Lake Zurich impresses at Palatine
The North Suburban Conference has seen a lot of success from its wrestling teams so far this season.
But with the NSC meet just around the corner, Lake Zurich decided to stand up and be noticed with three more victoies Saturday at the Palatine megaduals.
After destroying Lake Forest 84-0 Friday night, the Bears (17-3) put the finishing touches on a perfect 4-0 weekend Saturday by starting off the day with a 36-15 nonconference victory over Grayslake North.
Lake Zurich added a 46-23 victory over Plainfield North in the second round before the Bears closed out the day with a 58-15 victory over the host Pirates.
Grayslake North (20-5) was one of two teams to go 2-1 on the day as the Knights closed out the day with an exciting 35-34 comeback victory over Cary-Grove based on tiebreaker criteria.
The Knights also posted a 64-8 win against Carmel’s depleted lineup while the Trojans defeated Plainfield North 47-24 in the first round. Cary-Grove also beat Palatine (5-11) 54-22 in round II.
The Pirates dumped Carmel 45-20 to start the day while the Corsairs (10-11) closed out the day with a 54-15 loss to Plainfield North.
Lake Zurich’s big day was highlighted by three 3-0 wrestlers, including Brandon Arteaga (26-8) at 132, Sean Lynch (13-3) at 138, and Scott Hoff 27-4) at 160.
120-pounder Gresh Henderson went 2-0 for the Bears on the day as did 195-pound teammate Chris Lehtinen. Zeke Honegger is 22-8 for the Bears at 152.
“At the Barrington tournament Plainfield North finished way ahead of us, and today we beat them so that shows a lot about our progression,” said Lake Zurich coach Dan Strickler. “We’re feeling pretty positive heading into conference and I think we can finish somewhere in the top three.”
They saved the best meet of the day for last as starting at 120, Cary-Grove built a 28-12 lead over Grayslake North after eight matches.
The Knights’ big comeback started with a 13-6 decision by Jimmy Prince (26-2) at 182 before pins by teammates Zach Young (195) and Efran Rodriguez (220) cut the Trojans’ lead to 28-27 with three bouts left.
An 11-2 major decision by Kasen Christiansen at 285 gave the Knights a 31-28 edge before 106-pound teammate Luke Pritchett’s 11-6 decision boosted the lead to 34-28.
Third-ranked freshman Michael Cullen (28-1) won by forfeit to tie the score at 34-34 to end the meet. But Grayslake North was awarded the 35-34 team victory based on its four pins in the meet to only two pins for Cary-Grove.
“It was exciting, and it’s fun wrestling good teams when it’s close,” said first-year Grayslake North coach Ryan West. “We’ve been up and down and our kids are continuing to respond and improve which is a nice thing to see.”
2011 state qualifier Angel Cabrera (23-3) added a pin for the Knights against the Trojans at 120 as did teammate A.J. Downes at 126. Cary-Grove’s Michael Underwood (132), and Matt Fina (138) had pins against Grayslake North.
“I thought we wrestled very well and we had some kids step up big time,” said Cary-Grove coach Ryan Ludwig. “A lot of guys are looking good and we’re looking forward to the state series.”
Palatine was led by 220-pounder Sergio Hernandez with a 3-0 record. Javier Rivera (20-6) went 2-1 for the Pirates at 113.
“He (Rivera) is a real hard worker and every one of his losses is to a state-ranked kid,” said Palatine coach Dan Collins. “He was one match away from the state tournament last year and he’s already seen the guys he’s going to have to beat to get down there.”
The Corsairs only had seven individuals wrestle in two meets and just six against Palatine.
Jake Cochrane (29-4) went 3-0 for Carmel at 285 while teammates Hayden Roos (138) and Jimmy Dandino (152) went 2-1.
“We’ve been hit by illness, and you’re not going to win dual meets with that many forfeits,” said Carmel coach Bob Kuykendall. “But the guys who did wrestle did pretty well today.”