Lockport captures Oswego East crown

Aha moments don’t occur unless you’re paying attention like the Lockport Township girls wrestling team.

For 105-pounder Averi Colella it began with her school’s student splash page.

Recently the senior made a splash by becoming the first girls’ wrestler at Lockport to reach 100 wins. On Saturday, she was one of five Porters to win during the Aaron Dudley Memorial Girls Invite at Oswego East.

Lockport Township won the tournament with 208 points and East Aurora took second place with 173.5. Other teams among the 23-team field to finish in the Top 5 included Woodstock (164), Oswego (127.5) and the host Wolves (112.5). 

“When I started as a sophomore I had no idea that I would have any success,” she said. “I found (wrestling) on the student splash page and thought, ‘What if I join this?’ I joined it and started going to open mats and really fell in love with the sport. It was instantly addicting. The adrenalin rush you get, everything about it and you continue to put in more work and more work and all-year round. You work in the off-season and everything so just to see how far I’ve come in general, I was kind of astonished at myself. Like I had no idea seeing a link on the splash page would bring me here.”

After a pair of byes to begin her day, Colella advanced to the quarterfinals where she won by fall over Woodstock’s Kailey Wasberg in 1:08. After defeating St. Charles East’s Sydney Stieb by fall in 5:04 in the semifinals, Colella outlasted Romeoville’s Daniela Santander, 9-3, in the finals.

Colella’s practice partner, 110-pounder Veronica Skibicki, pinned a pair of opponents and earned decisions in her other two matches, to also earn a tourney title.

“I know we work so hard in that wrestling room,” Colella said. “Just to see everyone have so much success in the sport is really fulfilling.”

Skibicki got past Woodstock’s Eva Hermansson in her final bout, 4-3.

“I didn’t sneak past her, I kind of just was ready to take her,” Skibicki said. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to lose.’ So that was the mindset and I went out with it and that’s what I did.”

Claudia Heeney, last year’s 130-pound state champion, was a one-girl wrecking crew at 135 for the Porters. She won all of her bouts with pins, including in the final where she needed just 16 seconds to defeat East Aurora’s Brenda Escobedo.

“Honestly, it’s an amazing team we got here and I think it could really be something someday,” she said. “I mean we’re growing it right now, but in the future I think it could be really something bigger. It’s amazing. They put in the work in the room so I expect nothing less of them.”

Heeney’s aha moment arrived when she was an eighth grader.

“I didn’t really get interested in the sport until eighth grade and that’s when I really thought I could do something with it,” she said. “I’ve spent a lot of time in the room. I’ve cut out all the other things in my life. I’ve quit every other sport. It’s a lot, but I think if you really work hard at it and dedicate to it, you can do something with it. I’d say my dream is kind of slow and now that I’m getting here and it seems it’s all success and stuff, there was a lot of failure before that.”

Her teammate Sophie Kelner can most definitely relate.

Kelner acknowledged that she was not a very good wrestler during her freshman year. Now a junior, Kelner won the 190-pound title on Saturday.

“I had a very bad, losing record (as a freshman) and I was always wrestling up to 235 because a lot of teams didn’t have 190 so I was getting beat by these girls who were a lot bigger and stronger than me,” she said. “It was a pushback for me at first. I was like, ‘This is real tough,’ and it was different than anything I’d done before and I did a lot of sports in middle school. So then sophomore year I came back and realized how much better I’d gotten over a span of a few months and now it’s junior year and I see myself winning tournaments and I see I really can do something with this if I put in the work.”

Another aha moment for a Porter tied into hard work.

“Even those past two years when it felt really long going through so many losses and hard days of practices,” Kelner said. “And even at tournaments where it’s really hard and you see your teammates win and you don’t. But you realize if you work hard enough then you’ll get there. It’s really cool.”

Kelner had three straight pins after an opening bye which put her into the championship bout where familiarity awaited in the form of teammate Myra Vicencio, who is also one of Kelner’s training partners. Kelner defeated Vincencio by a 12-3 major decision.

“That was a really cool experience,” Kelner said. “I never thought I’d have to wrestle one of my teammates, let alone in the finals.”

