Wheaton North 2nd at regional, Glenbard West third
The mat on the east side of Glenbard West's Biester Gym was for the championship matches of Saturday's Class 3A wrestling regional. The mat on the west side was for the third-place matches.
The two areas couldn't have been from more different worlds. Lose a third-place bout and you're done for the season. Go to the title match and you move on to next weekend's sectional. Go to the third-place match and you need a win.
Wheaton North had wrestlers in nine third-place battles and went home with seven victories and seven advancements to the Conant individual sectional.
"We go from the (DuPage Valley Conference meet last week) to here. We're battled tested," said Falcons coach Travis Cherry. "We've been training hard all year and it's paying off for the guys."
Wheaton North was second in the team standings with 164.5 points. Oak Park-River Forest won the meet in dominating fashion with 282.5 points and advancing to a dual-team sectional. The Huskies won 12 individual regional titles. The host Hilltoppers were third at 138.
The Falcons' first victory of the afternoon came at 120 pounds, where sophomore Jamie Suarez won 5-2 in the third-place bout.
"I thought I had it secured in the third period. I was up 5-1 and I didn't want to mess around and get caught."
Suarez said there is no difference in wrestling a regional title match or a third-place match and a wrestler just has to adapt to his opponent.
"If I had wrestled in the finals I would have stayed lower. I had wrestled both people before. I had an idea of how to do better (in the third-place match)," he said.
Following Suarez on the third-place victory list were Jaylin Griffin (126 pounds), Sam Chesney (132), Duncan Nelson (145), Riley Lomenick (152), Brendon Gambill (170) and Bo Neidballa (195).
"I believe that if you can't get the best then you fight back for third place," said Duncan, who won by fall in 1:44. "I knew I had to stay in and do what I do good, go out and work my moves."
Three Falcons reached championship matches and finished second - Anthony Indelli (106), Frankie Indelli (138) and Devin Donovan (160).
Glenbard West is sending six wrestlers to Conant for sectionals. Senior Jack Vesevick won the 182 title with a 6-2 decision.
"I knew it was important to get points early and I was down early. But I was able to battle back," Vesevick said. "I was confident (going into Saturday). This has been my goal and I got it."
Charles Faber (113 pounds), Matt Shoub (152) and Darien Kaufmann (285) were second. Catron Frazier (106) and Mike Lawson (220) won their third-place matches.
Frazier won by fall in 3:43 and was the first victory for the Hilltoppers of the afternoon.
"I was grinding on him to make sure he didn't start anything," he said.
Addison Trail will be represented by senior Karim Fuentes, who was third at 285. Sectional qualifiers for York were Tommy Helton, Brian Nudera and Austin Hoffmann.