about the sport they are and how they trust us and how they want us to succeed.”

Juan Cortez (16-6),  a junior who was one of two finalists and five medalists for Streamwood, won a pair of decisions to reach the 144 title match, with the second of those being an 11-5 win over Nazareth Academy’s Andrew Fowler in the semifinals. In the third-place match, Westmont junior Mission Hatchell (15-11) won a 10-5 decision over Northridge Prep sophomore George McShane (17-9). Hatchell lost to Johnson in the quarterfinals and then got two pins to reach the third-place mat. McShane lost to Cortez in the quarterfinals and also won his next two matches, edging Lisle Senior freshman Johnny Consuegra Lopez 6-5 to get to the third-place match.

150 – Andrew Musil, Hinsdale South

After going 32-9 last season but falling one shy win shy of a trip to the IHSA Class 2A Finals at his own sectional, Andrew Musil hopes to cap his senior season at Hinsdale South by being a state qualifier and faring well in Champaign. He’s off to a 25-5 start and was one of the four title winners and eight finalists for the champion Hornets after capturing the 150 title with a fall in 3:05 over Nazareth Academy’s Ben Lukes. Musil won first-period falls in his other two matches, recording a pin in 1:54 in the semifinals over Argo’s Diego Reynoso.

“It was an excellent tournament,” Musil said. “We’re a very tight-knit team and we act like a family. I was across the room, screaming for my teammate, we grew up together and we’ve been wrestling since fifth grade at Eisenhower. I feel what makes a good team into a great team is when you have those outside of the mat room relationships if you grew up together or you just know the guys. I love my coaches. Mister Matozzi has been working here forever and he knows his stuff and a strong thing that he does well is that he disciplines us and that he makes us who we are today. This is a lot of our senior years so I’m super excited to see how our season turns out.”

Ben Lukes (17-7), a sophomore who was the lone finalist and one of two medal winners for Nazareth Academy, won two decisions to advance to the 150 finals, claiming a 10-3 win over Streamwood senior Noah Rodriguez in the semifinals. Glenbard East’s Donte Hudson (9-19) and Westmont junior Sean Patterson (14-10) took long routes to the third-place match, where Hudson won a 10-2 major decision. Hudson lost his opener to Rodriguez and then won his next four matches while Patterson lost to Rodriguez in the quarterfinals and then won his next two matches, edging Argo’s Diego Reynoso to reach the third-place match.

157 – Ben Miller, Hinsdale South

It’s not very often that you see three brothers who are competing on the same team, but that’s the case for Hinsdale South’s Alec, Andrew and Ben Miller. And it’s especially unusual to see three brothers competing on the title mat in the same event, but that’s also what happened at Lisle Senior’s Steve Melichar Memorial Tournament when all three Millers made the finals and freshman Ben and senior Alec won titles while senior Andrew took second. Ben Miller improved to 20-9 after recording a fall in 2:59 over Lisle Senior’s David Skonieczny in the 157 finals. The freshman advanced with two falls, including in 1:44 in the semifinals over Argo’s Darell Ortiz.

“I have five other brothers, so that’s six in total,” Ben Miller said. “It’s fun because I get to wrestle them some times and they’re both going for first now. We have a lot of seniors and four people who went to state last year. We all have fellowship and we all get along. And we’re all good wrestlers.”

David Skonieczny (19-10), a sophomore, was one of the two finalists and four medal winners for coach Brandon Wolak’s Lions. Despite the inclement weather, Lisle Senior was able to hold its annual tournament that’s named for a former Lisle wrestler who died in 1986 at the age of 16 shortly after being hit by a car. Skonieczny won his only other match, in the semifinals, when he recorded a fall in 1:07 over Streamwood’s Jeff Li. In the third-place match, Glenbard East’s Leo Mundinger (14-11) won by fall in 1:32 over Argo’s Darell Ortiz, in a rematch of the quarterfinals where Ortiz won with a pin in 1:14. Mundinger responded by winning his final three matches.

165 – Jon Suter, Northridge Prep

Jon Suter went 20-4 a year ago and came close to advancing out of the Class 1A Coal City Sectional, but instead suffered half of his losses in that competition. Now as a senior, he hopes not only to advance to the IHSA Class 1A Finals and do something that no one at Northridge Prep has ever done in the sport, and that is to be a state medalist. He’s already surpassed last season’s win total and improved to 25-2 after winning by fall in 3:31 over Hinsdale South’s 

Darrion Glover in the 165 title match. One of two finalists and three medalists for coach Joseph Rhee’s Knights, Suter won by fall in 4:37 over Glenbard East’s Aaron Dotson in the semifinals.

“Last year was my real competition,” Suter said. “Two years before that it was COVID and then the second year I was JV because I switched schools. I was happy with my performance tonight. I couldn’t say that about several other tournaments that I’ve been to, so it does feel good. We started our program about six years ago and I joined in my sophomore year. It’s run by one family, the Kopeckys, he’s our coach right now, Bill Kopecky, and his nephew was the team captain for four years in a row. We’ve been growing this program very well and I’m hoping that we’re going to do good next year. It’s the culture there because it’s a real small school. You’re real close with all of your teachers and all of the teachers are really interesting people. And our wrestling, all it’s about is our coaches are trying to teach us about how to be men. I’m so impressed with my coaches.”

