Coal City rolls to second-straight Larry Gassen Dual Team title
By Curt Herron – for the IWCOA
DOWNERS GROVE – Last year, Coal City turned the tables at Downers Grove South’s Larry Gassen Dual Team Tournament by showing that not only was it possible for a Class 1A team to compete against a field where close to half the participants were Class 3A schools, but they could also win the title, as the Coalers did in 2024 with a 43-19 win over Downers Grove North.
While coach Mark Masters’ Coalers, the lone Class 1A team in this year’s 14-team event, won by an average of 27 points per dual meet a year ago, his current team improved upon that mark, winning each of their duals by an average of 40 points, which includes their 43-24 victory over Lincoln-Way East in the championship dual. Since Mahomet-Seymour and Normal Community were not able to make the trip to Downers Grove due to inclement weather in central Illinois, the two finalists competed in four duals while all but two others participated in five dual meets..
The Coalers, the defending Class 1A champions and title winners in that class in two of the last three seasons, have certainly demonstrated their willingness to go against any team regardless of the size of its school in order to better prepare for the postseason, as is evidenced by the fact that much of their regular season schedule in recent years have featured many schools that were much bigger than them. It’s clear that being in very competitive events like the Larry Gassen Dual Team Tournament has been one of the reasons for their continuing success.
The last 10 seasons have definitely been a memorable time at Coal City, considering that the program has finished third or better at the IHSA Dual Team Finals on eight occasions, with the highlights being its championships in 2025 and 2023, It fell just short of titles in 2024 and 2016 and also placed second in 2020 and 2019 and claimed third-place finishes in 2018 and 2015.
To put the Coalers’ success in recent years in a better perspective, during the past 10 seasons, the Coalers have placed in the top three of their class on eight occasions, winning trophies each time. Since the introduction of the Dual Team Series to determine which schools will be IHSA champions, there’s only been three other programs who have won trophies eight or more times during a 10-season span, Montini Catholic, Providence Catholic and Washington Community.
“It’s always about consistency with the coaching part,” said Masters, a 2022 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee. “You have a coaching staff that’s been together for a long time, and then when we have new guys come on in and we’ve added to our coaching staff, it’s at the best that it’s ever been right now. So we’ve got a combination of a couple guys that have been there for the last 15, 20 years. And the addition of Zach Berman really helped elevate that part and then just the additions that we had with our young guys coming on and our former athletes.
“The coach staff is good, has high expectations and the standards are pretty high, and the kids do a good job of holding themselves to those standards. We’ve had the right men in the right places at the right times in the development stage. So we’re just benefiting a lot by having a lot of really good guys in some spots. And then the guys that we have at the high school level, we do a great job at developing them mentally, you know, emotionally to fight through some of those things and those tough spots. And obviously just cleaning up some technique and you do it with every kid, but we do a really good job of refining those and developing kids.”
With both Coal City and Vandalia 1-2 by Illinois Best Weekly in the early going, there may well be a repeat of the classic dual meets between the Coalers and Vandals that happened last season when the Vandals prevailed at ABE’s Rumble and the Coalers avenged that defeat in the season’s final dual meet in Bloomington to secure their second IHSA championship.
The Coalers followed the invite wins over Morris, Bishop McNamara, Chicago Hope Academy and De La Salle Institute to improve to 19-0 and compete in four more dual meets on Tuesday at Mahomet-Seymour before pursuing their next dual meet tournament championship, when they try to reclaim the title at the 60-team ABE’s Rumble in Springfield on December 29-30.
“The he practice room is highly competitive,” Masters said. “And, you know, there’s that old saying, you know, there’s people who are humble and there are those who are about to be humbled. And that happens in our practice room. The senior class does a great job with that, and the coaches. The mantra is always want more. It’s never going to be good enough. Your effort will never be good enough. Hey, great, you won a state title, are you done? Or do you want more? And you’ve got to understand there’s a lot of sacrifice and discipline that goes in it.
And the other thing we always tell them is that you’ve got to be uncomfortable to grow. If everything’s comfortable, you’re just not getting any better. And a lot of times we push as hard as we push on certain days. But the kids understand that and they respond well.”
