Bartlett’s Annoreno puts the hurt on downstate foe
CHAMPAIGN — Around this time last year, Sal Annoreno was feeling the sting of missing out in his bid to get downstate.
This year, the Bartlett senior is doing the stinging, one opponent after another. That includes his first-round victim late Thursday night as Day 1 of the Class 3A wrestling state tournament came to an end.
Annoreno (36-3) wasted little time against Jimmy Davis (Waubonsie Valley, 35-14), who could do nothing against the attacking onslaught the Hawks’ star unleashed in a 12-0 major decision. Next up for Annoreno is today’s 8:30 a.m. quarterfinal against two-time state qualifier Ronnie Hauser (34-7) of Fremd.
“It was all about staying loose and mentally strong during a long day of waiting for my first match, but when I finally went on, I didn’t want to waste any time in getting the first points of the match, then not letting up during my match,” said Annoreno.
If the Bartlett standout gets by Hauser, he’d likely see Robbie Mikenis (Lincoln-Way Central, 28-5) in tonight’s semifinals.
Omar Awad and Johnny Major gave the Burlington Central fans something to cheer about as the senior duo joined Annoreno and a handful of others from the Fox Valley in the quarterfinals. Awad (36-8) advanced with an impressive pin of state-ranked Alex Bee (Glenwood, 33-4), who is a three-time state qualifier with 143 career victories.
“If (Awad) wrestles like he did today, he can beat anybody,” said Rockets coach Tony Rigitano. “(Awad) knows that was just one match, but he did so well against (Bee) and we’re all very happy for him.”
Major (29-5), here for the third time in his career, recorded a major decision over East Suburban Catholic Conference champ Roark Whittington of Notre Dame and next faces No. 1 Lavion Mayes (40-1) of Mascoutah.
Huntley’s Josh Symbal (182, 39-2) moved on with a pin at 3:05, putting him into a quarterfinal match with Jordan Ellingwood (Plainfield Central, 39-4).
“We’ve actually seen a lot of tape on (him) on YouTube, so we have a pretty good idea of what to expect from him,” said Huntley coach B.J. Bertelsman.
Two of the best at what they do from the Fox Valley Conference, Mike Cullen of Cary-Grove (106, 41-2) and Tom Gerszewski of Crystal Lake South (41-1) had an easy time of things in their tournament openers. Both cruised into the quarters. Cullen meets Mike Burke (Homewood-Flossmoor, 36-9); Gerszewski gets Tyler Schneider (Lincoln-Way Central, 33-10) at 152 pounds.
“That’s the type of start and effort we wanted to see from Mike in his first, and, we hope, many state tournament matches,” said Cary-Grove coach Ryan Ludwig of the freshman, who handled Conant frosh Bobby Alexander (Conant, 35-9) 12-1 in the first match of the night in Class 3A.
Gerszewski and teammates Nick Gil (126, 41-6) and Mike Romanelli (220, 36-10) were all dominant in their own right, Gil with an easy victory over Chicago Public League champ Nick Jankowski (Lane Tech, 38-5) and Romanelli with a 12-2 decision over Vince Ambrose (34-9) of Providence.
Romanelli will have a tought test this morning when he meets defending state champion Josh Marchok (Schaumburg, 40-1), while Gil takes on one of the favorites here, Jon Marmolejo (Glenbard North, 42-5) who struggled to get by Frank Yattoni (Oswego) to advance.
It was a tough night for the South Elgin Pych brothers. Cory (113, 29-10) and Cody (170, 34-5) lost their first-round match to top seeds, and the Hampshire pair of Tyler Espino (113, 37-8) and Zach Oranger (285, 24-15) were sent into the consolation brackets after both were unable to taste victory.
“Tyler had a good start, but I think it was a shot to his confidence when he couldn’t get the first takedown of his match,” said Hampshire coach Terry Wilkinson, after his captain dropped a 6-4 decision to David McDonald of Tinley Park.