Banner day at sectionals for Huntley, Marmion, St. Charles East

Remarkable solo efforts from the Huntley duo of Sammy Spencer and Juan Quiroz, plus Cadin Koeppel of Cary-Grove would highlight a sensational final day at the Class 3A Barrington sectional for area wrestlers.

Spencer (40-4) was simply dazzling on his way to his 113-pound crown, while his teammate Quiroz finished in style to win at 170.

Koeppel would equal the brilliant work of Spencer with a marvelous two-day performance, culminating in a 7-3 victory over Trent Williams (Glenbrook North) at 220 pounds.

All-in-all, it was a solid day of work from the area, which will send (11) into this year's 3A state tournament, which begins in earnest on Thursday inside State Farm Arena in Champaign.

"Cadin was and has been just fantastic during the second half of the season (but) none of us on the coaching staff are surprised by what we've seen of late, and especially today," said Cary-Grove coach Will Petersen.

"He's worked so hard coming back from his ACL surgery, and all of that work (in) and out of the room has now paid off. And all of us believe if he continues at this level at the tournament, he's going to surprise a lot of people there."

"That's the plan, but it's also nice to be a little bit under the radar as well," said Koeppel (35-5), who with his first-place trophy earned a top four seed, as did Sammy Spencer, who was never challenged on his way to a second straight trip downstate.

"It was all about scoring first, and keeping up the attack, and just having some fun out there," said Spencer, who won 39 a year ago in his rookie season.

Quiroz (41-5) admitted his warm-up and preparation before his semifinal with eventual state qualifier Dan Rasmussen (Barrington) was poor at best, and it showed in what would be a ragged 5-2 decision.

"I was in trouble right until the very end (until) I was able to put big points on the scoreboard to win (so) that was the wake-up call I needed for my final," said Quiroz, a state qualifier last season, who advanced once again following his well played 8-2 win over No. 5 Ryan Vedner (Prospect, 39-4).

Teammates Zach Spencer (126, 41-7) and No. 4 David Ferrante (160, 31-3) didn't fare as well in their respective finals - Spencer falling to No. 2 Fabian Lopez (DeKalb, 41-1) in a rematch of their regional final last weekend. The sophomore Ferrante was unable to top Jarrit Shinhoster (Barrington, 33-1).

Ferrante, who won her last season, and would go on to bring home a fourth-place medal as a freshmen, was shut out 4-0.

Senior Justin Allen, who earlier in the day stunned No. 6 Jake Meyer (Barrington, 43-2) in his semifinal, failed in his bid to unseat No. 5 Blah Danweih (40-4) of DeKalb in his 195-pound final, one week after doing so at the DeKalb regional final. Danweih avenged that loss with a 7-3 victory.

Teammate Gannon Kasowski (35-15) will join his 138-pound FVC rival, John Ridle (Jacobs, 29-5), at the state tournament after both went through a very difficult bracket, led by No. 4 Michael Gunther (Libertyville, 24-3) who defeated Ridle in the final.

"It feels great to make it downstate after finishing fourth at regionals the past two years," said the junior Ridle, who defeated Kasowski (8-2) in his semifinal.

No. 9 Jake Harrier (Jacobs, 35-4) sent No. 8 Tommy Frezza (Stevenson, 36-5) into wrestle-backs with a 3-1 win in the semifinals, but would later fall to Joel Vandervere (39-2) of Warren, 9-8 in his 120-pound championship bout.

"Four times in two years (Frezza) and I have met, the last two ending in losses, so getting some revenge on him to reach the final felt great," said Harrier, who scored the all-important first takedown against the Stevenson junior.

The two state ranked stars will making their second consecutive state appearance, while Jimmy Pellegrino (Huntley, 106, 30-15), Adam Pinter (Cary-Grove, 132, 31-11) and Dundee-Crown heavyweight Isiah Ziegler (40-5) each booked their first trip.

Pinter's was done in dramatic fashion, in what would easily be the most exciting of all state qualifying matches, with regional champion Brian Madrigal (33-9) of Wheeling.

With their wrestling lives on the line, the two seniors put on a wild, back-and-forth affair that saw several lead changes in the second period, with Pinter still looking to have enough in his gas tank, recording a three-point near fall followed with a pin at five minutes.

"I couldn't lose this match. It was my last chance as a senior, but as things went on, I knew he was getting tired, so I just kept the pressure on until finishing him off," said Pinter.

- Mike Garofola

Class 3A at Hinsdale Central: The hometown boy more than symbolically framed the Montini wrestling road show Saturday night in Hinsdale.

