Dundee-Crown's Villanueva takes 3rd at state
CHAMPAIGN - No one will ever accuse Miko Villanueva of a lack of confidence.
After a convincing run through the Fox Valley Conference en route to a championship belt at 103 pounds, the Dundee-Crown junior was unable to continue his magic on the mats and found himself runner-up in back-to-back weekends at both the Class 3A D-C regional and one week later at the Barrington sectional.
Villanueva (36-7), who came into the state tournament unfazed by his regional and sectional results, rebounded in a talent-laden 16-man division to grab a third-place medal Saturday afternoon at the University of Illinois.
"After finishing second two weeks in a row I found myself dropped in the state ranks to almost 10th, and I have to admit it was great motivation for me this weekend," said the affable Villanueva, in between bits of a giant ice cream cone, compliments of retiring Chargers head coach Al Zinke.
"Miko never gave up on himself, and he worked very hard during the past week at practice with all of our coaches to get himself ready for the tournament," said Zinke.
Villanueva sprung one of several big upsets which took place on Friday when he stunned No. 3 Jake Schramm (Hinsdale South) 6-4 to help him advance into Saturday's semifinals against No. 2 Derek Elmore of Machesney Park Harlem, a match Villanueva lost by pinfall in 2:27.
But, the victory over Schramm would pay an extra dividend after Villanueva defeated Matt Ornoff of Mundelein by pinfall in 6:52 of an overtime period in a consolation semifinal, which would feed him into Schramm on the other side of the bracket. Once there, his previous victory would give him an automatic walkover for third place.
"I am very happy with the way the tourament ended for me, and after 2-3 days of rest and relaxation, I am going to get back to training with an eye on winning it all next year at 103," said Villanueva.
The Burlington Central duo of Johnny Major (103, 20-5) and teammate Shane Burke (125, 35-6) fell short of any pre-tournament hopes when both were eliminated during the Class 2A series.
Major would drop his opener, and was never given an opportunity to wrestle back, while Burke won his opener, then lost to Aryn Gilenson of Champaign Centennial 7-5 in OT.
"We're real proud of our guys who helped us advance our first two (ever) in school history to a state tournament, and the coaching staff is thrilled and happy about the future of our program," said Rockets coach Tony Rigitano.