Dundee-Crown rounding into form
Dundee-Crown wrestling coach Al Zinke knows how valuable it is for his wrestlers to improve near season's end.
It's why he's not surprised in the fact that the Chargers were able to dominate their Fox Valley Conference rivals from Jacobs, 51-18, in a dual meet in Carpentersville Thursday night. His Chargers were just sending a clear message that they're restoring to their typical form and hitting their stride just at the right time.
“We're doing what we normally do,” Zinke said. “We're getting better at the end of the year. That's where we are, and that what we want, to continue to win for the next couple of weeks and go from there.”
How are his Chargers getting better? Some of them are getting pin falls early and often, demonstrated best by freshman Ector Solar. In the 135-pound weight class, Solar needed just 74 seconds to earn a pin fall over Jacobs' Nick Mansamelli.
Solar said he was “just pushing the pace” and dedicated the win to teammate Gustavo Jacobo, who was unable to participate in the meet. Solar aggressively attacked his opponent while teammate Cody Churkey (30-3), who said Solar was a big asset to the team by giving a him a nickname “big thug,” worked on takedowns in his match at 215. Churkey eventually would win by pin in the third period, meeting his tasks as well.
“I wanted to work on takedowns before conference,” said Churkey, in his last match at D-C. “It's always great to get a big win on senior night, makes it even better having it against our rivals.”
Several matches could have went Jacobs' way, for example in Jimmy Kuczynski's win over Jacobs' Brad Jenisch. Kuczynski (171) won a stalemate as neither wanted to let up or go for the finishing move. Kuczynski may have been fighting himself as both legs would cramp late. He was able to hold them off plus a late rally to win 5-3.
“My right leg didn't cramp until the second (period), and then they both cramped in the last,” Kuczynski said.
Carson Tanner (189) and Raymond Griggel (285) also scored pins for Dundee-Crown who also won two matches on forfeits.
Bright spots for Jacobs included Brad Schumacher (140), who came away with a victory after being on his stomach for most of his match. He was able to make a move with 1:35 left in the third period that allowed him to garner points for a near-pin to give him a 3-2 decision.
“I felt kind of weak at the beginning,” Schumacher said.” We didn't have it as a team, we were trying but I found an opportunity I had and took advantage of it.”
Joe Zadick (152) was quick to win his match for Jacobs. His pin came in just 35 seconds. Austin Ryan (103) also earned a pin fall in his match.