Libertyville meets its match in Oak Park

With the No. 1-ranked team in the state in town for a triple-dual meet, host Libertyville knew it had to be ready to wrestle Saturday.

The first round went quite well for the Wildcats as they posted an impressive 42-14 nonconference victory over Wheaton North.

But the second round would not go nearly as well as top-ranked Oak Park (13-0) posted a 43-12 victory over Libertyville (11-3) after trailing 9-6 early in the dual meet.

The Wildcats did bounce back with a strong performance to end the day as they toppled St. Rita 39-17.

Wheaton North (8-9) lost a 35-31 match to St. Rita to start the day before falling to Oak Park 52-21 in the final round. Oak Park added a 56-9 victory over St. Rita in the opening round.

Sophomore Chris McDermand (285 pounds) was one of two Libertyville wrestlers to capture three victories on the day. McDermand pinned St. Rita’s Brendan Galbraith in only 53 seconds to give the No. 18-ranked Wildcats a commanding 36-17 lead with one match remaining.

Senior Kyle May (120 pounds) also picked up three victories for Libertyville, with the benefit of a forfeit win against Oak Park.

“Oak Park just out-horsed and out-hustled us at many weight classes, and they’re just a great team,” said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert, whose team hosts Warren in an NSC Lake Division showdown next Friday. “McDermand is really coming on strong and he is a pinner. He placed at the Harlem tournament and he’s been hot.”

No. 2-ranked Wheaton North 220-pounder Mike Swider continued to roll, as he won three bouts to remain undefeated at 23-0.

Swider was in a dogfight against Oak Park’s Emonte Logan early, as Logan led 4-0 late in the first period.

Swider trailed 4-1 after one period before deadlocking the score at 4-4 heading into the third period. One crucial mistake spelled the end for Logan, as Swider recorded a pin in 5:15 to end the tough battle.

“They’re all great teams here and I’m just happy to come out of here with three wins,” said Swider, who reached the state meet last year. “(Logan) is a real strong guy and I knew I would wear him down.”

Besides Swider, 106-pounder Kegan Caulkins (17-4) and 195-pounder Kellen Cleveland (19-5) went 3-0 for Wheaton North.

The Falcons hung tough the whole way against St. Rita, but they fell behind Oak Park 32-6 at the midway point of the meet and were never a serious threat to the top-ranked Huskies.

“We’ve had a couple of tough quads this year and I knew it was going to be an uphill struggle today,” said Wheaton North coach Steve Holland. “It’s a great learning experience for our kids because we know what we have to work on in practice so we know it was a productive day.”

Noah Strong (106), Pat Fitzgerald (120/126), Charlie Meyer (132), Austin Pettinato (145) and Austin Koziol (170) all went 2-1 for Libertyville.

Oak Park’s Sam Brooks showed why he is the top-ranked 182-pound wrestler in the state with three more wins. Brooks was a state champion at 160 in 2010 before placing second in the state last year at 171.

at Geneva: The odds definitely favored Lake Zurich heading into the championship matches Saturday afternoon in Geneva.

Lake Zurich had four wrestlers in the finals of the 17-team Newbill Invitational and led host Geneva by 6.5 points in the race for the team title.

Unfortunately for the Bears, though, none of its quartet of finalists was able to prevail in its respective matches.

Geneva, on the other hand, had two of its three champion contenders, led by Most Outstanding Wrestler Brad Martens, claim titles.

Lake Zurich had 11 of its 14 wrestlers place on the day, but the Bears’ inability to score any points in the final round proved costly.

“I’m not really disappointed with second,” Lake Zurich coach Dan Strickler said. “That’s the best we’ve ever done at that tournament. We really weren’t at full strength as a team today.”

Junior Jake Boser put the Vikings over the top with a triumphant 15-5 win over Jacobs’ Gabe Difecchio at 195 pounds to give Geneva a 172-169.5 victory over the Bears.

Fenton, which led the field with three individual champions was 12 points behind Oswego East for third.

It was the first team title in the 33-year history of the tournament for Geneva.

“This is the first time we’ve had this (full) lineup,” Geneva coach Tom Chernich said. “The kids wrestled great.”

— Kevin McGavin