Marmion's Traxler, Dundee-Crown's Brunner breeze on opening day
CHAMPAIGN - The powers in Class 3A wrestling collectively flexed their muscle on the first day of the individual state tournament, setting up what appears to be both a captivating and nerve-racking second day of action, highlighted by Friday's 7 p.m. semifinals on the big floor of State Farm Arena.
Nathan Traxler (Marmion Academy, 43-2) and his good friend Christian Brunner (Dundee-Crown) easily looked the part of the No. 1 rated 182 and 195-pounders in the state with commanding performances that ended with a pin.
Traxler is part of a star-studded weight class, which includes the top five in the state scattered all over the bracket, with Nos. 2, 3 and 4 (Jack Jessen, Willowbrook 48-2), Patrick Brucki (Sandberg, 45-2) and Matt Wroblewski (Prospect, 40-0) all positioned on the bottom half of the bracket, far away from the reigning champ.
Brunner appears to have a much easier road to the final after recording his 35th pin, to run his record to a perfect, 45-0.
In one of the marquee first-round bouts of the day, Batavia senior, Dylan Uzumecki (41-3) fell just short in his bid to upend No. 4 Blake Zalapi (Hononegah, 36-6).
The No. 6 ranked Uzumecki will hope that Zalapi will win Friday in order to send him into wrestlebacks, where he can hopefully make a long and successful run to a state medal.
The news was good for a quartet of players from the Fox Valley Conference, beginning with the dynamic duo from Huntley, Zach Spencer (113, 38-12) and junior Josh Stenger (43-4) who wasn't lacking for any firepower when he registered a technical fall over Jaime Suarez (33-16) of Wheaton North.
Next up for the Red Raiders' star will be Isaac Jacquez (West Aurora, 31-4), who is looking for a second consecutive state medal.
Spencer surprised No. 5 Darvell Flagg (Joilet West, 23-6) who was a three-time state qualifier and 2015 state medalist heading into the tournament.
"We've been working all week on Flagg's slide-by, so Zach was ready for it, and with the way he goes, we knew if we could keep it close and keep Flagg from scoring first the opportunity to win would be there for us," said Huntley coach, BJ Bertelsen, who watched the sophomore orchestrate a takedown in overtime to grab a 3-1 victory.
The Marmion quartet of Anthony Cheloni (132), AJ Jaffe (138) Trace Carello (152) and Nate Jimenez (160) all remain alive in the front draw, as does Kaneland's Austin Kedzie (106, 36-7) and George Strang (32-10), who takes on No. 1 Jake Tucker from Mt. Carmel Friday morning in the Class 2A tournament.
Burlington Central sophomore Austin Macias (38-1) would breeze through his opener at 120, much to the delight of Rockets coach Vince Govea.
"It was a very solid effort from Austin, who learned a lot here last season about looking past opponents - and I guarantee you, it won't happen again," Govea said.
Hampshire senior Wylie Allen (37-3) looked the part of a state finalist during his punishing 10-4 win over Austin Butler of Johnsburg. Next up will be Jake Kirkman (36-8) from Lemont.
It's been an out-of-this-world season for Allen, who after a highly successful sectional tournament at Washington last weekend sent the Whip-Purs' star heading downstate at the speed of light, with the hope of earning more hardware the ultimate goal.
"It was an incredible moment for me last weekend winning that sectional title, and maybe the best thing ever to happen to me, and a lot the credit for my success has to go to our coaching staff and new head coach Brian Iossi, who has been an amazing coach and such a positive influence on me as well as my teammates," Allen said.
Allen says countless hours in the film room with the staff followed by the slight tweaks in his game to fine tune things in advance of his next outing have been the key.
"You don't realize how important it is to have a coaching staff that cares so much for you until you have that and it's the little things that really count," offered Allen.
One bit of good fortune led to Allen's first trip to Champaign, which occurred two years ago during his sophomore year when he finished fifth at sectionals but was later inserted into the field of 16 the day he arrived in Champaign.
"I was the alternate, so I had to go downstate just in case and when I walked into the stadium, I literally heard them call my name the second I came through the doors to report to the scoring table. I raced up there, found out I was in and came within one win of a medal.
"My sectional was loaded, the top three guys all medaled, so I knew if I could compete that weekend, I could have some success as well."
The Hampshire senior was thrilled to watch his younger brother (Casey, 132) claim his first trip to Champaign, and he says it's the best way to end his career having him alongside during the next three days.