Grant rises to title at Glenbrook South
When push came to shove, the Grant wrestling team proved it was No.1 Saturday at the 48th Annual Rus Erb Tournament hosted by Glenbrook South.
The Bulldogs held a 20-point lead over Lane Tech headed into the final round of the 19-team tourney, and they were able to pull away from the Indians to win the championship 214-180.
Grant had 11 individuals in the finals to nine for Lane Tech. Bulldogs 220-pounder Quinton Quarles (12-2) took home a title for the Bulldogs with a pin in the finals.
Devin Monroy added a second-place finish for Grant at 138 while the Bulldogs got third-place medals from Nick Kramer (106), Noah Drabek (113), Paul Stefan (126), Nick Fanella (132), Charles Williams (160) and Tony Cashmore (170).
“It was a real good team effort because we only had one champion so it was good to see them rewarded for all of their hard work,” said Grant coach Ryan Geist. “Quarles has been doing really well and he’s just been coming on strong lately.”
Cary-Grove was the next highest-finishing area team in fifth place (132.5 points) while Batavia put together a solid sixth-place (117.5) effort.
Wheeling captured seventh place with 98.5 points followed by Wauconda (92.5) in ninth, Buffalo Grove (89.0) in 10th and Carmel (73.5) in 12th.
The Trojans’ team effort was led by elite 106-pound freshman Mike Cullen (16-1), who posted a technical fall in 5:19 for the crown.
Cary-Grove received a second-place finish from sophomore Logan Hanselmann at 113 and a third from senior Max Kersten at 182.
“I think we wrestled hard and we were in some good tough matches,” said Cary-Grove coach Ryan Ludwig. “He (Cullen) is a very disciplined young man, he works very hard, and he’s very coachable.”
Batavia also had a champion Saturday as junior Joel Shump (12-3) posted a 13-4 major decision over Wauconda’s Devin Tortorice for the 120-pound crown.
“It was nice to win after taking second here freshman year and third last year,” said Shump, who reached state as a freshman. “My semifinals match was against the kid (Soumar) who beat me in the semifinals 4-3 last year so that was a big win. We’ve got a lot of kids stepping up and I think we’ll do better as the season goes on.”
Besides Shump’s performance, Batavia got a third from 138-pounder Anthony Scaccia, who pinned Cary-Grove’s Matt Fina in 1:22.
Batavia’s Mickey Watson dropped a brutal 3-2 sudden death overtime decision to Glenbrook South’s J.J. BaMaung to take fourth place at 195.
Laren Eustace (152) and teammate John Wagner (170) both won fifth-place medals in close bouts while junior Charlie Smorczewski placed sixth for the Bulldogs at 132.
“We’re getting better, we’ve got a good working group, and they’re all buying into what we’re teaching,” said Batavia coach Ben Morris. “Joel (Shump) had a good tournament and the off-season wrestling that he does is paying off.”
Wheeling 285-pounder Igor Romanowski (14-1) took second place after dropping a 3-0 decision to No. 1-ranked James Buss (15-0) of De La Salle.
The Wildcats also got a second from 170-pounder Ed Scanlon and a third from Leo Giordano, who posted a 5-3 overtime decision over Carmel’s Jimmy Dandino at 152. Wheeling’s Sam Rosengarden placed fourth at 182.
“Our big guys did well and four out of our five seniors got medals,” said Wheeling coach Neal Weiner. “Last year Igor (Romanowski) had about 15 losses and today he lost to a guy who is ranked first in the state who pinned him last year, so I’m really impressed with him.”
Buffalo Grove’s Matt Zabrin (17-0) fell behind Loyola’s Santonio Cathery 2-0 early before a 4-2 comeback win for first place at 160. The Bison had second-place finishes from Brian Egan at 132 and Jordan Rathje (12-1) at 145.
“He (Cathery) had a nice takedown on me early and I didn’t expect it, and he’s a really athletic kid,” said Zabrin. “My goals are to get to state and to place at state and as the season goes on my goals will get higher and higher.”
Wauconda sophomore Nate Magiera (16-3) placed second at 195 while teammate Owen Wolfe placed sixth at 113.
Grant got a fifth from Paul Stefan at 126 and a sixth from Dan Haeffele at 285. Cary-Grove’s Mike Underwood (132) placed fourth while teammate Garret Glueck (145) placed fifth. Dom Panico (113) placed fourth for Carmel.