Berman title suits Dominguez
The Berman Holiday Wrestling Classic provided some great challenges for area individuals Tuesday at Palatine.
While Lockport was holding off Minooka 227.5-204 for the team title, 10th-place Mundelein and elite senior Eduardo Dominguez were trying to close out the powerful 26-team tournament on a high note in the final day of the two-day tourney.
Dominguez (19-1) did exactly that as he pinned his opponent in 50 seconds in the 112-pound semifinals before capturing the championship with a 5-1 decision over St. Charles East's Brandon Rubino.
"My mind was thinking like this was the state championship and if I want to be a state place-winner this year I have to wrestle my best and that's what I did," said Dominguez. "I started off the season not wrestling well and I lost to a kid who I should have beaten. But since then I have done better and I'm not messing around."
The Mustangs did have four other medal winners Tuesday including 103-pounder Matt Ornoff (sixth), 119-pounder Tanis Arcos (sixth), 130-pounder Juan Jaimes (seventh), and 285-pounder Freddy Martinez (eighth).
"He (Dominguez) did a great job, he wrestled hard, he wrestled smart, and that is what you have to do in an elite tournament," said Mundelein coach Tom Buenik. "This was a good tournament for all of them and the 103-pound weight class was stacked. (Ornoff) is only a freshman and the kid who won it (Palatine's Tom Laskowske) he lost to 5-3 in overtime."
Warren junior Robby Schultheis upset top-seeded Jake Schramm of Hinsdale South 5-3 to reach the finals against Laskowske at 103. But trailing 4-1 1:40 into the first period, Schultheis (19-1) was forced to default due to a left knee injury.
Schultheis had beaten Laskowske 18-4 in a dual meet at Vernon Hills just over two weeks ago.
Warren 119-pound senior Connor Drew bounced back from a semifinal loss to capture third place with a 6-3 decision over Downers Grove North's Jimmy Nehls. Warren's Josh Dust placed sixth at 285.
"It's probably not that serious an injury (to Schultheis) and we're going to keep it that way, but the kids he beat in the earlier rounds took third and fourth in the tournament," said Warren coach Mark Tiffany. "Taking third in this tournament is not bad at all. There are a lot of close matches, and he (Drew) came back after a tough loss and that is important."
Lakes senior Matt Holmes (20-2) won his first match at 140 Tuesday, but after a hard-fought 3-2 loss to Hinsdale Central's Tim Knowles, Holmes settled for fifth place with a technical fall. Lakes junior Phil Cappitelli placed seventh at 171.
"I learn from my losses more than I learn from my wins and it's better that I get my losses now than during the state series," said Holmes, who will be moving back down to 135 very soon. "I made a bunch of my mistakes (Monday) against (Kevin) Lewis and today I made one mistake against Knowles and I didn't use enough offense."
Lakes coach Curt Onstad is optimistic about the remainder of Holmes' season headed into the Class 2A state tourney in mid-February.
"He had defense, but he just didn't have offense in the semifinal wrestlebacks," said Onstad. "But it's a tough weight class here with six guys ranked between double A and triple A."
Antioch 189-pounder Tom Gerstner (15-2) went 4-0 on the day including some pay back with an 18-4 major decision over Lockport freshman Brad Johnson in the third-place match. Johnson beat Gerstner 7-5 in Monday's quarterfinals.
"He (Gerstner) actually went out there and he respected the kid and he overlooked the kid yesterday, but he didn't do that today," said Antioch coach Wilbur Borrero. "Tom will be a 171-pounder for sure by next weekend and he's obviously closer to that weight than he is to 189 but he's just got to keep wrestling hard and keep learning."