Mid-Suburban wrestling / Day 1
Pat Felde and Hunter Rollins appear ready to shine just as brightly as their higher-profile teammates as wrestling’s postseason begins.
Felde, a three-year varsity Schaumburg competitor at 171 pounds who’s 28-5 this season, cruised into the semifinals of the Mid-Suburban League meet on Friday at Conant.
So did Hersey’s Rollins (34-4) at 152 pounds to help keep their clubs close in the race for what looks like second place after Barrington opened a 43-point lead over the field when the curtain fell on Day 1.
The action will resume at 9:30 a.m. today with wrestlebacks; the semifinals start at approximately 10:30 a.m. with finals slated for 3 p.m.
Felde, part of the big three at Schaumburg alongside Josh Marchok (rated No. 1 in the state at 215) and senior Joe LaManna (No. 2 at 189), is just a click or two away from being one of the big boys in his weight class. Felde enters this weekend at No. 8, according to Illinoismatmen.com.
“Pat is quietly having a sensational season, and his recent indvidual title at the Lincoln-Way West tourney proved that he belongs in their with the top-rated guys in his weight class,” said Saxons coach Matt Gruszka, who was thrilled with the effort of his athletes, who are tied with Wheeling for second place with 65 points.
“After not getting out of our regional last year, my only thought was to work as hard as I could, and to get to the state tournament, no matter what,” said Felde. “And with me having one of the best in the state with (LaManna) as my workout partner, I really feel that I can reach (that) goal.”
Rollins’ rise to prominence in his weight class has been nothing short of brilliant after his rookie season ended far too quickly when a broken elbow suffered during the football season limited his time in the starting lineup. He went 2-2 in the MSL meet last season at 140 pounds.
“I put a lot of time in during the off-season, and had success in the IKWF,” said Rollins. “Then have a teammate in Jeff Koepke (a two-time state qualifier and state medalist last season) in the room every day making me work as hard as I can to get better only helps,” said Rollins, who easily grabbed the No. 1 seed, as did teammates Stephon Scales (119, 36-2), Conrad Bugay (125, 34-7) and Koepke (36-2) at 160 pounds.
Rollins, who was third at the Berman Holiday tournament and is No. 11 in the state polls, will meet Dennis Caravello (Rolling Meadows, 18-8). They met last week and Rollins won 7-4.
All of the No. 1 seeds advanced, including Marchok, and another top-ranked athlete, Luke Smith (Wheeling, 32-0 at 140). Smith is looking to become just the third wrestler in MSL history to win four individual titles.
The water got a little rough for a pair of No. 4 seeds, however, with Travis Sylvester (Conant) falling to Bryan Peterson (24-5) of Schaumburg in OT (6-4) at 140 pounds, while the Barrington duo of Mike Weisshappel (17-5, 171) and Ryan Wilt (23-10, 189) bumped off their respective No. 4 opponents.
Weisshappel defeated Gino Prestia (Conant, 23-11) 7-5 in OT, while Wilt (23-10) got a measure of revenge with his hard-earned 5-2 decision over Fred Scales (24-9) of Hersey.
“(Fred) beat me pretty bad the first time, and I knew how big and strong he is, so it was important for me to push the pace, and make him work, and in the end, I really felt it was my conditioning which eventually wore him down,” said Wilt.
Wilt and Weisshappel were part of a terrific opening session for the MSL West champion Broncos, who entered the meet as the favorite and ended it with nearly everyone alive in the championship draw.
“I was real pleased with our effort and individual results, with Wilt, Weisshappel, Joe Adreani (at 140) and the others who got us important wins with bonus points,” said Barrington coach Al Strobl. “But today is over, and now we will point to Saturday, where we hope to continue to wrestle well.”
All eyes will be on the 135-pound semifinal between top seed Kory Jauch (29-3) of Rolling Meadows and Conant senior Vince Gottardo (26-7). Other top semis include 160 pounds, where Koepke faces Eddie Scanlon (23-6) of Wheeling, and No. 2 Joe Caprio (31-4) of Rolling Meadows meets No. 3 Cam Thomson (31-6) of Barrington.