Wheeling leads after first day
Wheeling put itself in repeat position after Friday's first day of the Mid-Suburban League wrestling championships at Barrington.
The defending league champions head into today with nine wrestlers in the 10 a.m. semifinals and a 78-661/2 lead on Hoffman Estates. Championship matches are scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
Hoffman has seven semifinalists and third-place Buffalo Grove (62) has six.
The top two teams will have four head-to-head semifinal matches with Wheeling's Mike Smith (130 pounds), David Aranda (140), Ehkbaatar Erdene-Ochir (145) and Chris Johnson (215) meeting Hoffman's Brian Kempf (130), Rocco Silvestri (140), Tommy Wadas (145) and Jose Flores (215).
Wheeling's Luke Smith (125), Leo Hicks (152), Alex Marsical (171), Danny Vargas (189) and Francisco Sanchez (285) also made the semis. Hoffman also has Justin Harris (112), Patrick Scully (119) and Mike Eisele (285) in the semis.
BG's Kyle Czarnecki, ranked third in the state at 160, advanced with two falls. No. 3 Tom Laskowske of Palatine got a bye to the semis at 103.
Prospect's Matt Boggess improved to 31-0 at 140 with a fall and technical fall. Hersey junior Demetrios Mitchell, who is 40-3 and ranked fifth at 145, won by technical fall and fall to stay on course for a possible title match with seventh-ranked Wadas.
BG's Jamey Zabrin (30-2) moved up to 171 and had a pair of falls. At 189, Vargas (31-1) and Rolling Meadows' Thomas Davidson (31-4) are in opposite semifinal brackets.
Fremd's Jimmy Norrris improved to 30-1 at 285 with 2 falls.