Darrion Glover (13-11), a junior who was one of eight finalists for the champion Hornets, recorded two falls to reach the 165 title mat, winning in the semifinals with a pin in 1:35 over Evergreen Park senior Andrew Viravec. The two individuals who lost in the semifinals met for third and Glenbard East’s Aaron Dotson (14-16) won by fall in 3:25 over Viravec (21-11).

175 – Jovani Piazza, Hinsdale South

Jovani Piazza has enjoyed a very impressive run of tournament success this season and the Hinsdale South senior hopes to continue that into the postseason. He won his second title at Lisle’s Steve Melichar Tournament and has been in the top-three in all five of his tournaments and reached the title mat four times. He improved to 22-4 after winning the title at 175 with a fall in 5:38 over Northridge Prep’s Adam Haddad. He became one of the champion Hornets’ eight finalists when he got his second of three pins, a fall in 2:00 over Streamwood’s Gabe Inorio. After going 28-5 last season and qualifying for the IHSA Class 2A Finals, he hopes along with many of his teammates that one of them will become the program’s first medalist since 2016.

“Wrestling 3A schools helps so much more than just wrestling 2A schools,” Piazza said. “We have a really good team. And it helps a lot when you see the rest of your team win, because then you have to win. We started young and half of our starters are from our middle school, Eisenhower Middle School. And every day is a hard practice with them. All of our coaches are great. Coach (Steve) Matozzi has been here for a long time and we have two new coaches who are great, coach (Tony) Poro has been here for three years and I feel that he’s a great coach. We give it all for the entire match.”

Adam Haddad (21-4) was one of two finalists for Northridge Prep. The Knights junior went 22-9  last year and fell one shy of advancing from the Class 1A Coal City Sectional. He’s hoping the he and 165-pound title winner Jon Suter can advance to the state finals and try to become the first individuals from the Niles school to earn a medal in Champaign. Haddad earned his spot in the 175 finals with a fall in 1:30 over Argo’s Joe Nieto. In the third-place match, Streamwood junior Gabe Inorio (7-2) recorded a fall in 4:43 over Glenbard East’s Orlando Hoye.

190 – Alec Miller, Hinsdale South

Alec Miller joined his brother Ben (157) as a champion at Lisle’ Steve Melichar Tournament after edging Evergreen Park’s Genesis Ward 1-0 in the 190 finals. But the family missed out on having three brothers win titles when Andrew Miller fell at 215. Despite that, Alec Miller (23-6) had a lot to be excited about after his Hornets won four titles and had eight finalists to easily win the team title. The Hinsdale South senior, who advanced to the 190 title mat with a fall in 1:59 over Streamwood’s Jace Woods, went 27-11 last year and qualified for the IHSA Class 2A Finals. He not only hopes to challenge for a state medal, but also will do his best to try to help the Hornets’ program earn a trip to the IHSA Dual Team Finals for the first time in its history.

“I’m a twin and he’s a triplet,” Alec Miller said of brothers Andrew and Ben. “So having three of us in the finals was really cool. We’re hoping that there’s a lot to look forward to. We want to win regionals, and we have a good shot at winning regionals. Ninety percent of our team comes from the same middle school, Eisenhower. It’s amazing and it’s really good to know your guys before high school. All three of our team captains won titles.”

Like Alec Miller, Genesis Ward (27-4) is very excited about how things are going for his team, Evergreen Park. He earned his spot as one of the Mustangs’ six finalists after getting a fall in 4:37 in the semifinals over Argo’s Jacob Fries. Ward, a junior, came up a bit short of qualifying from the Class 2A Hinsdale South Sectional last season, so he’d naturally like to not only get to Champaign but also help his team to earn a spot to the IHSA Dual Team Finals, something that Evergreen Park has only done once before, in 1993. In the third-place match, Streamwood junior Jace Wolf (19-5) won by fall in 4:57 over Argo senior Jacob Fries (16-12).

215 – Eduardo Antunez, Evergreen Park

Eduardo Antunez hopes that the third time’s the charm for him as far as IHSA Class 2A Finals appearances are concerned. The two-time state qualifier from Evergreen Park looks to cap his senior season with some victories in Champaign after winning once in first two trips. Antunez went 33-11 last year and is now 28-1, with his lone loss coming when he had bronchitis, after his fall in 3:13 over Hinsdale South’s Andrew Miller in the 215 finals. He advanced to that match with a 13-4 win over Glenbard East’s Gus Winkler. This was his second title with the other at Pontiac. Beside hoping to become his school’s first IHSA medalist since 1996, he’d like to see the Mustangs make their first IHSA Dual Team Finals appearance since their lone trip in 1993.

