Wheeling still looking good after 2 wins at Schaumburg

Wheeling continues to impress during the early stages of the wrestling season.

Following a solid effort last weekend in earning a second-place tournament trophy just behind state-ranked Deerfield at the Antioch Invite, the Wildcats turned in a commanding performance Thursday night, defeating Palatine and then host Schaumburg in an MSL double-dual action to open conference competition on a high note.

The Cats (8-1-0, 2-0-0) impressed in their 60-13 victory over the Pirates, using 5 pins to build an insurmountable lead. They broke it open against the Saxons by getting pins in three of four bouts, beginning with Steve Montesino's at 170 to all but end the hopes for coach Mike Levanti and Schaumburg.

“Neal (Weiner) has a very good team, and one that will be a strong challenger in the MSL East along with Prospect when all is said and done,” said the Saxons coach.

Weiner does indeed like the way the season is shaping up.

“We're fortunate to have two great assistants with Nick Blackshaw and JP Akouri, who get the guys prepared each and every time out,” Weiner said. “Plus we have a nice balance of youth and experience who have worked hard thus far, and are doing all the little things to get better in the room.

“I am not a big fan of these three consecutive days of competition — it's tough on the guys. But they came out and wrestled hard against an up-and-coming Palatine team and a very good team from Schaumburg to get two big wins.”

The Saxons headed off a furious comeback from Rolling Meadows to split their two matches, while first-year head coach John Basslers' team bounced back by handling the Pirates 60-15 to finish even on the night.

“I thought we might have a big story tonight with our dual with Schaumburg, but we fell a little short at the end,” said Bassler, who took over for Dave Froehlich after serving 11 seasons as a Mustangs assistant. “We showed a lot of heart in getting back into that match with Schaumburg, and although it would have been nice to come all the way back, it nonetheless was a good effort from our guys at the top of our lineup, beginning with Kasey Jauch and Eric Chalupa.”

Jauch, who has had his fair share of injuries during his first three seasons, appears to be 100 percent healthy for his final season after a tech-fall in the Mustangs' win over Palatine, and a fall at 3:16 to jump-start a 24-0 run in which Meadows went from being down 31-7 to drawing even at 31 after a Grant Palmer pin at 220 pounds.

“If Kasey is healthy this season, there's no reason why he can't have a break-out year for himself,” said Bassler, also optimistic about Chalupa, whose pin over 2014 sectional qualifier Mike Bruno at 182 pounds helped the Mustangs' comeback cause. “Bruno is a terrific wrestler, so for Eric to beat a guy like that says a lot about him as well.”

Tylor Alanis and Hazen Rice dashed the hopes of further heroics from Rolling Meadows as the 1-2 punch of the state qualifiers hypnotized their opponents — Alanis via a pin in 1:58, and Rice with a 8-2 decision to close things out at 40-31.

“Tylor looked very good tonight, especially in his second match with (Juan) Hernandez from Wheeling, who along with (Tyler) Cooke from Hersey, are the three best big men in the conference this season,” said Levanti. “Tylor and Tony Vezzetti were very good tonight, and they have been exceptional in their role as leaders both verbally, and with their actions on and off the mats.”

Wheeling showed great balance and depth throughout the heart of its lineup, featuring Ricky Muro (138) and Tulga Zuunbayan (152). Their teammates at the top, Yoni Medina (220) and Hernandez, helped finish off their Thursday night opponents.

“There's a lot of wrestling history here at Wheeling, and although we've been a little down of late, there's a lot of good things that can happen this year if we continue to improve like we have,” said Muro, and MSL champ and sectional qualifier last season with 34 victories. “We're like family in the room, and when we compete, and we have a coaching staff that has helped us build during the past two years, and I believe it will pay off this season as individuals and for our team.”

Zuunbayan advanced to the state tournament after winning his second consecutive MSL crown while finishing with a dazzling 41 victories.

“Those two guys help this team go, but it was nice to see a couple of young guys like Adlai (Flores) and Tristan Guaman at 126 and 132 each get 2 pins for us,” Weiner said.

Palatine, which travels across town tonight to face MSL West rival Fremd, lost sectional qualifier Mikalos Jackson (152) and Evan Heintz (120) to injuries, and their status is up in the air for the dual against the Vikings.

“It's tough losing those two, but even though we suffered two defeats, I am not disappointed because the effort was good and we're seeing the guys do the things we've been teaching,” said Palatine coach Dan Collins. “It's just that so many of them are young and inexperienced, and not quite sure how to react when certain things happen during the course of the match — especially against someone who has much more experience than they have.

“We had five guys in our lineup who are first-year varsity wrestlers, and a few others who are very young also. But I can honestly tell you in the second half of the season, all of them will be so much further along, and ready to compete at a higher level.”