Kaneland sends 11 to sectionals

Kaneland’s Nick Michels has been waiting a lifetime for this moment, that time when he could stand atop a podium as a wrestling champion.

Michels’ wait ended Saturday as he took first place at 171 pounds in the Class 2A Sycamore regional Saturday.

“After the first period, I started to think it was possible,” Michels said. “Then the third period came and I knew I could do it.”

Michels (26-11), who has never claimed a tournament championship at any level, didn’t take an easy route to his 5-3 overtime victory. Sycamore’s Michael Madison (26-17) jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a quick takedown in the first period. But the Knights’ senior hung out and forced overtime with a 3-all tie.

In the extra period, Michels got a takedown with 22 seconds left to claim his first regional crown.

The Michels/Madison bout wasn’t the only time Kaneland and Sycamore squared off in a title match. The conference rivals faced off for regional crowns in 3 other weight classes, and each school had a representative in the finals of each championship match.

Sycamore (231.5) won the team title, with Kaneland (205) placing second followed by Rochelle (113) and Burlington Central (104).

Kaneland came in with an 11-15 dual meet record, but claimed 6 championships and had 3 second-place finishes.

Stephen Gust (25-10, 103), Sonny Horn (17-17, 125), Dan Goress (32-10, 130), Kyle Davidson (30-7, 152) and Jimmy Boyle (37-5, 285) all won regional championships.

After placing third last season, Davidson was able to take down Burlington Central’s Buddy Toth (22-9) with a 5-2 decision.

“We came in and knew we had a chance,” Davidson said of his team. “We had lots of confidence.”

The Knights also got second-place finishes from Esai Ponce (119), Chris Sabal (145) and Keagan Mattes (189). Cody McGinnis (160) and Ben Kovalick (215) each placed third to advance to sectionals overall giving the Knights a grand total of 11 qualifiers out of 14 weight classes.

“Our whole squad elevated a step,” Kaneland coach Monty Jahns said. “We kept saying we’re not as bad as our dual meet record. We’re peaking at the right time. All of them wrestled the best I’ve seen.”

Central was not as happy with its overall performance.

Jake Turk took the Rockets’ lone regional title with a pin over Sycamore’s Matt Copple in 1 minute, 17 seconds at 215. Turk (7-0) had wrestled just 5 matches this season because of a knee injury suffered during football season.

The undersized Turk played to his strengths in order to get the win.

“My speed and quickness,” Turk said. “I’m a smaller at 215, I’m only 200, so I have to use my quickness.”

Toth, Joe Gannon (160) and Johnny Majory (135) each finished second in their weight classes and Brady Weinrich (119) placed third.

“Sycamore is a tough team,” Central coach Tony Rigitano said. “I thought we’d be more competitive. Turk is a bright spot.”

Hampshire finished with its most successful day in the short history of the 3-year program with 4 wrestlers qualifying for next weekend’s sectionals. Tyler Espino (31-13) placed second at 125 despite wrestling the entire season at 112 and weighing in at just 119 pounds.

Espino dropped a 3-2 decision to Kaneland’s Horn, who evened his record at 17-17 with the win.

Alex Feltz (38-6) finished second at 103, Ray Stagen (23-10) had a 17-7 major decision over Sycamore’s Zach Munro at 135 and Cody Kleiser 27-14) finished second at 140 for the Whip-Purs.

“(Espino) gave up a lot of weight, but he wrestled well,” Hampshire coach Terry Wilkinson said. “We were more comfortable with him going 125.”