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Barrington, Libertyville shine on Day 1 of Moore-Prettyman

The first day of the 29th Annual Moore-Prettyman Invitational was a good one for the wrestling teams from the host Broncos and Libertyville Friday at Barrington High School.

Lockport holds a slim 106.5 to 101 lead over the Broncos heading into the decisive second day of the competition Saturday morning while Libertyville is a close third with 98 points. Marmion Academy (93.5 points) is in fourth place.

With three No. 1-seeded wrestlers, Barrington was impressive as teammates Kai Conway (160 pounds), Luke Rasmussen (170) and Jack Hartman (182) all rolled into the semifinals, which start Saturday at 11 a.m. The finals are slated for approximately 2:30 p.m.

The Broncos also have 152-pound junior Marko Hennin wrestling in the semifinals.

"Everybody is contributing so we've been working on everyone scoring points and getting bonus points," said Barrington coach Dave Udchik. "The guys have a lot of heart and a lot of passion so far and I'm really proud of them."

Libertyville had even more individuals reach the semifinals than Barrington, starting with No. 1-ranked senior Danny Pucino at 138, and No. 2-ranked transfer student E'lan Heard, who appears to be on a collision course with two-time state champion Dean Hamiti of Joliet Catholic in the 152-pound finals.

The Wildcats also saw top-seeded Caelan Riley (106), Chase Baczek (170), and freshman Caleb Christensen (285) reach the semifinals.

"I counted on the four, but Caleb was a pleasant surprise. You don't see many freshmen at heavyweight," said Libertyville coach Dale Eggert. "But we're looking for other guys to come around to be more of a balanced team."

Will Baysingar made the semifinals at 106 for Prospect as did top-seeded teammate Jack Milos at 132 and Caleb Smith at 195.

"They wrestled aggressively and they're really coachable, but we've just got a lot of young guys on varsity," said Prospect coach Tom Whalen, whose team has reached the Elite Eight three of the past four years.

"Milos had a really great offseason. He took second in the nation in Greco, and seventh in freestyle at Fargo."

Fremd teammates Charlie Fifield (126) and Justin Lilliebridge reached the semifinals along with Jacobs teammates Jake Harrier (138), Alex Epstein (145) and Ryan Golnick (220). Harrier has committed to wrestle at Old Dominion next year.

"I would like to see Harrier face Pucino in the finals and get another shot at him because he lost to him twice last year," said Jacobs coach Gary Conrad. "We've got some new guys up on varsity who (won) some matches today."

Stevenson freshman Lorenzo Frezza won a 1-0 decision over 2019 state qualifier Brian Beers of Barrington in the quarterfinals while sophomore teammate Cole Rhemrev advanced to the semifinals at 120.

Cary-Grove teammates Charlie Gruen (132), Isaac Rands (182), and Joey Swanson (220) all reached the semifinals as did Grant's Justin Brown (195) and Dylan Rinkenberger (152). Grant's Ethan Geist (182) dropped a 4-2 decision in the quarterfinals while Hersey's Austin Korba won his quarterfinal match at 285.

"I think those guys (Brown, Rinkenberger, and Geist) expect themselves to be successful. They've been in the varsity lineup three or four years so they have high goals," said Grant coach Lenny Grodoski. "This year we've added Joe Barczak to our coaching staff. He wrestled at the U of I, he's really hands on with those guys each day, and I think he's going to help that group."

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