Feliciano a bright spot for Larkin; D-C rolling
One major bright spot for the Larkin wrestling team has been the performance of senior 130-pounder Tony Feliciano.
Feliciano sported a 16-2 mark earlier this week for a Royals squad that was 6-11 overall in dual meets.
"Tony is a 4-year wrestler in our program, is always at practice, worked hard in the off-season to get stronger, and so this year he is finally putting it all together," said Larkin coach Mike Mulhearn. "He has improved in each area to become a better overall wrestler by following our program, doing what was asked of him during his 4 years and now it is showing on the mat."
In addition to Feliciano, senior Cameron Tanner was 14-4 at 140 to start the week, while senior Edir Nevarez was 13-5 at 285, while senior Cameron Tanner was 14-4 at 140.
Senior Gavin Dillehay (160) and juniors Patrick Lipscomb (125) and Jordan Perez (171) all had 10 wins or better.
Dundee-Crown update: The Chargers, 7-0 in duals to start the week, won the Hinsdale South tournament over last weekend by an impressive 31.5 points.
D-C coach Al Zinke said the last time the team won the tournament was back in 2004 (the year the Chargers took 4th in the state).
Frank Abitua (119), Jeremy Lee (125), Jermaine Lee (130), Cody Muscat (145) and Jack Lewis (160) all won titles at Hinsdale South. Sophomore Cody Churkey (171), Josh Lee (135) and sophomore Miko Villanueva (103) all took thirds.
"The kids are doing a good job," said Zinke. "They are working together."
Zinke said the development of the upper weights will be key as the season wears on. The Chargers have had to forfeit upwards of 3 weight classes in meets in the early going, something Zinke can't remember occurring previously in his tenure.
"We're fighting a numbers game," said Zinke. "The upper weights have been really tough. We haven't fielded a full lineup all year."
D-C will host Libertyville, Hersey and Belvidere Saturday. Hersey is coached by former D-C standout Jim Wormsley.
"It will be a good weekend," said Zinke.
D-C then heads to the Harvard tournament next weekend and will wrestle in the prestigious Dvorak tournament at Harlem over the holiday break.
"The Dvorak is the best tournament in the state," said Zinke.
South Elgin update: The Storm opened up their Upstate Eight Conference schedule last week with an 8-point victory over Larkin.
Kyle Rodriguez (125), Tyler Toczek (145), Mike Schoening (180) and Kyle Henry (285) all scored wins.
The meet came down to the match at 140 where South Elgin's Nick Potts scored the victory.
"We came out a little flat and put ourselves in a hole, but our kids battled back to get the win," said South Elgin coach Mark Cameron. "It showed us a lot as coaches to see that even when we are not at our best we can still pull out a win against a rival school. Last year, I don't know if we would have had the ability to rally back for a win."
The Storm then hosted a quad with Lake Zurich (40-21 loss), Sycamore (58-19 loss) and Burlington Central (41-24 loss).
"(That) was a great learning day for our kids," said Cameron. "We are coming out of those duals as a better program. Some of our kids put in many hours in the off-season and expected to come out this season doing better than they are at the moment. We keep working with them in practice to eliminate their mistakes and clean up their attacks. Once they do that, they will be very hard to beat."
Kevin Gianaris went 4-0 last week to improve to 14-3 overall at 112. Henry was 3-1 and is now 14-3, as well. Dan Hoelting went 3-1 at 152 to move to 12-3, while Schoening (also 3-1) and Potts both have 10 wins on the season. Rodriguez has 9 victories.
Elgin update: The Maroons started the week with a 1-5 mark in dual matches. Senior Erik McGinn (171) was 7-2, while junior Terrence Bruessard (189) was 7-3. Junior Jesus Aguirre (145) had 5 wins, while sophomore Nathan Andresen (103) had 4 wins.
Cary-Grove update: Veteran Cary-Grove coach Dan Cysewski has been pleased with the development of senior 171-pounder Nick Sarillo.
"I've been real happy with Nick," said Cysewski. "He's won a lot of close matches for us. Last year he would not have won those. He's done well in those last periods and last 30 seconds of matches. He's winning the close ones. And to do that at this time of the year is really outstanding."
Seniors Matt Springer (112) and Cody Heche (189) have also been solid for the Trojans.
"Matt and Cody have been very steady," said Cysewski. "They are consistent. Hopefully they will stay that way."
