Girls wrestling: Kaneland comes up short on DeKalb’s senior night
Before DeKalb fielded a girls wrestling team, Alex Gregorio-Perez and Jade Weiss were battling boys in middle school gyms.
On Wednesday’s senior night, the two charter members celebrated how far the sport has come with pins, helping the Barbs defeat Kaneland 47-36.
“It was definitely very emotional, especially with me and Alex being the inaugural girls to start the program,” Weiss said. “It’s amazing to see how we’ve grown over the years. It’s definitely very emotional and heartbreaking to leave behind.”
After Gregorio-Perez and Weiss joined the program in the summer before their freshman years, Aarianna Bloyd and Frieda Hernandez joined the team for its first season in 2022-2023.
All four seniors won by pin on Wednesday. Weiss needed just 32 seconds for her victory against Amanda Pham at 105 pounds. After injuries shortened her first two seasons, she qualified for state last year.
“I started in eighth grade and there was no girls team,” Weiss said. “It was just me and Alex on the boys’ team, wrestling against guys and never wrestling a girl. Then the second we stepped into high school we started it off and it just feels amazing, growing this big of a team and making history in high school.”
Gregorio-Perez, who picked up the 125th win of her career last week, picked up a first-period pin against Amadahy Torres at 100. After four takedowns, she got the fall with 0:09 left in the first.
Hernandez got her pin in 0:42 after her first takedown, defeating Marwa Ammeri at 115.
DeKalb coach Conor Infelise said like most wrestlers new to the sport, Hernandez struggled for her first year or two.
“To see her end on a win at home and be more confident in herself every time on the mat has been awesome to see,” Infelise said.
The Barbs also honored senior Kayden Johnson. She lost to Bella Gruber at 130. After starting with a takedown, she struggled to get off her back in the second period.
Gruber started on top in the second, and with 7.7 seconds left came away with the fall.
“She just fights,” Kaneland coach Josh West said. “In that match she stayed in position. She kept working for that half-nelson. In wrestling, things are quick and she took advantage of it.”
The Barbs dominated the lower classes and led 41-6 after Kara Zimmerman picked up a pin at 135. But the Knights got three forfeits in a row, then Alexis Zahlit (170) and Sadie Kinsella (190) got pins to cut the lead to 41-36 going into the last match.
Had Kara Colles pinned Bloyd, the Knights could have won the match, but instead Bloyd got the pin after her first takedown, winning in 55 seconds and securing the team win.
Infelise said it was awesome seeing the original four wrestlers come away with pins and the team come away with a win.
“When we first started we were piecing duals together,” Infelise said. “We had three, four, five, six matches here or there. But Kaneland came out here last year, we had a good dual with them. They have a competitive, full team too. So it was cool to get together to see the growth of our program and get a win on senior night for those girls that started our program.”
Kinsella started off trailing Fatima Ezzaitouni after a takedown. But she ended up with a reverse, and with 0.1 left in the first period got the pin.
Kinsella said she’s been sick for almost a week and unable to practice. But she also said she’s working on getting points while on bottom, something that paid off Wednesday.
“I’ve been getting pretty good at working off bottom,” Kinsella said. “I’ve been working on that since my freshman year. A lot of heavier girls tend to struggle with that. It’s harder because it’s more weight on you because you have your weight and a lot of weight on your back trying to get out as well.”
Larisza Gomez Guevara won by tech fall for the Barbs at 110 with an 18-3 victory in the second period.
The Knights were wrestling without two-time Daily Chronicle Girls Wrestler of the Year Angelina Gochis, who West said was resting ahead of Thursday’s Interstate 8 battle against Sycamore. That let DeKalb pick up a forfeit at 120.
And even though it got close, Weiss said she was happy with the team win for the Barbs.
“We definitely had to hold our breath because we saw the forfeits. They got 18 points in 30 seconds without any work,” Weiss said. “It was rough to see that, but even with that … we racked our pins up and we won it eventually.”