After graduating just three of last season’s 13 state qualifiers, the Coalers are understandably feeling very positive about the return of so many medal winners. They are Cooper Morris (2nd at 126), Brody Widlowski (2nd at 138), Aidan Kenney (4th at 144), Owen Petersen (5th at 113) and Cade Poyner (5th at 190). The other qualifiers that are back are Brock Finch, Mason Garner, Noah Houston, Luke Munsterman and Jason Piatak. Widlowski is a three-time medalist and two-time finalist while Morris and Petersen have both also won two medals at state.
“I think we’ve lived up to the excitement that everyone thought that we would be, and we performed at the top of our game, but there’s always improvements to be made, so I think we’re going to keep working at practice,” Finch said. “I have tough matches with all my teammates at practice so it trains us to stay ready and always wrestle like it’s your match. It feels amazing to be part of this team. I think we’re one of the best bonding teams in the state. We have fun wrestling. We work hard wrestling. We do everything good that a good team needs to do, and we just work hard. One of our coaches, Joe Widlowski, opened up a youth program, and we’ve all been wrestling since we were about five years old with each other. I’ve been working as hard as I can at practice, out of practice, during season and out of season. I just always try working as hard as I can to be better.”
Coal City
Coal City repeated as champions in the tournament with a 43-24 victory over Lincoln-Way East in the title dual meet after advancing to the finals with a 51-19 win over Glenwood in which they won the first nine matches. The Coalers only had two dual meets in pool competition and won 62-9 over Wauconda and 65-9 over Oak Forest. In both of those duals, they only lost two matches, and in each case, one of those setbacks was a close decision.
Top performers for the Coalers were Brock Finch (4-0 at 175), Mason Garner (4-0 at 165), Aidan Kenney (4-0 at 157), Cooper Morris (4-0 at 132), Owen Petersen (4-0 at 126), Max Christensen (3-0 at 144), Brody D’Orazio (3-1 at 190), Jake Munsterman (3-1 at 106/113), Luke Munsterman (3-1 at 138), Brody Widlowski (3-1 at 150) and Cade Poyner (2-1 at 215).
“I feel like our team did a good job just pushing pace all six minutes and the coaches just helped,” Kenney said. “It’s fun. We all grew up together with the Lil’ Coalers program. So just a lot of competition in the wrestling room and it’s fun growing up with these guys. Wrestling in freestyle and Greco season. And coach (Nick) O’Bert opened the gym up in the summer and I went on a couple days a week. (Likes about his team) Probably just that we’ve all grown up together and the friendship.”
Lincoln-way East
Lincoln-Way East was back in the finals for the first time since 2022, when it beat district Lincoln-Way West for the championship. The Griffins came in with a lot of momentum after going 5-0 and winning the championship of the 16-team Plainfield North Dual Team Tournament the previous weekend after capturing a 49-23 victory over Joliet West in the title dual meet.
Lincoln-Way East, which took fifth at last year’s Larry Gassen Tournament, beat Maine South 53-17 and Fremd 57-18 in its pool before winning 56-13 over Huntley in the semifinals.
Leading the way for the Griffins are Nathan Powers (4-0 at 120), Kaidge Richardson (4-0 at 150)
Gage LaDere (3-0 at 285), Omer Farhan (3-1 at 175), Max Mularz (3-1 at 157), Justin Powers (3-1 at 215), JT Theis (3-1 at 138) and Colton Zvonar (3-1 at 190). The team’s three returning state qualifiers are LaDere, Richardson and Zvonar.
In the championship dual, the teams exchanged victories as Morris opened with a 10-7 decision over Lucas Ankarlo at 132 and Theis evened it at 3-3 when he captured an 8-6 decision over Luke Munsterman.
There was another swap of victories, with this time the result being major decisions, as Christensen won 18-6 over James Tverdek at 144 and Richardson just missed getting a win by technical fall and settled for a 19-5 triumph over Widlowski to level it again at 7-7.
That’s when the Coalers responded with a stretch of three wins that featured two close decisions and a pin to help them move ahead by a 19-7 margin. Kenney broke open a tight match in the third period to get an 11-5 win over Mularz at 157 and then Garner rallied from an early 7-0 deficit to win 13-8 over Zachary Ankarlo and Finch then gave the Coalers a 12-point cushion with a pin in 1:44 over Farhan at 175.
“It’s a tough duel, so obviously I needed to win,” Garner said. “I was down big to start, just kept pushing the pace and wrestling my match and I ended up coming out on top. Just kept my wrestling, didn’t really worry about anything, just focused on me. Obviously we have a high profile knowing our accomplishments, but that doesn’t mean anything. We just keep wrestling how we wrestle and whatever happens, happens, really. It’s always fun getting what you deserve. After working hard all season, every season, it’s always fun coming out on top. (I like) The dedication and the hard work in the practice room. Push myself the hardest I can at practice, wrestling with the good opponents, and just really helping me and my teammates in practice. That’s all I can do.”
