Wrestling: Naperville Central rolls to Marchese championship
Naperville Central raced out to 90-point advantage over its closest competitor before the lunch break before going on to an impressive 152-point victory (283.50 to 141) over runner-up Harlem to lift the championship trophy of the annual Mickey Marchese Memorial wrestling invitational at Hoffman Estates on Saturday.
The Redhawks won five individual titles - Tyler Martin (113), Ethan Olson (120), Tommy Porter (138) Ayden Lutes and David Pirozhnik at (182) while placing four more in the finals during a dominating performance from the opening whistle to the final match of the day.
"We lost a tough one to DeKalb, but beat St. Charles East, Batavia and West Aurora, so we have shown we can compete with the best (this) team is going to be tough to beat all throughout the season, and postseason," said senior returning state qualifier Nick Antonietti, who fell victim to Karl Schmalz of Niles Notre Dame in the 285-pound final.
South Elgin sophomore Nick Clinite, second at the Hruska on Thanksgiving weekend, was nearly untouchable on his way to a well-deserved title at 145 pounds, which included a technical fall and a pair of pins, the last coming in his final at 2:25.
"I wrestled at 152 in the Hruska but I feel so much more comfortable at (145) and my setups, takedowns, shots and neutral position are all coming together for me right now," said Clinite, who was a Frosh/Soph state champion last summer.
Willowbrook, which finished one point out of third place (115-114) behind Notre Dame, saw No. 7 state ranked Nick Mabutas register a 13-3 major decision victory over Romeo Williams of Homewood-Flossmoor in his 170-pound final.
Senior Wade Abrams of Cary-Grove pinned Will Ardson of South Elgin at 2:41 to claim the 195-pound crown, while teammate Andrew Mohr dropped a heartbreaking 4-2 decision to Myles Babcock from Harlem in his 132-pound final.
The Wheeling duo of Jatuhep Rattanahattak (120) and Patrick Tinsley (126) were both runners-up in their respective weight divisions.