Move down benefits Glenbard South's Ayhan
Numan Ayhan is making the adjustment to a lower weight class in fine fashion.
The Glenbard South junior started the wrestling season at 195 pounds, only to start this week at 182.
The Raiders' standout had a technical fall and a pair of pins to improve to 17-1 on the season in becoming one of four Glenbard South champions on Saturday afternoon in Glen Ellyn.
Mike Bertone, Justin Squillo and Adam Haushahn also claimed titles at the Raider Invite, an eight-school, round-robin dual-meet tournament, for Glenbard South at 132, 152 and 170 pounds, respectively.
There were no team scores.
"(Ayhan) is just getting used to the weight class," Glenbard South coach Derrick Crenshaw said.
The junior used his second of two second-period reversals to secure the fall in the championship match.
"I feel faster and more athletic with my technique (at 182 pounds)," Ayhan said. "I don't get gassed out. My technique is so much stronger at 182 pounds."
Bertone took advantage of a limited field at 132 pounds, winning the championship with a first-period fall over his foe from the Chicago High School of Agriculture.
The senior is 16-2 on the year for the Raiders.
"I have just been practicing hard," Bertone said. "I feel a lot more comfortable. I am having fun. We have a good group this year."
Bertone made it a clean sweep of home invite titles during his four years on varsity.
"This year I was like, 'I have to do it again,'" Bertone said.
The Raiders have been bedeviled by injuries this season, with six potential starters missing Saturday.
"We have had the injury bug like no other," Crenshaw said. "We're 3-4 (in dual meets) right now. We could be 7-0."
Haushahn filled in for Sean Gitchell with a perfect day for Glenbard South at 170 pounds.
The sophomore swept all four of his matches, including a fall in the championship, in making the transition to varsity from the underclass squad.
"This is my first time wrestling a varsity invite," Haushahn said. "I wrestled for some varsity (duals) and then went to JV for a few."
Squillo was the Raiders' most unlikely of victors as the junior avenged an earlier loss to Waukegan junior Jaylon Sanders with a second-period fall in the championship.
Vince Marra has made great strides for Glenbard South since his sophomore year.
"He was 7-24 last year," Crenshaw said.
But the Raiders' junior improved to 16-4 on the season with his runner-up performance to Rockford Boylan returning state qualifier Sean Barelli.
Jordan Drake also earned a second-place result for Glenbard South at 195 pounds in improving to 13-4 on the season.
"Those are our big four," Crenshaw said of Bertone, Marra, Ayhan and Drake. "Bertone looked really slick out there today."
Hanna Johnson does not consider herself a novelty.
The senior 126-pounder had a pin to highlight her day.
"I wrestle girls all the time (at tournaments)," Johnson said. "I front head-locked him and realized I like that move."
"I wish the guys could put in the time she does," Crenshaw said of Johnson wrestling at out-of-state tournaments. "She didn't have a varsity win last year. She has caught a couple of guys this year."