Hawks tune up at Harper Open

With one week remaining before the Midwest District tournament at Triton College in River Grove, the NJCAA’s eighth-ranked Harper wrestling team hosted the Harper Open at the Sports and Wellness Center in Palatine on Saturday afternoon.

As several of the Hawks’ top performers were nursing injuries, coach Dan Loprieno opted to not start what will most likely be his full postseason lineup.

“It was a good day,” Loprieno said. “The key thing today was to get some key matches in (before the district meet).”

The tournament’s open format afforded several four-year schools opportunities for their athletes, including Northern Illinois. The Huskies had one wrestler who was very familiar in the surroundings — Arber Bebo (Addison Trail).

Bebo competed for Harper last season before joining the Huskies this year. He finished third at 184 pounds Saturday.

“Arber is a good kid,” Loprieno said.

Three Harper wrestlers’ efforts stood out for Loprieno: Freshman Charles Argue (197), mammoth Curtis Blaydes (285) and Khari Washington (174).

This was the first meet back in a while for Washington and Argue, while Blaydes has not lost a match since December — and that was his only loss.

“He is doing what I expected, he has lived up to the expectation,” Loprieno said of Blaydes.

Argue and Blaydes won their respective weight classes, and Washington placed third.

“It was kind of key for us to get him out there,” Loprieno said of Argue, who was recovering from a knee injury.

“I am just getting back into it,” Argue said of his fitness level. “I felt pretty good about (the championship match, which he won by fall). It was one of those matches — I didn’t let that kid up.”

Loprieno was not as quick to praise Washington.

“You can tell he was rusty,” Loprieno said of an early round loss for Washington.

The meet was also a chance for Loprieno and the coaching staff to settle on the few up-for-grabs spots for the district lineup.

The most important of them may have been between freshman Josh Tardy (Naperville Central) and Vince Gattardo (Conant) at 141 pounds. Tardy ended up winning 5-4 in the fifth-place matchup.

“They both have had good seasons,” Loprieno said. “It’s kind of tough that I can only send one kid to regionals.”

Harper 133-pound freshman Connor Infelise (McHenry) saw his 18-match winning streak. Loprieno said he believes that the loss can be good for Infelise in the long run.