Kelner also works in the room with Rebekah Ramirez, who won the Porters fifth title in the tournament, taking home the 235-pound crown after pinning Wheaton North’s Iana Victory in 1:23.

“I’ve been practice partners with Becca (Ramirez) since last year so it’s really cool to see both of us succeed even though we’re both in different weight classes,” Kelner said. “We’ve been able to grow our circle of practice partners so we have more to help each other.”

Ramirez had pinned East Aurora’s Lilli Ortiz in 40 seconds in the semifinal after receiving a bye in the quarterfinal. In her first match of the tournament, Ramirez took down Rich Township’s Amaya McClain in 3:55.

In addition to Lockport’s five tourney champs, they had two additional placers as Bella Romando (115) placed fourth and Kyleigh Green (130) was fifth.

“All these girls that won a medal today definitely deserved it,” Ramirez said, “We’ve got a really hardworking room and I think everyone went out there and gave it their best.”

East Aurora had 28 girls in action and 11 who placed to take second place as a team. 

Joselyn Llanos (100) Ruby Becerra (130) and Brenda Escobedo (135) led the Tomcats by getting to the finals, but came up short. Llanos came closest to winning but lost by a 6-5 decision to Wheaton North’s Izzy Paz.

Also placing for the Tomcats were Lupita Garcia (130) and Lilli Ortiz (235) who were third. 

Itzel Villa (105), Ayelen Higuera (125) and Alyssa Galarza (140) were fourth, Britany Chavarria (125) and Noreidy Ruiz (155) took fifth and Jazmin Vera (135) was sixth.

Third-place Woodstock also didn’t produce a champion, but the Blue Streaks were active deep into the tournament with seven girls placing.

Eva Hermansson (110), Hannah Olsen (125) and Brianna Crown (155) led the way, each taking second place. Ava Kok (140) was third, Allison Hills (235) took fourth, Aubree Hansen (115) and Kiara Manning (135) were fifth and Hunter Goucher (190) took sixth.

Plainfield Central’s Alicia Tucker was one of just two Wildcats to compete on Saturday. While her teammate Aaliyah Banda split two bouts at 140 pounds after receiving a pair of byes, Tucker pinned four straight opponents after opening with a bye to take home the title at 170.

It’s the kind of results Tucker expects as someone who won a state title at 155 pounds in 2023 and finished as the state runner-up at 170 pounds last year.

“I kind of came here today with a goal,” she said. “It was to be dominant in all my matches, hard hand-fight and stay off my knees. Those were my three objectives today and think I did pretty well for all of them.”

She won by fall over Plainfield East’s Jennifer Paul to get her day started.

“My first match was a little rocky,” she said. “I wasn’t awake yet and then my second match (1:26 fall over Rich Township’s Laila Carpenter) was when I started to turn it up a notch and get in my groove.”

A familiar foe in Waubonsie Valley’s Imani McIntosh was next up in the semifinal before she finished with Oswego East’s Jessica Stover in the title bout.

“I’ve wrestled (McIntosh) many times throughout my high school career so I kind of knew what she was coming in to try to do and was going to throw everything at me because I don’t think she’s beaten me yet,” Tucker said. “My final match was my best one, having good mat control, knowing where I’m at and my shots were pretty good. I stayed calm in that split situation that we were kind of in. I knew I was in good position so just working through that was great.”

Tucker’s dad wrestled in high school and then he coached her brother. The sport was always around her and she finally made the leap into it during middle school.

“(Wrestling has) kind of always been around since I was a little kid,” she said. “I joined in sixth grade and instantly loved it. I won my first match which was amazing. I was ecstatic and it blossomed from there.”

As she’s continued to grow into an athlete that hopes to compete in college, she’s seen the sport grow into something she couldn’t even imagine.

“My freshman year I was the very first girl on the team and practicing with the boys and going to all their tournaments,” she said. “Then sophomore year we grew a little bit more with two or three of us on the team in total. But being around all these guys competing in a class I’m not built to compete in has been a great experience. The coaches are amazing. I don’t know where I’d be without them, honestly.”

