D-C wins 2, Zinke 5 wins from 500
The Dundee-Crown Chargers hosted a 5-team wrestling invite Saturday that brought some of the best talent from the area to hit the mats. The invite included Wheaton North, Prospect, Oak Park-River Forest, and Lane Tech.
Wheaton North (16-5) won all 3 of its team duals, facing Oak Park-River Forest, Prospect, and Lane Tech.
Dundee-Crown (16-3) won its first two duals of the day, but fell short 33-28 against Oak Park-River Forest. D-C's Mike Lukowski won all 3 of his matches including an impressive win over the No. 1 ranked 189-pound wrestler in the state, Peter Zintak from Prospect.
Lukowski was able to earn a point on an escape in the second period that proved to be enough to get the win.
"I was looking forward to wrestling (Zintak). Last year I didn't get to wrestle him here. We tried to win the team dual so I bumped up to 215," said Lukowski. "This year it was awesome to wrestle him. I just worked hard over Christmas break. It's big for me. I placed last year and he didn't, it just shows those guys who are doing the rankings who is top seed right now."
"Mike has a big advantage because of the fact that he has wrestled all of the top kids in the state," said D-C coach Al Zinke, now just 5 wins shy of 500 for his career.
"Mike Lukowski has got some really impressive wins and his only losses are to very good kids.
For Wheaton North, the tough competition continues.
"We've had a pretty competitive three weeks. This is a nice three duals for us. Oak Park-River Forest is the real deal," said Falcons coach Steve Holland. "It's been a grind these past three weeks and our seniors did a nice job. They knew what it was going to take and they did a nice job."
One of Wheaton North's top wrestlers, Nathan Fitzenreider (27-3), suffered an early loss against Prospect's Johny Brennan in the 125-pound match, but was able to battle back with an impressive win over OP-RF's Lillishawn Coleman 5-1.
"I can't say enough about Nathan Fitzenreider. He had a tough kid from Prospect, he got put on his back, was down 5-0, and battled back and ended up losing the battle 5-4," Holland said. "A lot of kids wouldn't have been able to bounce back from that. Then he came out and had to wrestle Lillishawn Coleman, one of the toughest kids in the nation. He battled back to beat Lillishawn who hadn't been taken down all year. That showed true character."
Fritzenreider knew he was going to have a tough day, but also is learning to move on and learn from his experiences.
"I knew coming into this (invite) that I was going to have a tough day. I was upset the way the (match with Brennan) went, but you have to get over it when you have multiple tough matches in a row," said Fritzenreider. "If you keep yourself down then your attitude just carries to the next match. That happened to me last year."
Prospect went 0-2 in the invite falling 49-12 to Wheaton North, and 36-28 to D-C. Matt Boggess, who wrestled at 135, and Brennan won both of their matches for the Knights.
Wrestling
BC wins at Kaneland: Burlington Central notched its second straight invitational championship Saturday, winning the Kaneland Invite. Sandwich was second and Addison Trail third.
The Rockets, who won the Prairie Central tournament last week, got championships Saturday from Kevin Marshall (103), Curt Mastio (145, now 27-0) and Tim Maroder (152). Shane Burke (112), Taylor Schuck (160) and Drew Hallstead (171) finished second while Garrett Fiorito (119), Zach Schrie (125), Zack Kein (130) and DeMetrius Phillip (135) were all third for the Rockets.
"We're making progress as a program," said BC coach Tony Rigitano. "This was a nice surprise but we thought after winning Prairie Central last week we had a chance to do well and the kids really wrestled well today.
"They're buying into what we're trying to do and they're working their butts off. We're trying to get them to peak here at tournament time and hopefully February 3 (regional day) we'll be at our best."
At Palatine mega-dual: The Palatine mega-dual proved to be a real marathon for area wrestlers Saturday.
The host Pirates struggled but were able to finish 3-0 overall. They were able to stay perfect for the day thanks to a 37-31 nonconference victory over Notre Dame to close out the day of competition.
Palatine (12-8) opened the day with an impressive 55-18 victory over Plainfield North before the Pirates toppled Cary-Grove 46-30 in their second dual meet.
Cary-Grove (9-5) went 2-1 on the day as the Trojans started the triple-dual meet with a 35-28 victory over Lake Zurich before closing with a 45-36 victory over Carmel in a quick meet that featured 10 pins overall.
