Olp doesn't let size stop him from winning Krupke title

You might not know it from the size of Mike Olp's arms, but the Wheaton Warrenville South 189-pounder was giving away more than 25 pounds to Mike Dziedzic of Lake Park, his opponent in the 215-pound championship match at the Ralph Krupke Wrestling Classic in Roselle.

Alas, size turned out to be a non-factor, as Olp won a hard-fought match 4-1 to give the Tigers their only individual champion of the tournament. Olp's win was one of eight that WW South accumulated in the medal rounds to secure a fourth-place finish among 16 teams at Lake Park.

"The kids came out and wrestled strong," WW South coach Ryan Ferguson said of the Tigers medal haul, which included four in third place and three in fifth place. "To go (8-0) at the end is important … it shows the kids are motivated."

The Tigers earned their place in convincing fashion, rolling up three pins and three major decisions.

"We're finally getting our lineup in order, so we're getting stronger down the stretch," Ferguson said. "We're having good success right now, but we just have to keep building and wrestling good competition."

WW South was able to top DuPage Valley Conference-foe Naperville North, which placed six in the top six on its way to seventh place. Heavyweight Mike Albanese pinned his way to the finals but fell to Tom Nield of Libertyville 11-6 to finish second, and Mike Ozols pinned his opponent at 171 to take third to lead the Huskies.

The host Lancers placed second with 155.5 points.

Juxhin Hoda of Addison Trail got two early takedowns, then held on for a 5-3 win and a 130-pound championship.

Perhaps the most exciting finish of the day was provided by Willowbrook's Grant Millette in the 145-pound third-place match. Down 3-1 late in the match, Millette put Morton's Matthew Martinez in a front headlock and threw him to his back for a dramatic takedown as time expired. In overtime Millette earned a reversal, then 2 back points to pad his lead and eventually win 7-5. His finish was the highest of the day for the Warriors, who placed 11th with 71 points.

"At the end I saw myself losing, so I just went for it," Millette said of his high-risk, high-reward maneuver. "My height definitely helped me (with the throw) … and then I had more gas than he did in overtime."

The overall tournament champion was Libertyville, which piled up 229 points as 10 Wildcats wrestlers finished in the top three.

Elgin provided two of the top matches of the tournament. In the 160-pound title match, Terrell Walker showed devastating quickness and a wide repertoire of takedowns to earn a 24-8 technical fall over Kevin Vitols of Lake Park. At 189 Robert Hayes came out on top 12-9 over Addison Trail's Arber Bebo in a highly anticipated, extremely physical dual.

"(Walker) takes pride in his takedowns, and (Hayes) is just a beast," said Elgin coach Anthony Genovesi, whose squad still came in 14th place with 55.5 points. "Two champions is good, but I want more place winners."

Streamwood, meanwhile, placed two in the top six, including Joey Kubica's wild fifth-place finish at 135 pounds.