Marmion takes top regional honors

at Naperville Central: In the Class 3A Naperville Central regional, Marmion Academy shined as a team and individually. The Cadets watched 9 wrestlers bring home first place medals as they took home a regional title with 247 points. Wheaton South (168) and Naperville Central (160.5) rounded out the top 3 while Batavia was sixth with 92.5 points. West Aurora finished seventh with 91.

Marmion freshman Diego Sotello (33-5) won the 106 weight class over Tyler Driessens of Naperville Central with a technical fall while at 113 junior Michael Jaffe (34-8) pinned Mikey Caliendo (28-6) from Batavia in overtime.

At 126, Ryan Fleck (32-9) defeated Batavia's Andy Posledni 7-0 and junior Trevor Chumbley (38-2) pinned Metea Valley's Phillip Sims at 1:27 to win 138. Justin Major (23-6) grabbed third via pin over Ryan Silva of Naperville Central at 3:45. Junior Patrick Daum (31-10) defeated West Aurora's Johnny Acevedo (30-8) 4-3 to win the 152 weight class and Brad Gross' 20-5 tech fall over Drake MacIntyre (Naperville North) gave the Marmion junior a first place win at 160.

Senior Nate Jimenez (17-3) took home a big 24-8 major decision over Gabe Matar (Naperville North) to win 170 for Marmion while Tyler Surges (32-11) gained a 7-4 win over Waubonsie's Garrett St. Clair to take home 192. West Aurora's Parrish Watson grabbed a 5-4 decision for third place in 160 while at 192 Blackhawks wrestliner Armando Ferrer (28-11) earned a 5-1 win over Ethan Towers of Batavia.

At Schaumburg: South Elgin's wrestlers finished fifth overall at 93 points while Larkin placed sixth with 79. No. 8 Elgin (16) and No. 9 Streamwood (5) rounded out the field where Conant claimed the title with a total of 211.

The Royals grabbed the lone first place finish of area teams in Schaumburg in the 182 class, as Diego Facio (28-6) pinned Lake Park's Zach Schleimer at 2:39. Also at 182, junior Monte Mardis (19-14) of South Elgin took third over Lester Gonzales of Hoffman Estates by a 2-0 decision.

There were some U-46 battles for third place, as Larkin's Justin Valle had a 8-2 decision over Elgin's Ivan Gutierrez in 113. Bobby Tornabene (South Elgin) took home second in that class. For 126, freshman Eric Santana (8-5) downed South Elgin's Logan Swangren for third while freshman Michael Roath from South Elgin pinned senior Alex Calderon from Larkin at 1:38 for third in 170.

Other third-place finishers included: South Elgin's Tony Vera in 132, Larkin sophomore Deujuan Akins, who pinned Matt Schau of Elk Grove in 160, South Elgin's Vince Clinite (195), who won with a pin at 2:51 of Stephon Williams of Conant and Jesus Facio of Larkin, who won 220 via pin.

At Dundee-Crown: The host Chargers (94.5) and Cary-Grove (84.5) finished fifth and eighth overall behind champion Barrington. But from an individual standpoint both teams supplied a pair of first-place finishers. Cary-Grove senior Cadin Koeppel (32-5) defeated Geoff Cagel of McHenry 7-2 to take home 220 while Dundee-Crown's Isiah Ziegler (38-3) in the 285 class dominated with a pin of Tommy Konwent of Buffalo Grove at 2:55.

At 132, senior Adam Pinter (C-G) took home second placewhile Brandon Rico (33-11) of D-C won his third place bout over Jack Reimer of Fremd 6-5. D-C's Colin Mays was second in 138, losing to Luke Rasmussen of Barrington 6-2. The Trojans and Chargers squared off for third in 120 where Charlie Gruen (C-G) went to 22-11 overall by defeating D-C's Ricardo Zambrano 11-6. Gabriel Scales (D-C) took home third with a 11-0 major decision over Kevin Valladeres of Fremd in 126.

Class 2A Belvidere regional: Rochelle took home the team title, with Sycamore and Marengo rounding out the top three.

Burlington Central (fifth) and Hampshire (seventh) both had three champions. BC senior Austin Macias won 126 with a 18-1 tech fall win over Sycamore's Chat Schap, while at 145 Nick Termini to 28-6 thanks to a 20-4 tech fall over Marengo's Kenny Reed.

The Whips' Casey Allen made quick work of Belvidere North's Sean Lock in 50 seconds to win 160 and improved to 35-1 overall. Second-place finishers included Christian Rivero in 120 for Hampshire and BC's Michael Dubanowski in 285. Hampshire's Palmer Larson (113) finished third and Nathan Price (145) finished fourth while BC's Zach Collins (170), John Nordgeren (182) and Josh Ferro (220) earned fourth-place finishes.

At Harvard: Crystal Lake South placed fifth at 81.5 points, behind champion Marian Central (211) and its D-155 rivals, No. 2 CL Central (164.5) and No. 3 Prairie Ridge (106.5). But the Gators did grab individual champions in freshman Christian Olsen (39-1), who won 106 thanks to a tech fall of Jack Harman of Marian 16-0. Sophomore Peyton Timmons (36-3) won 113 over Marian's Elon Rodriguez 10-5. at 126, freshman Alex Picchi took home second place while junior James Moore finished fourth in 195 and junior Alex Natrop fourth in 285.

At the Class 1A ACC regional: Aurora Christian took first rather convincingly with 11 champions and a team score of 278.5. Seneca placed a distant second with 162.5. Host ACC finished seventh with 34.

Joel Mylin (106), Tyler Eby (113), Cameron Johnson (120), Noah Villarreal (126), Andrew Stewart (132), Zeke Marshall (138), Eli Ibarra (145), Jay Cee Gonzalez (152), Jack Certa (160), Darrell Gregg (195) and Angel Jaimes (220) all advanced for the Eagles with first-place medals. Eby (28-5), Johnson (31-6), Stewart, Marshall (38-3), Gonzalez (35-8), Certa, Gregg, Jaimes (35-8), all came away with pins while Ibarra (35-6) and Villarreal (37-3) won by tech falls. Alex Knauf (170) also took home second in 170and Keegan Donnelly (ACC) took home third in 145 with a pin over David Reiter of Alden-Hebron.

At Lisle: Harvest Christian finished fourth with 63 points behind first-place IC Catholic (177), No. 2 Westmont (170) and No. 3 Lisle (168). The Lions sported 2 second-place finishers as Matthew Olech placed second in the 145 class, losing to Lisle's Jack Kelly 16-8 in a major decision. Andrew Dobrescu finished second in 170 but lost by pinfall to St. Joe's Ja Vontay Bright. Josh Peterson took home third place in 106 and Erik Richter earned third in 126 with a pinfall over Tara Lewis (Chicago Marshall). Connor Seals also claimed third in 132.