Competition's fierce at Palatine
The 55th Annual Berman Holiday Wrestling Classic proved to be a very difficult battleground for area individuals and teams Tuesday at Palatine.
Once again it was defending champion Minooka that captured the title of the powerful 26-team tournament with 207 points while Lockport easily locked up second place with 188 points.
There was a three-way struggle for third place with Lincoln-Way Central (156 points) edging fourth-place Lemont (155.5) and fifth-place Hinsdale Central (154) by a narrow margin for the plaque.
Glenbard East (122 points) managed to hold off Mundelein (119 points) for ninth place, but the Mustangs were able to edge St. Charles East (108) in 11th, and Leyden (105) in 12th.
Mundelein's two-day tourney was highlighted by sophomore Matt Ornoff reaching the finals against Hinsdale South senior Jake Schramm in the 112-pound weight class.
The previously undefeated Ornoff (19-1) posted a 7-1 decision over St. Patrick's Steve Galiardo to reach the finals. But Schramm (18-2) won an 8-1 decision over Ornoff for the crown.
"That kid (Schramm) is state-ranked, and the good thing is that this is only a holiday tournament so if we keep improving that is the important thing," said Mundelein coach Tom Buenik, whose team is at Woodstock Saturday. "(Monday) we started off really well, but today we didn't wrestle our best and we will have to improve for the second half of the season."
Mundelein freshman Nick Dudzinski (17-2) took fourth place at 103 with senior teammate Juan Jaimes (18-2) placing fourth at 130. 189-pounder Jake Hertel placed fifth for the Mustangs at 189 while teammate Dion Livas placed seventh at 285.
Warren's injury-plagued squad was led by a fourth-place finish by senior Josh Dust (10-2) at 285 and a fifth-place finish by teammate Robby Schultheis (16-4) at 119. Dust dropped a 3-2 decision to Glenbard East's Spencer George in the third-place match.
"Losing 3-2 in the last seconds I tried to take (George) down, but it didn't work out," said Dust, who missed the early part of the season due to injury. "I was 7-0 coming into this tournament and I'm definitely going to try my hardest to get to state."
Lakes senior Phil Cappitelli (17-2) made a strong push to the 189-pound finals against Lockport's Brad Johnson. But after falling behind 8-1 after one period, Cappitelli was unable to bounce back in a 17-4 loss.
"Phil beat up on everybody in the tournament and the only other person to handle him like that was (Lee) Munster," said Lakes coach Curt Onstad following the 189-pound finals. "He (Cappitelli) should be dropping to 171 sometime before conference or regionals. He just looked exhausted in his finals match and he didn't have any energy."
119-pound junior Kyle Gibson (14-5) placed seventh for the Eagles at 119.
Antioch received seventh-place finishes from 140-pound sophomore George Gonzalez (20-8) and senior teammate Al Arden at 145.