Oswego East Frosh/Soph Champions’ features
By Chris Walker for the IWCOA
Rolling up mats on Sunday afternoon, Oswego East assistant boys wrestling coach Zack Clancy stopped for a moment and talked about the efforts of his staff and their friends and families to ensure the IWCOA’s Oswego East Frosh/Soph regional was a successful experience for the wrestlers, as well as those who took time to come out and root the kids on.
“It definitely takes a lot of effort,” Clancy said, “(Oswego East boys wrestling head coach) Paul (Coy) has got six kids and all six of his kids were here setting up, and my wife was here. It takes not only a family, but it’s a family effort, I mean, it’s a lot, but it’s worth it in the end to see all the smiles on the kids’ faces and things like that.”
While the IHSA state individual tournament was held two weeks ago in Champaign, the IWCOA FroshSoph 2026 State tournament began with regionals, such as Oswego East, while the IHSA team duals and girls individual tournament was completed in Bloomington.
“We want to keep it in the area,” Coy said. “Instead of having to travel all over the place.”
Oswego East hosted two tournaments during the girls regular season, including the inaugural Break the Silence tournament which had an impactful debut and will return next year raising awareness for another cause.
Naperville Central led the way at the Oswego East regional with four kids winning titles, including Alexi Aguinaldo (106), Jack Fitzgerald (132), James Ball (138) and Reid Balis (157).
Downers Grove South, Naperville North and Wheaton Academy produced a pair of champions each and Downers Grove North, Hinsdale Central, Oswego, Oswego East and Wheaton North had one.
101 – Dominic Macellaio, Wheaton North
Macellaio won by a 12-4 major decision over Wheaton Academy’s Elliot Hardy to capture the 101 title.
Earlier, Macellaio picked up tech falls wins over Willowbrook’s Siraj Dissi and Oswego’s Dominic Gerace.
Wheaton North’s Timothy Slade won by fall over Naperville North’s Cameron Krueger for third.
106 – Alexi Aguinaldo, Naperville Central
After opening with a tech fall win over Oswego’s Patrick O’Grady, Aguinaldo pinned Lyons’ Declan Driscoll and earned an 11-1 major over Glenbard East’s Nicholas Greenfield to get to the finals.
In his finals match, Aguinaldo survived Hinsdale Central’s Bryce Elway, 10-8.
Greenfield won by a 5-4 decision over Downers Grove North’s Elliot Grucella for third.
113 – Zion Kaunley, Wheaton Academy
Pins against Willowbrook’s Joseph Perez (4:19) and Lyons’ Patrick Raddatz (3:00) propelled Kaunley into the finals where he doubled up Oswego’s Lucas Bobush, 12-6.
Naperville Central’s Holden Greene won by a 14-5 major decision over Perez to take third.
120 – Myles Houser, Downers Grove South
After going 30-1 during his freshman season a year ago, Houser took his lumps as a sophomore competing for the varsity squad this winter.
“I didn’t have the best record, I think I was 12 and 20-something losses,” Houser said. “Not the best so I came in here not qualifying for sectionals last year and just came in here to win that.”
Houser pinned Wheaton North’s Gage Fitzenreider (0:53), earned a 10-5 decision over Lyons’ Jake Wolf and pinned Naperville North’s Hunter Dimailig (2:55) to get to the finals.
Houser blanked Lyons’ Matthew Becker, 5-0, in his championship.
“I didn’t make it to state or anything in my middle school years so it would be nice to do it now,” Houser said. “When I first came into high school I was very offensive based and realized that that type of stuff doesn’t work in high school so I worked a lot on the defense and well rounded myself out a little bit more to become a way better wrestler.”
Adjusting to the pace of varsity has taken some time.
“When you’re wrestling freshmen guys, they get tired fast, they’ll give up,” he said. “Varsity dudes, they’re going to the whistle and running, they’re going fast. The pace is a lot different. You got to really keep conditioning and work harder in the room to keep up with these guys.”
Houser will find himself as an upperclassmen when wrestling returns next winter and he’s excited about what’s brewing with the Mustangs.
“I’m liking all the middle school guys coming in, sad to see the seniors leave,” he said. “But we have a really young team and I see us growing a lot and think we’ll be a really dominant team next year.”
Naperville North’s Andrew Hernandez pinned Dimailig (3:36) to take third.
