Marian Catholic, Wheeling lead the way at Erb Invtational

Grant knew it would have its work cut out if it was going to win the 45th Annual Rus Erb Wrestling Invitational again Saturday at Glenbrook South.

The Bulldogs had won the powerful 16-team tournament nine straight times, but without a full lineup they settled for fourth place behind champion Marian Catholic, runner-up Wheeling and Batavia.

Marian Catholic rolled to the title with 204 points while Wheeling edged Batavia 158 to 157.5 for second place. Grant nipped Sycamore 154 to 153 for fourth while Buffalo Grove (120.5) slipped past Stevenson (119.5) for sixth.

With the tourney shortened from two days to one day because of snow Friday, Wheeling, Batavia, Grant, and Sycamore were in a close battle behind Marian Catholic the whole day Saturday before the Wildcats would ultimately walk away with second place.

Senior Danny Vargas (18-0) sealed second place for Wheeling at 189 pounds with the third of his three first-period pins to remain undefeated on the season.

Luke Smith (125 pounds) also captured an individual title for the Wildcats with a pin in the finals.

"I knew that match (in finals) was important because we were down to Sycamore by a couple of points and that allowed us to take second," Vargas said. "Being undefeated just gives me more motivation because I don't want that loss on my record."

Wheeling got second-place finishes from Mike Smith at 130, David Aranda at 140, and Leo Hicks at 152.

"I think this tournament is the toughest it has been since I was associated with it and I've been coming here since I was a freshman in high school," said Wheeling coach Neal Weiner. "Out of the 14 guys we brought, 13 won at least one match and that is pretty good."

Tournament outstanding wrestler Lee Munster (17-0) went into the tourney seeded third, but he walked away with another crown after takedown and quick pin of DeLaSalle's Clayton Kendall two seconds before the second period ended.

Munster defeated Buffalo Grove's Kyle Czarnecki (15-1) 7-4 in the semifinals while Czarnecki was held out of the third-place match due to a minor knee injury.

The Bulldogs had three champions with 130-pounder Roque Bustos and 215-pounder Jake Brown (15-2) also reaching the top of the podium. Grant was without three key wrestlers, including 135-pound junior Jason Montemayor.

"For nine years we were always pretty much healthy, but this year we were coming in under-manned and even though we did everything we could it wasn't good enough to pull out a victory," said Grant coach Ryan Geist. "It was the best match of the day (for Munster), there is no doubt about it, and in the end he just imposed his will on the (DeLaSalle) kid and he did a great job."

Brown posted a 3-1 decision over Buffalo Grove's Kevin Alvarez for his title.

"I always work on three basic things - stance, watching my feet, and good technique," said Brown. "As long as you push yourself you can achieve anything you want."

Buffalo Grove 103-pound sophomore Eugene Blackmon was a champion for the Bison while teammates Jason Sandoval (112) and Alvarez placed second.

"He (Blackmon) is as quick as anyone out there and I think he put himself on the map today with this tournament," said Buffalo Grove coach Dave Durlacher. "I thought the kids did a good job and a lot of different guys contributed."

Wauconda senior Scott Carlson (20-2) captured the 152-pound title with a 10-5 decision over Hicks.

"A lot of our young kids came in and won at least one match and six of our guys got medals," said Wauconda assistant coach Bob Kenison. "We had some kids that could have placed that didn't, but this was a good step for us in this tournament."

Carmel junior Steve Lester (285), Grant's Tyler Becker (160), and Stevenson's David Lamberti (119) all took runner-up honors.

"(Lamberti) came out and wrestled well, he was aggressive, and his confidence is really up," said Stevenson coach Shane Cook. "We understand that we're still relatively young, it's a long season, we have a lot to work on, but overall we're pleased."

Area third-place finishers were Carmel's J.P. Hough (119), Grant's Chaz Alex (125), Stevenson's Nathan Millman (145), Grant's Tyler Dempsey (152), Buffalo Grove's Jamey Zabrin (160), Stevenson's Tommy McGovern (189), and Stevenson's Turron Washington (285).