Quite a finish for Alexander, Conant

As the early portion of the second day of the Mid-Suburban League's wrestling championships continued at Hoffman Estates, Conant coach Chad Hay couldn't help but notice that Barrington just kept on winning.

Later on, when it mattered most, it was Hay's own his team that couldn't lose.

Conant slowly erased a 26-point Broncos advantage, taking the lead for good with a nearly flawless finals performance to win the MSL tournament, and along with it a share of the overall conference title with Barrington.

Conant outscored the MSL West champs 249-246 to capture a second consecutive tournament title in thrilling fashion. MSL East champ Prospect finish third in the tourney with 214.5 overall points.

"This was so much like last year," said Hay. "Barrington had built a big lead a year ago, but we had a fantastic consolation round in the semifinals to get nine into the third-place matches to win it all by just one-half point. And today, we won five of six finals after advancing all five of our guys into third-place matches to pull another one out."

Conant senior Griff Rose (29-4) won his second straight MSL crown with a hard-fought 7-3 decision of Matt Kurishi (23-10) of Fremd.

"This is a team that picks each other up whenever one of us is down, while having the ability to rally when we need it most," said Rose. "And today was one of those days once again for us."

Conant asserted itself down the stretch to close out both Barrington, to whom the Cougars lost in their regular-season dual, and Prospect.

The Knights feature a power-packed lineup with the tough upper-weight trio of Matt Wroblewski (29-2 at 170), Adrian Wroblewski (32-4 at 182) and 2014 state qualifier James Ford (220). Each walked away with victories.

"We left a lot of points on the mats today, and that's not how you win a conference title - or a regional championship next weekend at Glenbrook South, for that matter," said Ford, who major-decisioned Michael Meier (28-7) of Conant in the 220-pound final.

The Wroblewski brothers eked out 3-1 OT victories. Matt, a sophomore, upended Barrington's Julius Smith (27-5) for a second win in three meetings against the Broncos standout.

Though Barrington still had a mathematical chance of drawing even with the eventual champs as late as 220 pounds, Conant's earlier surge was just too much for the Broncos overtome.

Conant's Danny Madonia (30-2), Kyle Peisker (31-2) and Bobby Alexander (33-0) earned victories at 120, 126 and 138. Each won titles, and Alexander, a senior, completed a four-run of MSL victories. Wheeling's Luke Smith had the been the most recent to accomplish that feat; he's now wrestling at Central Michigan.

"It feels very good to win my fourth," said Alexander, "but to be honest, aside from us winning this tournament, all my focus from here on out is about winning a state title."

With his pin at 1:08, Alexander became the Cougars' all-time leader in victories (147), breaking the program mark of Dominic Marella.

The highlight of the tournament for many was the appearance of several former MSL champs, who presented awards to the six place-winners in all 14 weight classes.

Senior Dan Andress (31-3) won a title for the Cougars with a 7-4 triumph over Tony Vezzetti (25-9) of Schaumburg, which enjoyed a nice two days of wrestling. The Saxons finished fourth with 172 points, 18 more than division rival Fremd.

Schaumburg's dynamic duo of Hazen Rice and Logan Gruszka were winners at 106 and 145, respectively. Rice, who came into the weekend as the top seed, pinned his way into the final before topping Jackson Kohlberg (30-7) of Rolling Meadows 7-1.

"Hazen has worked so hard during the offseason and in the room, so I am not surprised by his success thus far," said his teammate Gruszka, who was anointed the top seed at 145 pounds when likely No. 1 Tulga Zuunbayan (Wheeling) was a no-show for Wheeling coach Neal Weiner.

"I was a little surprised Tulga wasn't here," said Gruszka (32-5), who topped Barrington's Connor Boundy 3-1 in the final. "I know I was looking forward to wrestling him, and I am sure Connor would have liked to also."

Rolling Meadows freshmen Jacob Holm (23-2) and Michael Womeldorf (18-10) both navigated their way through the competition at 112 and 132 pounds to collect championships.

"I am not surprised by the success of those two freshmen," said Rolling Meadows coach John Bassler. "Both came through youth clubs, both have been very coachable throughout this season, and we're all very proud of those two guys."

Fremd junior Alex Jacobs began what looks like a successful postseason run at 195-pounds, dominating the action over the two days to win his first conference title. Jacobs topped Barrington's John Depersia (28-10) in the title match 9-2.

Depersia was among six Broncos runners-up during the final round. That group included freshmen Jarritt Shinhoster (106) and Jake Meyer (132), along with junior Max Guhde (21-12 at 182).

Barrington was without standout frosh Markus Hartman at 106; he was held out due to injury.

"We had just one champion, Alex Zentner (27-6) at heavyweight (over Juan Hernandez of Wheeling)," said Barrington coach Dave Udchik, "but he's been on the top of his game of late, beating some very good heavyweights along the way - including Juan, and Schaumburg's Tylor Alanis in the semis. This entire conference is on the upswing, and today (Conant) showed they were the best by winning nearly everything when they needed to - which makes us feel good to be co-champs with a team as good as them.

"If we wrestle like we did for most of this tournament next weekend at the Grant regional, we should have a good chance of coming out of there and advancing into the dual-team sectionals later on this month."

Conant, too, now turns its attention to the postseason. The Cougars will compete in the Lake Park regional, where they hope to win a second straight team championship.

"This a special group that we have here, and one that knows how to do the things needed to win a tournament," said Hay. "So we go into Lake Park next weekend with the confidence knowing that if we continue to compete at a high level, we'll continue to move on."