Barrington feels right at home as sectional opens
Much can be said for homefield advantage - or in the case of the Barrington wrestling team, home mat advantage.
While many of their opponents battled wintry conditions to arrive for the start of sectionals, the Broncos enjoyed minimal travel times to start the first day of the Class 3A sectional they are hosting.
Whether it helped or not, the fact is the Broncos will have five of their own still competing in the front draw when semifinals begin at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, putting them a win away from clinching a spot in the state field next week in Champaign.
Tucker Priola (113, 33-11), Kai Conway (132, 35-9), Markus Hartman (152, 41-0), Jarrit Shinhoster (160, 31-1) and Jake Meyer (195, 41-1) each sent their Friday evening opponents into wrestlebacks, which will open the second day of action at 10 a.m.; immediately following will be the semifinals.
Wrestlebacks will continue throughout the day, until approximately 4 p.m. when the first- and third-place bouts are scheduled to take place.
The top four finishers in each class go downstate, with the champion earning an automatic top-four seed.
While the Broncos' five regional champs enjoyed a successful day at home, it was Fremd senior Cole Riemer who sparkled in perhaps one of the top second-round matches to be contested.
The Vikings' standout 145-pounder met MSL rival John Paul Smith (42-7) of Wheeling in a key quarterfinal contest. The victor was to move one step closer to Champaign, while the other would face an arduous climb back into medal contention via wrestleback.
Riemer (31-3) had been a first-time state qualifier last season - but his hopes of competing were dashed by illness.
He looked the part of state qualifier and more on Friday, recording the first takedown and adding points en route to an impressive 8-2 decision.
"(Smith) is so good, especially on top, so getting that takedown was huge because it allowed me to do the things I wanted to and stay away from his strengths," said Riemer, who will face Duke-bound Alex Rosenbaum (Highland Park, 31-2) in his semifinal.
Fremd's Adam Kemp (31-7) won both of his matches at 160 and next has a tough semifinal matchup with sixth-ranked David Ferrante (30-2) of Huntley. The top half of the bracket features a pair of state-ranked standouts, with Shinhoster meeting Brock Emmerich (43-5) of Deerfield.
Two-time regional champ and recent MSL champ Eric Le (32-11) of Wheeling used a strong effort to advance at 106, as did MSL and regional champ Jack Milos (36-3), a freshman from Prospect.
Conway reprises his MSL tournament semifinal with Brian Madrigal (Wheeling, 32-7) in the semifinals. Likewise, Prospect junior Jose Ramos (36-4) will meet Isiah Ziegler (Dundee-Crown, 39-3) in a rematch of an earlier bout, which Ziegler won.
Another set of headlining semifinals is at 195 pounds, where it will be No. 6 Meyer vs. No. 4 Justin Allen (Huntley, 23-6), and No. 5 Blah Dahnweih (38-4, DeKalb) against regional champion Max Gomez (35-8) of Stevenson.
Dahnweih beat Meyer in the regular-season finale for both, while Allen defeated the DeKalb junior last week in the regional final.
Fifth-ranked Ryan Vedner (Prospect, 38-3) remains alive in the front draw at 170 and will look to dispatch four-year veteran DJ Chisum (29-5) of Zion-Benton to clinch a first downstate trip.
Buffalo Grove junior David Rizzo (22-12 at 195) is looking to navigate his way through wrestlebacks following a quarterfinal defeat against Gomez.