Girls wrestling: Batavia’s Enos advances to sectional
A decision, major, technical fall or pin, all that really matters is you advance with a win.
That’s really what it comes down to when you get to the bare bones of Saturday’s East Aurora girls wrestling regional, which featured a field that has had folks chattering for weeks that it’s the toughest one in the state.
It lived up to the designation.
Lincoln-Way co-op, which won the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Assocation’s Girls State Dual Team championship earlier this season, showed its deep talent with 271 points and 12 sectional qualifiers. Runner-up Plainfield South totaled 139.5 with three qualifiers, including titles from Layla Spann (170) and Kimyra Patrick (190).
Downers Grove South had nine finish their season in Aurora, and Waubonsie Valley had six athletes wrestle their final matches of the year.
Tough matchups with tough kids playing for their seasons was the story.
Joliet Central, which won tournaments at Rich Township and Normal Community, could only get Izabel Barrera (135) through.
Jhania Wickert-Harris (105) broke through for Lyons, placing third, taking down West Aurora’s Ruby Bolanos-Carbajal in the first period. Despite her efforts, she was the lone sectional qualifier for her 3,653-student school.
“It’s pretty cool that I can achieve such a thing in only my second year in wrestling,” Wickert-Harris said. “I was really inspired by one of my classmates that passed away.”
Emily Romo died last August.
“She’s someone I joined wrestling with,” Wickert-Harris said. “So that definitely helps me be more inspired to do what she couldn’t do. Her goal was to make it to state so I definitely want to achieve that for her. So me and Mariah (Zalapa, 110 pounds) we were all really close so we just want to try to get close to state at least for her.”
Lemont Molly O`Connor (125 pounds), a two-time state qualifier, earned a tech fall over Joliet West’s Briahna Klobnak in her third-place match after losing to Klobnak in the quarterfinal.
Batavia senior Lily Enos (100) is looking to get to state for the fourth time in as many years. She took the first step to get there again with a 10-0 major decision over Wheaton Warrenville South’s Andrea Jaimes-Alvarez.
Fellow Bulldog Audrey Sheldon had a heck of a draw in her finals match at 155 — the undefeated defending state champ, Hinsdale South’s Callie Carr. Sheldon’s loss was Carr’s 72nd straight win over two seasons.
Jaimes-Alvarez and Louisa Enslen (145) placed second for the Tigers to advance. Their teammates Caroline Ratliff (140) and Michelle Rojas-Tellez (170) placed fourth to join them as the top four finishers in each weight class moved on.
Oswego East’s Quinn Janssens (26-4) and Ella Cooper (28-8) won third-place matches.
Janseens took down Ratliff at 10 seconds and Cooper was taken the distance by Joliet West’s Vanessa O’Connor but got past her with the 12-4 major. Just recently, O’Connor pinned Cooper to win the Southwest Prairie Conference title. Revenge can be sweet.
“I feel like I performed pretty well,” Cooper said. “That was a good comeback since I had just lost to her at conference.”
Naperville North’s KeYi Wang squeezed past Lincoln-Way co-op freshman Emmy Hoselton 7-6. Wang became the first regional champ in school history.
“I got seeded fourth and honestly I knew in my mind it was most likely because of just statistics that I wouldn’t upset first seed,” Wang said. “But I told myself that statistics doesn’t matter because in a match anything can happen and I did end up upsetting first seed which I’m really glad and happy about.”
Other area champions included Metea Valley’s Ashley Basmajian (120) and Alketa Picari (140), Lisle’s Sophie Crescenzo (125) and Naperville Central’s Melva Gallego-Sugar (130).