U-46 schools have high hopes going into UEC
The local high school area wrestling scene officially kicks into the final stages Saturday with a pair of conference tournaments on the slate.
The Upstate Eight Conference meet will be hosted by Streamwood and locally will feature the five U-46 schools. Action starts at 10 a.m. The finals are slated for 4 p.m. Neuqua Valley, ranked fifth in Class AA by Illinois Matmen (www.illinoismatmen.com), is the defending champion.
Streamwood freshman Joey Kubica will go into the tournament with two individual titles under his belt. Kubica took first at both Sterling and Batavia and was fifth at Lake Park (but lost only his first match). Kubica dropped down to 130 pounds at Batavia.
"Joey wasn't cutting much weight at 135," said Streamwood coach Bill Peach. "He was one of the lighter 135-pounders. Going down to 130 and wrestling lighter guys has helped."
Kubica brings an 18-5 mark into the tournament, while Jeff Mason, who was third in the league at 112 last year, is 20-10 at 119 this year.
"I think both of them (Kubica and Mason) have a shot to be in the finals," said Peach.
Elgin's Terrell Walker will bring a 25-1 mark into the tournament at 160 pounds and is considered a favorite to win the conference title at that weight. Walker recently broke the Elgin record of takedowns in a season (212). Walker, ranked eighth in Class AA at 160 pounds by Illinois Matmen, took third in conference last year.
"He doesn't have any losses to conference wrestlers," said Elgin coach Anthony Genovesi.
Robert Hayes (18-4) will be in a tough 189-pound bracket.
The Maroons are fresh off a strong individual showing at the Kaneland tournament. Genovesi brought 8 varsity wrestlers. Six placed and 7 won a match.
Walker was the 160-pound champion, defeating Burlington Central's Taylor Schuck for the title. Hayes took second, while Ivan Ceballos (152) and Kevin Eck (140) were fourth-place finishers. Isidiro Talavera (119) and Dan Vazquez (215) both took sixth place.
Larkin senior Jacob Truax (20-14 at 189) and juniors Tony Feliciano (24-10 at 130) and Cameron Tanner (22-14 at 140) are all over the 20-win barrier this season.
"We are prepared and wrestling well coming into the conference tournament," said Larkin coach Mike Mulhearn. "Tony Feliciano, Cameron Tanner and Jacob Truax have a good chance to place for us."
Big Northern Conference: The area's hottest team right now resides in Burlington. The Rockets will look to make it three straight tournament wins in a row at Saturday's BNC meet at Oregon.
Central has won the Prairie Central and Kaneland tournament titles in successive weeks.
"The kids are believing in themselves," said Central coach Tony Rigitano. "That's a big part of wrestling. We're trying to take the program to the next level here. We went into Kaneland with the right frame of mind and the kids have been working their butts off. We asked them to score some more points and pin people when you can and get tech falls when you can. We had seven guys in the finals. That doesn't happen that often. The kids have done a great job. They are buying into what we are trying to do here. Hopefully we're peaking at the right time of the year."
Kevin Marshall (103), Curt Mastio (145), Tim Maroder (152, freshman) and Tim Vincent (215) won titles at Kaneland, while Schuck (160), Drew Hallstead (171) and Shane Burke (112) finished second. Garrett Fiorito (119), Zach Schreiber (125), Demetrius Phillips (135) and Zach Kein all finished in the Top 6 for the Rockets.
In terms of conference action, Central is 3-3 in dual-meet action against BNC teams. The Rockets have lost to the likes of Harvard, Stillman Valley and Oregon. Harvard is ranked 22nd in Class AA by Illinois Matmen, while Stillman Valley (No. 3 Class A) and Oregon (No. 6 Class A) also show up in the state rankings.
"We want to finish higher than we did last year," said Rigitano. "That's our goal. We were fifth last year and near the bottom the year before that. The Big Northern is a smaller-school conference, but it's a heck of a wrestling conference."
This will mark the final year of the BNC tournament. Next year the wrestling teams switch to an east-west divisional format similar to football. Only dual meets will determine division champions starting next year.
Prairie Ridge update: The Wolves started the week 7-7 overall in dual-meet action and 3-4 in Fox Valley Conference action.
Coach Joe Terhaar has received strong performances throughout the year from the likes of Brendan Barrett (152), Sam Campbell (160), Eddie Smith (285), Toby McDonald (135) and Mike Smith.
Ian Byrne's return from injury has also helped the Wolves.
"Ian has beaten a lot of the conference wrestlers at 171," said Terhaar.
McDonald has also drawn praise.