Oswego East’s Mia Nevarez (125) and Quinn Janssens (140) won titles in their respective weight classes to lead the Wolves on their home turf.

Nevarez won two of her matches by technical fall and the other three by fall, including pinning Woodstock’s Hannah Olsen in 2:32 in the final.

“Today I feel like I wrestled how I used to wrestle in IKWF,” she said. “I’ve always been a bit of a scrambler and not too good at taking shots. Today I at least tried some shots. I feel like not so much now or because I used to look for opportunities to sprawl that I always have fear of shooting. Kind of like today where I hit half on a girl because she went up for her wrist like how I did, but because I’ve been repeatedly lectured on it I know what to look for in myself, but I saw what she was doing.”

Having gotten her start in wrestling in the sixth grade, Nevarez possesses experience which has certainly boded well as she’s prospering today.

“I wrestled in the IWKF Club in seventh and eighth grade after middle school ended and started working with other clubs,” she said. “The West Suburban (Girls Wrestling) club, Oswego (Wrestling Club) and Fox Valley (Wrestling Club) helped a lot. I really appreciate those coaches.”

Janssens rolled over her five opponents. Kok from Woodstock gave her the biggest amount of difficulty as she lasted 3:16 before Janssens put her away by fall. Janssens other four pins were all under a minute with the first two taking less than 10 seconds each.

“I was wrestling for the boys last year so this year it feels pretty good to have this kind of competition,” Janssens said. “I’m going to probably see these girls later on this season so I was able to get a feel for what I’m going to be going against.”

She certainly took what her opponents gave her to attack.

“I kind of have to just go off what I’m given or what she tries to do on me,” she said. “I don’t really try to set up different moves. I kind of go with the flow.”

Jessica Stover ran into Tucker from Plainfield Central in the 170 final for the Wolves. She joined Nevarez and Janssens as the team’s three placers among their eight wrestlers in action.

“I know outside of school after duals or tournaments, my team will hang out and eat at the same place, too,” Nevarez said. “It’s helped us bond too and I know as girls we have plenty to talk about, but I feel half of what we talk about is our passion for the sport, especially like feeling frustrated after a loss or with partners who don’t feel that same passion. You feel frustrated because of that.

“But they’ve helped me grow a lot too and I feel I like seeing them grow. I like watching other matches, even younger kids from IKWF at my brother’s tournaments. I will like, in my head, coach them and then coach myself because I’ll see what they’re doing and think how it can help me in a match. It’s almost like watching film. I like taking those opportunities.”

All in all, it was a solid performance from the Wolves who also received points from Ella Worlds (115), Payton Lustrup (120) and Ella Cooper (145).

“I’m very proud of the program,” Janssens said. “We’re all doing pretty good. I like how our team has bonded. I think it’s nice to have girls who love the sport and we can all bond over that.”

When they first became teammates it was pretty inevitable that Oswego’s Makayla Hill (145) and Kiyah Chavez (155) would get to know a little bit about each other. As Panthers around the same weight class, they became training partners, which has resulted with them getting to know each other extremely well. On Saturday, they celebrated championship days together.

“I joined the team halfway into the season last year and our coach (Greg Scott) told us to be together probably about a month in, so it’s been a while now,” Chavez said. “For a lack of a better term, like, it’s pretty intimate because you get really close literally physically and also like because it’s so mentally challenging. You have to get to a point where you guys just end up being so close you have to push each other and if you can’t get past that point you can’t be great. It’s just really challenging and a really special relationship, at least for me.”

Hill agrees.

“It’s a special relationship as soon as you build that bond,” she said. “You’re pushing each other knowing we can, and pushing each other to the limits so that obviously good things happen.”

Chavez and Hill each pinned four opponents en route to their respective titles. 

Hill took down Lake Park’s Joscelin Ritthamel by fall in 3:18 in her title bout, while Chavez required just 44 seconds to pin Woodstock’s Brianna Crown.

“It went very well and most of my matches were short,” Chavez said. “Wrestling is hard and very tiring so I want to get it done as fast as I can. I think I cradled three of the four girls.”

Last year Chavez recalled only having six girls in her bracket. This time she had 19.

