Raiders' Griffin repeats as champ

The Batavia wrestling team has yet more hardware for its lucky No. 50 season.

With seven wrestlers reaching the finals of the Western Sun Conference tournament Saturday afternoon in Rochelle, the Bulldogs made a dramatic statement over regular-season champion Yorkville and the rest of the league.

Four of the Batavia wrestlers were victorious on the day, and the 180 points accrued by the Bulldogs earned them their third tournament victory of the season.

Yorkville was second with 162, followed by DeKalb, Sycamore, Kaneland, Glenbard South, Rochelle and Geneva.

Yorkville was awarded the conference title on the basis of is perfect dual-meet record, which included a victory over the Bulldogs' on the fourth criteria.

Mark Griffin is the heart and soul of the Glenbard South team, and the senior had a much easier path to the championship than a season ago.

In defending his crown at 145 pounds, Griffin extended his unblemished run to 34 matches with falls in the semifinals and finals. Griffin had a bye in the quarterfinals.

"(Going undefeated) was my main goal, but I made a new one: to go undefeated through the state series," Griffin said. "I wanted to go out there and take care of business. (My championship opponent) got in the wrong position, and I rolled him."

"I wish he were on my team," Batavia coach Tom Arlis said of Griffin. "I think his work ethic is going to take him a long way."

It is his ability to confuse, said Glenbard South coach Derrick Crenshaw, that distinguishes Griffin on the mat.

"(Griffin) is an unorthodox wrestler," Crenshaw said. "He does things that I can't coach."

The Raiders' Ryan McKean, Rutger Glocker, Mike Oratowski and Austin Tiestma advanced to the third-place match, where Tiestma was the lone major consolation winner at 215 pounds.

"(The overall finish) is better than last year," Crenshaw said. "Six guys in the final round versus two (last season)."