Barrington wins MSL tournament

The wrestling was terrific, the Mid-Suburban League’s stars were sensational — but Barrington was even better than any of that Saturday night at Conant.

The Broncos dashed the hopes of their closest conference rivals with a barrage of points during the afternoon session to break open the race for the league championship. The Broncos outscored runner-up Schaumburg by nearly 80 points to cruise to their first conference wrestling championshp since 2006.

Junior Jared Parvinmehr (112 pounds) and senior Aaron Castagna (285) gave the MSL West champs their only two individual titles, but as this team has demonstrated all season, it can score plenty of points in the consolation bracket.

“I am, as you can expect, very happy for the team for this title that they won today, but I am particularly proud of the fact that all 14 of our guys were placewinners this weekend, which is something you rarely see happen in strong wrestling conference like this one,” said Barrington coach Al Strobl.

“Winning an individual title on the same day that our team only makes it all that much better,” said Castagna (32-4), who is one of just six seniors in a Broncos lineup which went 19-0 during the regular season and become the favorite to win the team title next weekend at the Deerfield regional.

The Broncos ended the two-day tournament with 235 points, with Schaumburg at 157.50, 2 more than Wheeling, and 5.5 more than fourth place Hersey. The Huskies were 6.5 points better than Rolling Meadows, with whom they shared MSL East honors.

While both Parvinmehr (29-5) and Castagna were the headline acts for the champs, it was the magnificent performance of the two best in their weight divisions in the state, Luke Smith (140) and Josh Marchok (215), which dazzled the crowd while a trio of high-ranking stars showed they belonged on center stage as well.

Wheeling’s Smith (34-0) joined former MSL stars Dan Weber and Matt Boggess as just the third ever to win four conference crowns when he demolished the field. The title match was a technical fall over Bryan Peterson (25-6) of Schaumburg, while Marchok (28-0) added 3 more pins to his resume to capture his second straight MSL title.

“Sometimes his opponents wrestle not to get caught — so we have to remind Josh to be a little creative, and when he does, it opens things up for an instant, and then it’s over,” said Saxons coach Matt Gruszka, moments after Marchok, a junior, recorded his 25th pin of the season.

Smith took moment to reflect on his four-year career, and lookd back to his very first title, an 8-6 decison over Patrick Scully in 2008 when the Wildcats won a league title.

“I remember beating Patrick, and then him stepping on my head,” laughed Smith, who said he couldn’t believe how fast the past four years have gone. “It means a lot to me to win four straight here and be alongside Weber and Boggess, but they have something that I don’t have, and that’s a state title. And from here on out, that’s what I am focused on.”

There was no shortage of greatness on this night, starting at 189 pounds, where the marquee match was No. 2 Joe LaManna (Schaumburg) taking on No. 5 Chris Johnson (Wheeling) in a rematch of the 2010 final. In that bout, Johnson shut out LaManna 5-0 and went on to capture sixth place at state.

“I did some things in that match last year that I should not have, and it cost me in the final,” said LaManna (33-1), who broke bravely out of the blocks to take a 3-0 lead after his takedown at 2½ minutes. “I wanted to be the aggessor tonight, and wanted to keep the energy up because Chris is so big and strong, and I didn’t want to give him any opportunity to use that strength that he has.”

Johnson (31-2) appeared to be in position to do just that, but the Wheeling senior was unable to finish his shot, and later LaManna added to his lead before winning 5-2.

Hersey senior Jeff Koepke (38-2) made his move from 171 to 160 a successful one when the two-time state qualifier defeated Joe Caprio (32-5) of Rolling Meadows with a hard-fought 6-4 decision, to win his second consecutive crown.

“The match turned out to be a little closer than I had anticipated,” said Koepke, who was rated the No. 4 171-pounder until his recent move. “I am feeling much more comfortable at 160 (now) and anxious to begin the postseason next weekend at Deerfield.”

Koepke’s teammate Stephfon Scales (38-2) flattened the competition at 119 pounds, including his opponent in the finals, Alex Mertes (27-7) who fell victim to the Hersey junior by a technical fall at 5:52.

“That was my first MSL title,” said a thrilled Scales, who won at the Berman Holiday Classic in late December. “This is the first of four big wrestling weekends, and I feel like I am ready to go for it all.”

Scales was joined by several others first-time MSL title-winners, including Aaron Kohlberg (Rolling Meadows, 103, 29-4), Mitch Alexander (Conant, 130, 16-11) and Parvinmehr, who nearly saw his No. 2 ranking slip away when Buffalo Grove senior Eugene Blackmon (24-4) threw a scare into him in a 8-6 victory.

“I am sure Jared would be the first to tell you that wasn’t his best match of the year, but I think he wrestled a little conservative and nervous, and Blackmon has a lot to do with that,” said Strobl, who watched Parvinmehr fall behind 6-2 in the second period, before a takedown and near-fall put him in front for good.

There were plenty of upsets to help keep the big crowd involved all day.

In the order in which they were wrestled:

Ÿ No. 3 seed Zurabi Khornauli (Rolling Meadows, 125) upended No. 1 Conrad Bugay (Hersey, 35-8) with a fall at 4:42 to culminate an exceptional two days, and gain a measure of revenge on Bugay, who’d won in a match between them just last week.

“We’ve tried to temper the aggressive way ‘Z’ wrestles, because sometimes it catches up with him, as it did when Conrad beat him at our place last Friday,” said Rolling Meadows head coach Dave Froehlich of the senior who hails from the Republic of Georgia. “But tonight he showed how good he can be when he stays composed and not so aggressive.”

Ÿ In another No. 3-versus-No. 1 seed, it was Brandon Thompson of Prospect (27-9) shocking top seed Hunter Rollins (Hersey, 35-5) 5-2 to grab the top prize at 152.

“Since the DeKalb tournament, Brandon has been outstanding, losing just 2 matches during that time and wrestling the way that he is capable of,” said Prospect coach Tom Whalen, who watched the senior get in deep on Rollins and finish to make it 2-1 before adding another deuce near the end of the second period.

Some late heroics from another 3 seed, Chris Suchomski (Fremd, 30-7) helped push the Fremd senior past No. 1 Pat Felde (Schaumburg, 29-6) and give the Vikings two individual titles on the night.

“When (Felde) got hit with that stall, I knew it was now or never for me, and when he came in for that chop, I hit him with a granby and that was it,” said Suchomski, who recorded 5 points in the final 13.1 seconds in a 6-1 victory.

Ÿ No. 2 Ronnie Hauser (26-6) won a second straight title after his hard-fought 4-3 decision over No. 1 Kory Jauch (30-4) of Rolling Meadows, while Wheeling senior Mike Smith (28-8) nabbed the first championship of his terrific four-year career after defeating top seed Dakota Wapotish (31-6) of Barrington with a 10-2 major decision at 145.

“I think my cousin Luke is happier than I am with my title, but I’ve really been working harder than ever, knowing this is my last run at a state medal, and the coaching staff is right there with us, making sure the training and extra work will get us ready for the last three weeks of the season,” said Smith.

Wheeling and Schaumburg, both of whom had been eliminated early on in their respective division races, closed the gap on Barrington before the Broncos erased any hope of a miracle comeback when it outscored the two clubs with a 72-point barrage which saw the runners-up score just 25 and 21 points in the same span.

“It’s a terrific team to be around and coach, but more importantly, a bunch of really good kids to have around, which is something we always stress in our program,” said Strobl. “We will enjoy today, then go back to work tomorrow in preparation of the regional tournament.”