Boys wrestling: St. Charles East, Glenbard North take top spots at DuKane tournament
Joe Petit has certainly had a memorable senior year.
Petit started on both offense and defense on Geneva's Class 6A state runner-up football team.
The Vikings senior cruised to the 285 pound title at the DuKane Conference wrestling meet held at St. Charles North Saturday. Petit defeated St. Charles East's Matt Medina in the title match by decision 7-0, improving his record to 33-2.
"Because of football I got a late start with wrestling," said Petit. “I am just getting started. I knew (Medina) couldn't score on me. I took advantage of his mistakes. We have two weeks before regionals and I will turn it up and work on my cardio.”
St. Charles East won the team title with 280.2 points. Glenbard North was second with 250.5 points.
"Honestly we didn't wrestle well but we did well enough to win a very competitive conference," said Saints coach Jason Potter. “We won the conference in the first couple of rounds. We let some matches get away. We need the next couple weeks to just practice and get healthy. We have been competing in meets and haven't had a lot of practices. We can get a lot of work in practice and have our staff work with the kids. We need to execute better."
Conference championships for the Saints came from Dom Munaretto (120, 44-1), Gavin Woodmancy (138, 35-11), Logan Tatar (144, 24-10) and Anthony Gutierrez (165, 39-6).
Woodmancy was pleased with his performance.
"I had a game plan and wanted to slow him down," said Woodmancy. “It was fun to get to the finals and win conference."
Glenbard North's second-place effort was propelled by freshman Vannak Khiev (37-4) who claimed the title at 106 pounds.
"I wanted to set the pace early," said Khiev. “I am very happy with winning the conference."
Other champions for the Panthers were Kalani Khiev (126, 38-3) and Julian Holland (190, 34-10).
Wheaton North placed third with 208.5 points.
The Falcons got an individual championship from Ryan Rosch (25-5) at 150 pounds.
"The grind and work in the room has paid off," said Rosch. “I set the tone and built it up. I was able to control the tempo and be comfortable in the position I was in. It is pretty nice to win the conference championship after finishing second last year."
Thomas Fulton moved to 32-4 for the Falcons with a championship at 157.
Batavia had four wrestlers win titles to score 194 points and finish fourth.
Kai Enos (33-6) was the first Bulldog to claim a championship. Enos edged Sammy Sikorsky of Geneva in the 113-pound title match, 10-8.
"I was able to get my shots and fakes in," said Enos. “I had a strong offense."
Other champions for the Bulldogs were Jack Duraski (132, 32-6), Jack Brown (175, 18-6) and Asher Sheldon (215, 27-4).
Other than Petit's championship, Geneva's Sikorsky was runner-up at 113 pounds.
For Wheaton Warrenville South, Rocco Valvano was second at 106 pounds.
Lake Park got second-place finishes from Sergio Hernandez (132) and Nick Merola (138).
St. Charles North's best finishes came from Brogan Sons (144) and Liam O' Brien (150) who were fourth.