Lake County preview: Who's ready for regionals?
It's a long way to the top if you want to be a state wrestling champion.
That difficult road to the individual state meet in Champaign begins Saturday morning with Lake County wrestlers competing in four regional meets across the Daily Herald area.
The new three-class system should make for a very interesting tournament as North Suburban Conference champion Libertyville will lead the 10-team field into the Class 3A Zion-Benton regional beginning at 9 a.m. First and third-place matches are slated for 3 p.m.
The top three finishers in each weight class will advance to the Barrington individual sectional Feb. 13-14.
The Wildcats snapped Grant's string of six straight NSC crowns behind the strength of 119-pounder Matt Bystol (33-2), 125-pounder Louis Mazzetta, 140-pounder Pat Callan, and 160-pounder Josh Ronne who were all conference champs.
Pat Fitzgerald (103), Shane Michelsen (112), Kyle Manolovic (130), Sam Shay (135), Pat Kenny (171), Ryan Mertz (189), Luke Miller (215), and Sean Tavakoli (285) have been big factors for Libertyville.
"We're going to have to battle with Mundelein, Stevenson, and Warren, and we're going to have our work cut out for us," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. "I'm confident we will prepare as hard as we can, but other than that no guarantees."
If Libertyville can win the regional title, it will advance to its own team sectional Feb. 24 along with team champions from the McHenry, Dundee-Crown, and Glenbrook South regionals.
Mundelein heads into the Zion-Benton regional as the Wildcats' toughest competition after the Mustangs placed third at the NSC meet.
112-pound senior Eduardo Dominguez (33-1) is an elite wrestler for Mundelein and he will try to improve on his fifth-place finish at state last winter.
Freshman Matt Ornoff (31-5) was a conference champ for the Mustangs at 103 as was junior teammate Dion Livas at 285. Tanis Arcos (119), Juan Jaimes (125) and Mike Savage (160) are among Mundelein's contenders to advance to sectionals.
"It's the state series and our goal is to get as many individuals to sectionals as we can," said Mundelein coach Tom Buenik. "The key is to have a great week of practice and come out ready to go."
Stevenson is coming off a solid fourth-place finish at conference, and NSC champ Nathan Millman (145) will begin his quest for the Assembly Hall along with teammates David Lamberti (119), Turron Washington (285), and Nick Pagano (140).
Warren has an NSC champ in 189-pounder Tyreese Woodard to lead its troops into Zion-Benton along with teammates Robby Schultheis (103), Connor Drew (119), Leon Megerdichian (130), Justin Santiago (160), and Chandler Sperry (215).
Round Lake will head into battle led by Frank Contreras at 103, Dan Jimenez at 125, and Javier Villa at 145.
Carmel will turn to junior Steve Lester (285), J.P. Hough (119), and Matt Oliva (112) to lead its push.
NSC runner-up Grant has top-ranked 171-pound junior Lee Munster (35-0) ready to lead his squad into the powerful 10-team McHenry regional starting at 8:30 a.m.
Besides the Northwestern-bound Munster, the Bulldogs have great depth and experience with NSC champ Tyler Becker (152), Tyler Dempsey (145), Jake Brown (215), Jason Montemayor (135), Nick Guenther (140), Chaz Alex (125), and Carl Willams (285) leading the way.
"It's going to be tough, and there will be a couple teams there who will challenge us," said Grant coach Ryan Geist. "It will be a different look for us because we're not used to wrestling those teams. We've got to come out and wrestle like we are champs and expect to win."
Grant will have one familiar opponent in NSC foe Lake Zurich at McHenry, and the Bears have 130-pounder Cameron Shaffer (32-3) and 135-pounder Kevin Fanta (32-2) hoping to make return trips downstate this season.
Like Shaffer and Fanta, 215-pounder Wade Self was an NSC champ while teammates John Harkness (140), Andy Lynch (145), and Anthony Pace (152) have been impressive for coach Dan Strickler's Bears.
In Class 2A competition, Wauconda will be hosting an eight-team regional beginning at 9 a.m. First and third-place bouts begin around 2 p.m. with top-three finishers advancing to the Fenton individual sectional next weekend.
The host Bulldogs have a good chance to advance to the Burlington Central team sectional Feb. 24, but NSC rival Vernon Hills should pose a major obstacle.
Wauconda has one of the top-ranked Class 2A 152-pounders in the state in senior Scott Carlson (35-3) while Vernon Hills has gotten good results from Edgar Cuevas (130) and Jihad Abdallah (171).
The Richmond-Burton regional will feature four area squads beginning at 9 a.m.
Antioch has a serious contender for state in 171-pound senior Tom Gerstner while Lakes has a potential state champion in 2008 state qualifier Matt Holmes (135) leading his team.
Kyle Gibson (112) and Phil Cappitelli (171) are top competitors for the Eagles while Kevin Knutson (160) gives the Sequiots solid depth.
Grayslake Central has high hopes for Tad Vela (152) and Joel Valdivia (171) while Grayslake North's D.J. Mendoza (152) could go far.