Zvonar answered for the Griffins with a win by technical fall over D’Orazio and after Poyner gave the Coalers a boost with a pin in 2:21 of Justin Powers, Lincoln-Way East narrowed the gap to 25-18 following a fall by LaDere over Payton Vigna at 285.
“You know, it didn’t end up maybe the way we wanted today, but I think especially with how much we lost last year, I feel like we lost a lot of seniors last year, but I feel like we’ve grown and we’ve got to get better and keep getting better, but I think we’re some steps in the right direction and just got to continue to be scrappy,” said Zvonar, whose dad, Rob, is the Griffins’ successful football coach. The 2023 Illinois High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame inductee, who has led the program since it began in 2001 and each season he has qualified his team for the IHSA playoffs, a feat that no other program in the state can equal.
“We’ve got seniors like Kaidge Richardson, Zach Ankarlo, Max Mularz, and Gage LaDere. But also we’ve got some young guys stepping up. And then a couple of guys from our junior class, myself, Nick Williams, and JT Theis, who’s had a great offseason coming in this year. I definitely think we’re trying to continue to head in the right direction.”
Coal City took control for good as Jake Munsterman got a fall in 3:26 over Timmy Lorimer and Ryder Gill added a pin in 1:35 over Salah Dajani at 113 to make it 37-19 with two matches left. The sides traded pins as Nathan Powers won by fall in 3:20 over Jason Piatak for the Griffins’ last win and Petersen wrapped things up for the Coalers with a pin in 3:25 over Nick Williams.
Collin McKillip is in his second season of leading the Griffins. He was the head coach at Grayslake North for 10 years before returning to the south suburbs. He won a state medal while competing for his dad, Don, a 2024 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee, while he was coaching at Marian Catholic.
Lincoln-Way East will be tested again in dual meets when it competes in DeKalb’s 32-team Flavin Invite, which like ABE’s Rumble, is also on December 29-30.
“I really thought we competed well,” McKillip said. “It’s really the first time we were tested kind of the whole day, so that was good for us. We start slow with football seasons that always go long, so I don’t schedule much at the beginning, and we get going here in the next couple weeks. And we really needed this to get some kids to go six minutes and wrestle against top-tier guys. And even in Class A, that doesn’t matter. You know, top-tier guys are top-tier guys.
“We replaced seven seniors from our starting lineup last year and we have a lot of first-time varsity starters and they’re seniors and you know they’ve bided their time and put in their work. Max Mularz at 157, is wrestling really tough. Omer Farhan is really wrestling up a weight at 175 and is just doing a nice job battling and competing. And then getting Gage back to wrestle heavyweight when he’s going to Northwestern to play football, that’s been huge for us, as well.
This group, they want to learn and they want to get better. They’ll sit down with us after matches and matches that went terribly wrong. What could I have done better? And matches that they win, they’re still, you know, maybe upset with the way they won because it wasn’t how they wanted to win. So wanting to improve will take them a long way.”
Glenwood
Glenwood used a run of eight-straight victories to defeat Huntley 50-18 in the third-place dual meet at the Larry Gassen Dual Team Tournament.
The Titans have a new coach this season as Nick Anthony takes over after serving in an assistant’s role for 13 years, most recently under Jerod Bruner, who led the program to four of its six appearances in the IHSA Class 2A Dual Team Finals that was highlighted by a school-best third-place finish in 2024. Also that season, Glenwood took second to Barrington in this event.
“Yeah, it’s an incredible tournament,” Anthony said. “All the duals are really competitive and we had a tough pool. Then we kind of got beat down by Coal City really good and they’re a great program. I was really happy to see how the kids responded, coming and wrestling a tough Huntley team after that. I’m really excited. We have a good group of seniors. We’re pretty tough all up and down the lineup. So, yeah, nowhere that I’m like, oh, this is a guaranteed loss. We’re in it every match. And looking like, for regionals, we have 14 kids, I think can get to sectionals. Then we have a lot of hammers that are going to score a lot of points.
