Wheeling's Smith takes fourth straigh Erb title

It was billed as the “Clash of the Titans,” and the 47th Annual Rus Erb Tournament proved to be very successful for wrestling teams and inviduals across the area Saturday at Glenbrook South.

Sycamore raised the championship plaque by a 199.5 to 178.5 margin over newcomer Notre Dame in the powerful 18-team tournament while Cary-Grove made a huge jump up the standings from last year to place third with 142.5 points.

Lane Tech locked up fourth place with 136.5 points, but Grant moved from 11th place headed into the second day of the tourney to finish an impressive fifth with 128 points.

Batavia was yet another solid area squad with a sixth-place score of 122 points followed by Lake County entries Wauconda (112) in seventh, and Carmel (107) in eighth.

Despite only bringing six wrestlers to the tourney, Wheeling placed ninth with 99 points, followed closely by Mid-Suburban League rival Buffalo Grove (92 points) in 10th.

Wheeling senior 145-pounder Luke Smith (19-0) continued his quest for a Class 3A state crown by becoming one of the few wrestlers in Erb tourney history to capture four championships as he won his finals match by a 5-0 margin over Sycamore's Steven Lalowski.

“I wasn't thinking about winning it four times until I was here and my brother (Jamie) told me he won it three times,” said Smith, who was named outstanding wrestler of the tournament. “I thought I was much more dominant on my feet, I wasn't sloppy, and I didn't let up an offensive point the whole tournament.”

At 189 pounds, Chris Johnson was also an individual champ for the Wildcats with an 11-3 major decision over Sycamore's Jacob Davis in the finals.

Wheeling coach Neal Weiner chose to send six of his wrestler's to the Lake Zurich JV tourney while key wrestlers Igor Romanowski (285) and Eddie Scanlon missed the meet due to illness.

“I've been coming to this tournament since I was a kid and it's always been a special tournament so for him (Smith) to win it four times is nice and him and his brother (Jamie, class of 2004) are very competitive,” said Weiner. “I wrestled in this tournament when I was at New Trier. It's always been a tough tournament, and it brings back a lot of memories.”

Cary-Grove's road to third place was led by sophomore 125-pounder Trent Atkins (7-1), who posted a 14-5 major over Buffalo Grove's Christian Ocampo for the title.

The Trojans also received a second-place finish from Corey Meyer, who was defeated 5-4 by Buffalo Grove's Jordan Rathje in the 130-pound finals.

“The semifinals match (against Lane Tech's Matt Finnegan) was real tough going to overtime and any one of the top four could have won our bracket so it was really exciting to come out on top,” said Rathje. “We're missing a bunch of guys or we were looking to place in the top five here.”

Cary-Grove also had fourth-place finishes from Colin Hansen at 171 and Max Kersten at 189. The Trojans got fifths from Mike Underwood (112), James Smrt (119), and Garrett Glueck (135).

“Last year was our first year here and we were about 15th, so to come back and take third was just fabulous,” said Cary-Grove coach Dan Cysewski. “Everybody scored points for us except two weight classes, and that is how you do well in a tournament like this.”

Grant's surge to fifth place was led by junior Ben Soumar's championship performance at 112 with great support from teammates Devin Monroy (140) in third, and Nick Fanella (135) in fourth. The Bulldogs also got fifth-place finishes from Nick Kramer (103), Jared Lalanda (189), and Quinton Quarles (215).

“Ben (Soumar) is doing alright and he had two ranked kids in his weight class,” said Grant coach Ryan Geist. “I honestly don't think we've had a worse day than we had yesterday since I've been here (12 years), so it was nice to see how we bounced back today.”

Wauconda got a second from 160-pounder Pete Kootstra and two thirds, including one from senior Brian Kent at 215 as Kent (10-1) only returned to the team about three weeks ago after changing his mind about coming out for the 2010-11 season. Devin Tortorice (103) also placed third for the Bulldogs.

“Kootstra is the captain of our team because of his attitude, for his work ethic, and his effort, and that shows up on the mat,” said Wauconda coach Tom Nance. “Kent hasn't reached his potential yet, he's not in wrestling shape yet, and he's two weeks behind everybody else.”

Batavia got third-place medals from Joel Schump at 112, Jake Shulz at 125, and senior Augie Watson (18-2) at 152 as Watson edged Wheeling's Mike Smith 2-1 in their third-place bout.

Brandon Jagielsky (215) placed second for Wheeling after a tough 3-2 loss in the finals. Anthony Scaccia added a fifth for Batavia at 130.

“I'm real excited about Jake Shulz at 125 because he lost his very first match on Friday and he came all the way back to place third,” said Batavia coach Ben Morris. “He (Shulz) wrestled better in this tournament than he has all year.”

“Watson is very consistent and he's a very mat-savy wrestler,” added Morris. “Schump didn't wrestle well against Grant (Soumar), but he came back and got third and I think he can wrestle better because he has some technical things to work on.”

Besides Rathje and Ocampo, Buffalo Grove got a third from Matt Zabrin at 160 and a fourth from Eugene Blackmon at 112.

Carmel got runner-up medals from Brian Waldron at 119 and Evan Palmer at 135. The Corsair's also got fourths from Dan Carvill (103), and Jake Cochrane (285) while teammate Bobby Dandino placed fith at 145. Wauconda's Bruce Pearl placed fifth at 140.