“It’s crazy how much it’s growing,” she said. “With girls wrestling being so new it kind of feels like as though we’re a part of something really big that’s just starting, so in a sense it’s being a part of history because girls wrestling is growing like crazy but it’s in only like the second or third year where the IHSA has taken it seriously. So that’s pretty cool, and representing your school is fun. I love Oswego. I personally really love Oswego. I’m a big fan of the staff and students. I think it’s a great opportunity.”

The Panthers had 18 girls wrestle and eight of them placed.

After losing to Heeney from Lockport – who would win the 135 title – Oswego Ameera Murphy rebounded to pin back-to-back opponents to capture third place.

The senior has proven herself on the softball field as a ballplayer, but after seeing a flyer a year ago, she now finds herself also as a wrestler.

“It was a little fun thing we got into junior year from a flyer and (teammate) Aaliyah (Roldan) sent it to me and we went to open mats,” Murphy said. “We just kept going with it. Today went pretty well. I faced a lot of great competition. I’m proud that I was able to push through and get third place and we all did pretty well.”

Roldan took fourth place after wrestling six bouts, going 4-2.

“I kind of wanted to do a winter sport because I wasn’t going to do basketball anymore so that was the only other sport that I could imagine doing,” she said. “Today went pretty well. I faced two really good people and the rest were kind of ugh, but the two matches that I didn’t win were two really hard matches. Hard competition.”

Harmony Evans (130) is among those wrestlers at Oswego who saw the flyer a year ago and acted on it.

“We were all in the same gym period and saw the flyer on the door and decided to go just for fun to see what it would be like,” she said. “We realized we liked it and joined the team.”

Evans got pinned by Neuqua Valley’s Zuzanna Wegiera in her first match of the day but responded with three straight victories to finish her day while Wegiera proceeded to win the 130 title.

“I brought myself back after that first match,” he said. “I proved myself in the next couple matches and ended up getting first in the consolation round.”

Tennille Johnson lost her two matches at 135.

“It will always be fun and an amazing experience,” she said. “And being a team sport not only do you learn team qualities and capabilities, but also have an individual-like mentality where you have to work on yourself and have to find your own way in things you do. You are constantly developing and that’s what I love about the sport.”

With a background in jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts (MMA), Johnson considered wrestling when she was in middle school but didn’t make the transition until junior year. 

“I’d always been involved in MMA and fighting sports like jiu-jitsu and my mom wanted me to do wrestling but I refused,” she said. “It wasn’t until junior year when I saw some girls in line talking about a flyer for wrestling. I was like, ‘I’ll try it out,’ and did other extra curricular so I missed it my junior year so when it came to my senior year I still wanted to try it so I joined wrestling. I love the environment. I love the girls on the team and everything. It’s such an exhilarating feeling (to wrestle) that I forgot that I got from MMA previously.”

St. Charles East took sixth place with an even 100. The Saints had 10 girls in action with Bailynn Dunham (100) and Sydney Stieb (105) leading the team with third-place finishes. Olivia Pearson (130) was fourth and Addison Wolf (145) was fifth.

“Everyone is like family,” Wolf said. “I don’t want to be corny, but we’ve all adapted to each other really well. No drama. It’s an amazing group of girls.”

After two byes, Stieb won by fall in 1:56 over East Aurora’s Itzel Villa in the quarterfinals. After losing by fall in 5:04 to Colella from Lockport who would ultimately win at 105, Stieb rebounded by pinning Glenbard South’s Valerie Aligia before pinning Villa again, but this time in 1:03.

“I think today I did pretty good, I guess,” Stieb said. “My second match didn’t go as well as I wanted it to, but still put up a good fight. She (Colella) was a really good wrestler. I’m just hoping to match up with her again and see what I can do, see what I could change. My first girl (Villa), she’s a good wrestler. I pinned her pretty quick and I wrestled her twice today, actually, but overall today I did pretty good.”

Stieb had high praise for the tournament.

“It was our hardest tournament yet,” she said. “Some people had full brackets, some didn’t. I didn’t have a full bracket but after the holidays it’s hard to cut weight. I struggled cutting weight this weekend and it’s hard to just come back from not wrestling for a while.”