“They’re just a fun group to be around. They work hard, they can stay focused, and they’ve stuck it out and developed. They weren’t great in middle school, but they’ve stuck with it, put in the work, and really come together. We have a great community and the parents are all in. Our middle school’s all in. And now we’re getting the youth program all in. We’ve got good people all across the board.”
The good news for Glenwood is that it also has a returning IHSA champion at 285, Cody Moss, who looks to do what only Drew Davis has accomplished before in 2022 and 2023, which is winning two state titles. The two of them are the lone boys state title winners for the school, and Drew’s sister Maya was also a state champion at the initial IHSA Girls Finals in 2022.
“We have great coaches, so we didn’t expect any less,” Moss said. “We’ve always been prepared for this moment, and we seized it. It’s tough practice every day. This week we had 5.30 a.m. practices, just getting our work in. I’m thankful our coaches get us up to those tough tournaments like DeKalb to get a good competition. We have a good team bond, and, like, we really were strengthened together by that, and I feel like it really helps us become better wrestlers in the room and outside of the room. (Being a state champion) it’s hard because everyone’s going to give you their best match, but I feel like I’ve just got to keep working and get it done. I’m just going to keep working with my trainer in the room, just get better each day and just go to work. We’ve got a lot of buddies on this team. We’re all like a tight bond.”
Top performers for the Titans were Pierce Bultmann (5-0 at 113), Cooper Clarke (5-0 at 106), Jaxon Ferguson (5-0 at 120), Cody Moss (5-0 at 285), Brody Commean (3-0 at 190) and Jullian Rammelkamp (4-1 at 165). Elijah Smith, AJ Williams, Clarke and Ferguson also qualified for state last season.
Glenwood, which will also be joining Lincoln-Way East at DeKalb’s Flavin Invite, beat Downers Grove South 40-21, Glenbrook South 37-23 and Crystal Lake Central 56-19 in its pool before falling to Coal City in the semifinals. The Titans took sixth in last year’s competition.
Huntley
Coach B.J. Bertelsman hopes that his Huntley Red Raiders can make another run at the IHSA Dual Team Finals, which they competed in for the first time in 2018 and took fourth place in 3A and then were back again in 2020 when his team only got to compete in one dual meet.
“It makes you feel good knowing that you’re at the right places,” Bertelsman said. “Half the kids were at the Marmion tournament the week before and both our placewinners missed the Marmion tournament since they were both coming off injury. Our kids’ records are 500 or around that, but that .500 is against a lot of good kids. A king without scars is a king of nothing. At Christmas break, we’ve got two mega duals at our place. We got a lot more wrestling to do, a lot more wrestling to do. (His team) it’s a good mix of seniors and freshmen. Like today I threw out three freshmen, four freshmen sometimes. You know, good senior leadership. Right now they’re all willing to wrestle up a weight. Until this week, and the Dvorak, they’re going to all get down, back to their weights. And then going forward, we’ll see. You could see today that sometimes the weight advantage got to them.”
Much of the enthusiasm is the result of having two returning IHSA Class 3A medalists, Radic Dvorak, who took fourth at 157, and Colin Abordo, who was sixth at 113. Both also placed highly at the Dan Gable Donnybrook in Coralville, Iowa. Dvorak was the runner-up to Mount Carmel’s Liam Kelly at 165 in the recent Donnybrook while Abordo took third place at 120.
“It was really cool to be wrestling in the arena,” Abordo said of the Donnybrook. “And obviously there’s some tough kids out there, so I was just happy to see how I did up against the kids there. Everyone had five matches, so I think everyone got better that weekend. Our team isn’t very experienced but everyone works super hard and wrestles tough matches and keeps it close when they have to so we wrestled really good. I actually got hurt in the offseason. I tore my ACL in April and then I just got back on the mat in November. I’m just hungry to be wrestling again. Just everyone has fun, and they go out there and wrestle super tough, and no one gives up, even if they’re less experienced or more experienced.”
Huntley beat Downers Grove North 38-28, Belleville West 59-18 and Geneseo 36-31 in its pool before running into Lincoln-Way East in the semifinals.
Top performers for the Red Raiders were Colin Abordo (5-0 at 126), Griffin Gunther (4-1 at 138), Colin Huminsky (4-1 at 144) and Gavin Nischke (4-1 at 150/157).
In the third-place dual meet, Huntley grabbed a 13-8 lead through the first five matches but then Glenwood got on a roll and won eight straight to help it capture a 50-18 victory.
