Wildcats flex muscles to mash Mundelein
Host Libertyville picked right up where the Wildcats left off last weekend.
After an impressive third-place finish at the 34-team Barrington tournament, the Wildcats posted a lopsided 49-6 North Suburban Conference Lake Division wrestling victory over Mundelein on Thursday night.
Libertyville coach Dale Eggert was honored before the meet for reaching a milestone 400th career victory last week at Lake Forest. Eggert is only the 16th coach in IHSA wrestling history to record over 400 wins.
"I have had a lot of longevity and I love the sport," Eggert said. "I'm just trying to schedule what is best for our team and if you are around long enough something is going to happen, but the only thing that matters is this year."
Starting at 160 pounds, Libertyville (2-0, 2-0) jumped ahead 3-0 when Josh Ronne posted a 6-2 decision over Mike Savage.
Pins by 171-pounder Pat Kenny and 189-pounder Ryan Mertz made the score 15-0 before 215-pounder Luke Miller won a 4-1 decision over Mike Hill for an 18-0 advantage.
Mundelein (2-2, 0-1) lost another close 3-2 decision when Sean Tavakoli defeated Freddy Martinez at 285 to stake the Wildcats to a commanding 21-0 lead.
"I thought there were some matches that we could have pulled out and won, but you have to give Libertyville credit that is why they placed fourth in the state last year," said Mundelein coach Tom Buenik. "I hate to have to wrestle Libertyville so early, but now our focus is to get better each week."
At 103, Mundelein's Matt Ornoff got a last-second takedown for a 4-3 decision over Pat Fitzgerald. But Libertyville 112-pounder Shane Michelsen posted a technical fall in 5:42 to boost the lead to 26-3.
Libertyville junior Matt Bystol moved up a weight class, but he dropped a 5-1 decision to Mundelein's Tanis Arcos at 119.
Libertyville's Louis Mazzetta and Mundelein's Eduardo Dominguez both moved up a weight class to 125, and Mazzetta (6-1) recorded a pin in 3:47 to make the score 32-6.
"I've wrestled (Dominguez) before and I knew what I had to do," said Mazzetta, who is 2-1 overall against Dominguez. "It's good for our dual team for me to move up and I just have to keep wrestling hard."
Decision's by Libertyville's Kyle Manolovic (130), Sam Shay (135), and Pat Callan (140) were followed by a technical fall by Sam Robinson (145). Nick McDowell's 3-2 decision over Pablo Mata (152) closed out the meet.