Malik makes his mark; Marmion wins title
For Schaumburg senior Danny Malik, it took overtime to earn his individual championship at 171 pounds in the Cougar Classic wrestling meet hosted by Conant on Saturday.
"In overtime there has to be one thing in your mind. I've got to make one move, one score, and I win the match," Malik said. "You've got to go as hard as you can for that one move. If you score, you win. That's all it is."
That's exactly what Malik did in his final match against Nico Jimenez from Marmion Academy. Malik had led 4-2 heading into the final period of the match, but Jimenez was able to tie the score at 4.
Malik scored a takedown in the one-minute, sudden death overtime period for a 6-4 win.
Marmion had the last laugh in the team race. The Cadets produced a dominant team performance, rolling to the championship with 2371/2 points. Oak Park River Forest was second with 181 and Providence was third with 169.
The Cadets had champions at 119 pounds (Ben Whitford) and 145 (Pat Greco). They also produced two third-place finishes - Eddie Clifford at 112 and Alex Fitz at 285 - and had three more individuals take fourth place.
At last year's Cougar Classic, Malik lost in the championship match, he was happy to avoid that fate this year.
"My coach (Matt Gruszka) is always telling me, 'Be a champion. You're in the finals, don't be satisfied for second place or a close match. Be satisfied with winning and being a champion,'" Malik said. "And that's what happened."
Gruszka said it was big for Malik to win the title at 171.
"He won the match because he was aggressive, which for him was huge," Gruszka said. "This was a good step-up for him."
Glenbard North's John Gosinski took top honors at 103, and the Panthers' Joe Gosinski won at 130.
Schaumburg received strong performances from junior Joe LaManna and sophomore Josh Marchok, who reached the championship match at 189 and 215 pounds, but each lost.
Pat Felde took third at 160 and Hamza Akram fourth at 119 to help pace Schaumburg to 1591/2 points and a tie for fourth place with Glenbard North in the team standings.
"I think our team is developing at how to wrestle these types of tournaments," Gruszka said. "Last year we kind of faltered in the tournaments. Dual meets were pretty strong for us, but we got to the tournaments and things kind of fell apart a little bit.
"I'm trying to get these guys progressing towards the end of the year," Gruszka said.
Leyden finished in seventh place behind Dan Kielber's third place finish at 215, Kevin Lewis' third place finish at 140, and Jesus Payan's fourth place finish at 112.
Conant's Ben Clifford took third at 103, and teammate Nathan Benedietti finished fourth at 285.
Rolling Meadows' Dennis Caravello finished in fourth at 140.