Williams won by technical fall over Julien Gutierrez at 132 to give Glenwood the early edge but Huntley answered with two major decisions, one by a 15-4 score for Gunther over Eli Britton and the other 15-7 with Huminsky beating Finnley Try to give Huntley an 8-5 lead.
Braden Monahan won a 7-4 decision over Matthew Keaty at 150 tie things again before the Red Raiders took their final lead at 13-8 when Nischke won by technical fall over Pierce Helm.
That’s when Glenwood changed the dynamics completely, beginning with Rammelkamp getting a 13-2 major decision over Alexander Vega at 165 and Smith following with an 11-2 major decision over Dvorak to put the Titans back in front for good at 16-13.
Commean won by fall in 1:33 over Waylon Theobald at 190, Mason Streb got a pin in 5:42 over Max Dziamidau and then Moss recorded a fall in just 15 seconds over Ryan Trejo to turn a three-point lead into a 21-point cushion at 34-13.
Clarke followed with a win by technical fall over Noah Gutierrez at 106 and Bultmann added another tech fall right after that over Anthony Pharis and then Glenwood completed its run with a pin in 1:00 from Ferguson over Logan Drews before Huntlley closed the meet with Abordo getting a victory by technical fall over Jake Tuxhorn.
Downers Grove South
The host Mustangs went 4-1 on the day after dropping their opener to Glenwood 40-21. After that, they beat Crystal Lake Central 45-21 and Glenbrook South 48-16 to move into the fifth-place bracket. There they won 45-33 over Oak Forest and then closed out their successful day with a 39-28 victory over Maine South in the fifth-place meet.
Downers Grove South coach Zach Holtzman is in his second season leading the program after serving as an assistant to Sean Lovelace. After competing at Elmhurst University, he joined his college assistant, Jake Oster, and assisted him at Yorkville before moving to his current school. He’s proud to be the host coach of one of the top dual tournaments of its size in the state and feels that it is a fitting tribute to Larry Gassen, who was recognized in 2007 with a Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame – Illinois Chapter for not only developing the Mustangs’ program, but also serving in many different roles with the IWCOA and also assisting the IHSA at both the Individual and Dual Team State Finals.
“It’s a super proud tradition that we have here at Downers Grove South High School and it’s a great way to honor Larry Gassen, National Hall of Fame wrestling coach,” Holtzman said. “And one that we take a lot of pride in, in terms of just trying to continue to invite some of the best programs across the state of Illinois, representing both 1A, 2A, and 3A. And it’s also an exciting day for the Mustangs. We’re going out there and competing at every weight, every dual and we ended up going 4-1 on the day. We have a combination of some seniors that kind of led the charge as well as some sophomores and juniors that you know are stepping up into some big varsity roles and find ways to you know grit it out earn some bonus points and just continue to get better in you know every position so we want to continue the building what we already have. I’m certainly thankful for our wrestling community, and we want to continue to see what the next step is for the Mustangs as we try and close the gap between us and those at the top. It’s definitely promising for the future, and we know that we have a bright group ahead that’s willing to put in the work and buy into the process of getting better.”
Leading the way for the Mustangs were Chris Cali (5-0 at 215), Jadon Dinwiddie (5-0 at 132), Daniel Mensah (5-0 at 190), Noah Greene (4-1 at 175), Tanner Stone (4-1 at 120) and Tommy Tyson (4-1 at 113). Greene is Downers Grove South’s lone returning state qualifier.
“I’m really impressed with our team today,” Dinwiddie said. “We lost a close one to Joliet West, but I think we’ve improved a lot since that dual, and I’m very happy about that. I think our team is making steps in the right direction, and that means a lot to me as a captain, you know, seeing our guys improve and stuff. And I help guys on the team all the time, like, when they ask me a question, I help them fix whatever they need.”
Maine South
Maine South got past Fremd 40-36 but lost to Lincoln-Way East 53-17 and ended up facing Geneseo in the next dual, where it captured a 43-32 win to meet up with the hosts for fifth.
Top performers for the Hawks were George Georgiev (3-0 at 113), Kevin Hamilton (3-1 at 144), Brett Harman (3-1 at 132), Caden Ljubenko (3-1 at 157), Erle Rosete (3-1 at 106), Luke Baum (2-1 at 126) and Gavin Hoerr (2-1 at 150).
