St. Charles East comes up big with regional crown
Max Schumann had no problem letting his teammates wait for a bit as they searched for him while gathering to take celebratory team pictures on Saturday.
The St. Charles East senior had earned it with a dominant performance on the mat, in addition to doing plenty of waiting around on his own before he had the opportunity to dominate on his own.
He finished off the lengthy Class 3A West Chicago regional with a major decision win against Glenbard North's Ray Kenny and was one of seven wrestlers for the Saints that walked away as a champion.
"It's the first time in 16 years where we won one of these regionals so this is special for us," Schumann said. "We've struggled all year just trying to kept healthy but we were healthy and ready for this."
Joe Ruffino (106), Ben Anderson (113), Justin Benjamin (120), Lucson Schneider (126), Max Hatch (170), and Cody Gildewell (182) also were regional champions for the Saints, who advance to a dual team sectional at a site still to be determined on Feb 21.
"I had to sit around and wait and watch, but it was worth it," Schumann said. "We all turned it on when it was our time and I'm so happy for our team."
The Saints scored 245.5 points while runner-up Glenbard North finished with 220.5.
"This was a big meet for us being regionals," Schumann said. "The guys put in a lot of hard work and it really paid off."
Abe Assad (132), Anthony Marre (152) and Quintin Terry (220) all came away as champions for Glenbard North. Terry finished off Geneva's Cole Campbell in a back-and-forth bout, relinquishing a lead late in the third period but then recovering to finish him off.
"I had never wrestled him before so I didn't know what to expect, but I think I got a little lazy, and that hurt me," Terry said. "He made a nice move there but I was able to rebound from it."
West Chicago senior Trey Lally is vying to make his first state appearance. His victory over Bartlett's Nick Dawson certainly has him optimistic for such a possibility.
"Everything went pretty much as I expected it would," Lally said. "I've been working really hard lately on takedowns and was able to do that to finish them off. That was the biggest thing for me."
Geneva's Nick Sowers was able to knock off St. Charles North's Nick Testa, 9-3, to win at 170.
"I was nervous, knowing as a senior if I lost it would've been my last time wrestling," Sowers said. "I did my best and everything worked out. I was pretty motivated knowing this could be the end for me so I was pretty happy."
The North Stars' Kolbe O'Brien edged St. Charles East's Louis Gordon for the rival school's lone individual title.