Saints' Schaefer repeats honor

Adam Schaefer relived part of his past on Saturday in Glen Ellyn.

For the second consecutive year, the St. Charles East senior was named the outstanding wrestler of Glenbard West's Hilltopper Invitational tournament, after winning an individual title at 189 pounds.

Schaefer started the day with a pin, then won a semi-final decision before pinning Brian Ridge of Notre Dame for the title in improving to 26-1 on the year. Schaefer came up just shy of qualifying for last year's state tournament.

"Last year I had a terrible stance, and I was letting people take me down too much," Schaefer said. "I'm better about those things this year, and I'm quicker on my feet."

"We knew he could have a really good year," said Saints coach Steve Smerz. "He has more of an offense on his feet this year, and he's hard to take down."

Schaefer was one of six titlists for a Saints team that earned the team crown by out pointing second-place Glenbrook North, 191 to 169. Alex Maynard (103), Brandon Rubino (112), Cody Crawford (125), Harry Vyhnanek (145) and heavyweight Blake Griffiths all won titles for the Saints.

Coach Steve Smerz also got second-place finishes from Daniel Mercadante (130) and Nick Scimeca (152), and he was happy to see his squad respond well after Friday's dual loss to Lake Park. The Saints did it without one of their best wrestlers, the injured Billy Diamond.

"We were here with 13 guys and we wrestled well," Smerz said. "Lake Park took it to us last night, we were flat and it was good to see us not come out flat again."

Notre Dame placed third with 166 team points, just 5 team points ahead of fourth-place Glenbard West, which had six wrestlers reach the title mat. Adam Junkutz (135) and Dave Weaver (171) earned individual titles for the Hilltoppers.

Junkutz followed a major decision with a pin of Notre Dame's Bill Gavin for his title, while Weaver won his title via 9-4 decision over Glenbrook North's Mason West.

Weaver was up 5-4 with a minute left in his title match and played it smart before scoring late on a desperation shot by Mason.

"I stayed aggressive but just didn't work as many moves," Weaver said. "(Mason) had a good shot, but my sprawls were on target today."

Paul Stano (140), J.D. Macleary (160), James Wagner (215) and Mike Dixson earned second-place finishes, and Eric Frischkorn (119), Roy Navarro (145) were third for Hilltoppers coach Nick Posegay.

"We were knocking on the door for second place for most of the day," Posegay said. "Our champs, and even in our third-place matches today, our guys fought hard."

Addison Trail placed fifth on the day, getting titles from George Iliopoulos (119) and Juxhin Hoda (130), a second from Johnny Delmedico (103), and thirds from James Sokolnik (112), and Arber Bebo (189).

Iliopoulos followed a semifinal major decision with another major for the title, 13-2 over Glenbrook North's Rich Pugh. Hoda followed a technical fall by getting the only takedown of a 3-2 title win over the Saints' Daniel Mercadante.

"Now it's time to pick it up, because state is all that matters," Hoda said. "I've been working on my defense a lot, and I scored off of (Mercadante's) shot."

Elk Grove's Robert Pechacek was dominant in winning a title at 140 pounds, winning by 12-3 major decision over Notre Dame's Jim Wallenberg in setting up a 9-3 title decision over the Hilltoppers' Stano.

The Grenadiers also got a third-place finish from Dean Dimaso (125) in placing sixth.