In the fifth-place meet, Downers Grove South had an 8-6 advantage over Maine South in matches won. The Mustangs got falls from Cali, Greene and Stone, major decisions from Mario Clerny, Mensah and Tyson, a decision from Dinwiddie and a forfeit win from Mike Danial. The Hawks received pins from Kevin Pedersen, Hamilton and Ljubenko, a major decision from Rosete and decisions from Emmett Mazukelli and Lukas Raczynski.
“I think we’ve come a long way,” Mensah said. “We destroyed (Downers Grove) North in our first dual, they’re a rivalry, so we try to dominate them every chance we can. We had a tough loss against Joliet West. I thought we could have won that, but we just didn’t come out on top that day. Every aspect of our game is a lot better now. Our top game is better. We’re dominating. We’re, like, mat returning guys. Our bottom, we’re escaping, neutral. And that Glenwood dual, too, I think we could have done a lot better.”
“I think we definitely have come far,” Cali said. “We started the season off hot, beating North, after a tough loss last year. I remember a lot of our teammates were saying, we’re going to come back stronger, and I think it really showed today, all the work that we put in the offseason. We had a tough loss in the first round, but everything that we did wrong, we did better against the next team. We really showed integrity. We didn’t give up and really just took those steps in the right direction. Everybody’s caring about each other and we’re like a big family.”
Geneseo
Geneseo was one of five top-11 teams in Class 2A in the invite and entered on a high note after winning Rockford East’s Giardini Invite, but after opening with a big win over Belleville West and claiming a 38-30 victory over Downers Grove North, its hopes for contending for another title were dashed in a 36-31 loss to Huntley. Then it fell to Maine South 43-32 in the next dual and that sent the Maple Leafs to the seventh-place meet, which they won 57-23 over Oak Forest.
Leading the way for the Maple Leafs were Izaac Gaines (5-0 at 165), Josh Stahl (5-0 at 285), Kye Weinzierl (5-0 at 175), Harrison Hill (4-1 at 175/190), Colten Mooney (4-1 at 215) and Tad Moore (4-1 at 113). Weinzierl finished second in Class 2A at 175 to IC Catholic Prep’s Brody Kelly last season. Other returning state qualifiers for Geneseo are Grady Hull, Malaki Jackson, Landen Vincent and Gaines.
Oak Forest
Oak Forest edged Wauconda 33-31 in a matchup of top-10 teams in Class 2A in its first dual but then suffered a 65-9 setback to Coal City. The host Mustangs beat the Bengals 45-33 to send them to the seventh-place dual meet and they lost that one 57-23 to Geneseo.
The Bengals were led by Hunter Kroll (3-1 at 120) and Jacob Sebek (3-1 at 126). Austin Perez took third place at 144 and Sebek was fourth at 113 last season. Other returning state qualifiers are Jason Janke, Jason Schickel and Andrius Vasilevskas.
Downers Grove North
Downers Grove North lost 38-28 to Huntley and 38-30 to Geneseo in its pool before capturing a 69-8 win over Belleville West. The Trojans followed up on that win with a 47-27 victory over Fremd and then claimed their third triumph in a row with a 44-32 over Wauconda.
Top performers for Downers Grove North were Damian Garcia (5-0 at 120), Alex Hengles (5-0 at 144), Nate Olona (5-0 at 215), Caden Chiarelli (4-1 at 150) and Billy Rausch (4-1 at 157).
Wauconda
Wauconda dropped a tough 33-31 loss to Oak Forest in a matchup of top-10 Class 2A teams and then after losing to Coal City, it edged another top-11 2A team, Crystal Lake Central, 38-35 to advance to the ninth-place meet, which it lost 44-32 to Downers Grove North.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs were Maddon Gunn (3-1 at 113), Brian Hart (3-1 at 157), Liam Harris (3-1 at 138), Finn Loomis (3-1 at 215) and Brody McKenna (3-1 at 175).
Crystal Lake Central
Crystal Lake Central started well with a 32-26 triumph over Glenbrook South and closed well with a 44-35 win over Fremd, but in between it lost to Downers Grove South and Glenwood and then 38-35 to Wauconda in a matchup of top-11 teams in Class 2A.
Top performers for the Tigers were Dylan Ramsey (5-0 at 126), Nicholas Marchese (5-0 at 144/150), Logan Gough (4-1 at 285) and Nicholas Zuehlke (4-1 at 165). Jackson Marlett took sixth place at 113 last season for Crystal Lake Central.
