Batavia nails down Erb tournament title

With only a seven-point lead over Evanston heading into the final round, the Batavia wrestling team knew it was going to be a dogfight to the finish in Glenbrook South's 54th annual Rus Erb tournament.

But when all was said and done, the Bulldogs held off Evanston 171 to 67 to capture the championship of the 18-team meet on Saturday.

Lincoln-Way Central was a close third with 163 points, while Lake Park edged Carmel Catholic 105.5 to 103.5 for sixth place.

Hersey (95 points) tied for eighth place with the host Titans in its first appearance in the Erb tourney in a long time, while 10th-place Lakes (87 points) battled past Wauconda (79.5 points) in 11th place.

After winning three Erb crowns in a row, Wheeling's rebuilding squad placed 13th to topple Buffalo Grove in 15th.

Batavia's championship effort was led by 138-pounder Mikey Caliendo (16-1), who beat defending state champ Riley Palm of Carmel 4-2 in the semifinals before defeating Buffalo Grove's Alejandro Mejia with a technical fall.

Batavia also got a second-place finish from Andy Posledni, who dropped a 5-2 decision to Wheeling 2018 state qualifier John Smith (23-1) in the 145-pound finals.

Batavia's Justin Major also took runner-up honors, as he fell 6-1 to undefeated Carmel senior Tommy Hoy (17-0) in the 160-pound finals.

"The center of our lineup has been our core all year, and I'm proud of our anchors," Batavia coach Scott Bayer said. "Mikey Caliendo beating the defending state champ in the semifinals was a breakout match for him. I think the state of Illinois knows who he is right now."

Palm went 41-0 in winning the state title as a junior. But following the semifinals he was taken to the hospital with high blood sugar and he had to injury default his remaining match.

Besides Hoy, the Corsairs also got a first-place finish from 132-pound junior Christian Valadez (13-1).

"(Palm) is diabetic and he had a major reaction during the semifinal match so he had to injury default," Carmel coach Bob Kuykendall said. "Christian wrestled a nice tournament. He wrestled very aggressively, and he kept the pressure up."

Hoy has high hopes for his senior season after reaching the state meet as a junior.

"My goal is to win it, obviously," Hoy said. "If I work hard and have determination, I think I can do it."

Lake Park's Dominic Malinder (11-2) was the 120-pound champion, while teammates Victor Rodriguez (182) and Demarco Lee (220) both took second place.

"We're hanging in there and competing, but we're a young team and we're trying to get better each week," first-year Lake Park coach Ryan Ferguson said. "It's up to me to get them to buy into trying some of the new techniques, and I'm happy that some kids are doing that."

Hersey got a second from 152-pounder Chris Heidrich.

"He is a program guy and he came down from 182 pounds last year," Hersey coach Joe Rupslauk said. "We're starting to mature as a program and we still have only one senior in the starting lineup so we're building."

Besides Smith, Wheeling also got a championship from Fernando Olvera, who won a 5-4 decision over Wauconda's Evan Husko at 126.

"We had 17 seniors graduate last year so we're working on building up the guys we have every single day," Wheeling coach Charlie Curran said. "(Olvera) had a great tournament. He's always been a great wrestler, and he can wrestle with anybody in the state if he wrestles his match."

Lakes senior Jack Brunati (17-1) took home first place at 285, while Wauconda's Jack Sullivan placed second at 106.

Third-place finishers were Lake Park's Carlos Arellano (113), Lakes' Mickey Kane (138), Carmel's Vincent Swindell (145), Buffalo Grove's Andy Polk (160), Batavia's Adan Mendoza (195) and Batavia's Alex Richards (220).