Mike McNicholas' pin to beat the first-period buzzer by one second anchored the seventh and final Class 3A individual sectional championship for the consensus top-ranked Broncos at Hinsdale Central.

"I live five minutes from the school," the Lombard resident said. "I didn't even make it out of the regional last year. I could tell (Downers North senior Ethan Smith) was a little tired. I definitely had to wrestle my best for it. It was not an easy pin."

It was McNicholas' fourth fall of the day.

Montini, ranked No. 4 in the nation, continued its season-long brilliance over Illinois competition.

Will Lewin also had a fall in the finals for Montini by stopping Marmion junior Patrick Daum 65 seconds into the match at 152 pounds.

Montini led all programs with 11 qualifiers to the three-day state tournament, which starts Thursday at the University of Illinois' State Farm Center in Champaign.

But Marmion was not far behind. The Cadets had all 10 of their athletes, including two champions, finish in the top four.

"They are like our biggest enemies," Lewan said of his Marmion rivals. "I am confident enough in my top that I would be able to finish it in the first."

In the 160-pound climatic match Montini junior Matt Ortiz handed Marmion junior Brad Gross his first loss of the season with a 12-5 decision.

Gross, a returning all-stater, did not make his season debut until winning the Catholic League tournament three weeks ago.

"Not be able to do a lot of cardio (was the biggest challenge)," Gross said. "I wrestled pretty bad. I will make the adjustments for next week."

Trevor Chumbley made sure the individual battles Marmion had with Montini were not entirely decided by the conference champion.

Meeting Fidel Mayora for the third time this year in the finals at 138 pounds, Chumbley had an escape for the only point of the match.

"You have to keep changing your style or make the adjustments to the last time," Chumbley said. "I watched a lot of film."

Reigning state runner-up Nate Jimenez is another Marmion wrestler who missed significant time this season with a knee injury.

The Michigan State-bound 170-pounder pinned Stagg senior Ahmad Suleiman in the third period for the Cadets' other sectional title.

"It's the same step as last year," Jimenez said of his planned route back to a state-championship bid. "My gas tank broke down a little bit. I'm not where I want to be because of the setback."

Diego Sotelo (106 pounds) was the fourth Marmion wrestler to fall in the finals.

"I thought we wrestled hard," Marmion coach Donny Reynolds said. "We got everybody through to the state tournament. We have 10 guys who can win state medals."

West Aurora and Batavia had sole individuals to extend the seasons of respective coaches Andrew Plata and Scott Bayer.

Juan Acevedo and Andy Posledni emerged though the meat grinder of the consolation bracket to advance at 152 and 132 pounds for West Aurora and Batavia, respectively.

"The only thought that was going through me is I wanted to be on the floor downstate," Acevedo said. "I didn't work this hard for nothing."

"Real Woods (whom Posledni lost to in the quarterfinals) is ranked in the country," Posledni said. "I thought I would be in the consolation bracket. They were all close matches. The excitement you get in the wrestlebacks is nothing like it."

- Kevin McGavin

Class 3A at Larkin: St. Charles East's Ben Anderson (120) and Justin Hull (285) and Geneva's Michael Donatella (160) won championships at the Larkin sectional. Also advancing to state for the Saints were Jake Penzato (4th, 106), Mark Guerrero (2nd, 113), Justin Benjamin (2nd, 126), Niko Derain (2nd, 138), and Tommy Schroeder (4th, 152). Other local qualifiers included South Elgin's Bobby Tornabene (4th, 113), Geneva's Honor Nguyen (3rd, 126) and Larkin's Jesus Facio (4th, 220).

Class 2A at Sycamore: Burlington Central's defending state champion Austin Macias (126) and Hampshire's Casey Allen (160) each won championships at the Sycamore sectional to advance to Champaign next weekend. Also advancing were Kaneland's Nathan Orosco (2nd, 120) and BC's Nick Termini (2nd, 145).

Class 2A at Grayslake Central: Crystal Lake South's Christian Olsen claimed the 106-pound title and the Gators' Peyton Timmons took third at 113 to also advance to state.

Class 1A at Oregon: Aurora Christian had six champions at the Oregon sectional. Joel Mylin (106), Tyler Eby (113), Cameron Johnson (120), Noah Villareal (126), Zeke Marshall (138) and Eli Ibarra (145) each claimed first-place hardware for the Eagles. Also advancing to state for AC were Jay cee Gonzalez (2nd, 152), Jack Certa (2nd, 160), Julian James (3rd, 182) and Angel James (3rd, 220).