A great day for Naperville Central
Batavia, Marmion and WW South each had three individual champions, and Wheaton North had two, but Naperville Central and Glenbard East were the cream of the crop at Saturday's Class 3A Wheaton North regional.
Naperville Central edged Glenbard East to win its second team regional title in three years, 141 points to 130.5. The Redhawks will compete against Leyden in a team dual sectional on Feb. 24 with a downstate berth on the line.
"I couldn't be more proud of the kids," said Naperville Central coach Rob Porter. "It was a great day for us."
The Redhawks had one regional champion in Adam Gebner (152 pounds) and four second-place finishers in Nick Santos (119), Kalen Petty (145), Matt Burns (189) and Nick Weithman (215).
All will advance to next week's Leyden individual sectional, along with third-place finishers in Jon Williamson (103), Andy Kovalsky (135) and Joe Widman (285).
"We put in a lot of matches as a team in the off-season, and that's been the difference for us this year," Gebner said. "It gave us the experience we needed coming into the school year."
Glenbard East's second-place finish featured a parade of eight wrestlers to the third-place mat, five of whom won for sectional advancement in Larry Caruso (145), Stefan Ivanov (152), Adam Zeh (160), Sam Pennisi (171) and Yousef Al-Ghoul (189).
The Rams' Parker Settecase also won a regional title at 215 pounds for coach Kevin Carlson.
"These guys just go and go," Carlson said. "A lot of times today they could have folded, but they didn't. We had a lot of guys get to the third-place mat, and they were successful there."
"We've done a lot of hard work, every day in the practice room," Zeh said. "JV came up and proved that they were ready for varsity this year."
Third-place Batavia advanced five individuals to the sectional, in regional champs Logan Arlis (112), Charlie Ryan (130) and Danny Watson (171), runner-up Andrew Rudd (160) and third-placer Augie Watson (140).
Arlis topped Wheaton North's Adrian Laskero 7-3 for his title, improving to 36-0 in the process.
"I'm a junior now, and my confidence is definitely a lot higher than last year," said Arlis, who was a state qualifier as a sophomore. "I'm a lot more experienced now than a lot of these younger guys."
Ryan (28-8) posted a pair of pins to reach the title mat, where he used a third-period takedown to win a 6-4 decision over Geneva's Collin Callahan.
"I was really impressed with how hard (Callahan) came out," Ryan said. "He gave me a good match, and I need good competition like that going into the sectional."
Watson's 9-5 decision over Wheaton Warrenville South's Jim Franke gave him his first regional title. The Bulldogs' senior carries a 36-1 record into next week's sectional, and he feels ready to go.
"It feels good to finally get (a regional title)," Watson said. "I didn't do anything different today - I just wrestled like I have been all year."
Marmion had a trio of regional champs among their four sectional advancers in freshman Eddie Greco (103), Angelo Silvestro (119) and Pat Greco (140). Eddie Breen also advanced, placing second at 125 pounds.
Eddie Greco topped Naperville North's Frank McKeown by 10-6 decision on the title mat and upped his record to 30-2 on the year.
"Coming into high school, I didn't know what to expect," Greco said. "Guys were a lot stronger than me, and I had to learn to handle that. My coach kept telling me to stick to the outside with my shots, and it's worked out."
Silvestro posted a 7-4 decision for his title, over Naperville Central's Nick Santos, and Pat Greco won a heated battle on the title mat, 6-3 over Naperville North's Adam Hankin.
"I knew it would take a takedown to seal the match," said Greco, who got that takedown in the third period to gain separation on Hankin. "Then I was able to kind of ride him out and coast from there."
WW South was led by a trio of champions among its five sectional qualifiers, in Spartacus Chino (135), Tim Savenok (145) and Mike Olp (189). Regional runners-up Jim Franke (171) and Pat O'Shea (285) also advanced.
Chino won his first regional crown on Saturday, but the sophomore has his eye on a bigger prize.
"It doesn't mean that much right now, because I just want to go downstate," Chino said. "But maybe at the end of the year I'll reflect on it."
Savenok thundered his way to his first regional title, posting three technical falls on the day, and Olp won a 7-4 decision over Naperville Central's Matt Burns to win his first regional crown.
Wheaton North had a pair of regional champs in Jake Dore (125) and Dominick Schmit (160), while Adrian Laskero (112) and Will Gemmell (152) were second on the day.
Dore sat out most of the year with an injury but improved to 11-3 on Saturday and lived to wrestle another day. Afterward, he tipped his hat to now-graduated Nate Fitzenreider, who placed third in Illinois last season.
"Last year I was behind (Fitzenreider) at 119, and I can't even tell you how much he helped me," Dore said. "He pushed me harder than anyone I've ever wrestled."
Schmit improved to 2-1 against Batavia's Andrew Rudd this year, winning a 4-3 decision on a regional title mat.
"We had a good game plan against (Rudd) last time, and we pretty much stuck to it this time," Schmit said.
Naperville North's Frank McKeown (103) and Adam Hankin (140) placed second to advance, while teammate Nick McDonnell (119) advanced by placing third.
Huskies heavyweight Mike Albanese (38-2) had to go to overtime to win an 8-6 decision over WW South's O'Shea.
"He's a tough wrestler," Albanese said. "It's the fourth time we've wrestled, and he just knew what was coming. It was a good test."
"I knew what to avoid," O'Shea said. "And even though he's beaten me a few times, I went in believing I could compete with him."
Glenbard West advanced three wrestlers, with Sam Littlehale (112), Mike Letmanski (125) and Ethan Knowles (130) all winning on the do-or-die third place mat.
West Chicago's Jonny Padilla (135) placed second, while teammate Jon White (215) placed third to advance for the Wildcats.