Glenbard North clinches first DKC title
After dominating DuPage Valley Conference wrestling in 19 of the last 20 years, Glenbard North took hold of the first DuKane Conference tournament on Saturday afternoon at Wheaton Warrenville South.
The Panthers had too much firepower for their new league rivals, using individual titles from Ronan Schuelke (103 pounds), David Gilliam (120) and Abe Assad (195) to outscore runner-up Wheaton North 266.5-230 and lift the inaugural DKC tournament trophy.
St. Charles East, expected to be in the race with its longtime rivals, finished third overall (224.5 points) with Batavia (179) and Lake Park (158) rounding out the top five.
"Obviously, it's nice to win the first DuKane Conference title, but getting a nice start from Ronan and David, our effort wasn't where it should have been, especially at the upper weights," said Panthers coach Mark Hahn, whose club won 18 straight DVC titles until Wheaton North ended the run in 2016.
"Schuelke and Gilliam got us started on the right foot today, and the rest of the team got us enough bonus points to stay ahead of Wheaton North and St. Charles East," said Assad, who moved up to the 195-pound weight class for the tournament.
"We didn't have enough in our gas tank," added Wheaton North coach Travis Cherry.
"Mark (Hahn) gets a lot out of his boys, and I know he'll look to get even more next week at regionals, so we'll have to be ready because there will be little to no room for error."
The top three clubs will compete at the Glenbard North regional next Saturday, in addition to Geneva and Lake Park.
Cherry had hoped to close the gap on the Panthers in the medal round with the six Falcons who advanced into the finals, but only Quinlan Nelson at 170 pounds and Cory Goetz at 182 won.
"It feels great to win in the first DuKane Conference tournament, but with all due respect to my opponent, it's what happens in three weeks at state that is most important to me," said Nelson, ranked sixth in the state.
Nelson edged Anthony Pennington of Glenbard North 4-3. Goetz survived in overtime 7-6 against the Panthers' Mershed Bashang.
Less than 90 minutes into the opening round, St. Charles East coach Jason Potter knew it would take a mammoth effort in order to stay with the front-runners.
Earlier in the week the Saints' Ben Anderson, a two-time state qualifier and one of the best 126-pounders in Illinois, suffered a devastating shoulder injury in practice, resulting in season-ending surgery.
"Ben was the heart and soul in our room. It's impossible to replace someone like him," said Potter, who then watched top seed Mark Guerrero injure his shoulder in his semifinal bout with Gilliam, forcing the senior to injury default.
The Saints were a perfect 5 for 5 in the finals to help them nearly overtake Wheaton North, beginning with Jake Penzato at 113 pounds and ending with Justin Hull, now 30-4 on the season after pinning his way to his 285-pound crown.
In between Peyton and Tommy Schroeder climbed atop the podium, as did Justin Benjamin, superb throughout the day as he continues to show he's one to watch in Champaign next month.
"It was really tough to see Ben go down with his injury. He's been my good friend for such a long time (so) today I wore his shoes, and wrestled this tournament for him," said Benjamin, a three-time state qualifier who entered this weekend ranked fifth in the state.
The senior pinned his way to his second title of the season, the first coming at the Illini Classic.
Andy Posledni and Justin Major gave the Batavia faithful plenty to celebrate after each claimed the top prize in their respective weight class.
Posledni avenged a loss last week to Ben Lemp of Wheaton North 11-7 using a 5-point second-period explosion to take the lead for good against his Wheaton North rival.
"It felt good to win (here) today, get back that loss at our dual from last week and to win my first tournament championship in my high school career," said Posledni, who will wrestle next fall at Wabash College in Indiana.
Major followed his teammate with an exciting victory in overtime over Jeff Dowell of Wheaton North via pin at 5:48.
"I am really happy for Andy. It was a great win for him today," Major said.
Host Wheaton Warrenville South was treated to one title on the day, that coming from Dominic Duve at 126 pounds over Geneva junior Ian Huck.
"Thanks to my coach, teammates, and parents, it's great to win a conference title at home," Duve said following his dramatic 4-3 victory.
Lake Park senior DeMarco Lee overwhelmed the competition at 220 pounds, closing out the field with a 11-0 major decision over Glenbard North senior Mike Wellman.
"It's nice to win a conference championship, but I want to keep it all in perspective and remain humble about today's results. But if you ask me how I'm feeling if I win a state title in three weeks (the) answer will be great," Lee said.