Standing tall
For cross-town rivals to battle in an intense, Upstate Eight Conference match up was exactly how Larkin and Elgin imagined it. But the ending was nowhere close to Elgin's satisfaction.
Down 9-1 in the second period, Jeff Saterlee (135) was fighting to save Larkin's 36-33 lead with everything he had.
Several times, Elgin's Sebastian Altamirano (135) looked as though he had brought Elgin all the way back with several near pinfalls but that's when Salterlee's stepped up. Saterlee's teammates rallied around him, giving him all the support until Saterlee pinned Altamirano to earn Larkin a 42-33 win over rival Elgin Thursday at Chesbrough Field House.
"Hearing my teammates cheering for me to get back, I owe it all to them," said Saterlee.
"I found the strength somewhere. I was fired up, but I was a little nervous of course; the team was counting on me."
The Royals' other winners in its win over Elgin were Cameron Tanner (140) and James Kapaun (215), who pinned Elgin's Jose Garcia in the heavyweight matchup. Tanner also pinned West Chicago's Doug Sills in the double-dual meet that included St. Edward as well.
Though Elgin won 2 other matches, a 59-21 win over St. Edward, and a 45-34 win over West Chicago, Maroons coach Anthony Genovesi was more disappointed with the his team's effort against Larkin.
"Nothing I say right now is going to be good. We have a lot of things we need to correct," he said.
In Elgin's victory over St. Edward, Terelll Walker (160), and Issy Telavera (119) won their matches. In the victory over West Chicago, Walker used his strength to pin Unel Fulmer.
Fulmer's teammates Jon White (189), and Nick Carnot (145) each won their matchups in their 30-18 win over Larkin.
Carnot, though, lost to St. Edward's Will Lytle (145), who was 2-0 in his matches at Elgin. Lytle also pinned Elgin's Tyler Lake.
"I decided to come out aggressive. Hopefully it gives us some advantage at the Geneva tournament (Saturday)," said Lytle.
The Green Wave, which lost both matches and is still winless, was just looking to get back into the swing of things from Christmas break.
"This is the first time we have wrestled over Christmas vacation in 10 years at St. Edward. We wanted to get the rust off for when we went to our big tournament," said Wave coach Shane Kottcamp.