Marmion takes 1st day lead at Moore-Prettyman
Good luck and good health.
Two key ingredients in the world of wrestling.
Marmion Academy had little of both at times last season - with injuries taking their toll on three of its best, two of whom came back to shine at the Class 3A state tournament.
Peter Ferraro was not as fortunate.
The Cadets' senior, who missed all of last season due to an elbow injury, appears to be back in form and along with his teammates opened the 28th annual Moore-Prettyman Invitational on their front foot Friday afternoon at tourney host Barrington.
Ferraro was one of eight Cadets to advance into Saturday's semifinal round, helping the club to climb atop the leaderboard ahead of day No. 2 which begins at 10 a.m.
"It's great to finally be healthy and back in our lineup after missing 541 days due to my injured elbow," said Ferraro, who recently committed to Harvard over Brown and Stanford as his next stop in the fall of 2019.
"I hurt the elbow late in my sophomore year and never made it back last season, and finally I was cleared last June."
Ferraro, the top seed at 170 pounds, and Marmion hold a 16.5 point lead over second place Lockport (123.5) and third-place Libertyville (98.5).
Stevenson and Wheaton North round out the top five in the 27-team field with 90.5 points each.
Reigning 145-pound state champion Trevor Chumbley advanced easily from his first bouts on the day, and the Cadets' senior will now face junior Kai Conway of Barrington in the semifinals.
Cadets senior Michael Jaffe, fourth at state last February at 113 pounds, remains alive in perhaps the toughest weight class here - 120 pounds - a division which has four state medal winners in the semifinals, including state champion Matt Ramos (Lockport) along with Enzo Silva (Plainfield South) as well as Tommy Frezza from Stevenson, sixth a year ago in Champaign, and Jaffe's semifinal opponent.
Frezza's teammate Max Gomez, the No. 4 seed at 220, will take on top seed Garrett St. Clair of Waubonsie Valley following his victory over Jack Bazukas (Marmion Academy) in the quarterfinals.
The other side of the 220-pound bracket will have Jesus Lopez (Glenbard East) facing Ben Stemmet of Yorkville
Libertyville enjoyed an impressive first day at the lower weights, sending six into the semifinals, including 2018 state medalist Danny Pucino (132) as well as top seed Michael Gunther (138), plus Brandon Murphy (126) and Caelan Riley at 106.
North Suburban Conference rival Grant saw junior Justin Brown advance at 182 pounds following his 15-7 major decision.
"I worked a lot on my technical game during the offseason, and I'm healthy and feeling real good about this season," said Brown, who suffered an injury at regionals a year ago, but still managed to qualify into the state tournament, winning 33 matches.
Phillip Sims (145) will be joined by teammate Josh Labarbera (182) in the semifinals, with the hope of a championship trophy here jump-starting his final season at Metea Valley into a success story come February at the state tournament.
"I've dealt with a lot of injuries, beginning in my freshman year, and last year with an meniscus injury," said Sims, who has committed to wrestle next season at the University of Illinois.
"I spent the offseason training with Izzy (Martinez) and at a camp at Illinois, so it's now or never for me,"
Sims was sixth last season at 138 pounds.
Defending Mid-Suburban League champion Prospect advanced three into the semifinals - Andrew Baysingar (138), William Mikes (182) and Jose Ramos (285), who after two quick back-to-back early exits in the state tournaments is ready to erase both results for good.
"It was disappointing to get downstate twice and be out so soon - so I dedicated myself to improving during the offseason, beginning with training with Michael Poeta (former two-time state champion, and University of Illinois star), improving my foot speed and technique and getting my fitness to a much higher level," said Ramos, who currently is rated the No. 2 heavyweight in the state by IllinoisBestWeekly. com.