Fox Valley regional preview

When: All area regionals are on Saturday

Class 3A regionals

At Elgin: Bartlett, Elgin, Larkin, South Elgin, Streamwood participating

At McHenry: Jacobs, Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake South and Huntley participating

At Dundee-Crown: Dundee-Crown participating

Advancement (top 3 individuals in each weight class): D-C and McHenry individuals to Barrington sectional; Regional champions to Libertyville sectional; Elgin individuals to Leyden sectional; Regional champion to Willowbrook sectional

Class 2A regionals

At Burlington Central: Burlington Central and Hampshire participating

Advancement: Individuals to Fenton sectional; Regional champion to Burlington Central sectional

Class 1A regionals

At Harvard: St. Edward participating

Advancement: Individuals to Plano sectional; Regional champion to Lisle sectional

2008 team regional champions: Dundee-Crown, Burlington Central

2008 individual regional champions: Shane Burke (Burlington Central), Jermaine Lee (D-C), Jeremy Lee (D-C), Kevin Marshall (Burlington Central)

Outlook: An interesting storyline here is perennial local power Dundee-Crown hosting its own regional in legendary coach Al Zinke's final season at the helm. D-C is the only area team in a regional that is rounded out with 8 Mid Suburban League teams and St. Viator. "It will be a good regional," said Zinke, whose final squad finished with a regular-season dual-meet record of 21-3. Zinke finishes his career with over 500 dual-meet victories to his credit. "I'm not knocking the Mid-Suburban, but I don't think the Fox Valley Conference's top teams take a backseat to anybody in the Mid-Suburban. They have a good league. Crystal Lake Central won the Hoffman Estates tournament. We wrestled teams like Buffalo Grove and Schaumburg and Hersey and Prospect." D-C went 5-0 against MSL teams this year and finished ahead of Fremd at Harvard and Palatine at Hinsdale South (both tournaments that D-C won). The Chargers are paced by Jack Lewis (32-4 at 152) and Jeremy Lee (30-4 at 119). Miko Villanueva (28-4 at 103), Jermaine Lee (28-10 at 125), Josh Lee (26-14 at 130), Cody Muscat (25-9 at 145), Cody Churkey (25-10 at 160) and Alex Laverd (24-11 at 135) all have 20 or more victories, while Tim Brennan (140) has 19 wins. D-C will again wrestle with less than a full lineup. At McHenry, Cary-Grove is paced by FVC runners-up Terrence Fox (22-12 at 135) and Josh Nelson (23-3 at 140). Jake Stewart (160) and Nick Sarillo (171) both have 19 wins, while Matt Springer is 17-9 at 112. "Our performance at the conference overall was unsatisfactory," said Cary-Grove coach Dan Cysewski. "The kids realize it more than I do. I feel confident this group will step up at the regional and perform well. It's sudden death now. If you win you stay in, if you lose you are out." Huntley is led by a group of wrestlers that features juniors Colt Claudio (32-10 at 119) and Anthony Giuffre (14 wins at 140), sophomores Lucas Rogers (32-5 at 125) and Matt Zeis (17 wins at 189) and freshman Jacob O'Neal (12-4 at 103). Jacobs standout Aaron Ryan is the area's only returning state qualifier.

At Elgin, improved Larkin is led by senior Tony Feliciano (36-3 at 130), along with senior Cameron Tanner (28-13 at 140) and junior Tim Einhorn (25-7 at 135). Bartlett is paced by Upstate Eight Conference third-place finishers Camilo Garzon (145) and Eric Moreno (160). Elgin's Eric McGinn (15-8 at 171) was an all-UEC performer. The Maroons have also received strong contributions from Nathan Andresen (18 wins at 103) and Jesus Aguirre (15 wins at 140).

At Burlington Central, the host Rockets, who finished second to Harvard in the Big Northern East Division at 4-1 this year, feature 2008 regional champions Marshall (23-3 at 119) and Burke (29-4 at 125). Tim Vincent (19 wins at 215) also wrestled at the sectional last year. Coach Tony Rigitano's squad is also bolstered by freshman Johnny Major (16-2 at 103), Omar Awad (15 wins at 112), Demitrius Phillips (19 wins at 135), Tim Botsford (18-7 at 140), Tim Maroder (25-8 at 171) and Alejandro Cardenas (9 wins at 189). "Our regional is pretty balanced," said Rigitano, whose team won 15 dual matches this year. "There isn't one team that stands out. I hope we're peaking at the right time here. These kids have postseason experience. They know what to expect. Hopefully that will carry over. We'll see what we can do here the next couple of weeks."