‘Since I was a sophomore, I’ve been starting on varsity and each year it’s just progressively gotten better and I can say confidently that this is our best year,” Antunez said. “We’re 22-1 right now in duals. Definitely it’s been conditioning and offseason wrestling. This year I went ahead and did Beat the Streets in the spring. It put me into wrestling shape, and I feel that’s one thing I feel I’ve gotten out of due to track and field. I like our chemistry. We’re very honest with each other. We can tell each other to improve upon and to not to do next time. That helps a lot to hear from peers on how to improve.”

Andrew Miller (13-8) was hoping to join his brothers Alec (at 190) and Ben (at 157) as title winners but he’ll settle for being one of Hinsdale South’s eight finalists who helped their team to easily capture the championship of the Melichar Tournament, adding to an early season title at their own Matozzi Invite. He earned his trip to the 215 finals by recording a fall in 3:53 over Westmont sophomore Rafael Castrejon-Tello, who later would get pinned in 2:21 by Glenbard East’s Gus Winkler (20-12) in the third-place match.

285 – Cooper Conliss, Glenbard East

While early title wins by Waleed Binmahfooz and Ismael Chaidez might not have come as much of a surprise to Glenbard East supporters, Cooper Conliss’ championship in the late stages of the medal round may have caught some off guard since he entered the tournament with a 15-15 record. But it’s not how you start but how you finish and Conliss (18-15) is obviously feeling good about being one of the Rams’ three champions and helping his team to a third-place finish after getting a fall in 4:48 over Hinsdale South’s Gavin Slaughter in the 285 finals. He opened with a fall and then won 3-2 on an ultimate tiebreaker over Evergreen Park’s Gerald O’Hare.

“It’s extremely exciting seeing the hard work that I’ve had this season pay off, especially since I’m undersized and only 225 pounds,” Conliss said. “I think that’s what my biggest strength is, my athleticism and my speed. It’s a testament to my coaches, the work that we do with conditioning, it’s a tough practice but I think that gets me ready for tournaments. I think I’ve really improved this year. Toward the beginning of the year, I wasn’t as sound or as conditioned as I am now. And it’s a lot of fun to come out and compete and I like winning more than losing. I like our chemistry, it’s a lot of fun. No one is dreading  coming to practice and we like each other and that makes it easier to come and be excited and get ready to work and I think that’s our biggest strength as a team.”

Gavin Slaughter (12-10) typified the true team effort by the champion Hornets, who claimed top honors in Lisle Senior’s Steve Melichar Memorial Tournament by a 205.5-169.5 margin over Evergreen Park. The Hinsdale South junior, who reached the 285 title mat with a fall in 1:42 over Lisle Senior junior Ramon Ortega, was one of eight finalists and 11 individuals who finished fourth or better for coach Steve Matozzi’s Hornets, which should give them plenty of confidence as they prepare for the Class 2A Lemont Regional and its own Class 2A sectional in Darien. For third, Evergreen Park senior Gerald O’Hare (21-4) won by fall in 2:28 over Ortega. 

Title matches for Lisle Senior’s Steve Melichar Memorial Tournament

106 – Vince Hefke (Aurora Central Catholic) MD 11-0 Lorenz Rios Loud (Glenbard East)

113 – Waleed Binmahfooz (Glenbard East) F 3:19 Johan Bonilla (Evergreen Park)

120 – Ismael Chaidez (Glenbard East) D 10-6 Alexander Ferari (Lisle Senior)

126 – Chance Woods (Evergreen Park) F 2:54 Caleb Peterson (Walther Christian Academy)

132 – Uli Rojas (Streamwood) D 11-8 Carlos Gutierrez (Argo)

138 – Ashton Gray (Evergreen Park) D 3-2 Al Amir Almannai (Hinsdale South)

144 – David Johnson (Evergreen Park) D 7-5 Juan Cortez (Streamwood)

150 – Andrew Musil (Hinsdale South) F 3:05 Ben Lukes (Nazareth Academy)

157 – Ben Miller (Hinsdale South) F 2:59 David Skonieczny (Lisle Senior)

165 – Jon Suter (Northridge Prep) F 3:31 Darrion Glover (Hinsdale South)

175 – Jovani Piazza (Hinsdale South) F 5:38 Adam Haddad (Northridge Prep)

190 – Alec Miller (Hinsdale South) D 1-0 Genesis Ward (Evergreen Park)

215 – Eduardo Antunez (Evergreen Park) F 3:13 Andrew Miller (Hinsdale South)

285 – Cooper Conliss (Glenbard East) F 4:48 Gavin Slaughter (Hinsdale South)

Team scores for Lisle Senior’s Steve Melicar Memorial Tournament

1. Hinsdale South 205.5, 2. Evergreen Park 169.5, 3. Glenbard East 164, 4. Streamwood 76, 5. Argo 60, 6. Lisle Senior 52, 7. Northridge Prep 51, 8. Westmont 45, 9. Aurora Central Catholic 38, 10. Nazareth Academy 31, 11. Walther Christian Academy 23, 12. Mooseheart 8

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