126 – Archer Biag, Naperville North
Biag’s path to the title match at 126 included a pin of Wheaton Academy’s Jasper Hardy (1:39), followed by a 6-3 win over Downers Grove South’s Luis Perez and a pin of Oswego East’s Austin Crawford (1:51). Biag’s dominance continued into the final where he recorded a 17-0 tech fall over Willowbrook’s Braden Byrne.
Crawford won in sudden victory, 8-5, over Perez for third.
132 – Jack Fitzgerald, Naperville Central
Fitzgerald was in a tech falling mood, taking down Lyons’ Ayden Gutierrez (18-0), Hinsdale Central’s Ali Memom (16-1) and Naperville Central’s Luke Moore (19-2), outscoring his foes (53-3).
Downers Grove South’s Dylan Woolsey wouldn’t suffer the same fate in the final, but would be held scoreless as Fitzgerald prevailed, 9-0.
Oswego East’s Sebastian Nevarez won by fall over Glenbard East’s Danny Delgado (4:24) to take third.
138 – James Ball, Naperville Central
Ball was having one on Saturday, pinning all three of his opponents to win the 138 title.
Ball took down Oswego’s Langston Norlin (3:34), Downers Grove South’s Logan Montano (1:43) and Hinsdale South’s Marwan Mohammad (1:45).
Norlin won by a 11-4 decision over Downers Grove South’s Logan Montano to take third.
144 – Marcus Smith, Oswego East
As a freshman this winter for the Wolves, Smith went 14-19, which included going 1-2 at the Class 3A Moline regional on the final day of January.
Since that time, Smith has been practicing a few times a week as well as lifting weights and working out at home.
“It felt good to be back, I had a break but not that big of a break,” he said. “After my first match I felt really good and I just did my own stuff. It’s mostly my confidence and my faith with God.”
Smith knew there would be an opportunity to compete in this tournament, one of the blessings of high school wrestling thanks to the IWCOA.
“This is all new to me, but I had an idea that this tournament was something I could look forward to,” he said. “I think I’ve made a lot of progress throughout the year and my teammates helped me at times. I didn’t think they’d be this friendly. This is probably my favorite team in all the years I’ve wrestled. My goal next year is to qualify for state and I’m definitely going to win it the next three years.”
Smith pinned Downers Grove South’s Bayron Garcia (3:54) in his title match.
Smith opened with a bye, won a 7-4 crosstown match over Oswego’s Angelo Rivera in the quarterfinal and then drew another Panther, scoring an 11-0 major against Oswego’s Angel Garcia in the semifinal.
Garcia earned an 8-1 decision to battle back at take third over Hinsdale Central’s Marco Guisto.
“It was pretty fun, I had a great time,” Garcia said. “I didn’t do my best, but last match I did pretty well. I should’ve did good in the semifinals like I did for third, but I’ll learn from it. I’ve got to keep grinding in the practice room and try to get better every day and try to get to my goal.”
Last year, Garcia placed sixth at 132 at the regional.
“I told myself I was not going to get sixth,” Garcia said. “I was going to get first or second or place or go to sectionals. That was my goal – going to sectional, going to state, going to push myself everyday in practice lift weights every day.”
150 – Joey Guidi, Wheaton Academy
Guidi opened with a 15-0 tech fall win over Hinsdale South’s Ardit Useini and finished with a similar 15-0 decision over Willowbrook’s Jason Donna in his final.
In between those bookends, Guidi pinned Oswego East’s Darek Speice (3:58) and earned a 9-4 decision over Oswego’s Andrew Griffin.
Naperville North’s Alex Realmuto won by a 7-5 decision over Speice to take third.
157 – Reid Balis, Naperville Central
Balis won by fall over Downers Grove South’s Ronald Lepic (1:42), earned a 14-2 major over Oswego’s Angelo Garcia, and then pinned Willowbrook’s Jeramiah Jepson (0:46) in his final match to take home the 157 title.
Lepic won by an 11-9 decision over Garcia to place third.
“I was struggling a lot today, it was not my best,” Garcia. “I was out for the past month with a knee problem and a kidney and back problem. I only had one time to practice and that was really yesterday so this was really really hard for me today.”