Holding ice to her nose late Saturday afternoon, Pearson was still feeling the repercussions of pinning Rich Township’s Cheyenne Haire to get her day rolling.

She lost a major decision to Wegiera from Neuqua Valley in her semifinal but battled back to win a major decision over Plainfield North’s Isabella Chavez before falling to East Aurora’s Lupita Garcia in a third-place match.

“I think I did okay, but didn’t do as best as I wanted to,” Pearson said. “I could’ve maybe not have given up as quick as I did. I was really tired my last two matches though and busted my nose in my first match.”

Wegiera was one of five girls who wrestled from Neuqua Valley. The senior pinned East Aurora’s Ruby Becerra in 5:04 for the title at 130.

Ashley Basmajian (115) and Janiya Moore (120) were two of Metea Valley’s eight wrestlers who competed. They were also tournament champions.

Basmajian had five straight pins, including in 3:12 over Plainfield North’s Meryn Finnegan in the final.

Moore (120) had a major decision over Lockport’s Natalie Dodo in her quarterfinal before back-to-back pins, including in 4:49 over Romeoville’s Jesslynne Ochoa.

Those two titles helped the Mustangs take seventh place with 90.

Other scores included Wheaton North 84, Romeoville 82, Lincoln-Way co-op 81, Plainfield East 74, Rich Township 60, Plainfield North 58.5, Oak Lawn 51.5, Glenbard South 49.5, Homewood-Flossmoor 47, Neuqua Valley 47, York 38.5, Plainfield Central 32, Lake Park 25.5, Jacobs 23.5, Waubonsie Valley 23, Bloomington 19.

The tournament honors the adventurous spirit, loving heart and courageous tenacity of Aaron Dudley who died of cancer in September. Dudley served as an assistant principal at Lakewood Creek Elementary School in Oswego and was a physical education teacher at Plano Junior High School in Oswego and Murphy Junior High School in Plainfield. He coached wrestling and football at Oswego East, wrestling and soccer at Plano and track at Murphy.

Oswego East results:
100

1st: Izzy Paz (Wheaton N) d.Joselyn Llanos (E Aurora) (D 6-5)

3rd: Bailynn Dunham (SC East) d.LaMya Love (Rich Township) (F 0:57)

5th: Savannah Martell-Quinones (Oswego) d.Felix Alessi-Morales (Oak Lawn) (F 2:17)

105

1st: Averi Colella (Lockport) d.Daniela Santander (Romeoville ) (D 9-3)

3rd: Sydney Stieb (SC East) d.Itzel Villa (E Aurora) (F 1:03)

5th: Valerie Aligia (Glenbard S) d.Mahi Kansagara (Plainfield E) (TF 17-1)

Consolation 1st

Maya Phillips (Rich Township)
110

1st: Veronica Skibicki (Lockport) d.Eva Hermansson (Woodstock ) (D 4-3)

3rd: London Gandy (Homewood-F.) d.Zoe Zerial (LW Central) (D 7-3)

5th: Julia Felton (Algonquin (Jacobs) d.Anusha Nagar (Metea) (F 2:00)

Consolation 1st

Aleta Weigandt (Neuqua) d.Mikaela Busse (Oswego) (F 1:33)

115

1st: Ashley Basmajian (Metea) d.Meryn Finnegan (Plainfield N) (F 3:12)

3rd: Angelina Nettey (Plainfield E) d.Bella Romando (Lockport) (D 6-0)

5th: Aubree Hansen (Woodstock ) d.Jayden Kurowski (Romeoville ) (F 0:54)

Consolation 1st

Allison Nava (Oak Lawn) d.Kendra Padilla (Oswego) (F 2:21)

120

1st: Janiya Moore (Metea) d.Jesslynne Ochoa (Romeoville ) (F 4:49)

3rd: Charlie Dolan (Elmhurst (York) d.Aaliyah Roldan (Oswego) (F 1:54)

5th: Sadie Sparks (LW Central) d.Alexandra Aguilera (Neuqua) (F 0:47)

Consolation 1st

Payton Lustrup (OswegoE) d.Charlotte Ries (Wheaton N) (F 1:10)

