Wrestling: Stevenson boys take Lake County crown; Barrington boys, Schaumburg girls capture MSL titles

The postseason is in full swing, and it all began Saturday at several conference tournaments.

Now, the stage is set for regional wrestling next weekend, with host Fremd perhaps the place to be after Barrington and Stevenson turned in magnificent efforts to win MSL and Lake County Invite championships.

Benedetti Fieldhouse in Fox Lake at host Grant Community High School would see Stevenson and the host Bulldogs produce a fierce clash for the top spot in which the home side won last year ago.

Stevenson senior Shawn Kogan (26-4) and his teammate Marcel Cantu would claim individual championships. The depth of the No. 14 rated Patriots, with a little help from the rest of the 16-team field, would lead to a 14-point (230-216) advantage over the Bulldogs.

Wauconda (140.5) edged Grayslake Central (140) for third place, with Libertyville (137) fifth.

"I feel our lineup from top to bottom is very strong,“ said Kogan, No. 5 in the state at 132 pounds.

”We've beaten some very good state ranked teams. With the addition of some young guys to go along with our veterans, we will be able to compete for a regional title next weekend with Barrington."

Cantu is now 24-7 after his win at 126.

The Bulldogs won a pair of individual titles from Jayce Glauser (120, 26-5) and No. 3 Erik Rodriguez (138, 32-6), though No. 1 Vince Jasinski (37-5) was stunned in his 144-pound final against Chase Nobiling (Antioch, 26-5) who recorded a pin at 1:00.

No. 4 Nobiling (26-5) was fourth a year ago at the Class 2A state tournament.

Warren’s brilliant trio of Caleb Noble (113, 35-1), Royce Lopez (165, 31-5) and Aaron Stewart (190, 30-4) overpowered their rivals en route to their individual titles.

Dominic DeMarco (Grayslake Central, 25-2, 106) and Warren Nash (150, 31-9) won their first Lake County Invite crowns, as did Lake Zurich sophomore Rocco DiCanio (34-3) at 215 pounds.

MID-SUBURBAN LEAGUE

The spacious fieldhouse inside Forest View Educational Center in Arlington Heights would host both the boys and girls MSL for the second consecutive year, and before a big house it would No. 15 Barrington, with its five individual champs, all of whom are state ranked, who outscored the field.

The Broncos finished with a tourney-best 276 points, while Class 2A Wheeling (199) was second, followed by 2025 league champion Hersey (183) in third.

Prospect (144.5) was fourth, and Fremd (142.5) — with champions Will Bousk (106, 29-10), Lucas Crandall (113, 29-9) and No. 2 Lucas Nance (190, 31-5) — was fifth at 142.5 points.

"We've had a little bit of an up-and-down season, but I feel like it is all coming together for us at the right time," said Barrington coach Dan Keller.

"We are a really young team, and a group of guys who have made great strides from last year to this year," said Jimmy Whitaker (36-7), one of just a few seniors in the Broncos starting lineup.

Kaleb Pratt (120, 37-5), Ryan Dorn (132, 32-5), Daniel Blanke (150, 34-9) and Sam Cushman (175, 28-10) would join Whitaker atop the podium.

The aforementioned Nance, a state qualifier a year ago at 165 pounds, appears poised to make a run at a state title, and is on course to meet the two-time state champion Stewart (Warren) in a sectional final in three weeks.

"I'm in a great room, and great coaches, so I feel all of the extra time I’ve put in during the offseason and right into this season will give me the chance to wrestle for a state title next month," said Nance.

While his final with previously undefeated John Rappa (Rolling Meadows, 26-1) was one of the most anticipated final bouts, it would be the 165-pound final between Anthony Klikas (Buffalo Grove, 22-6) and Daniel Deredlyak (Palatine, 27-9) that would thrill the audience.

Deredlyak would build what looked like an insurmountable 13-1 advantage halfway through the second period before Klikas reversed his fortunes with a 9-0 run to pull the Bison junior within 13-10 heading into the final period.

Once there, this seesaw affair would see Klikas eventually draw level at 14-14 before claiming a hard fought 17-15 decision.

Klikas’s former teammate, No. 2 Oleksandr (Sasha) Havrylkiv (32-4), stormed past the 126-pound field.

MSL girls

Schaumburg won its third consecutive MSL girls title when it pulled away from both Conant and Wheeling with 290.5 points.

Conant (222) was second, Wheeling (212) third, with Hersey (147.5) and Palatine (123) rounding out the top five.

Senior Makenzi Aguilar (100, 31-6) would win the first of four individual titles for the Saxons with the win at 125-pounds.

Another senior, teammate Isabella Rivas (33-3), brought the Saxons faithful to their feet.

That's when Rivas defeated Elise Burkut (Wheeling, 34-3) in a battle of two state-ranked 125-pounders.

"This is just an amazing feeling right now. (It) feels great to win a conference title, and to be a part of the third straight MSL team championship also," said Rivas, who went out to a 3-0 advantage in the first period, then extended her lead to 6-1 at three minutes before holding off the 2025 state runner-up.

Justice Girod (110, 28-10) and No. 1 Nadia Razzak (190, 36-1) would collect their first place medals afterward, as did the Conant trio of Giselle Varelas (115, 34-6), Jasmine Zavaleta (130, 32-4) and Ewa Krupa (20-2) at 135 pounds.

The terrific twin sisters from Rolling Meadows: Janet (145, 27-11) and Leilani Brindis (170, 33-7), gave the Mustangs girls their first MSL titles.

CENTRAL SUBURBAN LEAGUE

No. 7 Deerfield ran away from the field in Skokie en route to the CSL boys championship at Niles North.

The Warriors proved no match for the rest of its league rivals, ending the day with 253 points, 76 more than runner-up Glenbrook South, who would edge third place Maine South (173.5) who had four individual champions.

It would be Brett Harman (34-4) making the biggest statement on Saturday with his 17-4 major decision victory over No. 3 (class 2A) Adrian Cohen (39-2) from Deerfield. Harmon won last weekend at Batavia.

Teammates Emmett Mazukelli (138, 30-11), Gavin Hoerr (150, 21-3) and Marty Grief (150, 23-10) would join Harmon atop the podium.

Evelyn Torres (100, 24-8) and teammate Eliana Badeen (105, 19-8) helped Maine East get off to a terrific start in the final session of the CSL girls conference tournament with championship efforts to help lead their club to the league title.

The Demons finished with 211 points, followed by Maine South (172.5) and third place Evanston with 171 points.

Alena Oshana (37-4) added a third title to Maine East’s cause at 130 pounds.

Maine South junior Sophia Fortis (16-2, 13 pins) won her second consecutive CLS crown as she pinned her way to her title.

"Sophia has really improved her work ethic and dedication to the sport, and has done a great job to focus more on her offense, and keeping pressure on her opponents," said Hawks coach Juan Diaz

Hawks freshman Anika Lee (19-5) won the 115-pound crown.