165 – Benjamin Grunow, Hinsdale Central
Grunow finished his day with a pin against Willowbrook’s Kal Gonzales (2:11) after opening win a pin over Lyons’ Arthur Schaffer (3:54) followed by a 16-3 major decision over Naperville North’s Faris Pesto in the semis.
Pesto rebounded to earn a 3-1 win in his third-place match versus Downers Grove South’s Elefterios Prevett.
175 – Jake LaScala, Downers Grove North
LaScala had a lighter day, getting a bye in the quarterfinals and only having to wrestle twice. He made it even quicker by pinning Oswego’s Sam Kajtsa (0:59) in the semis before getting to Lyons’ Jack Williams in the final with another pin (2:56).
Sam Kajtsa won by decision over Willbrook’s Dominic Burton, 7-2, to place third.
“This is one of my first meets back because I was out with an ankle injury and then with a skin problem for a while, so my first week back, I’ve only had two or three practices,” Kajtsa said. “It feels amazing. I get tired a lot easier because I haven’t been conditioned all year, but it felt amazing.”
He was able to get to his moves.
“I do a lot of tap and go, tap and go shooting so I’ll lock up and break away, lock up and break away and then fake a lock up and just shoot and that works pretty well,” Kajtsa said. “I’m pretty good at the sliding out or like sliding out in bottom position and then reversing from there, those are two main moves really good at those.”
190 – JT Hill, Naperville North
Hill picked up four victories, including a 7-2 decision over Glenbard East’s Lucas Maida in his 190 title match.
To get there, Hill won by a 21-5 tech fall over Oswego’s Xavier Pagan, pinned Willowbrook’s Max Salinas (0:50) and piled on the points in an 18-1 tech fall over Downers Grove South’s Porter Briggs.
Naperville North’s J. Frank Harvey won by medical forfeit over Downers Grove South’s Blake Gantner to take third.
215 – Jacob Lemire, Oswego
Impetigo had sidelined Lemire, and while it plagued his efforts it didn’t keep him from walking away as a champion.
“It was really hard because I had impetigo for a week, so only got one day of practice before coming in here,” he said. “But then when I woke up I was very sick so it made it even harder on me. It’s just a long process, very hard matches, but pulled through and was able to get it done.”
It’s not the first time Lemire has had to dig deep.
“I had another match, something similar to this where I had flu,” he said. “I went and wrestled and was out for like three days of school and just put it all there, similar situation so I knew what to do. It’s just real tough but with my partner (Holden Reible) he’s really pushing me because he’s just way bigger and stronger and has helped me a lot.”
285 – Michael Danial, Downers Grove South
After placing fifth in the FroshSoph tournament a year ago, Danial is eyeing a title this year.
“Last year I won this and got to sectionals, which didn’t go my way,” he said. “I got fourth but did qualify for state and ended up losing in the state semis, 7-5 by two points, and fought back for fifth place.”
As a young heavyweight, Danial has battled mostly upperclassmen the past two seasons.
“It’s a great opportunity because, for example, me as a heavyweight as a sophomore, I’m wrestling a lot of juniors and seniors and it’s tougher to punch my ticket to the IHSA tournament,” he said. “So this is another chance to keep me going.”
Danial pinned Hinsdale South’s Kalon Kirkendall (1:34) in the quarterfinals and received a victory just 41 seconds into his semifinal match against Glenbard East’s Teague Maloney who was injured.
In the final, Danial denied Oswego’s Holden Reible, 6-4.
“The key today was just wrestle, have fun and that’s all I did out there, try to do things that I’ve been working on,” Danial said. “I do a lot of offseason, in-season work. My biggest fear is that if I’m not working someone else is going to pass me because I only started wrestling in sixth grade, I’m already behind so I just want to keep succeeding and going higher and higher.”
Reible hadn’t wrestled in a while, during a season that was delayed at the start since he was helping Oswego take second the state in Class 8A football
“It’s been a while since I’ve actually wrestled since I took a significant break before this,” he said. “I’ve been weightlifting in between so it’s been getting into the weight room, now getting into the wrestling room. I started the season off with being three weeks late because I was on the football team for varsity and coming in three weeks late I went 3-0 for that first tournament and after that tournament it really locked into my head that I was able to completely just go through this season like I was 100% me that I could 100% do this. So that experience with football and having no break that actually kept my mentality locked in throughout the season.”