Huntley update: One major positive for the Red Raiders in their dual match with powerhouse Dundee-Crown was Lucas Rogers, who scored a victory at 125 pounds.
"Lucas wrestled very well. He had a good match," said Huntley coach Kevin Summerville.
Summerville also lauded the effort of junior 145-pounder Anthony Giuffre who was winning late in a match last week, but lost on a late reversal.
"He had a great match," said Summerville. "He made a slight mistake and it cost him the match. He knew exactly what he did. We've corrected the error."
Burlington Central: The Rockets were 10-2 overall and 2-0 in Big Northern Conference East Division action to start the week.
Both of Central's losses came at South Elgin last weekend to Sycamore and Lake Zurich.
"Sycamore was a measuring stick," said Rigitano. "We lost to them early last year, too. This year was 41-25. We won 6 and they won 8. But we were pinned 5 times. There's the problem. You have to wrestle those good teams to see where you are at."
Central's Shane Burke recorded an impressive victory last week, beating 2008 Class A state champion Allen Fish (Byron) by an 8-0 count at 125.
"That's a big deal," said Rigitano. "That was a major win. He controlled the match. It's good for his confidence."
Burke is one of a bevy of Central wrestlers that had big records to start the week. In addition to Burke (11 wins), Kevin Marshall was 10-0 at 119, while Taylor Schuck was 9-0 at 160 and Tim Maroder was 8-0 at 171. Freshman Johnny Major was 9-1 at 112, while Demetrius Phillips (135) and Tim Botsford (145) were both 83. Alan Avila was 8-4 at 103. Buddy Toth had 6 wins at 130.
"We're still young, but we're working hard," said Rigitano. "They kids are doing a great job."
Rigitano is looking forward to the next 2 weekends. His squad will compete in the Sterling tournament Saturday and then will head to the perennially tough Harvard tournament next Friday and Saturday.
"The Sterling tournament is good competition for us," said Rigitano. "There are a couple of Iowa schools there. We'll see Sterling and Rochelle, both of them are in our class."
Central will be without Marshall (ACT testing) at Sterling.
The Rockets entered the Harvard tournament after the disbanding of the Big Northern Conference post-season tournament.
"I wanted us to have better competition. This is a good opportunity," said Rigitano. "Dundee-Crown will be there. It's also good because we have back-to-back tournaments on 2 weekends, which will teach the kids how to prepare for the postseason tournaments."
Jacobs update: Returning state qualifier Aaron Ryan won his third-straight Rockford East tournament title recently.
"Not bad for a junior," said Jacobs coach Todd Rader.
Nate Muhlman was third at 171, while Jay Garfield took third at 215.
Rader is also looking for big things from the likes of Joe Diehl, John Cook (135) and Jason Wilwerth (160). Wilwerth was losing a back-and-forth match by an 11-6 count after the first period and ended up pinning his opponent.
"It shows what happens when you don't give up," said Rader, of Wilwerth's victory.
Rader is seeing progress across the board.
"We're starting to come together more," said Rader. "Our goal is to be ready for those end of the season tournaments."
Hampshire update: The Whip-Purs have had a number of bright spots in their first season as a program.
Coach Terry Wilkinson, who has 33 wrestlers in the program, praised the recent efforts of Cody Fleiser (125) and sophomore Glen Buckwinkler (215).
"We're getting better every day," said Wilkinson. "That's all you can ask for. I didn't expect this many kids in the first year. I'm really happy about it. Our kids are working their tails off every day. We don't want to be competitive in five years. That's not our goal. We want to compete in some way this year. I don't think that is out of reach. We've shown a lot of good things so far."
Rankings: From Illinois Matmen (www.illinoismatmen.com), Burlington Central is ranked 14th in Class 2A, while Dundee-Crown is 16th in Class 3A.
Individually in Class 3A, D-C's Cody Muscat is fourth at 145, while teammate Jack Lewis is 11th at 160. Streamwood's Joey Kubica is ninth at 140, while Crystal Lake South freshman Nick Fontanetta is 12th at 103.
Central's Schuck is third at 160 in Class 2A. Marshall is sixth at 119, while Burke is sixth at 125. Jacobs' Ryan (112) and Diehl (125) continue to show up in the Class 2A rankings (Ryan 6th; Diehl 9th), despite the fact the school competes at the Class 3A level.