Good 1st day for Libertyville at Dvorak
MACHESNEY PARK - There's one thing you can say without qualification about Libertyville's performance on the first of two days in the toughest wrestling tournament in Illinois, the 32-team Dvorak.
Ninth place ain't bad.
"We went 12 for 12 in the first round, so that was a great start," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. "We won a lot of close matches in that round."
"I'll be very happy if we can finish in the top ten of this tournament."
The Wildcats saw three wrestlers reach the quarterfinals at Machesney Park Harlem, in Matt Bystol (112), Louis Mazzetta (119), and Luke Miller (215), with Bystol advancing to Tuesday's semifinals.
As the tournament's second seed at 112, Bystol opened his day with a technical fall win that sent him into a quarterfinal match against a rock-solid wrestler in Wheaton North's Adrian Laskero.
The junior won a 5-3 decision over Laskero, and will take on Hononegah's Austin Waliullah in Tuesday's semi-final round.
Bytol took a 3-2 lead with an escape to start the third period against Laskero, and then clinched it with another takedown.
"We were both gunning pretty hard, and I just caught him," Bystol said.
Unseeded Mazzetta posted a pair of solid decision wins to start his day, the second coming in a 9-1 major decision over a higher-seeded wrestler in downstate Morton's Eric Meyer. Mazzetta lost his quarterfinal match in a 5-2 decision to Providence's Tom Ambrose.
Miller also wrestled extremely well for Eggert on Monday, posing a 9-1 decision over Edwardsville's Corey Johnson to reach the quarterfinals before losing a 4-1 decision to the top seed at 215, Matt Behnami of Iowa City West.
"He's only a sophomore, so I'm a little surprised that a guy this new to the sport would get into the quarterfinals here," Eggert said. "That was a nice win over the Edwardsville kid."
Dundee-Crown finished the day in 15th place, with Miko Villaneuva (103), Frank Abitua (112), and Jermaine Lee (125) all reaching the quarterfinal round. Villanueva was dominant in a 13-5 major decision over Bloom's Jerald Wilbanks, putting him in Tuesday's semi-final round.
"I was just working my moves," Villanueva said. "My coaches kept telling me that he was going to break, so I kept pressuring him."
Villanueva will take on Illinois' top-ranked 103-pounder in Ed Klimara of Providence Catholic in his semi-final match. Abitua and Lee will try to wrestle back to the third-place mat, along with teammates Josh Lee (130), and Jack Lewis (152).