Naperville wrestling teams one the move
Naperville North and Central have both been on the rise since the season's start.
Naperville Central improved to 10-4 in duals with Saturday's 30-28 win over visiting Downers Grove North.
The Redhawks also placed second as a team on Dec. 13 at this year's 13-team Hoffman Estates tournament, getting individual titles from Andy Kovalsky (135), Adam Gebner (152) and Matt Burns (189) and a second-place finish from Jon Williamson (103).
As the Redhawks showed against Downers North, their work rate has been a key to their success.
"Our first thing was to get in the best condition that we could get in, so we could tire guys out," Burns said. "I think that has really been working for us, and now we're starting to work on specific techniques."
A young Redhawks team has beaten St. Charles East, Batavia, and Naperville North in duals this year, and all four of their losses this year have come to ranked teams in Lockport (No. 6), Neuqua Valley (No. 4), Brother Rice (No. 23), and West Aurora (No. 8).
Naperville North knocked off a Rockton-Hononegah team that is ranked No. 9 in Illinois in a dual, at the recent Don Flavin tournament hosted by DeKalb. The Huskies placed fourth in a field of 16 teams.
The Huskies beat Hononegah 40-27, earning an 8-6 edge in matches won.
"It was our first dual, and I told the kids afterwards we should just leave," joked Huskies coach Tom Champion. "We beat the No. 1 team here, let's just get out of here."
The Huskies went 4-2 and finished fourth at DeKalb, losing by 3 points to No. 8 West Aurora and losing 35-25 to Bloomington, which is ranked No. 4 in Class 2A.
Frank McKeown (103) and Mike Albanese (285) were named the outstanding wrestlers at their respective weights in DeKalb, and Adam Hankin has been rock-solid since recently dropping from 140 to 135 pounds.
"We had a few new faces in the lineup, too, and some kids came through for us," Champion said. "I told the kids that I'm happy, but I'm not satisfied."
Castellano to USOEC: Fenton senior Josh Castellano will be wrestling for the U.S. Olympic Education Center next year, at Northern Michigan University. The USOEC specializes in Greco-Roman style wrestling.
For now, Castellano is ranked second in Illinois in folkstyle, in Class 2A of the new three-class format. Castellano is currently 18-1 at 145 pounds.
Heading approaching milestone: Driscoll senior Chris Heading (119) is 8-2 at 119 this year, and he needs 2 wins to become the first wrestler in the program's four-year history to win 100 matches. Teammate Tom Randich is 8-2 at 171, and Jake Randich is 9-1 at 189 pounds for the Highlanders.
Hard-working Wildcats: West Chicago senior Jonny Padilla is leading a good core of wrestlers this year for Wildcats coach Jamie Philips.
Padilla (130) is 10-3 and recently placed third at 135 at the formidable 24-team Rex Whitlatch tournament hosted by Hinsdale Central.
"He's got the most experience of any of our wrestlers, and he's the guy that brings the other guys up in the room," Philips said. "He's not a very vocal kid, but he works hard and the other kids see that. He brings up our whole team."
Other Wildcats putting forth notable efforts are Chris Pierce (8-3 at 119), Nick Carnot (9-3 at 145), Mike Thiede (6-4 at 160), and Jon White (8-3 at 215).
"They've all been working hard," Philips said. "They're all juniors and seniors now and all the hard work is starting to pay off for them."
The Clash: Montini, Neuqua Valley, and Glenbard North returned on Sunday from one of the top tournaments in the country, The Clash.
The Rochester, Minn., tournament features nationally- and state-ranked teams from Wisconsin, Ohio, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, and Colorado, and eight other states.
Montini - ranked No. 1 in Class 2A - went 4-2 in the two-day tournament and placed fifth overall in the field. Glenbard North went 2-4 in placing 15th, and Neuqua Valley went 2-4 to finish 20th in the formidable 32-team field.
Montini's Grant Goebel (189/215), Carl Foreside (189/215), Stephen Robertson (125/130), and Colton Rasche (130/135) all went 6-0 for the weekend.
"Robertson and Rasche had state-ranked guys almost every match," Goebel said. "I was really impressed by them."
Goebel posted three pins, won two decisions, and had one forfeit win in Minnesota for the Broncos.
"We were kind of on and off," Goebel said. "We've gone 2-1 on the second day of the tournament for three years in a row now. I think having six duals in two days just makes it hard to stay up for every dual."
Glenbard North got a perfect 6-0 performance from Tony Ramos (130/135), who also made the all-tournament team. Jimmy Chase (135/140) and Charleston Soko (171) went 5-1 in the two-day event.
For Neuqua Valley, Alex Zozulia (189) went 6-0, Chris Dawson (285) went 5-0, Nick Proctor (160) was 5-1, and Andy Spangler (140) went 4-1 at the formidable tournament.