Fremd
Fremd came close in its first dual, falling 40-36 to Maine South. It also lost in its pool to Lincoln-Way East and then to Downers Grove North in the consolation bracket before battling in its final dual before being beaten 44-35 by Crystal Lake Central.
Leading the way for the Vikings were Will Bousk (4-0 at 106), Drew Fifield (4-0 at 138), Lucas Nance (4-0 at 190) and Lucas Crandall (3-1 at 113/120). Fifield placed sixth at 138 last season while Nance was also a Class 3A qualifier.
Glenbrook South
Glenbrook South battled throughout the day, getting edged 32-26 by Crystal Lake Central and falling 37-23 to Glenwood before losing to the hosts 48-16 in its final pool dual meet. The team was able to capture a 76-0 victory over Belleville West in its final action of the day.
Top performers for the Titans were Josh Edelheit (4-0 at 144), Louis Luna (3-1 at 215/285), Joey Marquardt (3-1 at 150), Roman Ocampo (3-1 at 132), Kale Schrauth (3-1 at 157) and Ermuun Urtnasan (3-1 at 126).
Statistics of note
Glenwood’s Cody Moss and Geneseo’s Josh Stahl tied for the most team points with 30 while Downers Grove North’s Damian Garcia was third with 29 points. Glenwood’s Cooper Clarke and Pierce Bultmann and Downers Grove South’s Chris Cali tied for fourth with 27 team points. Geneseo’s Izaac Gaines, Downers Grove North’s Alex Hengles and Crystal Lake Central’s Nicholas Marchese tied for seventh place with 26 team points and Huntley’s Colin Abordo was tenth with 25 team points.
Abordo recorded five wins by technical fall, which were two more than anyone else the next-best in that regard, three tech falls by both Bultmann and Fremd’s Lucas Nance. Abordo had the most total match points with 94 while Nance edged Glenwood’s Jaxon Ferguson 72-71 for second place in total match points.
Moss was the only competitor with five falls while Stahl, Downers Grove North’s Colin Murphy, Coal City’s Owen Petersen and Downers Grove South’s Tanner Stone all had four pins.
Championship meet of DG South’s Larry Gassen Dual Team Tournament
Coal City 43, Lincoln-Way East 24
132 – Cooper Morris (C) over Lucas Ankarlo (L), D 10-7
138 – JT Theis (L) over Luke Munsterman (C), D 8-6
144 – Max Christensen (C) over James Tverdek (L), MD 18-6
150 – Kaidge Richardson (L) over Brody Widlowski (C), MD 19-5
157 – Aidan Kenney (C) over Max Mularz (L), D 11-5
165 – Mason Garner (C) over Zachary Ankarlo (L), D 13-8
175 – Brock Finch (C) over Omer Farhan (L), F 1:44
190 – Colton Zvonar (L) over Brody D’Orazio (C), TF
215 – Cade Poyner (C) over Justin Powers (L), F 2:21
285 – Gage LaDere (L) over Payton Vigna (C), F 0:27
106 – Jake Munsterman (C) over Timmy Lorimer (L), F 3:26
113 – Ryder Gill (C) over Salah Dajani (L), F 1:35
120 – Nathan Powers (L) over Jason Piatak (C), F 3:20
126 – Owen Petersen (C) over Nick Williams (L), F 3:25
Third-place meet of DG South’s Larry Gassen Dual Team Tournament
Glenwood 50, Huntley 18
132 – AJ Williams (G) over Julian Gutierrez (H), TF
138 – Griffin Gunther (H) over Eli Britton (G), MD 15-4
144 – Colin Huminsky (H) over Finnley Try (G), MD 15-7
150 – Braden Monahan (G) over Matthew Keaty (H), D 7-4
157 – Gavin Nischke (H) over Pierce Helm (G), TF
165 – Jullian Rammelkamp (G) over Alexander Vega (H), MD 13-2
175 – Elijah Smith (G) over Radic Dvorak (H), MD 11-2
190 – Brody Commean (G) over Waylon Theobald (H), F 1:33
215 – Mason Streb (G) over Max Dziamidau (H), F 5:42
285 – Cody Moss (G) over Ryan Trejo (H), F 0:15
106 – Cooper Clarke (G) over Noah Gutierrez (H), TF
113 – Pierce Bultmann (G) over Anthony Pharis (H), TF
120 – Jaxon Ferguson (G) over Logan Drews (H), F 1:00
126 – Colin Abordo (H) over Jake Tuxhorn (G), TF