"Toby McDonald is a dangerous wrestler," said Terhaar. "He's great at throwing. He can throw just about anybody in the weight class."
Campbell is ranked 10th in Class AA at 160 pounds by Illinois Matmen.
Cary-Grove update: Both Josh Nelson and Paul Rands had the hot hand for the Trojans last week. Both went 5-0.
Nelson improved his record to 20-7.
"Josh has always been a guy who kind of starts slow," said Cary-Grove coach Dan Cysewski. "He's getting in better shape and he's finding a few moves that he is successful with. He's getting better on his feet and taking people down."
Rands is having another sterling season. He's 24-3 with losses coming to Downstate Morton's Preston Poyner (3-2), Dundee-Crown's Mike Lukowski (5-2) and Clinton (Iowa) High School's Byron Tate (5-0), who is nationally ranked.
Rands is ranked fifth in Class AA at 215 pounds by Illinois Matmen.
"Paul is a steady and hardworking guy," said Cysewski. "He's somebody we can depend on. We're excited about the rest of the year for him."
Cary-Grove was 6-2 in the conference to start the week.
Huntley update: The Red Raiders had 11 dual-meet wins to start the week. The school record is 14 (established last year). Huntley has 4 dual meets this week, culminating with a quad at Grayslake Central on Saturday.
Individually, freshman Lucas Rogers has been a strong contributor at 119 for the Red Raiders.
"Lucas had a pretty good week last week," said Huntley coach Kurt Rohlwing. "He had a decision win against Grayslake Central and won his last match against Jacobs when we really needed it. He went on last and he needed a pin for us to win and he did that for us and he was wrestling up a weight."
Veteran Jordan Bakley has moved up to 171 pounds.
"He'll have a little more speed at 171," said Rohlwing.
St. Edward update: Sophomore Shane Finnane (285) earned his first varsity medal with a fourth-place finish at last weekend's Kaneland tournament.
Will Lytle also finished well at Kaneland. He lost his first match and then won his final 3 encounters to take fifth.
"Will didn't get down," said St. Edward coach Shane Kottkamp. "He came back and won 3 matches. I'm real proud of him. He could have said to heck with this--a number two seed down to nothing-- but he went out and wrestled well."
Senior Joe Brown (171) and sophomore Jon Godfrey (140) each won 2 matches at Kaneland.
St. Edward does not return to action until a week from Saturday when it hosts the Suburban Catholic Conference Mega Duals.
By the numbers: Jacobs was 4-10 in dual meets to start the week. But 4 of the Golden Eagles' losses were by 1 point each.
Dundee-Crown update: The Chargers were 16-3 overall with just 1 Fox Valley Conference loss to start the week, bringing veteran coach Al Zinke to 495 career victories between Crown and Dundee-Crown.
Mike Lukowski, Ryan Horcher, Chris Rust, Frank Abatiua and Jeremy Lee all went 4-0 during last week's stretch. D-C lost only to Oak Park-River Forest.
Lukowski is ranked fifth in Class AA at 189 pounds by Illinois Matmen.
"We're working real hard," said Zinke. "We're excited."
Zinke said the team is close to fielding a full-strength lineup for the first time this season.
"We're just about there," said Zinke. "Next Friday and Saturday (conference tournament) we should have a full lineup."
Zinke did reveal that 4 wrestlers have left the team at various points of the season, including Bob Libricz and Jonathan Blume. Libricz was 7-1 and Blume was 7-7 at the time of their departures.
D-C will be plenty busy prior to the conference tournament. The Chargers wrestled Johnsburg and Grayslake North and Crystal Lake South earlier this week. D-C faces Woodstock today and hosts a triangular with Harlem and Rockford Jefferson Saturday.
More rankings: Besides Rands, Lukowski, Walker and Campbell earning Class AA individual rankings, a slew of other area grapplers showed up in the most recent honorable mention rankings by Illinois Matmen. That list includes: Aaron Ryan (Jacobs, 103), Smith (Prairie Ridge, 112), Burke (Burlington Central, 112), Joel Mayhew (Huntley, 130), Muscat (D-C, 130), Lewis (D-C, 135), Kubica (Streamwood, 135), Mastio (Burlington Central, 140), Horcher (D-C, 152), Barrett (Prairie Ridge, 152), Dan Olsen (Jacobs, 152), Schuck (Burlington Central, 160), Hayes (Elgin, 189) and Tony Benning (Huntley, 189). Dundee-Crown earned an honorable mention nod as a team in Class AA.
Mastio's honorable mention ranking seems somewhat curious given his area-best 27-0 mark (3 tournament titles).