Morales just happy to wrestle
Used to sticking guys on wrestling mats, Mike Morales was the one who got stuck last spring.
For nearly two months, after complications arose from a back injury the Antioch wrestler suffered during a freestyle tournament, he had an IV jammed in his arm.
“After I got in the hospital, it was getting worse and worse,” Morales said. “I had a blood infection. I had pneumonia. They were taking X-rays and CAT scans, and they found some fluid in my vertebrae. It weakened the bone. (Doctors) didn’t want me wrestling for a long time so I wouldn’t get paralyzed.”
At Grayslake North on Saturday, Morales, who missed about the first month of the high school season, spryly hopped on a podium to collect a regional medal.
His 13-1 major decision over Grayslake Central’s Mark Long in the 130-pound third-place match earned him a berth in the Class 2A Antioch individual regional, which starts Friday and concludes Saturday.
Morales’ effort helped defending regional-champ Antioch (142) finish second to Richmond-Burton (192.5) in the nine-school field.
Morales entered the regional with a 13-13 record but began the day by capturing back-to-back major decisions.
“He’s getting better,” Antioch coach Wilbur Borrero said proudly, playfully punching Morales in the chest. “We weren’t sure if he was going to even wrestle this year. The doctor was telling us that he might not be able to. So we’re happy to have him back, and hopefully he’s going to do even more.”
All Morales wanted to do Saturday was wrestle. Never mind the fact that he had to win a match just to advance to the quarterfinals.
“I was just focused on my first match coming into regionals,” Morales said. “I’ve been working hard all week for it. I didn’t even look at my bracket.”
Morales opened with an 11-1 major decision and then majored Grayslake North’s 31-match winner Sean Bergstrom 9-1.
“I focused on riding and looking for a lot of back points and getting my takedowns,” Morales said. “I just wanted to keep going through what I practice every day.”
Morales, who dropped a 3-2 decision to Lakes’ Jose Collado in the semifinals, finished 4-1 on the day, earning three major decisions.
“I wasn’t expecting all the major scores,” Morales. “I thought it was going to be closer matches, but I believed in myself.”
In total, Antioch advanced eight wrestlers to its own sectional. George Gonzalez (145) and Zach Epker (189) won titles for the second year in a row, while Mike Gussarson (125) and Lee Shannon (285) each finished second. Besides Morales, Brandon Schultz (112), Hunter Moseley (160) and Zach Freundt (171) won third-place bouts.
Wauconda 145-pound senior Tim Alvarado hopes the third time is the charm next weekend when he seeks an elusive state berth. Alvarado secured a spot in the sectional for the third year in a row when he pulled out a 9-7 win in overtime against Grayslake Central’s Dylan Hay, who won the regional at 130 last year and advanced downstate.
Hay had forced OT in the final seconds by overcoming a 3-point deficit thanks to a takedown and stalling point called against Alvarado.
Alvarado notched a takedown early in the extra period to capture his berth in the sectional, where his season has ended the last two years.
“He took a sloppy shot,” Alvarado said of Hay. “I came in, countered it and took him right down.”
Like Antioch’s Morales, Wauconda’s Brian Kent was not wrestling at the start of the season. Kent’s reason was not injury-related, however.
“I really wanted to focus on football,” said Kent, an all-area quarterback who just signed to play football with Division II Wayne State College in Nebraska. “I saw a few (wrestling) meets at our school and I just wanted to get back into it.”
Wauconda coach Tom Nance made a deal with Kent.
“For every day I missed, I had two days of extra conditioning after practice with our conditioning coach,” Kent said. “I was paying him back until like a few days ago.”
Since missing the first two weeks of the season, Kent has lost only once. He won the 215-pound title Saturday, hiking his record to 30-1 with an 8-4 decision over Grayslake North’s Jimmy Prince.
Besides Kent, Wauconda boasted another champ in Pete Kootstra, who decisioned Richmond-Burton’s Connor Graves 5-0 in the 160-pound final. The Bulldogs’ 103-pounder Devin Tortorice finished second to Grant-transfer Cameron Kennedy of Richmond-Burton. Wauconda’s Nate Magiera fell to R-B’s Jack Dechow in the 171-pound final.
“We missed a couple of days with the snow days this week so I was a little worried about being in prime shape for this,” Kent said. “But I wrestled really well, and our whole team wrestled well. I’m really happy with our performance today.”
A well-contested 189-pound final saw Antioch’s Epker outlast fellow junior Joey Valdivia of Grayslake Central 7-5 in overtime.
Epker, a 2010 state qualifier, improved to 35-2, while Valdivia fell to 22-3.
“He’s a really strong kid,” Epker said. “But I just had to keep working, keep moving and wrestling my style.”
Epker got a hold of Valdivia’s left ankle early in OT and notched a quick takedown to record his second straight regional championship (160 pounds last year).
Grayslake North advanced five wrestlers to the sectional, including champs Angel Cabrera (119) and Rich Downes (135), both of whom count more than 30 wins this season. Nick Klein (112), Stone Dax (152) and Prince (215) turned in runner-up efforts for the Knights.
Vernon Hills got a championship from Gideon Yim at 125, a second place from Dan Klema (145) and thirds from Jonathan Ramirez (135), David Pierce (140) and Jeremy Brazil (285).
Lakes produced three sectional qualifiers, with Kyle Gibson winning the championship at 140 pounds. Collado (130) and Tyler Booth (135) were both second for the Eagles.
Grayslake Central’s Sean Keever advanced to the 140-pound final against Gibson but was disqualified during the match. The Rams’ Bobby Raines (103) and Kevin Hein (215) advanced thanks to third-place finishes.
North Chicago’s lone sectional qualifier was Courtney Overton, who snagged third at 152 pounds.