Cary-Grove 285-pounder Paul Rands (25-3) went 3-0. He seems to be on track to make a return trip to the state meet this winter. Alec Hargrove (119) and Josh Nelson (135) also went 3-0 for the Trojans while teammate Cody Heche (189) went 2-0.
"I thought we got better as the day went on, but we have to get a lot more physical with our opponents and I think that is what our guys learned today," said Cary-Grove coach Dan Cysewski. "The matches that Palatine won they were much more physical. We seemed to be a step behind them with their technique, and that is a sign of good coaching."
At Batavia: Batavia had 205 points in claiming its second team title this year. Lincoln-Way East edged Lemont for second with 178. Streamwood was two places higher than its district rival Bartlett as the Sabres had an individual champion in freshman 130-pounder Joey Kubica.
Kubica needed less than four minutes of action to reach the finals against Plainfield South sophomore Robert Warren.
The Sabres' prized freshman doubled his tournament victory total with his 7-4 triumph in the finals to go along with an earlier championship from Sterling.
Kubica alternates between 130 and 135 pounds, and he was not completely pleased with his performance.
"I felt that I could have wrestled better, but I did what I had to do to win," Kubica said. "I think (the win at) Sterling felt better, because I beat a really good kid (Austin Hanabarger) in the semis."
The key sequence for Kubica against Warren came in the second period; the freshman used a takedown-3-point-near fall sequence to take a 5-1 lead into the final period.
Kubica is 18-5 on the season after his trio of wins.
Jeff Mason also had a legitimate chance to reach the finals at 119 pounds, but the senior was denied 3-1 in his semifinal match against Sterling sophomore Jordan Cater.
Mason was adamant an incorrect decision cost him his chance.
"We were both in a scramble, and I thought I ended up on top," Mason said. "I don't know if the referee was blocked or didn't see it."
Batavia junior Tyler Patton held Mason scoreless in their third-place match.
The Sabres' Frank Adams advanced through the seventh-place bracket with a default, and the 112-pounder captured the consolation prize a fall two seconds shy of the second-period horn.
For the day, Streamwood was in 13th place with 68 points.
Bartlett had 30 points on the day; the Hawks' Camilo Garzon and Eric Moreno won seventh-place medals at 140 and 152 pounds, respectively.
Boys basketball
Westminster Christian 64, Chicago Christian 60: Westminster Christian (11-4, 3-1) conquered Chicago Christian during Private School League action Saturday in Chicago.
Joel Benson led all scorers with 21 points, while Tyler Beachler contributed 18 points for the Warriors. He now has 991 career points. Cory Hodge added 11 points, while both Dan Graves and Ryan Beachler contributed 7 points apiece for Westminster.
Northridge Prep 66, Elgin Academy 23: Northridge Prep trampled Elgin Academy (2-14) during nonconference action. Cory Ebert led the Hilltoppers with 7 points, while Jeff Moller added 5 points.
Girls gymnastics
Elgin/Larkin at Niles North: The Elgin/Larkin co-op team placed ninth with 87 points at the Niles North Invitational Saturday.
Andrea Vercelli finished fourth for Elgin/Larkin on the uneven bars with a score of 8.05. She was also eighth in the all-around with a 31.30 score.
Men's basketball
Rock Valley 90, ECC 69: Elgin Community College suffered a nonconference loss to Rock Valley College Saturday in Rockford. Ryan Harris led all scorers with 22 points, including a 10-for-10 performance from the free-throw line. Kevin Kasinger contributed 11 points to the Spartans' offensive attack, while John Suire added 9 points.
Judson 83, Cardinal Stritch 75: Justen Boyd's game-high 26 points and 6 assists led Judson University (7-11, 2-0) to its second CCAC victory. Illija Bojanic contributed 22 points, 5 assists, and 2 blocked shots for the Eagles.
Women's basketball
ECC 68, Rock Valley 64: Elgin Community College (8-6) defeated Rock Valley College in nonconference action Saturday with 5 players scoring in double digits.
Karin Herrera finished with a team-high 15 points, and De'Larissa Morris scored 14 points. Cristin MacCarthy and Ariana Topps each finished with 11 points. Jessica Turnage scored 10 points, and Jamie Jara added 7 points for the Spartans.
Cardinal Stritch 65, Judson 50: Judson University (5-11, 0-1) suffered a CCAC loss to Cardinal Stritch University despite the efforts of senior Kelly Friestad.
Friestad finished the game with a career-high 18 points and was the only Eagle to score double digits. Alicia Rovertoni finished with 7 rebounds to lead the defensive end for Judson.