125

1st: Mia Nevarez (OswegoE) d.Hannah Olsen (Woodstock ) (F 2:32)

3rd: Journey Jackson (Oak Lawn) d. Ayelen Higuera (E Aurora) (Maj 8-0)

5th: Britany Chavarria (E Aurora) d.Taniyah Bradley (Homewood-F.) (F 3:53)

Consolation 1st

Jiana Forbes (Wheaton N) d.Miranda Powley (Lockport) (F 0:12)

130

1st: Zuzanna Wegiera (Neuqua) d.Ruby Becerra (E Aurora) (F 5:04)

3rd: Lupita Garcia (E Aurora) d. Olivia Pearson (SC East) (Maj 13-1)

5th: Kyleigh Green (Lockport) d.Isabella Chavez (Plainfield N) (F 1:33)

Consolation 1st

Harmony Evans (Oswego) d.Ava Holzhauser (Lockport) (D 1-0)

135

1st: Claudia Heeney (Lockport) d.Brenda Escobedo (E Aurora) (F 0:16)

3rd: Ameera Murphy (Oswego) d.Hannah Galvan (Glenbard S) (F 1:49)

5th: Kiara Manning (Woodstock ) d.Jazmin Vera (E Aurora) (F 1:00)

Consolation 1st

Brianna Garcia (Romeoville ) d.Sophie Contreras (Waubonsie) (F 0:41)

140

1st: Quinn Janssens (OswegoE) d.Ava Burns (Lake Park) (F 0:30)

3rd: Ava Kok (Woodstock ) d.Alyssa Galarza (E Aurora) (F 1:00)

5th: Rachel Griggs (Homewood-F.) d.Joslynn Sheets (Oswego) (D 7-1)

Consolation 1st

Dariia Dzhumasheva (Metea) d. Elin Ludvigson (Oswego) (Maj 13-3)

145

1st: Makayla Hill (Oswego) d.Joscelin Ritthamel (Lake Park) (F 3:18)

3rd: Viktoria Rodnikova (Plainfield N) d.Alex Arquilla (Glenbard S) (F 2:35)

5th: Addison Wolf (SC East) d.Leilani Greening (Rich Township) (TF 21-5)

Consolation 1st

Charvelle Mclain (Oak Lawn) d.Denise Brown (Homewood-F.) (D 9-7)

155

1st: Kiyah Chavez (Oswego) d.Brianna Crown (Woodstock ) (F 0:44)

3rd: Alicia Swank (Bloomington ) d.Kaitlyn Bucholz (Plainfield E) (D 1-0)

5th: Noreidy Ruiz (E Aurora) d.Julia Romero (Plainfield E) (F 1:15)

Consolation 1st

Dakota Obbish (Lockport) d.Jackie Pina Chavez (Wheaton N) (F 1:33)

170

1st: Alicia Tucker (Plainfield C) d.Jessica Stover (OswegoE) (F 3:11)

3rd: Imani McIntosh (Waubonsie) d.Laila Carpenter (Rich Township) (D 5-4)

5th: Rikka Ludvigson (Oswego) d. Jenna Lee (LW Central) (Maj 12-3)

Consolation 1st

Mariyah Mani (Romeoville ) d.Yesenia Palma (Wheaton N) (F 0:30)

190

1st: Sophie Kelner (Lockport) d. Myra Vicencio (Lockport) (Maj 12-3)

3rd: Liana Zimmer (LW Central) d.Jen Serna (Plainfield E) (D 7-2)

5th: Helena Torres (Oswego) d. over Hunter Goucher (Woodstock ) (SV-1 3-0)

Consolation 1st

TeeyaMarie Bacigalupo (Elmhurst (York) d.Cai Triplett (Homewood-F.) (D 7-5)

235

1st: Rebekah Ramirez (Lockport) d.Iana Victory (Wheaton N) (F 1:23)

3rd: Lilli Ortiz (E Aurora) d.Allison Hill (Woodstock ) (F 1:55)

5th: Amaya McClain (Rich Township) d.Kyleigh Allen (Rich Township) (F 2:33)

Consolation 1st

Amaya McClain (Rich Township)