No soph slump for Wheeling's Smith
CHAMPAIGN - Luke Smith burst upon the scene last season as a Wheeling freshman when he hit the trifecta by winning Mid-Suburban League, regional and sectional wrestling titles and a spot in the final 24 of the state tournament.
Smith went one and done in Champaign and vowed that if given the chance to return that his second trip downstate would be a better one.
On Saturday, Smith would use a string of impressive victories to capture a Class 3A third-place medal at 125 pounds at Assembly Hall. Teammate Dan Vargas (189) would earn a fourth-place medal at 189.
St. Viator sophomore Danny Sabatello (112, 40-7) gave the school its first medal since 1986 when Paul Ducato won it all.
Smith had the unfortunate luck to run into No. 2 Jon Morrison (Sandburg) in his Saturday morning semifinal. The defending state champ took little pity while recording a 12-5 major decision.
"I was happy with the way I wrestled Morrison, but an early mistake turned into a 4-2 lead, and even though I was able to ride him out in the second period, I wasn't able to get back into that match after falling behind," said Smith, who lost earlier in the season to Morrison at the Wildcat Invite.
Once in the consolation bracket, Smith recorded a fall over senior and No. 3 Brian Bokowski of Minooka, before a superb effort over No. 4 Chris Dardanes of Oak Park-River Forest led to his third-place finish.
"Dardanes is so tough and strong, and had a lot more in his gas tank than me," Smith said. "But I felt very good in that match all throughout and when I was able to get (that) turn to go up late, I knew I could hold on."
Smith, Vargas and his teammates will now begin preparations for a trip to Libertyville and the dual-team sectional on Tuesday, when they will meet the host Wildcats. New Trier and Grant will make up the other half of the sectional with the winners advancing to the dual team state meet next weekend in Bloomington.
Sabatello came of age at this tournament after falling in his opener to No. 1 Edwin Cooper (Providence) 7-2.
"I had a tough draw (with) Cooper and to get down early against someone (that) good is hard to come back from," said Sabatello, who finished strong against Cooper and used the momentum to carry him all the way through the consolation bracket.
The East Suburban Catholic Conference champ defeated Brandon Rubino (St. Charles East), then conference rival Sean Raddatz (Marist) until a 7-5 loss to No. 3 Matt Bystol (Libertvyille) ended his hope of a top-three finish.
For Vargas, a top-four finish was well-deserved in what many thought was the deepest division here this year.
"During the final couple of weeks of the season, it became more important than ever to finish the season as strong as I could, and to make a name for myself in our program just as Max (Nowry) did last season when he won a state title," said Vargas.
All around the MSL the news was good with Patrick Scully (40-8) grabbing a sixth-place medal at 119 and Hersey junior Demetrios Mitchell (49-7) joining his conference rival in sixth at 145.
Scully provided Hoffman Estates with its first medal since 1996 when Randy Watts brought home a fifth-place award at 103 pounds.
Mitchell's teammate Jeff Koepke (160, 39-15) fell one match short of a medal when he was eliminated via a fall by Andrew Rudd of Batavia. MSL 285-pound champ Jimmy Norris (Fremd, 41-3) missed out on his chance when Maine South senior Chris Brassel ended his season one match short with a 5-2 decision.
The terrific four-year career of Conant senior Joe Patricelli (30-8, 215) ended abruptly when Marist senior A.J. Smith eliminated the regional and sectional champ in his consolation quarterfinal bout.
"Our (weight) was wide-open, and if I could have replayed my quarterfinal loss (3-1) to Dan Kiebler (Leyden) a little different and got up on him, then maybe the outcome would have been different," Patricelli said. "With that said, it was a great senior year for me and one that I will always be proud of."