Churkey’s win lifts Dundee-Crown to title
Dundee-Crown senior Cody Churkey didn’t make it out of regionals last season.
He made sure of a trip to the Class 3A Barrington sectional with a victory Saturday in the 215-pound semifinals at the Jacobs regional. In the final, not only was an individual regional championship at stake, but making sure the Chargers won the team title was as well.
Churkey beat Rockford Auburn’s Jarod Kimble by fall at 3:34 to secure bonus points as D-C won two of the final three weight classes to pull out the team victory with 173.5 points, edging Crystal Lake South (169.0)
The regional title is the 10th in D-C program history and the first since 2008. It also qualifies the Chargers to compete in the dual team sectionals at the end of the month.
“I wanted the pin for the team,” Churkey said before the team results became official. “Just winning regionals would be a great thing. We lost to so many of the teams here during duals and just upsetting them all would be great.”
Churkey (33-4), ranked No. 4 by illinoismatmen.com, finished fourth in the regionals last season. Only the top three move onto sectionals. He doesn’t expect his season to end next Saturday at Barrington.
“It’s always great to move on,” Churkey said. “All I want is to go downstate and place, hopefully win a state championship.”
The Chargers won three weight classes to advance to the dual team sectionals. Alonzo Fuller (22-9) beat Crystal Lake South’s Jake Peters by an 8-3 decision at 145 pounds and Carson Tanner (25-17) defeated Cary-Grove’s Max Kersten by a 7-5 decision at 189 pounds.
Also moving onto the sectionals for D-C by finishing third were Connor Lewis (112), Travel Rounds (119), Gustavo Jacobo (140) and Chris Lamprecht (160).
“Our kids worked hard,” Chargers coach Al Zinke said. “We lost a lot of semifinal matches and our kids fought back in the third-place match.”
The Gators had four individual champions. Nick Fontanetta (36-0) remained unbeaten, defeating Prairie Ridge’s Eric English by technical fall at 5:35.
“I’ve wrestled him plenty of times, wrestled him last week at conference,” said Fontanetta, a junior ranked No. 1 in the state. “My goal was to score more against him. I beat him 12-0 at conference. Today I wanted to pick it up a little bit, work a little harder. I was successful with that. I’m pretty happy.”
Nick Gil (119), Cullen Smith (135) and Kean Loupee (160) also won regional titles for CL South, which will send nine wrestlers to sectionals. Casey Callahan (second, 103), Nick Peters (second, 130), Tom Gerszewski (second, 140), Jake Peters (second, 145) and Gary Hausl (third, 171) also moved onto Barrington.
Cary-Grove finished third as a team with 155.5 points and advanced eight wrestlers. Corey Meyer won a regional title with a 1-0 decision over CL South’s Nick Peters at 130 pounds. Collin Hansen beat Josh Symbal by an 8-4 decision to capture the 171 title, scoring five points midway through the third period with a takedown and back points.
“I got a side headlock and waited for him to get into bad position,” said Hansen, who also advanced to sectionals last season. “I’m feeling good. I’m excited.”
Austin Ryan (103) and Joe Ladick (152) each won regional titles for Jacobs. Ryan beat the Gators’ Callahan by a 4-0 decision. Ladick won by injury default in the title match.
“I wrestled OK,” said Ryan, a freshman. “I didn’t get what I wanted. He kind of stalled a little. So I did what I could.”
Huntley had four wrestlers advance. Lucas Rogers (second, 135), Josh Symbal (second, 171), Matt Zeis (third, 215) and Josh LaLuz (third, 285) moved on for the Red Raiders.